Improved Means for Lubricating Shaft, Axle, and other Bearings..
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 24th June, 1896-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Lubricating Shaft, Axle, and other Bearings..
I, WILHELM EDUARD FÖRSTL, of 42, Burggasse, VII., Vienna, in the Empire
of Austria, Architect, 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 means for supplying lubricant to the bearings of
shafts, axles and the like, and consists of an automatic device wherein the liquid
lubricating medium is drawn by suction, from a supply-chamber or reservoir (the
sucking action being produced by the revolution of the shaft or axle in the bearing),
and is conveyed along a helical groove, formed in the bush or box of the bearing, or
in the bearing itself. The lubricant passes through the whole of the bearing,
and is then delivered into a suitable receptacle, whence it flows through a passage
provided for the purpose, back to the supply chamber or reservoir for re-use.
In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section and Fig. 2 a
transverse section of a lubricating device constructed in accordance with this
invention, and applied, by way of example, in lubricating a vertical shaft.
In this form, the improved device comprises a bi-part bearing bush or box a
having on its inner surface a screw-thread, or helical groove or channel b. The
lower extremity of this groove or channel communicates, by means of a tube c,
arranged tangentially, with an oil reservoir d; the latter being preferably cast in
one or made integral with the bearing bush or box. The upper extremity of the
helical groove communicates with a collecting space e, through which the shaft
(shown in dotted lines) passes. This collecting space e is in connection with the
oil-chamber or reservoir d by means of a passage f.
The operation of the above described lubricating device is as follows:-
Owing to the revolution of the shaft (in the example illustrated, to the right),
the air is exhausted from the helical groove or channel and oil is drawn into it.
The oil adheres to the shaft, and ascends the groove or channel 6 until it reaches
the upper end or outlet of such groove or channel, whence it issues and impinges
against the wall of the chamber e, in which it is collected. The oil thus collected
is conducted back to the oil-reservoir d through the passage f.
The direction of the helical groove or channel depends upon the direction of
motion of the shaft, i.e., for a shaft rotating from left to right, the helical groove
should be right-hand, as shown in the drawings; while for a shaft rotating from
right to left, the helical groove should be left-hand.
For shafts arranged to revolve in both directions, intersecting, or both right-
and left-hand helical grooves should be employed. In this case it is advisable to
close the helical groove, or the corresponding tube c, which for the time being is
inoperative, by means of a plug or screwed cap, so that oil, flowing along the
operative groove, cannot return to the supply reservoir through the inoperative
groove.
If desired, in order to augment the lubricating surface, several screw-threads
or helical grooves or channels may be arranged parallel to each other.
The improved lubricating device may be applied to inclined or horizontal shafts
as well as to vertically arranged shafts; the bush or box and the channel f, in such
cases, being correspondingly arranged.
In applying the invention to bearings having no bush or box, the helical
grooves are formed in the interior surface of the bearing itself and of its cover
or can

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :-
The improved means for lubricating shaft, axle and other bearings, arranged
or operating substantially as herein described, and comprising a bush or bearing
having on its inner surface one or more screw-threads, or helical grooves or
channels, which communicate with an oil-supply reservoir, a collecting space such
as e and a return passage f connecting the collecting space with the reservoir.
Dated this 23rd day of June 1896.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Chartered Patent Agent.