Patent ID: 6990889

Claim:
In combination: a housing defining a housing interior; a swash plate drive shaft disposed in said housing interior and rotatably mounted relative to said housing about an axis of rotation; a swash plate mounted on said swash plate drive shaft angularly disposed relative to said axis of rotation and located in said housing interior, said swash plate having an outer swash plate portion surrounding said swash plate drive shaft and generally freely rotatably moveable about and relative to said swash plate drive shaft and relative to said housing, said swash plate comprising a bearing assembly and said outer swash plate portion comprising an outer race of said bearing assembly, said outer race having spaced contact surfaces disposed in opposition to one another; and a plurality of spaced reciprocating members mounted for reciprocatable axial movement relative to said housing, each of said reciprocating members defining a cavity receiving the outer race and simultaneously frictionally engaging the spaced contact surfaces of said outer race, said spaced contact surfaces upon rotation of said swash plate drive shaft exerting opposed forces on said reciprocating members causing reciprocatable axial movement of said reciprocating members but not preventing rotation of said outer race about and relative to said swash plate drive shaft and relative to said housing, whereby the locations of contact between said contact surfaces and said reciprocating members change when said outer race rotates about said swash plate drive shaft and relative to said housing to reduce wear between said reciprocating members and said outer race.