I Can’t Sleep - Hinges | Gentle Bedtime Reading for Sleep
Episode Date: November 10, 2022Relax with this calm bedtime reading as Benjamin explores the history and design of hinges, helping you unwind and ease insomnia. You’ll learn how these simple yet essential devices have been used f...or centuries, from ancient doors and chests to the countless ways they support modern life. Benjamin’s soothing cadence transforms practical details into peaceful storytelling that reduces stress and quiets the mind. This isn’t whispering or hypnosis—just gentle, fact-filled narration designed to guide you into rest. Press play, settle in, and let the quiet story of hinges carry you into deep sleep. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Hinges, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Hinges. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled Hinge.
A hinge is a mechanical bearing that connects two solid objects,
typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them.
Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation.
All other translations or rotations
being prevented, and thus a hinge has one degree of freedom.
Hinges may be made of flexible material or of moving components.
In biology, many joints function as hinges like the elbow joint.
History
Ancient remains of stone, marble, wood, and bronze hinges have been found.
Some date back to at least ancient Egypt.
In ancient Rome, hinges were called Cardo, and gave name to the goddess Cardea, and the main street Cardo.
This name Cardo lives in figuratively today as the chief thing on which something turns or depends in words such as cardinal.
According to the OED, the English word hinge is related to hang.
Door hinges
Barrel hinge
A barrel hinge
A barrel hinge consists of a sectional barrel
The knuckle secured by a pivot
A barrel is simply a hollow cylinder
The vast majority of hinges
operate on the barrel principle
But hinge, mortise hinge
Any hinge which is designed to be set
into a door frame and or door is considered to be a butt hinge or a mortise hinge.
A hinge can also be made as a half mortise, in which case only one half of the hinge is mortised
and the other as not. Most mortise hinges are also barrel hinges by virtue of how they pivot,
i.e. a pair of leaves secured to each other by knuckles through which runs a pin.
Butterfly Parliament UK Hinge
These are a decorative variety of barrel hinge
With leaves somewhat resembling the wings of a butterfly
Case hinges
Case hinges are similar to a butt hinge
However usually more of a decorative nature
Most commonly used in suitcases, briefcases and the like
Concealed hinge
These are used for furniture doors, with or without a self-closing feature, and with or without
damping systems.
They are made of two parts.
One part is the hinge cup and the arm.
The other part is the mounting plate.
Also called cup hinge or Euro hinge, as they were developed in Europe, and use metric installation
standards.
Most such concealed hinges offer the effects.
advantage of full in situ adjustability for standoff distance from the cabinet face, as well as pitch
and roll by means of two screws on each hinge. Continuous piano hinge. This variety of barrel hinge
runs the entire length of a door, panel, box, etc. Continuous hinges are manufactured with or
without holes.
Flag hinge.
These consist of a single leaf attached in the male variety to a pin.
When used, the pin is inserted into the other female portion of the hinge.
This allows the objects to be easily removed, for example, a removable door.
They are manufactured in right-hand and left-hand configurations.
H-Hinge
These barrel hinges are shaped like an H and used on flushed mounted doors.
Small H hinges, 3 to 4 inches, tend to be used for cabinet hinges,
while larger hinges, 6 to 7 inches, are for passage doors or closet doors.
HL hinge
These were common for passage doors, room doors, and closet doors in the 17th, 18th, and even
19th centuries. On taller doors, H hinges were occasionally used in the middle, along with the HL
hinges. Pivot Hinge. This hinge pivots in openings in the floor and the top of the doorframe, also referred to as a
double-acting floor hinge. This type is found in ancient dry stone buildings and rarely in old
wooden buildings. These are also called Har Hung doors. They are
a low-cost alternative to using the lightweight doors.
Self-closing hinge.
This is a spring-loaded hinge with a speed control function.
The same as spring hinge, usually use spring to provide force to close the door
and provide a mechanical or hydraulic damper to control door-close speed.
That can prevent door slamming problems while auto closes the door.
spring hinge. This is a spring-loaded hinge made to provide assistance in the closing or the opening of the hinge leaves.
A spring is a component of a hinge that applies force to secure a hinge closed or keep a hinge opened.
