In considering the gearing arrangement, Brunel had no precedent to serve as a guide. The gearing for "Archimedes", of the spur-and-pinion type, had proven almost unbearably noisy, and would not be suitable for a passenger ship. Brunel's solution was to install a chain drive. On the crankshaft between "Great Britain"s two engines, he installed a diameter primary gearwheel, which, by means of a set of four massive inverted-tooth or "silent" chains, operated the smaller secondary gear near the keel, which turned the propeller shaft. This was the first commercial use of silent chain technology, and the individual silent chains installed in "Great Britain" are thought to have been the largest ever constructed.