Guide for Rolls in Roller Bearings.
Year: 1893

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Guide for Rolls in Roller Bearings.
A communication from abroad by JOHN OTTO DONNER, of No. 11, West 38th
Street, New York City, New York, in the United States of America, Engineer.
I, JOHN CORRY FELL, of the Firm of Fell and Wilding, of 1 Queen Victoria
Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to that class of roller bearings in which the anti-friction
rolls are loosely contained within the casing and are annularly grouped around the
journal and the object of the present improvement is to preserve the parallelism of
such rolls with the axis of the journal and to thus prevent the crowding and
abrasion which ensue if the rolls are allowed to twist within the casing or
journal-box.
Such twisting throws the ends and corners of the rolls into violent contact with
the inner side of the casing or with its heads, and forces the middle portion of
the rolls into violent contact with the axle, thus producing an unnecessary
pressure and grinding at such points of contact.
The desired object is attained by the longitudinal interposition between adjacent
rolls of a guide or guides united to, or formed integrally with, a yoke or yokes
extending wholly or partially around the journal, but free to move around the
same.
Where a single guide bar is used, the yoke is loosely fitted to the axle or to
the interior of the casing, and the guide is thus held movably in the desired
position; but I have found that where two or more guides are used upon different
sides of the axle, the pressure upon the guides is entirely balanced, and they
may therefore be held parallel by a yoke which is not in contact with either the
axle or casing.
The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings in which
Fig. 1 is a transverse section of a roller bearing box with two guides or
what may be considered a double guide, the section being taken on line - in
Figure 3.
Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the blank from which the double guide may be
conveniently formed.
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken through the plane indicated by the dotted
line y-y in Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a side view of a modification consisting of a single prismatic guide
united to semi-circular yokes.
Fig. 5 is a cross section of a roller bearing box provided with the prismatic
guide shown in Figure 4.
Fig. 6 shows a single flat guide provided with annular yokes.
The journal box is a cylindrical shell or casing A, provided at one end with a
fixed head B and at the other end with a removable head C, which may be attached
in any suitable manner. The rolls D are shown as plain cylinders inserted between
the axle E and the interior of the casing A.
The double guide, shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, is formed of flat bars F
connected at the ends by semi-circular yokes G.
The diameters of the rolls and the casing are so proportioned that the rolls and
intervening guides lie in contact with one another as well as with the casing and
axle, and move freely within the casing as the axle revolves.
It will be readily perceived that the twisting or oblique displacement of one
roll involves the twisting of the others, and that any tendency in the rolls to

page_text: displace one of the guides obliquely produces a tendency in the rolls at the
opposite side of the axle to displace the opposite guide in a contrary direction.
As the guides are united to, or integral with, the yokes G, such contrary or
opposite displacements are impossible, and the pressures being balanced the
guides are kept parallel with the axle.
The yokes do not require any contact with the axle or casing to guide them in
their movement with the rolls, and may be made, as shown in Fig. 1, to clear both
the axle and the casing, thus wholly avoiding any frictional contact therewith.
When made of sufficient rigidity, the two guides may be held in the required
position by a single yoke, thus adapting them to be inserted in or withdrawn from
the casing without removing the rolls. The guides, with either one or two yokes,
may be very cheaply made from a sheet metal blank, formed with parallel sides and
a curved end or ends, the blank being bent to a right angle or right angles upon
the dotted line H or lines H H indicated in Fig. 2.
The system of rolls is divided into as many series as there are guides employed.
In Figure 3 it will be observed that one half of the rolls, forming one series, lie
between the yokes, and hence require to be shorter than the rolls of the other
series, which are loosely fitted to the heads of the casing.
Figs. 4 and 5 show a single guide F' of prismatic form provided at opposite ends
with semi-circular yokes G₁ which are made to have a loose sliding fit with the
axle and casing, and being thus prevented from displacement hold the guide parallel
with the axle.
The prismatic guide in cross section is approximately triangular and has two
concave sides adapting it to loosely fit against the adjacent portions of the surfaces
of two of the rolls, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 6 shows a single flat guide F2 attached to a circular yoke G2, the yoke
being adapted to loosely fit the shaft, but made to clear the interior of the casing.
Such yokes, at opposite ends of a single guide, would hold it in the desired position
by contact with the shaft only. Where the roller bearing is applied to the extreme
end of a shaft, it is obvious that two guides on opposite sides of the journal may be
connected by a straight yoke extended across the end of the shaft.
Means have heretofore been used to sustain a series of partitions between all the
rolls in a roller bearing, but the present invention is readily distinguished from
the various forms of cages which have been used to thus separate the rolls, as it is
designed expressly for bearings composed of rolls, the greater number of which are
in contact with each other. It is obvious that the guide or guides herein referred
to may be made of any suitable shape in cross section, without departing from the
invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination, in a roller bearing, of a system of annularly grouped loose
rolls in contact with each other, and a guide longitudinally fitted between two
adjacent rolls and united to. or formed integrally with a yoke or yokes extending
wholly or partially around the journal and adapted to hold the said guides parallel
with the axis of the journal.
2. The combination, in a roller bearing, of a system of annularly grouped loose
rolls, composed of two or more series of rolls in contact with each other, and a like
series of guides interposed between adjacent rolls on different sides of the journal,
and a yoke or yokes united to or formed integrally with said guides and extending
wholly or partially around or across the end of the shaft, substantially as and for
the purpose set forth.
Dated this 17th day of October 1892
FELL & WILDING,
Agents for the Applicant.