Patent ID: 7611286

Claim:
A journal bearing arrangement for a rotatable shaft comprising: (i) a housing configured to surround a shaft space and having a housing surface facing into the shaft space, (ii) a plurality of arcuate bearing pads arrayed about the shaft space overlying the housing surface, each having a bearing face adjacent the shaft space and a body face adjacent the housing surface, and (iii) a mounting arrangement, arranged to support at least one bearing pad with respect to the housing surface movable relative thereto in a direction to and from the housing surface, including associated with each said movable pad, a stop comprising a restraining boss and a shoulder provided one each by the housing and bearing pad, said boss having a head portion arranged to overlie the shoulder to limit the extent of pad movement away from the housing surface and permit displacement of the bearing pad towards the housing surface, and a spring arrangement comprising, a plurality of individually deflectable resilient elements operable to bias the pad away from the housing surface to the limit imposed by the stop and exert on said pad stopped by the stop a predetermined level of pre-load and, in response to load applied to the bearing surface exceeding said pre-load level, permit displacement of the pad towards the housing surface.