Patent ID: 7523996
Filing Date: 2009-04-28
Classification: E21C,F16C

Abstract:
1. A support for the shaft of a high wall mining machine, comprising: an outer bearing, defining a cylindrical inner surface and a partial spherical outer surface, said inner and outer surfaces being symmetrical about a longitudinal axis; said outer bearing also defining at least one diametrically oriented lubrication opening extending from said inner surface to said outer surface along a first diameter; said outer bearing also defining forward and rear thrust surfaces for supporting loads in the direction of said longitudinal axis, said forward thrust surface having an arcuate contour; wherein said outer bearing comprises first and second outer bearing halves which are substantially mirror images of each other; each outer bearing half defining: first and second substantially planar edges lying along a plane extending through said longitudinal axis and through a second diameter at right angles to said first diameter; a first outer-bearing-securement opening extending parallel to said first diameter from the outer surface to the respective first planar edge; and a second outer-bearing-securement opening extending parallel to said first diameter from the outer surface to the respective second substantially planar edge, wherein the first outer-bearing-securement opening of the first bearing half is aligned with the second outer-bearing-securement opening of the second bearing half at a first aligned pair of planar edges, and the first outer-bearing-securement opening of the second bearing half is aligned with the second outer-bearing-securement opening of the first bearing half at a second aligned pair of planar edges.