Swing Clear Hinge
Swing Clear Hinges, aka Offset Door Hinges, are perfect for residential and commercial doors, as they all
allow doors to swing completely clear of openings. Swing clear hinges can easily comply with Fair Housing
Act FHA code by providing a minimum ADA 32-inch clearance when using a 34-inch door slab.
Living Hinge
This hinge takes advantage of the flexibility of plastic to create a join between two objects
without any knuckles or pins. They are molded as a single-pillar.
piece never become rusted, do not squeak, and have several other advantages over other hinges,
but the plastic makes them more susceptible to breakage. Other types include
coach hinge, counterflap hinge, cranked hinge or storm-proof hinge, double-action non-spring,
double-action spring hinge, flush hinge, friction hinge, lift-off hinge, pinge, hay hinge with a quick-release pin, rising butt hinge, security hinge, T-hinge, building access.
Since at least medieval times there have been hinges to draw bridges for defensive purposes for fortified buildings.
Hinges are used in contemporary architecture where a building settlement can be expected over the life of the building.
For example, the Dakin Building in Brisbane, California was designed with its entrance ramp on a large hinge
to allow settlement of the building built on piles over Bay Mud.
This device was effective until October 2006 when it was replaced due to damage an excessive ramp slope.
Large structures
hinges appear in large structures such as elevated freeway and railroad viaducts.
These are included to reduce or eliminate the transfer of bending stresses between structural components,
typically in an effort to reduce sensitivity to earthquakes.
The primary reason for using a hinge rather than a simpler device such as a slide
is to prevent the separation of adjacent components.
When no bending stresses are transmitted across the hinge,
it is called a zero-moment hinge.
Spacecraft
People have developed a variety of self-actuating,
self-locking hinge designs
for spacecraft deployable structures
such as solar array panels,
synthetic aperture radar antennas,
booms, radiators,
etc. Hinge terminology
components.
Pin. The rod that holds the leaves together inside the knuckle, also known as a pintel.
Knuckle.
The hollow, typically circular portion creating the joint of the hinge through which the pin is set.
The knuckles of either leaf typically alternate and interlock with the pin, passing through all.
of them, aka loop, joint, node, or curl. Leaf.
The portions, typically two, that extend laterally from the knuckle and typically revolve around
the pin. Characteristics. End play. Axial movement between the leaves along the axis
of the pin. This motion allows the leaves to rotate without binding and is determined.
by the typical distance between knuckles, knuckle gap, when both edges of the leaves are aligned.
Gage
Thickness of the leaves
Hinge width
Length from the outer edge of one leaf to the outer edge of the other leaf,
perpendicularly across the pin, aka open width.
Hinge length
the length of the leaves parallel to the pin
knuckle length
the typical length of an individual knuckle parallel to the pin
leaf width
length from the center of the pin to the outer edge of the leaf
pitch
distance from the end of a knuckle
to the same edge of its adjacent knuckle on the same leaf
doorstop
A colloquialism referring to loose angular movement of the leaves relative to the pin
Other types
Butler tray hinge
Folds to 90 degrees and also snaps flat
They are for tables that have a tray top for serving
Carpenter joint
A hinge consisting of several thin metal strips of curved cross-section
card table hinge mortised into edge of antique or reproduction card tables and allow the top to fold onto itself
drop leaf table hinge mounted under the surface of a table with leaves that drop down they are most commonly used with rule joints hinged handcuffs
A restraint device designed to secure an individual's wrists in proximity to each other
consisting of two cuffs linked with a double or triple hinge.
Hinged handcuffs tend to restrict movement more than chain-linked handcuffs,
and they can be used to generate more leverage to force a suspect's hands behind the back,
or to apply pain against the wrist, forcing the subject to comply and stop resisting.
Piano hinge.
Or coffin hinge, a long hinge, originally used for piano lids, but now used in many other applications
where a long hinge is needed.
Living hinge.
A hinge consisting of material that flexes.
Mortis Antenon
A mortis and tenon occasionally mortis and tenon joint.
A mortise and tenon joint connects two pieces of wood or other material.
Woodworkers around the world have used it for thousands of years to join pieces of wood,
mainly when the adjoining pieces connect at right angles.
Mortis and tenon joints are strong and stable joints that can be used in many projects.
