None
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Portions of the disclosure of this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Bearings are known in the art. However, due to the shape of standard bearings, the bearings spin against the inner and outer races at the same speed. This results in a lower maximum speed differential between the races, and a propensity for structural failure. The present invention uses a specialized bearing with rolling surfaces of different diameters to allow the races to travel at greatly differentiated speeds thereby reducing friction, and preventing heat build up and bearing failure.
The improved bearing mechanism of the present invention relies on bearings that present two different surfaces to the inner and outer rings of the mechanism. By presenting a smaller rolling surface to one ring and a larger rolling surface to the other, the bearings allow a greater speed differential to develop between the inner and outer rings.
The bearing mechanism comprises a first inner ring with two inner races disposed on opposite sides of a channel, and a bore in the center of the ring. A series of bearings disposed evenly along the races of the inner ring are surrounded by, and also disposed evenly along, an outer ring with an outer race. The bearings are sized so that the smaller rolling surfaces make contact with the races of the inner ring, and the larger rolling surfaces make contact with the outer ring, and wherein the rings rotate about the bearings simultaneously. Each bearing further comprises a pin hole for accommodating a pin engaging a retaining ring to preserve the spacing of the bearings.
The bearings comprise a modified cylinder with two extreme ends of a smaller diameter and a central section of a larger diameter. The extreme ends present rolling surfaces to the races of the inner ring, and the center section presents a rolling surface to the race of the outer ring. The inner ring comprises two races around its circumference with a channel disposed between the races, and a central bore. The channel disposed in the inner ring is deep enough to permit the enlarged middle area of the bearing to spin without touching the sides or bottom of the inner ring channel.
The outer ring comprises a race disposed circumferentially around its interior. This race supports the enlarged rolling surface at the middle of the bearing. A retaining ring disposed laterally against the extreme ends of the bearings is anchored to the ends of the bearings with pins extending through pin holes in the bearings and through corresponding pin holes at the junction of the extreme ends of the bearings and the retaining ring.
When the bearings are disposed between the inner ring member and the outer ring member, the smaller rolling surfaces of the bearings are supported in the races of the inner ring and the larger rolling surfaces of the bearings are supported in the race of the outer ring. In this manner, the bearings are in constant contact with the races of both ring members, which allows the members to spin at greatly differentiated speeds.
The diameter of the smaller rolling surfaces of the bearing and the diameter of the larger rolling surface of the bearing is designed to correspond with the difference in diameter between the inner ring and the outer ring so that constant non-slipping contact is maintained, and all bearing surfaces make the same number of revolutions relative to the ratio of the bearings' larger and smaller rolling surfaces.
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A series of bearings 22 are disposed evenly along the inner ring member races 16 and are surrounded by an outer ring member 18 with an outer ring member race 20. The bearings 22 are also disposed evenly along the outer ring member race 20, so that they roll along the inner ring member 12 and outer ring member 18 races simultaneously. Each bearing 22 further comprises a pin hole 28 for accommodating a pin that anchors a retaining means (not shown). The bearings are disposed along the races so that the smaller rolling surfaces 24 of the bearings make contact with the races 16 of the inner ring member, and the larger rolling surfaces 26 of the bearings make contact with the race 20 of the outer ring member; thereby allowing the members to rotate relative to the bearings at greatly differentiated speeds without failure.
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When the bearings are disposed between the inner ring member and the outer ring member, the smaller rolling surfaces of the bearings are supported by the races of the inner ring member. Simultaneously, the enlarged middle of the bearing and larger rolling surface is supported in the race of the outer ring member. In this manner, the bearings are in constant contact with the races of both ring members. Additionally, the diameter of the bearings' smaller rolling surfaces and larger rolling surface is sized to correspond with the difference in diameter between the inner ring member and the outer ring member, so that all bearing surfaces make the same number of revolutions relative to the ring members, while allowing the ring members to travel at different speeds or the exact same speed depending on the ratio of the design.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the outer circumference of the inner ring member is 6.91152 inches and the inner circumference of the outer ring member is 11.0018 inches. Likewise the smaller rolling surface of the bearings is 1.5708 inches and the larger rolling surface is 2.51328 inches. Therefore the diameter ratio of the smaller rolling surface to the larger rolling surface of the bearings is 0.500/0.800 or 0.625:1 permitting the bearings to roll exactly 4.3 times around the first and second ring members simultaneously.
The races of the inner and outer ring members have complimentary profiles. This serves to preserve the bearing in the race. In one embodiment, concave surfaces on the races of the inner ring member are 0.225 inches wide and are defined by an arc with a radius of 3.02 inches; the concave surface of the outer ring member is 1.000 inches wide and defined by an arc with a radius of 1.751 inches.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, washers (not shown) are disposed between the retaining rings and the terminal ends of the bearings. In yet another embodiment, a conventional bearing cage is used to retain the bearings.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the mechanism comprises ten evenly spaced bearings. However different embodiments comprising different sized mechanisms and different numbers of bearings are contemplated.
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All features disclosed in this specification, including any accompanying claims, abstract, and drawings, may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.
Any element in a claim that does not explicitly state “means for” performing a specified function, or “step for” performing a specific function, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step” clause as specified in 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6. In particular, the use of “step of” in the claims herein is not intended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6.
Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, various modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustration and not limitation.