GB624210A - Improvements in or relating to anti-friction bearing assemblies - Google Patents

Abstract

624,210. Bearings. BRISTOL AEROPLANE CO., Ltd., and ROBINSON, S. June 12, 1947, No. 15570. [Class 12 (i)] In a bearing assembly of the kind in which a pair of thrust bearings 16, 17 are mounted on a common shaft 12, means are provided for equalizirig the thrust taken by each bearing. The inner races are clamped between a shoulder 20 the shaft 12 and a sleeve 21 and they are separated by a ring 19. The outer races are mounted within a sleeve 24 which is mounted in a circular housing 25 carried by a fixed housing 18. The housing 25 has an outwardly-directed flange 26 at one end engaging the fixed housing 18 and an inwardly-directed flange 27 at the other end. The sleeve 24 has an inwardly-directed flange 30 having a width less than that of ring 19. The outer race of bearing 16 is engaged on one side by flange 30 and on the other by a circlip 29 in sleeve 24. A plurality of steel balls 35 are disposed within a trough formed by the flange 27 of the housing 25 and the chamfered surfaces 32, 33 of sleeve 24 and the outer race of bearing 17. A circlip 28 in the sleeve 25 prevents axial movement of the sleeve 24 in the opposite direction. In operation, with the axial load of shaft 12 in the direction of the arrow 23, the thrust is transmitted through bearing 16 to sleeve 24 and thence to the outer race of bearing 17 via balls 35. Any clearances in the bearing 17 are thus taken up and the load on the two bearings substantially equalized. In a modification the sleeve 24 is disposed adjacent the inner races of bearings 16, 17. The invention is described with reference to a gas turbine engine.