what is Ball Bearing ?

Ball Bearing 

Bearing

Bearings can vary in size from as small as a pin head to the size of a family car! They can have varying sizes and shapes of rolling elements made from Steel, Stainless Steel and Ceramics. Their primary function is to reduce friction, carry loads and guide moving parts. Basically anything in our lives that has a rotating shaft will have a bearing of one kind or another. The different bearing types often dictate their uses and applications. Here, we mainly talk about Ball Bearing.

What is ball bearing?

A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.

The History of Ball Bearing

More than 4500 years ago, Egyptians used cylindrical rollers to move the large heavy blocks of stone needed for the pyramids, foreshadowing the use of ball bearings. Similar techniques were used in the creation of Stonehenge years later. In 1794, ball bearings supporting a carriage axle appeared in a patent filed by Philip Vaughan. In 1869, a bicycle mechanic in Paris, Jules-Pierre Suriray, patented a steel ball-bearing design for bicycles.

The Uses of Ball Bearing

Ball bearings are used in many types of equipment and machines to reduce friction, to reduce component part wear and tear, and to eliminate the need for frequent component part replacement. The concept for ball bearings is elegant yet simple: Substituting a rolling component (ball) for a sliding component reduces the generation of friction.

The basic parts of a ball bearing include:

1) Inner Race

This is the part that is mounted on the rotating shaft and tends to rotate the shaft.

2) Outer Race

This is the part that is mounted to the housing and is stationary. This also serves as a means for transferring the loads from the bearing to the housing.

3) Rolling Element “Balls”

These are the elements that carry the load distributing it throughout the raceways. They tend to rotate about the inner race, but not at the speed the inner race rotates. It is something like the relation between the earth and the moon.

4) Cage

This is an important element in the bearing. This acts as a barrier between the balls preventing them from bumping into each other.

The Advantage of Ball Bearing

1)      Power Saving

2)      Lubrication and Labor Saving

3)      Reliability

4)      Cleanliness

5)      Reduced Fire Hazards

6)      Increased Production

7)      Increased Life of Assiciated Equipment