Bearings

Bearing is a mechanical device for decreasing friction in a machine in which a moving part bears—that is, slides or rolls on another part. Usually in a bearing the support must allow the moving part one type of motion, for ex­ample, rotation, while preventing it from moving in any other way, for example, sidewise. The commonest bear­ings are found at the rigid supports of rotating shafts where friction is the greatest.

Bearings were invented early in history; when the wheel was invented, it was mounted on an axle, and where wheel and axle touched was a bearing. Such early bear­ings had surfaces of wood or leather lubricated with ani­mal fat.

Modern bearings have been arbitrarily designated as friction bearings and antifriction bearings. The first comprises sleeve or journal bearings; the second, ball and roller bearings. Neither type of bearing is completely frictionless, and both are highly efficient in reducing friction. A large, modern aircraft engine, for example, has more than 100 bearings, including both types; yet the total power consumed in overcoming bearing friction is less than one per cent of the total power output of the engine.

Friction bearings (скольжения) of the sleeve or jour­nal type are simpler than antifriction bearings in construc­tion but more complex in theory and operation. The shaft supported by the bearing is called the journal, and the outer portion, the sleeve. If journal and sleeve are both made of steel, the bearing surfaces, even if well lubricated, may grab or pick up, that is, rip, small pieces of metal from each other. The sleeves of most bearings therefore are lined with brass, bronze, or Babbitt metal. Sleeve bearings are generally pressure-lubricated through a hole in the journal or from the housing that contains the bear­ing. The sleeve is often grooved to distribute the oil evenly over the bearing surface.

Typical clearance (difference between the diameters of journal and sleeve) is nominally 0.0025 cm for every 2.54 cm of journal diameter. When the journal is rotat­ing, it may be about 0.0000001 cm from the sleeve at the side with the greatest load. The journal is thus supported on an extremely thin film of oil, and the two parts have no actual contact. As the rotational speed increases, other variables remaining constant, the oil film becomes thicker, so that the friction increases in less than direct proportion to the speed. Conversely, at lower speeds the oil film is thinner if other factors are unchanged. At ex­tremely low speeds, however, the film may rupture and the two pieces come into contact. Therefore, friction is high when the machine is started in motion, and the bear­ing may fail if high stresses are put on it during start­ing. Ball bearings, on the other hand, have low starting friction.

Jewel bearings are used to mount very little shafts such as those found in fine watches. They are friction-type bearings in which the ends of the shafts are mounted in extremely hard substances. The bearing is lubricated with a microscopic drop of fine oil.

In a ball bearing, a number of balls rotate freely be­tween an inner ring, which is rigidly fixed to a rotating shaft, and an outer ring, which is rigidly fixed to a sup­port. Both balls and rings are made of hardened alloy steel, usually finished to extremely fine tolerances. The balls are generally held in position by a cage or separator that keeps them evenly spaced and prevents them from rubbing against each other. The bearing is lubricated with grease or oil.

A roller bearing is similar to a ball bearing, except that small steel cylinders, or rollers, are substituted for the balls. A needle bearing is a roller bearing in which the rollers are extremely long and thin. An ordinary roller bearing may have 20 rollers — each twice as long as it is wide — whereas a needle bearing may have 100 needles, each 10 times as long as it is wide. Needle bearings are particularly useful when space is limited.