There are two gears, each with its own shaft; the axes of the shafts intersect, but the chuck shaft ends well short of the main gear wheel's shaft. Each shaft is supported on both sides of its gear. The end thrust of the pinion shaft (which also functions as the chuck spindle) is taken by a dead center which is screw adjustable and which is locked by the (probably not original) acorn nut. Note the lack of reinforcement of the spokes of the cast bronze main gear at their junction with the rather small hub. Although this is a weak spot, I have never seen one in broken or repaired condition. There is no mechanism to support the main gear against sideways deflection (to the right in the photograph), although the excellent support of the gear's shaft at least keeps the gear from rocking in its bearings significantly. Although out of sight in the picture, the crank is separately attached to the main gear's shaft, another site of weakness.