Bearing protector with slinger ring

In combination, a shaft rotatable about its longitudinally extending axis, a housing disposed in surrounding relationship to the shaft and defining therein a cylindrical bore which concentrically surrounds the shaft, bearing means coacted between said housing and said shaft for rotatably supporting said shaft, and a bearing protector associated with said cylindrical bore at a location spaced axially outwardly from said bearing means and coacting between said shaft and said housing for sealingly isolating the bearing means from a region which is disposed exteriorly of the bearing protector, said bearing protector including a one-piece ring-shaped rotor sealingly and nonrotatably carried on said shaft and disposed for cooperation with a one-piece ring-shaped stator which is sealingly and nonrotatably mounted on said housing at least partially within said cylindrical bore, said stator being disposed radially in concentric and surrounding relationship to said rotor, said stator and rotor respectively having first and second annular surface means formed thereon and disposed in concentric and closely adjacent relationship to one another so as to define therebetween an elongate annular pathway which extends axially over a significant extent and at its inner end communicates with a bearing compartment and at its outer end communicates with the exterior region, said pathway including an inner passageway which is of very narrow width as defined between opposed portions of said first and second annular surface means for inhibiting flow therethrough, said inner passageway having a length which exceeds its width and defining the inner end of said pathway for direct communication with the bearing compartment, said pathway including an outer passageway which is of very narrow width as defined between opposed portions of said first and second annular surface means for inhibiting flow therethrough, said outer passageway having a length which exceeds its width and defining the outer end of said pathway for direct communication with the exterior region, the improvement comprising:

• said stator having a channellike collecting chamber formed therein, said collecting chamber being disposed in communication with said pathway substantially at the inner ends of said inner and outer passageways, said channellike chamber projecting radially outwardly from said first annular surface means in surrounding relationship thereto, said collecting chamber having axial and radial cross-sectional dimensions which are large in relationship to the width of said passageways;
• said rotor having a channellike groove formed therein in encircling relationship thereto, said channellike groove projecting radially inwardly from said second annular surface means and being of shallow radial depth, said channellike groove being generally radially aligned with said channellike chamber;
• a one-piece slinger ring stationarily seated within said channellike groove and projecting radially outwardly therefrom a substantial radial extent into said channellike chamber, said slinger ring having an axial cross-section which closely approximates the axial cross-section of said channellike chamber so that the slinger ring is axially closely confined within said chamber, said slinger ring being constructed of a relatively hard plastics material having limited elasticity so as to be snap fit into said channellike groove, said slinger ring being sufficiently radially outwardly elastically deformable so as to be slidably displaced axially over a portion of said second annular surface means as disposed directly adjacent said groove during assembly of said stator and rotor.