Hydrostatic support arrangement

A support apparatus comprising a plurality of adjacently arranged hydrostatic support arrangements, each of said adjacently arranged hydrostatic support arrangements comprising:

• a piston-and-cylinder unit for the formation of a hydrostatic pressing force;
• said piston-and-cylinder unit including a piston having an effective surface area;
• a bearing shoe having a bearing surface and equipped for hydrostatic lubrication and provided for the piston of the piston-and-cylinder unit;
• said bearing shoe possessing an effective bearing shoe;
• surface area which is greater than the effective surface area of said piston;
• supply means for infeeding a pressurized hydraulic medium to said piston-and-cylinder unit and to said bearing shoe;
• said supply means including separate supply lines;
• one of said separate supply lines being connected to said piston-and-cylinder unit;
• an other one of said separate supply lines being connected to said bearing shoe;
• a pressure pump and a bearing pump operatively associated with predeterminate ones of said supply lines;
• said pressure pump for forming the pressing force operating at a pressure which is greater than the pressure of the bearing pump for lubricating the bearing surface of the bearing shoe;
• said bearing pump delivering a greater quantity of pressurized hydraulic medium than said pressure pump;
• said bearing pump comprising a volumetric pump delivering a substantially constant quantity of pressurized hydraulic medium per unit of time;
• said pressure pump comprising a pump delivering a substantially constant feed pressure;
• and
• volume dividers positioned between said bearing pump and individual bearing shoes of said plurality of adjacently arranged hydrostatic support arrangements.