Patent ID: 8225478

Claim:
A method for installing a bearing comprising: providing a bearing sleeve comprising a memory shape material; compressing the memory shape material into a first shape in which an inner surface of the bearing sleeve compresses from an inner surface expanded state to an inner surface compressed state, and an outer surface of the bearing sleeve compresses from an outer surface expanded state to an outer surface compressed state; disposing a bearing into a cavity of the bearing sleeve adjacent to the inner surface while the inner surface is in the inner surface compressed state; disposing the outer surface of the bearing sleeve adjacent to a surface of a structure while the outer surface of the bearing sleeve is in the outer surface compressed state; and expanding the memory shape material into a second shape in which the inner surface of the bearing sleeve expands from the inner surface compressed state to the inner surface expanded state against the bearing disposed in the cavity of the bearing sleeve thereby locking the bearing within the cavity of the bearing sleeve with the bearing configured to rotate relative to the bearing sleeve, and the outer surface of the bearing sleeve expands from the outer surface compressed state to the outer surface expanded state against the surface of the structure thereby locking the bearing sleeve against the surface of the structure.