The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 15, 1976
Filed:
Dec. 14, 1973
Applicant:
Inventor:
John R Bouchard, Canton, MA (US);
Assignee:
Northrop Corporation, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
F16C / ; F16C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
308187 ; 308 361 ; 308 78 ; 2914 / ; 2914 / ;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for reducing the friction in a ball-bearing pivot axis assembly. Within the bearing assembly, the balls are floated in a fluid lubricant and, especially in fully-floated units, the weight of the balls is an overriding consideration in the generation of sliding frictional torques. In the present invention these gravitational effects are counteracted by matching as nearly as possible the ball density and the flotation fluid density, the floated weight decrease serving to bring down the friction proportionally with an ultimate theoretical complete reduction of frictional uncertainty from that of known systems.