They furnish a strong outcome and connect by either gluing or locking into place.
The mortise and tenon joint also gives an attractive look.
One drawback to this joint is the difficulty in making it
because of the precise measuring and tight cutting required.
In its most basic form, a mortise and tenon joint is both simple and strong.
There are many variations of this type of joint,
and the basic mortis and tenon has two components.
one, the mortise hole, and two, the tenon tongue.
The tenon formed on the end of a member generally referred to as a rail,
fits into a square or rectangular hole cut into the other corresponding member.
The tendon is cut to fit the mortise hole exactly.
It usually has shoulders that seat when the joint fully enters the mortise hole.
The joint may be glued, pinned, or wedged to lock it into place.
The joint is also used with other materials.
For example, it is traditionally used by both stone masons and blacksmiths.
Ety
The noun mortis, a hole or groove in which something is fitted to form a joint,
comes from circa 1400 from Old French mortais,
possibly from Arabic mortars fastened, past participle of Raza, cut a mortise in.
The word tenon, a noun in English since the late 14th century,
developed its sense of a projection inserted to make a joint from the old French tenier to hold.
History and ancient examples.
The mortis and tenon joint is an ancient joint dating back 7,000 years.
The first examples, tusked joints, were found in a well near Leipzig, the world's oldest intact wooden architecture.
These were created by early Neolithic linear pottery culture, where it was used in the construction of the wooden lining of the wells.
Mortis and tenon joints have also been found joining the wooden planks of the Kufu ship,
a 43.6 meter long vessel sealed into a pit in the Giza Pyramid complex of the 4th Dynasty, around 2,500 BC.
Mortis and Tenin joints have also been found in ancient furniture from archaeological sites in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
Many instances are found, for example, in ruins of houses in the Silk Road Kingdom of Cadota,
dating from the first to the 4th century BC.
In traditional Chinese architecture,
wood components such as beams, brackets, roof frames,
and struts were made to interlock with perfect fit
without using fasteners or glues,
enabling the wood to expand and contract according to humidity.
Archaeological evidence from Chinese sites
shows that by the end of the Neolithic, mortis and tenon joinery was employed in Chinese construction.
The 30 sarsen stones of Stonehenge were dressed and fashioned with mortis and tenon joints
before they were erected between 2,600 and 2400 BC.
A variation of the mortis and tenon technique called Phoenician joints
was extensively used in ancient shipbuilding to assemble whole planks,
and other watercraft components together.
It is a locked, pegged mortise and tenon technique
that consists of cutting two mortises
into the edges of two planks.
A separate rectangular tenon is then inserted in the two mortises.
The assembly is then locked in place
by driving a dowel through one or more holes
drilled through mortis sidewall and tenon.
Description
Generally, the size of the mortise
and tenon is related to the thickness of the timbers. It is good practice to proportion the
tenon as one-third the thickness of the rail, or as close to this as is practical. The haunch, the cut-away
part of a sash-corner joint that prevents the tenon coming loose, is one-third the length of the
tenon and one-sixth of the width of the tenon in its depth. The remaining two-thirds of the rail,
the tenon shoulders, help to counteract lateral forces that might tweak the tenon from the mortis,
contributing to its strengths. These also serve to hide imperfections in the opening of the mortis.
Types. Mortices
A mortis is a hole cut into a timber to receive a tenon.
there are several kinds of mortis.
Open mortis, a mortis that has only three sides.
Stub mortis, a shallow mortis, the depth of which depends on the size of the timber,
also a mortis that does not go through the workpiece, as opposed to a through mortis.
Through mortis, a mortis that passes entirely through a piece.
Wedged half-dove-tail, a mortis in which the mortis in which the wooded,
The back is wider or taller than the front or opening.
The space for the wedge initially leaves room to insert the tenon.
The wedge after the tenon is engaged prevents its withdrawal.
Through wedged half-dove-tail.
A wedged half-tovetail mortise that passes entirely through the piece.
Tenons
A tenon is a projection on the end of a timber for insertion into a mortise.
usually the tenon is taller than it is wide.
There are several kinds of tenon.
Stub tenon, a short tenon the depth of which depends on the size of the timber,
also a tenon that is shorter than the width of the mortis piece so the tenon does not show,
as opposed to a through tenon.
