Linear bearing apparatus and method of use
OwnerGregory Lee Burnsinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A grooved linear bearing having a plurality of relatively rigid, laterally extending side plates and multiple sets of one or more circumferentially grooved bearings mounted laterally along and between adjacent side plates. One or more rod or tube corners or edges can penetrate mating peripherally grooved bearings, providing rotational stability for the rod mounted within the bearing; and inclusion of laterally spaced sets of such groove bearings (i.e., laterally along the linear bearing axis) can provide transverse (side-to-side) stability of the rod when slidably mounted within the linear bearing.
Claims26
A linear bearing apparatus comprising in combination:
- at least a first, a second, and a third side plate parallel to, and spaced from, a bearing axis extending laterally along the linear bearing apparatus;
- a first disk bearing set of at least a first and a second rotatable disk bearing, the first disk bearing set being mounted about a first bearing axis location along the bearing axis, with each among the at least first and second disk bearings being rotatably mounted intermediate two among the first, second, and third side plate;
- a second disk bearing set of at least a third and a fourth rotatable disk bearing, the second bearing set being mounted about a second location along the bearing axis spaced from the first bearing axis location with each among the third and fourth disk bearings being rotatably mounted intermediate among two of the first, second, and third side plate;
- wherein each disk bearing has a disk body having:
- (i) a central tubular rod passage passing through the center of the disk body and having a central rod passage axis extending along the lateral length of the central tubular rod passage transverse to the bearing axis;
- and
- (ii) an outer circumferential edge coaxial with the rod passage axis and having a circumferential depression having a circumferential depression peak in a peak plane transverse to the bearing axis.
A linear bearing apparatus kit of the type for slidably supporting a polygonal rod within a linear bearing assembled from the kit components, the linear bearing apparatus kit comprising in combination:
- a plurality of rotatable disk bearings, each having a disk body section with opposed planar disk surfaces, a bolt passage in the axial center of the disk body section transverse to the opposed planar disk surfaces, and at least one angled circumferential edge having a circumferential edge surface at an acute angle to the planar disk surfaces;
- a plurality of disk bearing bolts, each being mountable in a bolt passage in at least one among the plurality if disk bearings;
- a plurality of bolt nuts threadable on at least one among the plurality of disk bearing bolts;
- and
- at least a first, a second, and a third stackable side plate, each having:
- (i) a rectangular central plate section with a first plate edge opposite a second plate edge, the first plate edge and second plate edge extending from the rectangular plate section in opposite directions at an obtuse angle to the plane of the rectangular plate section;
- and
- (ii) a bowl shaped cross-section with an outer cup surface and inner cup surface, whereby the first stackable side plate is matingly stackable to the second stackable side plate and the second stackable side plate is matingly stackable to the third stackable side plate with the first, second, and third side plate forming a side plate stack.
A linear bearing apparatus of the type for slidably supporting a polygonal rod within the linear bearing apparatus, the linear bearing apparatus comprising in combination:
- at least three side plates, each having a rectangular central section surrounding a linear bearing axis extending through the length of the linear bearing;
- two sets of rotatable disk bearing components, the first set of rotatable disk bearing components being mountable to provide a first plurality of disk bearings mounted to the three side plates about the linear bearing axis in a first disk bearing rod axis plane transverse to the linear bearing axis at a first linear axis location, the second set of rotatable disk bearing components being mountable to provide a second plurality of disk bearings mounted to the three side plates about the linear bearing axis in a second disk bearing rod axis plane transverse to the linear bearing axis at a second linear axis location, the first linear axis location being spaced from the second linear axis location, each said disk bearing having a V-shaped circumferential edge with a V-peak extending radially inwardly from opposed V arms forming the V-shaped outer circumferential edge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.