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Ball bearings are used widely in Instruments and machines in order to minimize friction and power loss.While the concept of the ball bearing dates back at least to Leonardo da Vinci, their design and manufacture has become remarkably sophisticated. In the following we shall review their basic characteristics.

2.0 TYPES OF BALL BEARINGS

Commercially available ball bearings, which are usually made from hardened steel, involve many forms of construction. These have been summarized by A.O. DeHart (“Which Bearing and Why”, ASME Paper 59—MD—12, 1959), from which source the following material (including Figures 1 & 2) is hereby reprinted: *

“A typical deep-groove bail bearing designed for high-speed operation is shown in Figure 1. in this
bearing, the separator serves to keep the bails from rubbing against one another and is piloted on the inner race OD. Alternatively, the separator may be piloted by the rolling elements or by the outer race ID. Where rotative speeds are low, the separator often is omitted. The rolling elements may take many forms—cylinders, bails, tapered rollers, barrels, or very slim rollers known as needles—and the whole bearing name is generally taken from this form.

Ball Bearings
There are several types of ball bearings that fit specific needs. The deep-groove ball bearing, Figure 2(a), is the most versatile. Radial loads and thrust-load capacities may be approximately equal in this
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‘With the permission of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; 345 East 47th Street, New York, New York, 10017

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