Through tenon.
A tenon that passes entirely through the piece of wood it is inserted into,
being clearly visible on the rear side.
Loose tenon,
a tenon that is a separate part of the joint
as opposed to a fixed tenon
that is an integral part of one of the pieces to be joined.
Biscuit tenon.
A thin oval piece of wood shaped like a biscuit.
Pegged or pinned tenon.
The joint is strengthened by driving a peg or dowel pin, tree nail,
through one or more holes drilled through mortis side wall and tenon.
This is common in timber framing joints.
Tusk tenon
A kind of mortis and tenon joint that uses a wedge-shaped key
to hold the joint together.
Teasel Tenin.
A term used for the tenon on top of a jowled or gunstock post,
which is typically received by the mortis in the underside of a tie beam.
A common element of the English tying point.
Top tenon.
A tenon that occurs on top of a post.
Hammer-headed tenon.
A method of forming a joint tenon when the shoulders cannot be tightened with a clamp.
Half-shoulder tenon.
An asymmetric tenon with a shoulder on one side only.
A common use is in framed, ledged, and braced door.
bearing mechanical a bearing is a machine element that constrains relative motion to only the desired motion and reduces friction between moving parts
the design of the bearing may for example provide for free linear movement of the moving part or for free rotation around a fixed axis or it may prevent a motion by controlling the vector
of normal forces that bear on the moving parts.
Most bearings facilitate the desired motion by minimizing friction.
Barrings are classified broadly according to the type of operation,
the motions allowed, or to the directions of the loads forces applied to the parts.
Rotary bearings hold rotating components such as shafts or axles
within mechanical systems
and transfer axial and radial loads
from the source of the load to the structure supporting it.
A simplest form of bearing,
the plane bearing,
consists of a shaft rotating in a hole.
Lubrication is used to reduce friction.
In the ball bearing and roller bearing
to reduce sliding friction,
rolling elements such as rollers or balls
with a circular cross-section
are located between the races or journals of the bearing assembly.
A wide variety of bearing designs exist to allow the demands of the application to be correctly met
for maximum efficiency, reliability, durability, and performance.
The term bearing is derived from the verb to bear,
a bearing being a machine element that allows one part to bear,
i.e. to support another.
The simplest bearings are bearing surfaces,
cut or formed into a part,
with varying degrees of control over the form, size,
roughness, and location of the surface.
Other bearings are separate devices
installed into a machine or machine part.
The most sophisticated bearings for the most demanding applications
are very precise components.
Their manufacture requires some of the highest standards of current technology.
History
The invention of the rolling bearing in the form of wooden rollers
supporting or bearing an object being moved is of great antiquity.
It may predate the invention of a wheel rotating on a plane bearing,
though it is often claimed that the Egyptians use roller-bearing,
in the form of tree trunks under sleds.
This is modern speculation.
The Egyptians' own drawings in the tomb of Jehutiotep
show the process of moving massive stone blocks on sledges
as unique liquid-lubricated runners,
which would constitute plain bearings.
There are also Egyptian drawings of plane bearings used with hand drills.
Wheeled vehicles using plane bearings emerged between about five,
B.C. and 3,000 BC.
The earliest recovered example of a rolling element bearing is a wooden ball bearing, supporting
a rotating table from the remains of the Roman Nemi ships in Lake Nemi, Italy.
The wrecks were dated to 40 BC.
Leonardo da Vinci incorporated drawings of ball bearings in his design for a helicopter around
the year 1500.
This is the first recorded use of bearings in an aerospace design.
However, Agostino Romeli is the first to have published sketches of roller and thrust bearings.
An issue with ball and roller bearings is that the balls or rollers rub against each other, causing additional friction.
This can be reduced by enclosing each individual ball or roller within a cage.
The captured or caged ball bearing was originally described by Galileo in the 17th century.
The first practical caged roller bearing was invented in the mid-1740s by horologist John Harrison for his H-3 Marine Timekeeper.
In this timepiece, the caged bearing was only used for a very limited oscillating motion,
but later on Harrison applied a similar bearing design with a true rotational movement
and a contemporaneous regulator clock.
