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US 5,076,716 AGranted
Thrust bearing with spiral grooved face
AssigneeEbara Corporation
InventorsShotaro Mizobuchi, Katsumi Sasaki, YOshikazu Kimura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A thrust bearing having a spiral element and a flat element is provided wherein bothy elements are arranged so as to be rotatable relative to each other and the spiral element is made of ceramic having a pattern of spiral grooves on the surface thereof opposing the flat element. The spiral grooves are formed by a shot-blasting process applied through a resin mask having a spiral pattern, the depth of the grooves being kept within the range between 3 .mu.m and 50 .mu.m.
Claims2
A thrust bearing comprising:
- a stationary element and a rotary element having opposed surfaces adapted to abut against each other, the opposed surface of one of said elements having a plurality of spiral grooves therein and the opposed surface of the other of said element being a flat surface abutting against said one surface of said one element, said one element being completely of sintered ceramics for facilitating the formation therein of grooves formed by a shot-blasting process, said spiral grooves having been formed by said shot-blasting process, and the other element being of ceramics or hard metal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.