Claims
- 1. A rotary cutter mount for an earth-boring cutter comprising:a bearing journal adapted to be coupled to a cutter body, the bearing journal having a rotary cutter body rotationally coupled to an exterior bearing surface thereof, a first mounting end of the bearing journal shaped to enable rotationally fixed positioning in a corresponding yoke, the yoke operatively coupled to the body of the earth-boring cutter; a ball race formed in an exterior surface of the bearing journal; and a ball loading passage formed in the bearing journal, the ball loading passage having an exit hole on the ball race, the exit hole positioned so that a rotary orientation thereof is disposed in a rotary orientation a selected angular displacement from a direction of maximum radial loading on the bearing journal, a shape of the first mounting end and a shape of the corresponding yoke adapted to enable mounting the bearing journal in a plurality of rotary orientations, each of the rotary orientations selected such that the exit hole is oriented other than in the direction of maximum radial loadings, wherein the shape of the first mounting end and the corresponding yoke are selected to provide a selected amount of angular separation between each of the plurality of rotary orientations, and wherein the selected amount of angular separation is greater than 90 degrees.
- 2. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the shape of the first mounting end comprises an octagon.
- 3. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the shape of the first mounting end comprises a substantially regular hexagon.
- 4. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the shape of the first mounting end comprises a cross.
- 5. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the shape of the first mounting end comprises a surface adapted to rest on a top of a substantially triangular upper surface of the corresponding yoke.
- 6. The mount as defined in claim 5 wherein the surface adapted to rest on the top comprises two mating surfaces angularly displaced by 180 degrees.
- 7. The mount as defined in claim 5 wherein the surface adapted to rest on the top comprises three mating surfaces angularly displaced by 120 degrees.
- 8. The mount as defined in claim 5 wherein the surface adapted to rest on the top comprises four mating surfaces angularly displaced by 90 degrees.
- 9. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the shape of the first mounting end comprises a cylinder.
- 10. The mount as defined in claim 9 wherein an end face of the mounting end comprises holes each for receiving a bolt therein, and the corresponding yoke comprises holes in a face thereof, the holes on the yoke face and on the end face positioned to enable mounting the bearing journal in the plurality of rotary orientations.
- 11. The mount as defined in claim 10 wherein the plurality of rotary orientations is four in number, each of the four rotary orientations angularly separated by about 90 degrees.
- 12. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the shape of the first mounting end comprises a square.
- 13. The mount as defined in claim 12 wherein the square comprises radiused corners.
- 14. The mount as defined in claim 12 wherein the corresponding yoke comprises a locking wedge coupled to an upper surface thereof.
- 15. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the shape of the first mounting end comprises a flat blade.
- 16. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the exit hole is positioned with respect to the plurality of rotary orientations such that the exit hole is oriented at least about 45 degrees angularly separated from the direction of maximum radial loading irrespective of the rotary orientation.
- 17. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the selected amount of angular separation is 120 degrees.
- 18. The mount as defined in claim 1 wherein the selected amount of angular separation is 180 degrees.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This invention claims priority from U.S. provisional application serial No. 60/289,501, filed on May 8, 2001.
US Referenced Citations (15)
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60/289501 |
May 2001 |
US |