Industrial era
The first patent on ball bearings was awarded to Philip Vaughn,
a British inventor and ironmaster in Carmarston in 1794.
His was the first modern ball-bearance design,
with the ball running along a groove in the axle assembly.
Barings played a pivotal role in the nascent industrial revolution, allowing the new industrial machinery to operate efficiently.
For example, they were used to holding wheel and axle assemblies to greatly reduce friction compared to prior non-bearing designs.
The first plain and rolling element bearings were wood, closely followed by bronze.
Over their history, bearings have been made of many materials, including ceramic, sapphire, glass, steel, bronze, and other metals.
More recently, plastic bearings made of nylon, polyoxamethylene, polyetrophlorithylene, and U.HM-W-P-E, among other materials, are also in use today.
Watchmakers produce jeweled watches using sapphire plane bearings to reduce friction,
thus following more precise timekeeping.
Even basic materials can have impressive durability.
Wooden bearings, for example, can still be seen today in old clocks
or in water mills where the water provides cooling and lubrication.
The first patent for a radial style ball bearing was awarded to Jules Suriary, a Parisan bicycle mechanic on 3rd of August 1869.
The bearings were then lifted to the winning bicycle ridden by James Moore in the world's first bicycle road race, Paris Rowan in November 1869.
In 1883, Frederick Fisher, founder of Fagg, developed an approach for a.mobile for a.m.
for milling and grinding balls of equal size and exact roundness by means of a suitable production
machine, which set the stage for creation of an independent bearing industry.
His hometown Schweinfurt later became a world-leading center for ball-bearing production.
The modern self-aligning design of ball-bearing is attributed to Sven Vingfist of the SKF
ball-bearing manufacturer in 1907,
when he was awarded Swedish patent number 25406 on its design.
Henry Timkin, a 19th century visionary and innovator in carriage manufacturing,
patented the tapered roller bearing in 1898.
The following year, he formed a company to produce his innovation.
Over a century, the company grew to make bearings of all types,
including specialty steel bearings and an array of related products and service.
Eric Frank invented and patented the wire race bearing in 34. His focus was on a bearing designed with a cross-section
as small as possible and which could be integrated into the enclosing design. After World War II,
he founded together with Gerhardt, Heidrich, the company Frank and Hydric KG, today Frank Gmbh, to
push the development and production of wire race bearings.
Ricard Stribeck's extensive research on ball-bearing steels identified the metallurgy of the commonly
used 100 CR6, showing coefficient of friction as a function of pressure.
Designed in 1968 and later patented in 1972, Bishop Wise Carver's co-founder Bud Wise Carver
created V-groove bearing guide wheels, a type of linear motion bearing.
consisting of both an external and internal 90-degree V angle.
In the early 1980s, Pacific bearings founder Robert Schroeder
invented the first bi-material-plane bearing
that was interchangeable with linear ball bearings.
This bearing had a metal shell,
aluminum steel, or stainless steel,
and a layer of teflon-based material
connected by a thin adhesive layer.
Today's ball and roller bearings are used in many applications which include a rotating component.
Examples include ultra-high-speed bearings in dental drills, aerospace bearings in the Mars rover,
gearbox and wheel bearings on automobiles, flexure bearings in optical alignment systems,
and air bearings used in coordinate measuring machines.
common
By far the most common bearing is the plain bearing,
a bearing which uses surfaces in rubbing contact,
often with a lubricant such as oil or graphite.
A plain bearing may or may not be a discrete device.
It may be nothing more than the bearing surface of a hole
with a shaft passing through it,
or of a planar surface that bears another,
in these cases not a discrete device.
Or it may be a layer of bearing metal, either fused to the substrate semi-discreet, or in the form of a separable sleeve, discrete.
With suitable lubrication, plain bearings often give entirely acceptable accuracy, life, and friction at minimal cost.
Therefore, they are very widely used.
However, there are many applications where a more suitable bearing can improve efficiency, accuracy, service intervals,
reliability, speed of operation, size, weight, and costs of purchasing and operating machinery.
Thus, there are many types of bearings with varying shape, material, lubrication, principle of operation,
and so on.
Types.
There are at least six common types of bearing, each of which operates on a different principle.
