An Improved Adjustable Neck Bearing for Upright Shafts.
Year: 1887

page_text: An Improved Adjustable Neck Bearing for Upright Shafts.
We, WILLIAM BURRELL, Engineer, of the Victoria Engineering Works, Middlegate
Street, Great Yarmouth, and ROBERT CARVER, fitter, of 2 Valentine Terrace, Mill
Road, Great Yarmouth, in the County of Norfolk 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 :—
Our invention relates to neck bearings for upright shafts and is more particularly
applicable to the deck bearings of the shafts of steam capstans on fishing boats or other
vessels, to the bearings of mill stone spindles and to such bearings of upright shafts
generally as are not readily accessible from the side and where consequently loose caps
with tightening screws or cotters or wedges placed horizontally cannot be applied,
and our invention consists in an improved construction or arrangement of such
bearings which permits the brasses to be adjusted from the top or bottom of the
bearing.
On the sheet of drawings appended hereunto figure 1 shows a vertical section of a
deck bearing for a capstan shaft fitted with my improvement, the left side showing the
parts in the positions they occupy when they are first put together and the right side
showing them in the positions they assume when the brasses are worn.
Figure 2 shows a section of the upper part of the bearing along line X. Y. of
figure 3 and W. Z. of figure 1 figure 3 shows a plan of the bearing with the
cover removed, the upper half corresponding to the left side and the lower half to the
right side of figure 1.
The bearing consists of a cast iron or brass box or bush a provided with a flange a'
at the top for bolting it to the deck a² and forming at the lower end a stuffing box
fitted with a gland and tightening screws of ordinary construction. The box a is
formed at the upper part with recesses for the reception of the square brasses band '
and one or more adjusting wedges. Two such wedges e and care shewn on the
drawing, but in some cases only one and in other cases where the shafts are very large
more than two may be used. The brasses band have flat sides and ends and can
The faces
slide towards and from the centre of the shaft in the recesses of the box a..
of the wedges cand e bearing against the brasses and are parallel to the shaft d
and the opposite faces are inclined to it, and the recesses in the box a are formed at
the same inclination to the shaft d as the backs of the wedges. Each wedge is east

page_text: with a recess e in it with projecting ledges el el between which a square cornered nutƒ
is inserted, and said wedge has an oblong slot in the top for the passage of a screw 9,
which is threaded through the nut f. The wedges may be further cored out to lighten
them, as shewn on the drawings. Each screw g is formed with a collar on it as
shewn and over this a cross bar or abutment plate is placed and fixed to the box a
by screws h¹³, ledges being formed in the recesses of the box a as shewn for the
plate h to rest upon.
a
As the brasses become worn, they can be readjusted, by turning the screws 9 by
key, the tops of said screws being made square for this purpose, and thereby causing
the nuts to move downwards and take the wedges down with them. As the wedges
move downward, they push the brasses inward, and the nuts slide in the recesses e the
oblong slots in the top of the wedges permitting such relative movement of the
screws and the wedges. The collars on the screws g g and the abutment plates h h
take the upward strain and hold the wedges down. The two brasses b and ¹ may be
fitted metal to metal on their edges or have a strip of metal or hard wood placed
between their edges, so that the wedges may be screwed down tight, or they may be
fitted with their edges apart, as shewn, for readjustment and any ordinary used suitable
locking device, such as a strip of sheet metal with a square hole placed over the square
on the screw g and bent over the edges of the plate h, may be applied in order to
prevent the screw 9 from turning and loosening the wedges. In some cases where
the wedges are heavy, as in bearings for shafts of large size, the screws g have another
collar screwed or pinned to them above the plates h so that the wedges can be
conveniently drawn upward for adjustment by turning the screws. A cover m made
in halves may be fitted into the top of the recess of the box a and supported and fixed
by studs m³, or may be placed over and screwed to the flange a' of the box a.
The
For mill stones the box a is made square or polygonal and without a stuffing box
at the lower end, and wedged into the eye of the stone in the usual manner.
neck bearing arranged in this way is easily adjustable from above when the top stone.
is lifted off. In some cases we reverse the position of the wedges or turn, as it were,
the bearing herein before described and illustrated upside down, so that the adjusting
screws are accessible from below instead of from above the bearing.
Bearings arranged in a similar manner as hereinbefore described can be used for
vertical shafts generally in positions where the bearings are more readily accessible
and adjustable from above or below the bearing than from the side. The box a may
be varied in shape and provided with flanges or lugs to suit the structures to which it
is to be fixed.
.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is
The arrangement or construction of neck bearings for upright shafts with sliding
brasses and wedges adjustable either from above or from below the bearing by means
of screws and sliding nuts substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by
the drawings.
EMMOTT & Co.,
Agents for the Applicants.