US 2008/0175704 A1Published application

Pump oil mister with improved service life

OwnerRobert E. Rockwoodinventor

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Abstract

A centrifugal environmentally safe pump including a motor driven pump shaft having a fluid pumping impeller affixed thereto. A plurality of annular shaft supporting bearing assemblies are disposed along the shaft adjacent a lubrication chamber, the lubrication chamber housing lubrication fluid (e.g. oil) maintained at a level below rotating portions of the bearing assemblies so as to maintain a low operating temperature within the chamber and adjacent the bearings. A lubricating fluid dispenser having a thin-profile, disc-shaped portion is affixed to the pump shaft within the lubrication chamber for rotation along with the shaft. A plurality of wire-like fluid contacting members are loosely connected along the outer periphery of the disc-shaped portion through respective bearing sleeves, the wire members for dipping into the lubricating fluid when the pump shaft is rotating thereby dispersing or misting the fluid throughout the chamber.

Claims4

Dependent claims

A method of installing a lubricant dispenser into a lubrication chamber of a centrifugal pump, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a pump including a lubrication chamber defined therein, the pump including an opening adjacent the lubrication chamber through which the lubricant dispenser is to be inserted;
providing a plurality of bearing sleeves into apertures formed around the outer periphery of the lubricant dispenser;
providing a plurality of pivotally or movably mounted dispensing members attached through respectively ones of said bearing sleeves disposed around the outer periphery of the lubricant dispenser for the purpose of misting lubricant throughout the lubrication chamber;
collapsing or pivoting downward the dispensing members prior to insertion of the dispenser into the chamber through the opening;
inserting the dispenser with the collapsed or downward pivoted dispensing members through the opening and into the lubrication chamber;
and
operating the pump so that centrifugal force created by rotation of a pump shaft to which the dispenser is attached causes the dispensing members to extend radially outward from the shaft in order to dispense lubricant throughout the chamber so as to lubricate bearings therein.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.