Abstract: In spite of the fact that detailed descriptions of the meshing principles of and the geometrical relations between the intermittent gear mechanism can be found in many references in recent years, its design problem of the gear mechanism has not yet been solved satisfactorily, especial1y in relation to the fact that the main characteristic coefficients of the intermittent motion(dynamic-static ratio) cannot be ensured. Based on the theory of optimization, this paper presents a new design method in which the fundamental parameters kt, M and N of the intermittent motion are used directly from the very beginning. The computation is simple and easy to follow, and an the optimal design can readily be obtained. The proposed design method can either be programed on computers, or used manually in a reasonable duration of time with the aid of the curves provided in this paper.