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:
Mar. 27, 2001
Filed:
May. 21, 1998
Gayle W. Miller, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Gail D. Shelton, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
LSI Logic Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides bearing assemblies and methods of manufacturing bearing assemblies which allow for reliable, non-intrusive wear detection. In one embodiment, a bearing assembly (,) includes first and second bearing members (,) adapted for movement relative to each other. The first bearing member includes an outer layer (,) that is adapted to wear in response to the relative movement between bearing members, and an inner layer. The inner layer includes a base portion (,) having a first hardness and a plurality of spaced apart wear indicating regions (,) having a second hardness, whereby the first hardness and second hardness are different. The wear indicating regions are adapted to produce a vibration after sufficient wear of the outer layer.