Self Adjusting Ball or like Bearings.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 12th June, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 12th Mar., 1891-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Self Adjusting Ball or like Bearings.
I, PHILIP LOUIS RENOUF, of Stoke Green, Coventry, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The object of this invention is to dispense with the ordinary screw adjustments
such as are used on ball bearings and to provide that the slack caused by wear is
automatically taken up. At present bearings of this kind are allowed to run loose
for a time; the adjustment piece or pieces are periodically unlocked, readjusted and
then locked until either the lock has shaken loose or the wear of the revolving parts
renders a fresh adjustment necessary.
By my invention there are no locking pieces. As wear takes place the adjust-
ment piece which is capable of lateral motion is kept up in position by a spring;
but it is also provided with one or more ratchets, cams or other suitable clutch
mechanism by means of which no amount of twist or pressure on the bearings will
be able to force back the spring or slacken the adjustment. The shape of the coned
surfaces must not admit of their running in and spinning up; I therefore prefer to
recess the female cone at a suitable angle of say 120° or thereabouts and to also
shape the male cone to a suitable angle say of 30° to the axle or thereabouts.
Dated this 19th day of June 1800
POPPLEWELL & Co.,
17 & 18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Self Adjusting Ball or like Bearings.
I, PHILIP LOUIS RENOUF, of Stoke Green, near Coventry, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for SELF
ADJUSTING ANTIFRICTION BEARINGS, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
The object of this invention is to render the moveable cone by means of which
an antifriction bearing is usually adjusted, self-acting, in so far as to enable it to
take up any slack caused by wear; but at the same time to prevent this cone from
receding from its proper position when subjected to undue torsion or vibration or
end thrust. For this purpose the moveable or adjusting cone is bored so as to
slide smoothly on the spindle, axle, wheel pin, bearing case or other part of the
velocipede according to the particular kind of bearing this invention may be
applied to; it is pressed firmly towards the balls by means of a spring, and is
provided with a rack or with a tumbler or clutch pressing against the part on
which the cone is mounted in such a way that the cone cannot compress this spring.
Care must be taken that the coned surfaces on which the balls run are properly
shaped; where this is not done, the action of the balls may tend to draw the move-
able cone unduly and spin or grind up the bearing surfaces. I therefore prefer to
shape the bearing so that one of the cones touches each ball on one point, and the
other cone touches each ball on two points; these points are so distributed that the
resultant of the pressures exerted on the two points of the one cone should exactly
be opposed to the third point.
The drawing shews the section of a loose wheel of a bicycle mounted on a fixed

page_text: spindle: A is a moveable or adjusting cone capable of sliding along the wheel
pin, C; B is the fixed cone, E is a spring encircling the pin or bolt C, pressing
against F, the fork or other framing of a bicycle, and tending to push cone A closer
to cone B. In order to prevent the cone. B reacting against the cone A (by means
of the balls) and pushing it back, one groove is cut along the bolt C and another
across part of the outer face of cone A; into the recess thus formed a cone or
clutch or tumbler, D, is inserted, with a cam-shaped end projecting into the groove
on the spindle. It will be seen that when the balls exert pressure on cone A, the
tumbler or clutch, D, will be wedged up against the bolt so that the cone cannot
move out of the bearing. On the other hand, as the bearing wears and the
pressure on the balls and on the cone, C, is reduced the spring will be enabled to
press cone C into the bearing.
In some cases the part corresponding to the clutch D is provided with a separate
spring keeping it in close contact with the bolt C; sometimes the surface of C is
roughed where in contact with this clutch.
;
The concave or female cone in this drawing is recessed to an angle of 120°, the
male cone forming an angle of 30° with the wheel pin the pressure of the balls on
the latter cone at point C being exactly opposed to the pressure exerted by the
female cone at points and g.
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 self adjusting bearing device substantially as described.
(2.) In an antifriction bearing, the combination of a moveable cone, an adjusting
spring and a locking ratchet, clutch or tumbler or equivalent device for the purpose
described.
(3.) In a self adjusting antifriction bearing the arrangement of the bearing
surfaces in the manner and for the purpose described.
Dated this 12th day of March 1891.
PHILIP LOUIS RENOUF.