Ball bearing

Abstract

An axial thrust bearing includes two race rings with opposed race surfaces defining a ball cavity and balls disposed in the ball cavity for rotatably supporting the race rings relative to each other. At least one of the race surfaces has annular raised areas which provide for rolling contact areas for the balls, the annular contact areas of the races being arranged in low speed bearings such that the apexes of the cones defined by the annular contact areas coincide on the axis of the bearing. In high speed bearings the races are arranged so that secants through the ball and race contact points form an angle with a plane normal to the bearing axis, which angle is between 40 and 20% of an ideal angle at which the secants intersect on the bearing axis. With this arrangement two rolling contact areas are provided by the respective race which increases load capacity and life of the respective race and reduces friction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.