Patent ID: RE39228

Claim:
A vertical turbine pump comprising: a pump bowl assembly including a casing having a bulbous diffuser section between axially opposed upstream and downstream sections which are narrower than said diffuser section; a bulbous diffuser core disposed centrally in said casing diffuser section; a drive shaft extending centrally and axially through said diffuser core; a rotary impeller fastened to an end of said drive shaft and disposed in said casing upstream section adjacent a fluid inlet, said impeller incorporating flared shrouds which are axially spaced from each other and spirally oriented impeller vanes disposed between said shrouds and spaced from each other equiangularly about the axis of impeller rotation; three stationary diffuser vanes spaced equiangularly about said diffuser core, said diffuser vanes extending laterally between said diffuser core and said casing and having upstream ends which curve about said diffuser core and downstream ends which extend generally axially through said casing downstream section; and a bearing cartridge separably fastened within said diffuser core, said bearing cartridge carrying axially spaced bearings which surround and rotatably support said drive shaft , said bearing cartridge being removable from an upstream section of said casing by removing said impeller and disengaging said bearing cartridge from said diffuser core thereby permitting said bearing cartridge to be slid off said drive shaft in an axial direction .