The Timken Company

Peter S Orvos

Peter W Lee

Chester F Jatczak

Robert J Cunningham

A tapered roller bearing has a porous rib ring against which the large ends of its wrought steel tapered rollers bear so that the ring prevents the rollers from being expelled. The rib ring is formed from porous powdered steel that has been compacted to a density of about 70% to 85% of theoretical and then sintered and machined. Thereafter, the machined rib ring is etched to expose the pores at the surface against which the large ends of the rollers bear. Finally, the rib ring is impregnated with oil. Should the bearing lose its normal supply of lubrication, the critical region of contact between the abutment face on the rib ring and the large ends of the rollers will nevertheless be adequately lubricated for a reasonable time by lubricant which escapes from the pores of the rib ring. The cage of the bearing may be piloted by the rib ring and by a ring-like cup insert that is formed in the same manner as the rib ring.

Tapered roller bearing capable of sustained operation without lubricant

The cage of a tapered roller bearing has large and small end rings that extend respectively along the large and small end faces of the tapered rollers and in addition bridges that connect the end rings and maintain the proper spacing between the rollers. Each bridge includes a web that projects radially inwardly toward the bearing cone. One end of each web merges with the small end ring, while the other end forms a corner located inwardly from the large end ring. Indeed, the corner is located opposite to the thrust rib of the bearing cone. Each web in turn is provided with a groove that extends its full length, with the end located at the small end ring being closer to the axis of rotation than the end that is at the corner. During operation of the bearing, a liquid lubricant is directed into the space between the small end ring and the bearing cone. Some of this lubricant collects in the grooves at the small end of the cage, and by reason of the centrifugal forces generated by the rotation of the cage, this lubricant flows through the grooves and at the corner is discharged against that surface of the thrust rib against which the large end faces of the rollers bear. As a consequence, this critical surface area of the bearing receives adequate lubrication, even during high speed operation of the bearing.

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Uniontown, OH, United States of America

Peter S Orvos