Patent ID: 8602656

Claim:
An alternator, comprising: a front bearing with an outer race; a rear bearing with an outer race; a housing holding the front and rear bearings; a stator located in the housing; a rotor with a shaft located in a space formed on an inside of the stator such that the shaft extending along an axial direction is rotatably supported by the front bearing and the rear bearing; and a washer that applies a pressing force to both the housing located on a first axial side of the washer in the axial direction and the outer race of a force receiving bearing, denoting the front or rear bearing, located on a second axial side of the washer opposite to the first axial side, wherein the washer comprises: a ring-shaped base portion concentrically located with the force receiving bearing; and at least three spring portions extending from an outer circumferential end of the base portion toward an outside of the base portion along a circumferential direction of the base portion such that at least one of the spring portions or the base portion is in contact with the outer race of the force receiving bearing so as to apply the pressing force to the outer race while at least another one of the spring portions or the base portion not in contact with the outer race is in contact with the housing so as to apply the pressing force to the housing, and each spring portion of the washer comprises: a slanting portion, extending from the base portion along a radial direction of the base portion while being inclined to the axial direction, and a flattened portion extending from the slanting portion along the radial direction while being substantially in parallel to the base portion, such that: two slanting portions adjacent to each other in each pair along the circumferential direction are, respectively, inclined to the first and second axial sides of the axial direction, and the flattened portions extending from the slanting portions inclined to the first axial side are in contact with the housing, and the flattened portions extending from the slanting portions inclined to the second axial side are in contact with the outer race of the force receiving bearing.