Improvements in and relating to Ball Bearings for Bicycles and other Machinery.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 5th Dec., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Ball Bearings for Bicycles and
other Machinery.
1, CHARLES HENRY CHAPMAN, citizen of the United States of America,
residing in the Township of Groton, in the County of Middlesex and State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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, reference
being made to the accompanying drawing in which:-
Figure 1 is an elevation of a hub and axle, with one side in vertical section.
Figure 2 is a vertical section showing the raceway and balls.
Figure 3 is a vertical cross section of Figure 2, and
Figure 4 is an elevation of an eccentric employed in this form of my invention.
Figure 5 is a section similar to Figure 2 of a modification, and
Figure 6 is a cross section of this modification.
This invention relates to ball bearings, such for instance, as those used for
the wheels and the pedals of bicycles, it being understood, however, that my
invention is not restricted in its use to any particular kind or class of machines or
vehicles.
The object of the invention is to provide a construction in which there is no
grinding of the balls one upon another, thus economizing in the power necessary to
run the machine or apparatus in which the bearing is used.
Illustrating the principle of my invention as applied to a wheel of a bicycle,
the invention comprises a race-way, preferably having raised tracks, a series of
bearing balls arranged in said race-way and an alternating series of anti-friction
devices, which may be either balls or rollers, interposed between the bearing balls
and serving to separate them and to prevent their grinding together, the anti-
friction devices following in the wake of the bearing balls, and a support for
such anti-friction devices, all as I will proceed now more particularly to set forth
and finally claim.
The hub a may be of usual construction, with its ends 6 recessed. So far as
the following parts are concerned, each end of the hub is constructed and equipped
alike and therefore a description of one end will be sufficient. Within the
recessed end of the hub is arranged an annular race-way c having the parallel
tracks cc, which are described on arcs of circles of different radii. The axle &
may be of usual construction, with its nib screw-threaded, and having applied
thereto the cone e which cone has its inner end bevelled as usual in order to
furnish the outer bearing for the balls f. The cone is adjustable upon the nib
of the axle to compensate for wear, as usual. The front washer 9 is applied
around the cone and bears against the front edge of the race-way. I is a washer
of felt or other suitable material, and i is a metal washer applied outside of and
against the felt washer, and the two washers h and i are held in place by contact
with the shoulder el of the cone, to close the end of the hub in a dust tight manner.
The balls f, of which four or five are or may be used, instead of nine as is
usual, are arranged in the race-way to roll upon the tracks as the hub revolves,
and these balls are kept separated and thereby their grinding together prevented,
by means of interposed anti-friction devices k, which, as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3,

page_text: may themselves be balls or spheres of considerably less diameter than the balls f;
and these anti-friction devices follow in the wake of the balls f.
It should be observed that the balls f, which I herein refer to as bearing balls,
have three points of contact in the bearing, namely, two upon the respective
tracks cc, and a third upon the cone, and by this construction I conceive that the
balls are less liable to be worn in grooves than by constructions heretofore
common. I do not however wish it to be understood that my separating devices
are limited in use to a race-way having the raised tracks c¹ c, since they are equally
applicable to a ball race-way such as is now in common use.
The race-way is hollowed out at between its tracks in order to furnish a
receptacle for the accumulation of detritus, and thus remove such detritus from
immediate contact with the balls and their bearings.
Referring to Figures 2, 3 and 4, it will be observed five bearing balls are used,
and the anti-friction devices, therein shown as balls, are supported in the arms of a
spider 1, and this spider is mounted upon an eccentric m, which eccentric is fast to
the stationary axle d. As the wheel revolves, the spider is carried with the
bearing balls and the eccentric m causes the anti-friction devices that are above to
move down between the bearing balls which are then uppermost in the hub, and
insure their positive separation, while the anti-friction devices in the lowermost
arms are projected beyond the bite of the bearing balls. That is to say, as the
holder revolves it nears the center of the axle (upon which the eccentric is
fastened), as it passes the uppermost part of the bearing, and it moves away from
the center of the axle as it passes the lowermost part of the bearing, thereby
causing the anti-friction devices to move in and out from between the bearing
balls.
