Grooves for Oil.

Progress, Volume III, Issue 4, 1 February 1908, Page 122

Grooves for Oil.

It should be noted here that it is quite as possible for a reciprocating bearing to run hot through being too slack as through being too tight. A very slack bearing will knock heavily, and the impacts of the surfaces will naturally evolve heat. In practical working, when such a case occurs, the only remedy short of tightening the bearing is to keep it over-supplied with oil, thus producing a cushion for the blow. Guides do not need grooves if the surfaces are properly prepared ; and they are certainly undesirable in bearings of reciprocating machines, where it is so essential to keep as much oil between the loaded surfaces as possible. In this case the channels only aid it to pass to the unloaded side where it is not needed. Where grooves are used, it is important that the edges should be rounded, for if they are left sharp they tend to wipe off the oil and keep it in all the channels.