AN IMPROVED ANTI-FRICTION BEARING FOR AXLES PULLEY BLOCKS, FURNITURE CASTORS & OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I DAVID THORPE LEE of 1 Elm Tree Road St John's Wood, London in the
County of Middlesex Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for AN IMPROVED ANTI-FRICTION BEARING FOR AXLES PULLEY BLOCKS, FURNITURE
CASTORS & OTHER PURPOSES to be as follows:-
Believing that the cost of roller or anti-frictional bearings, as they are now
made, is to a great extent prohibitive to their more general adoption I propose to
remove to some. extent this prohibition by a more simple method of producing
them, I find this can be done by making them spiral in form, either of spun, or
coiled wire or bar (according to strength desired) or by giving a spiral surface by
pressure to metal tubing, by this means I obtain a roller equal to those produced
by the laborious & costly methods now in practice, yet having the distinct merit
of presenting a less amount of frictional surface, lighter in weight & can be pro-
duced at a cost comparatively nominal, they can be made either taper or conical
with equal facility, & are held in their position in the box of the axle, case of
castor, pulley &c in the usual manner,

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, DAVID THORPE LEE, 1 Elm Tree Road St John's Wood, London, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for IMPROVED ANTI-FRICTION ROLLERS FOR BEARINGS and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
The purpose of my invention is to produce anti-friction roller bearings in a
simple and inexpensive manner, thereby rendering their general adoption more
possible. The method by which I propose to do so is as follows;
I proceed by winding or coiling steel wire or bar, either round, half-round, flat
or square, on a mandril of any convenient length. The thickness of the wire or
bar being regulated according to the desired strength of the rollers, the diameter
of the mandril being also regulated to the diameter of the rollers required.
The said lengths of coiled or spun wire or bar are then cut into lengths suited
to the size of the box, journal, or case within which the axle, spindle or crank is
to work, and round which the rollers revolve Where great accuracy is necessary,
the aforesaid lengths of coiled wire or bar are put on to a mandril, and are either
turned or ground to exact sizes; they are afterwards hardened, tempered, and
polished. Rollers of the smaller sizes may be coiled in the first, instance of wire
already tempered and polished.
It will be seen that by this method anti-friction rollers can be produced
possessing great strength combined with lightness, and at a minimum of cost;
they also possessing, by their spiral formation, special advantages for distributing
the lubrication.
The rollers can be made tapered, conical, or globular, by heating the aforesaid
lengths or pieces of coiled wire or bar; and then subjecting them to pressure in a
die of either shape. By this process they can be produced with great accuracy.
The tempering also, can be done either simultaneously or immediately after the
pressure is given, by flooding the die containing the hot roller with oil or water.
The rollers made in either of the aforesaid ways can be used coiled close or open,
but I preferably. arrange an open coil alternately with a close coil, the close coils
bearing the weight or pressure, the open coils serving to keep the close coils at
equal distances. I also prefer the open coils to be slightly less in diameter, so as
not to bear against the axle, crank, or shaft.
In place of the close-coiled wire or bar, either solid or tubular rollers, having
helical grooves or cuts on their surfaces, produced by pressure or cutting, may be
used.
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
First, The production of anti-friction rollers for bearings, and the arrangement of
the same. by the method and in the manner herein descrihad

page_text: Second, The employment of rollers for bearings, of helical formation, whether
produced by coiling wire or bar on a mandril as heretofore described, or by pressing
or cutting tubes or bars, so as to produce a spiral surface, for the purpose of
reducing the friction and promoting the more thorough distribution of the
lubrication.