In the modification shown in Figures 5 and 6, the anti-friction devices are in
the form of cylindrical rollers, mounted in a spider, which spider is free to turn
upon the axle, and I prefer in this construction to have the axes of the bearing
balls and of the anti-friction devices so arranged that a straight line drawn
through the center of the bearing balls will pass through the center of the anti-
friction devices, whether they be balls or cylinders, as shown by dotted linen in
Figure 5. This is what I term the dead center line. When the anti-friction
devices are placed on the dead center line, there is little, if any, tendency for them
to fly out from between the bearing balls, and thereby is greatly lessened the
friction upon the spider which holds them in place.
It will be observed that the anti-friction devices are of smaller diameter than
the bearing balls and lie loosely, so far as the bite of the bearings is concerned, in
the race-way, none of the weight being supported by these anti-friction devices.
In my invention, it will be observed that the anti-friction devices drop in
between the bearing balls as the latter pass over the upper side of the bearing, and
thereby prevent such bearing balls from coming together as they roll around into
the bite of the bearing; and as such bearing balls roll to the under side of the
bearing, the anti-friction devices drop out from between them, thus permitting the
bearing balls to roll freely round without grinding together.
By this arrangement of the bearing balls and anti-friction devices, following in
the wake of one another, I am enabled to dispense with a number of bearing balls,
in one case, five, and in another case, four, thereby reducing the friction of running
by that number of balls in each of the six bearings of a bicycle.
In one of the modifications employing spiders to sustain anti-friction devices,
these anti-friction devices retain their place on the dead center line of the bearing
balls at all times, and act as a ball bearing between the bearing balls. When the
bearing balls tighten against the anti-friction devices, the latter will roll with the
surface of the bearing balls and prevent the friction otherwise caused where
the bearing balls are allowed to grind together.
It is obvious that my invention is applicable alike to the wheels and the pedal-
axle of bicycles.
It will be understood that in the use of the terms "following in the wake," or

page_text: words of like import, as descriptive of the arrangement of the bearing balls and
anti-friction devices, I mean the arrangement of these elements in the same plane,
as opposed to parallel planes, as they have heretofore been arranged.
In the common form of ball bearing, the balls have a spinning action, as they
revolve, which is wasteful of energy, and this spinning I reduce to a minimum by
the provision of the tracks in the race-way.
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. A ball bearing comprising a race-way having raised tracks of different radii,.
bearing balls arranged thereupon, anti-friction devices arranged between such
bearing balls, and a supporting device adapted to sustain such anti-friction devices
with their axes at or near the dead center line of the axes of the bearing balls
which they separate, substantially as described.
2. A ball bearing comprising a race-way, bearing balls arranged thereupon,.
anti-friction devices arranged between such bearing balls, and a supporting device
adapted to sustain such anti-friction devices with their axes at or near the dead
center line of the axes of the bearing balls which they separate, substantially as
described.
3. A ball bearing comprising a race-way, having raised tracks, bearing balls
thereon, rotary anti-friction devices, and a spider or holder in which said devices
are arranged, substantially as described.
4. A ball bearing comprising a race-way, having raised tracks, bearing balls
thereon, rotary anti-friction devices arranged in the wake of and in alternation
with the balls, a spider or holder for such anti-friction devices and an eccentric
adapted to move such spider or holder so as to throw some of the anti-friction
devices in between the load-bearing balls and throw the others away from the
remainder, substantially as described.
5. A ball bearing comprising a race-way, raised tracks thereon, bearing balls,
anti-friction devices arranged between such balls, and a supporting device for
such anti-friction devices adapted to sustain such devices in a dead center line with
the balls, substantially as described.
Dread this trifenanth
£ Cantonbon 1906
JENSEN & SON,
77 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.