Plain bearing, consisting of a shaft rotating in a whole.
whole. There are several specific styles, bushing, journal bearing, sleeve bearing, rifle bearing,
composite bearing. Rolling element bearings, whose performance does not depend on avoiding or reducing
friction between two surfaces, but employ a different principle to achieve low external friction,
the rolling motion of an intermediate element in between the surfaces which bears the axial or
radial load. Classified as either ball bearing in which the rolling elements are spherical balls,
roller bearing in which the rolling elements are cylindrical rollers, linearly tapered, conical rollers,
or rollers with a curved taper, so-called spherical rollers. Jewel bearing, a plain bearing in which one of the
bearing surfaces made of an ultra-hard glassy jewel material, such as sapphire to reduce friction
and wear. Fluid bearing, a non-contact bearing in which the load is supported by a gas or
liquid, i.e. air bearing. Magnetic bearing, in which the load is supported by a magnetic field.
flexure bearing in which the motion is supported by a load element which bends motions common motions permitted by bearings are radio rotation e.g. shaft rotation, linear motion, e.g. drawer. Spherical rotation, e.g. ball and socket joint. Hinge motion, e.g. door, elbow, knee. Friction.
Reducing friction in bearings is often important for efficiency, to reduce wear and to facilitate extended use at high speeds, and to avoid overheating and premature failure of the bearing.
Essentially, a bearing can reduce friction by virtue of its shape, by its material, or by introducing and containing a fluid between surfaces, or by separating the surfaces,
with an electromagnetic field.
By shape, gains advantage, usually by using spheres or rollers,
or by forming flexure bearings.
By material, exploits the nature of the bearing material used.
An example would be using plastics that have low surface friction.
By fluid, exploits the low viscosity of a layer of fluid,
such as a lubricant or as a pressurized medium,
to keep the two solid parts from touching,
or by reducing the normal force between them.
By fields, exploits electromagnetic fields,
such as magnetic fields to keep solid parts from touching.
Air pressure exploits air pressure to keep solid parts from touching.
Combinations of these can even be employed within the same bearing.
An example of this is where,
the cage is made of plastic, and it separates the rollers balls which reduce friction by their shape
and finish. Loads. Bering design varies depending on the size and directions of the forces that they
are required to support. Forces can be predominantly radial, axial, thrust bearings, or bending
moments perpendicular to the main axis. Speeds. Different bearers. Different bearings. Different bearings. Different
Bering types have different operating speed limits.
Speed is typically specified as maximum relative surface speeds,
often specified feet per second or meters per second.
Rotational bearings typically describe performance in terms of the product DN,
where D is the mean diameter, often in millimeters of the bearing,
and N is the rotation rate in revolutions per minute.
generally there is considerable speed range overlap between bearing types
plain bearings typically handle only lower speeds rolling element bearings are faster
followed by fluid bearings and finally magnetic bearings
which are limited ultimately by centripetal force overcoming material strengths
play some applications apply bearing loads from
varying directions and accept only limited play or slop as the applied load changes.
One such source of motion is gaps or play in the bearing. For example, a 10-millimeter shaft and a
12-millimeter hole has 2 millimeters play. Allowable play varies greatly depending on the use.
As an example, a wheelbarrow wheel supports radial and act.
axial loads. Axial loads may be hundreds of Newton's force left or right, and it is typically
acceptable for the wheel to wobble by as much as 10 millimeters under the varying load. In contrast,
a lays may position a cutting tool to plus or minus 0.002 millimeters, using a ball-led
screw held by rotating bearings. The bearings support axial loads of thousands of
newtons in either direction and must hold the ball lead screw to plus or minus 0.002 millimeters
across that range of loads. Stiffness. A second source of motion is elasticity in the
bearing itself. For example, the balls in a ball bearing are like stiff rubber and under load deform
from round to a slightly flattened shape.
The race is also elastic and develops a slight dent where the ball presses on it.
The stiffness of a bearing is how the distance between the parts which are separated by the
bearing varies with applied load.
With rolling element bearings, this is due to the strain of the ball and race.
With fluid bearings, it is due to how the pressure of the fluid varies with the flow.
the gap. When correctly loaded, fluid bearings are typically stiffer than rolling element bearings.
