SilverBadge wrote:The (very) low end Shimano stuff works on this principle. The larger ratios have a larger spline so there's some room for the gubbins inside. No idea what the spacing is - pretty sure there were only 7 cogs on the one I saw.
I had a 6 speed shimano 600EX freewheel that worked just like this-top sprocket was threaded and the rest were splined, just like the early shimano uniglide freehubs. Best thing was the sprockets could be turned over so they would last twice as long (just like on the uniglide hubs) and it had an oil hole in the body so you could lube the freewheel once the sprockets were removed.