Koyo Seiko Company, Ltd.

Yoshitsugu Fujiwara

Hirotsugu Okuse

Masahiro Noguchi

A retainer for a needle bearing has an improved durability owing to the improved strength of its stay portions at the roots thereof, and an improved lubricating property. The retainer 10 is made by forming a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart pockets 11 for needle rollers in a strip of material, bending it into a cylindrical shape and joining its butt ends together. Every two adjoining pockets 11 define therebetween a stay portion 13 having a pair of axially extending sides S which are substantially parallel to each other. Every two adjoining stay portions 13 have between their radially inner ends a distance L1 which is smaller than the diameter of each needle roller 9f. Each stay portion 13 has a pair of protrusions 14 extending from its axially middle and radially outer part to the centers of two adjoining pockets 11, and the protrusions 14 in each pocket 11 have therebetween a distance L2 which is smaller than the diameter of the needle roller 9. Each protrusion 14 has a beveled surface 15 formed along its radially inner edge and adapted to make surface contact with the needle roller 9 in each pocket 11.

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Kishiwada, Japan

Yoshitsugu Fujiwara