Bearing assembly
OwnerKeith I. Chesterinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A bearing assembly for supporting a rotatable shaft comprises a number of bearing pads supported in a housing and the mutually engaging surfaces of each bearing pad and the housing are two surfaces of closely similar shape.
Claims9
A bearing assembly for supporting a rotatable shaft, which assembly comprises a plurality of bearing pads supported by a surrounding housing, the mutually engaging surfaces of each bearing pad and the housing being two surfaces of closely similar shape, which surfaces diverge in a first direction generally circumferential to the shaft and are each either rectilinear or only very slightly curved in a second direction generally at right angles to the first direction, the differences between the surfaces in said respective directions being such that the contact angle between the surfaces is less than three degrees of arc in said first direction and less than one degree of arc in said second direction.
A bearing assembly for a rotatable shaft, comprising a number of bearing pads supported by a housing surrounding said bearing pads, each said bearing pad having a surface which engages a similarly-shaped surface of said housing, which interengaging surfaces of said bearing pads and said housing respectively diverge in a first direction which is generally circumferential with respect to said shaft and which interengaging surfaces are each either rectilinear or slightly curved in a second direction which is generally perpendicular to said first direction, wherein the contact angle between said interengaging surfaces is less than one degree of arc in said first direction and wherein the contact angle between the interengaging surfaces is within the range between zero and 0.1 degree of arc in said second direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.