Patent ID: 8052330

Claim:
A rolling apparatus comprising a transfer path made up of at least one pair of transfer grooves; and plural rolling elements interposed in the transfer path in such a manner as to be capable of freely rolling, wherein the rolling elements have any one of a spherical shape, a cylindrical shape having opposite corners three-dimensionally curved, a conical shape, a barrel shape and a complex curved shape thereof; said transfer path has a region that allows the rolling elements to contact only one of the transfer grooves of the transfer path, or a region that has a friction force acting between one of the transfer grooves of the transfer path and the rolling elements being greater than the friction force acting between another one of the transfer grooves of the transfer path and the rolling elements; said one of the transfer grooves in said region has a cross sectional shape taken in a direction perpendicular to the direction, in which the rolling elements are transferred, which cross sectional shape allowing two point contact with the rolling elements; and said rolling apparatus further has a contact-angle changing path that has a contact angle with the rolling elements that is greater than the contact angle of the other portion of the transfer path, wherein the groove at which said contact-angle changing path is formed is composed to be able to move relative to its facing groove in the transfer direction of the rolling elements.