Ball Bearing
date: label: date made
content: 1950
notes: label: Description
content: This ball bearing was used by the Aetna Ball & Roller Bearing Company of Chicago, Illinois to commemorate its 1949 sales meeting. The bearing is inscribed “AETNA SALES MEETING NOVEMBER 18, 1949” and came with two separate balls. The Anti-Friction Bearing Manufacturers Association collected bearings for a public relations exhibit during the early 1950s, and donated them to the museum in 1977.
label: Description
content: Simple bearings have been used for thousands of years reducing friction on turning parts like the axles of carts. In the late 1800s and early 1900s advances in machining and production expanded bearing use in all types of machines greatly increasing their life and precision. Bearings reduce friction on turning surfaces and keep them running true. Bearings come in a variety of shapes and sizes (including ball, roller, tapered, and simple friction). Modern bearings are often set in an inner and outer ring (called a race) sometimes with cages (separators) spacing the bearings. Changes to the size, shape, alignment, race, and cage allow for bearings to be used in almost any industry—from industrial turbines and automobiles to household mixers and computer hard drives.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
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content: Bearings
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Anti-Friction Bearing Manufacturers Association
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.336108.07
label: catalog number
content: 336108.07
label: accession number
content: 1977.0585
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bearing
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall - large ball: 2 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in; 6.35 cm x 6.35 cm x 6.35 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall - small ball: 1 7/8 in x 1 7/8 in x 1 7/8 in; 4.7625 cm x 4.7625 cm x 4.7625 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall - bearing: 7/8 in x 3 5/8 in; 2.2225 cm x 9.2075 cm