Improvements in Ball-bearings.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Mar., 1898-Accepted, 16th July, 1898
Improvements in Ball-bearings.
.
I, GEORGE ADAMS, Director of the Pittler Company, Manufacturers, of 144,
High Holborn, in the County of London, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, a communication from Friedrich Wilhelm von Pittler, Mechanical
Engineer, of Gohlis, near Leipzig, in the Kingdom of Saxony, 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 ball-bearings in which the balls are so guided, that the
pressure acts radially to the axle, in order that several rows of balls may be used
advantageously at the same time.
In the accompanying drawings;-
-
Figs. 1 and 2 show an axle bearing provided with several rows of balls and
suitable for motor cars and other heavy road vehicles, Fig. 1 being a longitudinal
section and Fig. 2 a cross section; Fig. 3 represents a modification; Figs. 4 and 5
represent bearings provided with two rows of balls and suitable for lighter road
vehicles; Figs. 6 and 7 represent bearings with a single row of balls and suitable
for revolving shafts of machines, for instance agricultural machines.
The ball bearing represented by Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a hub a, a series of
loose rings or bushes b, b1, b2 inserted into the hub, and capable of sliding in the
same. The ends of the said rings are turned or ground conically, in order to
guide the balls and to allow of adjustment for wear and tear. On the journal e
is fixed a hardened sleeve d, on which rest the balls. In the case of heavy
vehicles, a pair of conoidal collars and are mounted on the ends of the
journal, to receive the axial pressure. The outer collar secured on the journal
by means of a screw-thread and a lock nut f serves to adjust the loose rings b b₁...
A pair of screw-caps g and g¹ serve to close the bearings at the ends, so as to pre-
vent the access of dust and dirt.
In the modification represented by Fig. 3 the sleeve d is not fixed to the axle e,
but to the hub a, while the rings b, b¹ to 65 are mounted on the axle e and adapted
to slide on the same. The last ring 65 abuts against a shoulder el of the axle e
and prevents the sliding rings from escaping in that direction. The first ring b,
secured to the journal by means of a screw thread and lock nut, serves to adjust
the bearing.
Much difficulty has hitherto been experienced in keeping the hardened ball
cups, which are provided with screw joint, in good working condition, because
during the process of hardening, the parts are liable to warp in spite of all care,
whereby the screw-thread departs from its true circular or cylindrical shape,
after which the bearing will no longer run true, because the adjustment of the
parts will be unsymmetrical instead of being uniform.
To avoid these defects the ball-cups or socket-rings d, d are adapted to slide
in the hub, as illustrated by Fig. 4, instead of having screw joints, and the
conoidal rings b, b' are fixed on the sleeve b. A pair of screw nuts or screw caps f. fl
are applied to the ends of the hub, to close the same and to render the position of
the ball cups d, d accurately adjustable.
As the latter are fitted tightly into the hub a the friction between the cups

page_text: and the hub, together with that between the cups and the screw caps, is so great,
that the balls cannot impart their motion to the cups. The bolt e passing
through the sleeve 62 or hollow axle serves to connect the bearing with the cycle
fork or other vehicle frame. The conoidal collars b, and may be made of one
piece with the sleeve 62, or the collars b, b' together with the sleeve 62 and bolt e
may be made of one piece. Fig. 5 represents the hub of a cycle-wheel containing
two rows of balls adapted to press radially upon the axle.
The rings b, 6, 62 and 63 forming the ball races are adapted to slide axially in
the hub a, and a loose sleeve h is inserted between the rings 61 and 2, in order that
the two rows of balls c and c may be adjusted simultaneously by adjusting t
the
nuts f, f.
The hardened steel sleeve d fixed on the axle e has near one extremity a shallow
circumferential groove d¹, in which run the balls belonging to one row, and which
prevents any lateral shifting of the hub a relatively to the axle e. The axle or
bolt e serves to connect the bearing with the vehicle frame.
The ball-bearing represented by Fig. 6 is designed for the driving axles of
machines or for line-shafting, and has a pair of ball-races b, 1 screwed one into
the other, and to prevent the balls c from falling out, when the shaft e together
with the hardened sleeve d. is being removed from the bearing, the rings or
cups have inside flanges or rims to form V shaped grooves. The ring b
may be mounted in a slotted bracket a by introducing it into the cylindrical bore
of the same and then tightening the screw which extends across the slot.
Fig. 7 shows a somewhat similar bearing, in which the hardened sleeved is
clamped fast by a slotted holder or bracket a, while the rings b and b¹ form-
ing the ball race are fixed on the shaft e.
In renewing the shaft e the grooved rings or cups b, b¹ are drawn out of the
sleeve d, together with the balls c, and the outer flanges or rims of the ring b, b¹
prevent the balls from falling out.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. A ball bearing having ball races b adapted to slide axially either in the hub a
or on the axle e in such a manner, that the balls can be adjusted within or upon
a hardened steel sleeve d, and that the pressure in or upon the latter is radial
to the axle, so as to prevent any lateral sliding of the balls, substantially as
described.
2. A ball bearing having ball cups or races adapted to slide within the hub
and to be adjusted therein by means of screw nuts f, to render the ball cups adjust-
able relatively to the ball rings or races fixed on the axle, without providing the
hardened parts with screw threads, substantially as described.
3. The various forms of ball bearings substantially as described with reference
to the drawings.
Dated this 7th dox of Manah 1000
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
Agents, 37 and 39, Essex Street, Strand, London.