Roller bearing for use in oscillatory applications

A roller bearing apparatus comprising:

• an inner ring member;
• an outer ring member, the inner and outer ring members defining therebetween an annular raceway space;
• an annular guide member positioned in the raceway space, the annular guide member including opposite radially extending sides, at least one of the radially extending sides including a plurality of roller seats, each of the roller seats including a circumferentially slanted surface, and
• a plurality of rollers supported in the raceway space by the inner and outer ring members, each of the rollers including opposite inboard and outboard end faces, the inboard end face of each of the rollers being seated against a corresponding one of the roller seats, the inboard end face of each of the rollers being non-planar, and the entire inboard end face of each of the rollers being engagable with the circumferentially slanted surface of the corresponding one of the roller seats.

A roller bearing apparatus for supporting a shaft, the roller bearing apparatus comprising:

• an inner ring assembly, the inner ring assembly including a sleeve mountable on a shaft to be supported by the roller bearing apparatus, and an inner ring member, the inner ring member including an inner race surface, and the inner ring member being supported on the sleeve so that the inner ring member is rotatable relative to the sleeve,
• an outer ring member encircling the inner ring member, the outer ring member including an outer race surface, and the inner and outer ring members defining therebetween a raceway space,
• an annular roller guide member positioned in the raceway space,
• a plurality of rollers arranged in an axially inclined annular row in the raceway space, each of the rollers being supported by the inner and outer race surfaces, and each of the rollers including opposite inboard and outboard end faces, and
• means for precessing the rollers and the inner ring member when the roller bearing apparatus is used in an oscillatory application, the means for precessing the rollers and the inner ring member including a plurality of circumferentially slanted roller seating surfaces on the roller guide member, the inboard end face of each of the rollers being seated against one of the circumferentially slanted roller seating surfaces, and a non-planar surface portion on each of the inboard end faces of the rollers, the circumferentially slanted roller seating surfaces on the annular guide member and the non-planar surface portions on the inboard end faces of the rollers cooperating to provide each of the rollers with a non-zero mean skew angle when the roller bearing apparatus is oscillated.