Bearings – Rotary bearing – Plain bearing
Patent
1991-10-10
1993-07-27
Hannon, Thomas R.
Bearings
Rotary bearing
Plain bearing
384 58, 384296, 384416, F16C 3302
Patent
active
052305694
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates generally to bearings and bearing assemblies. More particularly the present invention relates to bearings having complementary mating surfaces, such as for example a male and female arrangement for locating one bearing member with respect to another bearing member, and which are a substitute for conventional ball or roller bearings.
Conventional ball or roller bearings in their many and varied forms usually consist of an inner race member which is fixedly located to a rotatable shaft, so as to rotate in accordance with corresponding rotation of the shaft, an outer race member which is fixed to a stationary element, and balls or rollers held in position by a cage or flanges or the like located between the inner and outer race members. The balls or rollers provide relative rotation of the inner and outer race members with respect to each other. Usually, the side of the ball bearing or roller bearing presents cavities or depressions because of the wavy shape of the cage surrounding the balls or rollers.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved bearing which at least partially overcomes problems with known bearings.
According to the present invention there is provided a bearing for a shaft, said bearing comprising a first bearing member mountable on the shaft to be fixed thereto, and a second bearing member mountable about and coaxial with the first bearing member to define at least two annular bush receiving recesses, wherein said two or more annular bush receiving recesses are at least partially separated by at least one internal locating means projecting from either of the first or the second bearing member, and wherein a bush member is locatable one in each of the bush receiving recesses to be rotatable with respect to each of the first and second bearing members. Means to retain the bush members in the bush receiving recesses is also provided.
The second bearing member of the present invention is preferably an annular outer race and is preferably rotatably mountable about and coaxial with the first bearing member. The internal locating means may be at least one radially inwardly directed annular flange integral with the outer race. Alternatively, the internal locating means may be a discontinuous flange formed by a plurality of angularly spaced tabs or the like. Typically, the flange may be any of square, rectangular, curved, dovetailed or the like in cross-section or it may have any suitable desirable or convenient section or combination of sections. Additionally, heat dissipation means may be provided on the flange, such as fins, flutes, threads or the like. Other forms of heat dissipating means are spiral or helical grooves, or ridging, in the side surfaces of the flange. The depth of the helical or spiral groove or ridging may be very small compared to the height of the flange.
In another form, there may be two or more flanges defining a corresponding number of bush receiving recesses between the first and second bearing members. Where more than a single flange is provided, the flanges may be of the same thickness and profile or may be of different thickness and different profiles. Preferably, the flange is a paired or double flange, each flange being spaced apart from the other. Further, the flange may extend to any width relative to the width of the outer race, from being almost the width of the outer race, to being a very thin lip.
Of course a person skilled in the art will understand that the internal locating means may also be at least one radially outwardly directed annular flange integral with, and projecting from, the first bearing member. While specific embodiments of this variation will not be described, the following configurations described for an inwardly projecting flange may be modified as necessary to accomodate this variation, and these modifications will be clear to the person skilled in the art.
The first bearing member of the present invention most preferably includes an annular inner race and a thrust collar. The annular inner race may
REFERENCES:
patent: 3740107 (1973-06-01), Fromme
patent: 4395142 (1983-07-01), Lobeck
patent: 5056938 (1991-10-01), Ahlman et al.
Hannon Thomas R.
Plastic Bearing & Housing Australasia PTY, Ltd.
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