Geneva Mechanism, Maltese Cross or Geneva Stop
The Geneva Drive is also called the Maltese Cross or the Geneva Stop.
The Geneva mechanism was originally invented by a watch maker from Geneva to prevent the spring of a watch from being over-wound.
The most common use of the mechanism is to convert a continuous rotary motion into an intermittent rotary motion. In operation, a drive wheel with a pin enters into one of several slots on the driven wheel and thus advances it by one step (or "station"). The drive wheel also has a raised circular disc that serves to lock the driven wheel in a fixed position between steps.
Historically, this mechanism is was often used in movie film cameras and projectors to increment the film one frame at a time. Many automata use the Geneva mechanism for various purposes. In my own piece, The Birthing Engine, I used a 4-station Geneva wheel to control the appearance of the four babies that emerge from the mother.
Here is an 3-D animation of a shifter system that uses a Geneva mechanism:

The most common use of the mechanism is to convert a continuous rotary motion into an intermittent rotary motion. In operation, a drive wheel with a pin enters into one of several slots on the driven wheel and thus advances it by one step (or "station"). The drive wheel also has a raised circular disc that serves to lock the driven wheel in a fixed position between steps.

Here is an 3-D animation of a shifter system that uses a Geneva mechanism:
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