Improvements in Anti-friction Bearings for Rotary Shafts.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Jan., 1899-Accepted, 4th Mar., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Anti-friction Bearings for Rotary Shafts.
I, SAMUEL HEY, of 17, Hanover Street, Keighley, in the County of York, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, as communicated to me from
abroad by James Alexander Horton, of 32, Princeton Avenue, in the City and
County of Providence, State of Rhode Island, United States of America, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
This invention has relation to anti-friction bearings of the class wherein rolls
are employed for reducing the friction between two members, one of which is
rotated relatively to the other.
One of the chief objections to the use of anti-friction rolls, as distinguished from
balls, is the tendency and liability of the rolls to swing out of parallelism with the
axis of rotation of the rotary member, and thereby become wedged. Hence the
object of this invention is to provide a bearing of the class mentioned with means
for maintaining the rolls in parallelism with each other and with the axis of the
rotary member, and thereby gain all the advantages due to the employment of
rolls, without any of the disadvantages usually resulting therefrom.
To this end, the invention consists of a bearing provided with certain features
of construction and relative arrangement of parts, all as illustrated upon the draw-
ings and as I shall now proceed to describe in detail and point out in the claims
hereunto appended.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters desig-
nating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.
Of the drawings,
Figure 1 represents, in end elevation, a bearing embodying my invention.
Figure 2 represents a longitudinal sectional view through the same.
Figure 3 represents a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.
Figure 4 represents a transverse section on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.
Referring to the drawings,
a indicates the rotary member, which is provided with a collar or enlargement a¹
between its ends. b indicates the stationary member or bearing-block, which is
supported upon a standard b' arising from the base 62. This bearing-block is bored
out to receive the enlarged portion a' of the rotary member, there being interposed
between said members a series of anti-friction rolls c, having on their ends trun-
nions c¹¹ which project beyond the edges of the bearing-block b and the enlarge-
ment or collar a¹ of the member a. The rollers c are arranged in close order, and
their trunnions or reduced ends c¹ are extended into sockets or apertures & in
toothed gears d which are journalled loosely upon the shaft or member a, each
gear being provided with a series of independent sockets, each of which receives
one of the trunnions.
The bearing-block is provided with upwardly-projecting ears or lugs ³ to
receive a small shaft e parallel to the shaft a, and having on its ends pinions or
gears e el intermeshing with the toothed gears or disks d. The gears à d are of
the same size, and have the same number of teeth, the same being true of the
D
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page_text: gears e¹ el; and as the last-mentioned gears are keyed or otherwise firmly secured
on the shaft e, the gears d d are caused to rotate in unison about the axis of the
rotary member a. The trunnions c¹ of the rolls c fit loosely in the sockets d¹ in the
gears d, and as the said rolls revolve about the axis of the shaft a, the gears da
are caused to move in unison and thereby maintain the rolls c is parallelism with
the shaft a. The gears d d constitute spacing devices to hold the rolls at any
desired distance apart and instead of forming them with sockets, they may be
formed with through-apertures therefor.
The trunnions are long enough, as shown in Figure 2, to prevent the ends of
the rolls from frictionally engaging the gears d d and thereby retarding the move-
ment of the rotary member.
The bearing-block is provided with flanges 664 to receive a casing f, which may
be bolted or otherwise secured thereto; and hence oil or other suitable lubricant
may be inserted in the casing, so that the movable parts will travel in a bath of
oil.
The gears d d supporting the ends of the rolls, the gears or pinions e¹ e meshing
with said gear d d, and the shaft e journalled in fixed bearings and affixed to the
gears el e¹, constitute an equalizing mechanism which is engaged with the ends of
the rolls and insures their rotation at a uniform rate, so that they are kept in
parallelism. The gears e¹ e¹ and shaft e constitute equalizing connections between
the gears d d.
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 roller-bearing comprising a rotary member, a stationary member, non-
geared rolls interposed between said members, and equalizing mechanism portions
of which engage the ends of said rolls for holding them in parallelism with the
axis of the said rotary member.
2. A roller-bearing comprising a stationary member, a rotary member, rollers
between the said members and having trunnions at their ends, gears having
sockets to receive said trunnions, and equalizing connections between said gears,
whereby they are caused to rotate in unison and hold the rolls in parallelism with
the rotary member.
3. A roller-bearing comprising two toothed gears, a series of parallel anti-
friction rolls journalled at their ends in said gears and extending between them,
and a shaft parallel with said rolls and having gears at its ends meshing with the
roll-holding gears, whereby the said gears are caused to rotate in unison and the
parallelism of the rolls is preserved.
Dated this 30th day of January 1899