Service life. Fluid and magnetic bearings. Fluid and magnetic bearings can have practically
indefinite service lives. In practice, there are fluid bearings supporting high loads in
hydroelectric plants that have been in nearly continuous service since about 1900 and would show no signs of
wearing. Rolling element bearings. Rolling element bearing life is determined by load, temperature,
maintenance, lubrication, material defects, contamination, handling, installation, and other factors.
These factors can all have a significant effect on bearing life. For example, the service life
of bearings in one application was extended dramatically by changing how the bearings were stored before
installation and use. As vibrations during storage caused lubricant failure, even when the only
load on the bearing was its own weight, the resulting damage is often false brinnelling.
Bering life is statistical. Several samples of a given bearing will often exhibit a bell curve of service life,
with a few samples showing significantly better or worse life.
Baring life varies because microscopic structure and contamination vary greatly,
even where macroscopically they seem identical.
L-10 life
B-10 life.
B-10-B-10 life.
Outside the U.S., it may be referred to as a B-10 life.
This is the life at which 10-life.
This is the life at which 10% of the bearings in that application can be expected to have failed due to classical fatigue failure and not any other mode of failure like lubrication, starvation, wrong mounding, etc.
Or alternatively, the life at which 90% will still be operating.
The L10 life of the bearing is theoretical life and may not represent service life of the bearing.
bearings are also rated using C-0 static loading value.
This is the basic load rating as a reference and not an actual load value.
Plain bearings
For plain bearings, some materials give much longer life than others.
Some of the John Harrison clocks still operate after hundreds of years
because of the lignum vete wood employed in their construction,
whereas his metal clocks are seldom run due to the potential wear.
Fletcher bearings
Fletcher bearings rely on elastic properties of a material.
Flexure bearings bend a piece of material repeatedly.
Some materials fail after repeated bending,
even at low loads,
but careful material selection and bearing design
can make flexure bearing life indefinite.
Short life bearings.
Although long bearing life is often desirable, it is sometimes not necessary.
Harris 2001 describes a bearing for a rocket motor oxygen pump that gave several hours life,
far in excess of the several tens of minutes life needed.
Composite bearings.
Depending on the customized specifications backing material and PTFE,
compounds, composite bearings can operate up to 30 years without maintenance.
Oscillating bearings
For bearings which are used in oscillating applications,
customized approaches to calculate L10 are used.
External factors
The service life of the bearing is affected by many parameters that are not controlled by the
bearing manufacturers.
For example,
bearing mounting, temperature, exposure to external environment, lubricant cleanliness, and electrical
currents through bearings, etc. High-frequency PWM inverters can induce currents in a bearing,
which can be suppressed by the use of ferrite chokes. The temperature and terrain of the
micro-surface will determine the amount of friction by the touching of solid parts.
Certain elements and fields reduce friction while increasing speeds.
Strengths and mobility help determine the amount of load the bearing type can carry.
Alignment factors can play a damaging role in wear and tear,
yet overcome by computer aid signaling and non-rubbing bearing types,
such as magnetic levitation or airfield pressure.
mounting there are many methods of mounting bearings usually involving an interference fit when press fitting
or shrink fitting a bearing into a bore or onto a shaft it's important to keep the housing bore and shaft
outer diameter to very close limits which can involve one or more counter-boring operations
several facing operations and drilling, tapping, and threading operations.
Alternatively, an interface fit can also be achieved with the addition of a tolerance ring.
Maintenance and lubrication.
Many bearings require periodic maintenance to prevent premature failure,
but many others require little maintenance.
The latter include various kinds of polymers,
fluid and magnetic bearings, as well as rolling element bearings that are described with terms
including sealed bearing and sealed for life. These contain seals to keep the dirt out and the grease in.
They work successfully in many applications providing maintenance-free operation. Some applications
cannot use them effectively.
Non-sealed bearings often have a grease fitting
for periodic lubrication with a grease gun
or an oil cup for periodic filling with oil.
Before the 1970s, sealed bearings were not encountered on most machinery
and oiling and greasing were a more common activity than they are today.
For example, automotive chassis used to recover.
require loop jobs nearly as often as engine oil changes, but today's car chassis are mostly
sealed for life. From the late 1700s through the mid-1900s, industry relied on many workers
called oilers to lubricate machinery frequently with oil cans. Factory machines today usually
have lubed systems in which a central pump serves periodic charges of oil or grease for
from a reservoir through loop lines to the various loop points in the machines bearing surfaces,
bearing journals, pillow blocks, and so on.
The timing and number of such loop cycles is controlled by the machine's computerized control,
such as PLC or CNC, as well as by manual override functions when occasionally needed.
This automated process is how all modern,
CNC machine tools and many other modern factory machines are lubricated.
Similar lube systems are also used on non-automated machines, in which case there is a hand
pump that a machine operator is supposed to pump once daily for machines in constant use,
or once weekly. These are called one-shot systems from their chief selling point, one-pole
on one handle to loop the whole machine, instead of a dozen pumps of an alumite gun or oil
can in a dozen different positions around the machine. The oiling system inside a modern
automotive or truck engine is similar in concept to the loop systems mentioned above, except that
oil is pumped continuously. Much of this oil flows through passages drilled or cast into the
engine block and cylinder heads, escaping through ports directly onto bearings, and squirting elsewhere
to provide an oil bath. The oil pump simply pumps constantly, and any excess pumped oil
continuously escapes through a relief valve back into the sump. Many bearings in high cycle
industrial operations need periodic lubrication and cleaning, and many require occasionally
adjustment, such as pre-load adjustment, to minimize the effects of wear.
Baring life is often much better when the bearing is kept clean and well lubricated.
However, many applications make good maintenance difficult.
One example is bearings on the conveyor of a rock crusher are exposed continually to hard abrasive
particles.
cleaning is of little use because cleaning is expensive, yet the bearing is contaminated again as soon as the conveyor resumes operation.
Thus, a good maintenance program might lubricate the bearings frequently, but not include any disassembly for cleaning.
The frequent lubrication by its nature provides a limited kind of cleaning action by displacing older grit-filled oil,
or grease with a fresh charge, which itself collects grit before being displaced by the next cycle.
Another example are bearings in wind turbines, which makes maintenance difficult since the nacell is
placed high up in the air in strong wind areas. In addition, the turbine does not always run
and is subjected to different operating behavior in different weather conditions, which makes
proper lubrication a challenge.
Packing.
Some bearings use a thick grease for lubrication,
which is pushed into the gaps between the bearing surfaces,
also known as packing.
The grease is held in place by a plastic, leather, or rubber gasket,
also called a gland,
that covers the inside and outside edges of the bearing race
to keep the grease from escaping.
bearings may also be packed with other materials historically the wheels on railroad cars used sleeve bearings packed with waste or loose scraps of cotton or wool fiber soaked in oil then later used solid pads of cotton ring oiler
bearings can be lubricated by a metal ring that rides loosely on the central rotating shaft of the bearing the
The rings hang down into a chamber containing lubricating oil.
As the bearing rotates, viscous adhesion draws oil up the ring and onto the shaft,
where the oil migrates into the bearing to lubricated.
Excess oil is flung off and collects in the pool again.
Splash lubrication
A rudimentary form of lubrication is splash lubrication.
Some machines contain a pool of lubricant in the bottom
with gears partially immersed in a liquid
or crank rods that can swing down into the pool as the device operates.
The spinning wheels fling oil into the air around them
while the crank rods slap at the surface of the oil,
splashing it randomly on the interior surfaces of the engine.
Some small internal combustion
engine specifically contains special plastic flinger wheels, which randomly scatter oil around the
interior of the mechanism. Pressure lubrication
For high speed and high power machines, a loss of lubricant can result in rapid bearing
heating and damage due to friction. Also, in dirty environments, the oil can become contaminated
with dust or debris that increases friction.
In these applications,
a fresh supply of lubricant can be continuously supplied to the bearing
and all other contact surfaces,
and the excess can be collected for filtration, cooling, and possibly reuse.
Pressure oiling is commonly used in large and complex internal combustion engines
in parts of the engine,
or directly splashed oil cannot reach, such as up into overhead valve assemblies.
High-speed turbochargers also typically require a pressurized oil system to cool the bearings
and keep them from burning up due to the heat from the turbine.
