Adjustable pivoted shoe bearing and method of adjusting

Claim 2

In a bearing arrangement having a housing, a member rotatably mounted in said housing, a plurality of bearing shoes carried by said housing and circumferentially spaced around the rotating member, means to pivotally mount each of the bearing shoes in the housing, and each of the bearing shoes creating an oil film between it and the rotating member during rotation of the rotating member, the improvement comprising: means to move at least one of the pivotal mounting means of the bearing shoes tangentially to a locus of rotation about the axis of the rotating member to adjustably change the position of each of the moved pivotal mounting means of the bearing shoes relative to the rotating member in accordance with a selected speed of the rotating member to change the clearance between each of the bearing shoes and the rotating member.

Claim 3

The improvement according to claim 1 in which: the plurality of bearing shoes comprises three bearing shoes circumferentially spaced from each other; and said adjustable means includes means moving only one of the pivotal mounting means to change the position of the pivotal mounting means of the one of the three bearing shoes to change the clearance between each of the bearing shoes and the rotating member.

Claim 4

The improvement according to claim 1 in which: the plurality of bearing shoes comprises four bearing shoes circumferentially spaced from each other; and said adjustable means includes separate means moving the pivotal mounting means of two adjacent bearing shoes of the four bearing shoes to change the positions of the moved pivotal mountinG means of the two adjacent bearing shoes of the four bearing shoes to change the clearance between each of the bearing shoes and the rotating member.

Claim 5

The improvement according to claim 1 including: means to ascertain the oil pressure between at least one of the bearing shoes that is not moved by said adjustable means and the rotating member; and said adjustable means positioning the moved pivotal mounting means of at least one of the other of the bearing shoes in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure.

Claim 6

The improvement according to claim 2 including: means to ascertain the oil pressure between one of the bearing shoes that is not moved by said adjustable means and the rotating member; and said adjustable means positions the moved pivotal mounting means of one of the other of the bearing shoes in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure.

Claim 7

The improvement according to claim 3 including: two separate means to ascertain the oil pressure between each of two adjacent bearing shoes and the rotating member; and said adjustable means includes: means moving the pivotal mounting means of one of the other two bearing shoes to position the moved pivotal mounting means of the one of the other two bearing shoes in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure between the diametrically disposed bearing shoe and the rotating member; and means moving the pivotal mounting means of the other of the other two bearing shoes to position the moved pivotal mounting means of the other of the other two bearing shoes in accordance with with the ascertained oil pressure between the diametrically disposed bearing shoe and the rotating member.

Claim 8

In a bearing arrangement having a housing, a member rotatably mounted in the housing, a plurality of bearing shoes carried by the housing and circumferentially spaced around the rotating member, means to pivotally mount each of the bearing shoes in the housing, and each of the bearing shoes creating an oil film between it and the rotating member during rotation of the rotating member, the improvement comprising: means to ascertain the oil pressure between at least one of the bearing shoes and the rotating member but less than all of the bearing shoes; and means to engage at least one of the pivotal mounting means of one of the other bearing shoes to adjustably change the position of at least the one of the other of the bearing shoes relative to the rotating member in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure to change the clearance between each of the bearing shoes and the rotating member.

Claim 9

In a bearing arrangement having a housing, a member rotatably mounted in the housing, a plurality of bearing shoes carried by the housing and circumferentially spaced around the rotating member, means to pivotally mount each of the bearing shoes in the housing, and each of the bearing shoes creating an oil film between it and the rotating member during rotation of the rotating member, the improvement comprising: means to ascertain the oil pressure between at least one of the bearing shoes and the rotating member but less than all of the bearing shoes; and means to engage at least one of the pivotal mounting means of one of the other bearing shoes to adjustably change the position of at least the one of the other of the bearing shoes relative to the rotating member in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure to change the clearance between each of the bearing shoes and the rotating member.

Claim 10

The improvement according to claim 7 in which: the plurality of bearing shoes comprises three bearing shoes circumferentially spaced from each other; said ascertaining means ascertains the pressure between only one of the bearing shoes and the rotating member; and said adjustable means positions only one of the other of the bearing shoes relative to the rotating member in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure.

Claim 11

The improvement according to claim 7 in which: the plurality of bearing shoes comprises four bearing shoes circumferentially spaced from each other; said ascertaining means includes separate means to ascertain the oil pressure between each of two adjacent of the bearing shoes and the rotating member; and said adjustable means includes: means to position one of the other two bearing shoes relative to the rotating member in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure between the diametrically disposed bearing shoe and the rotating member; and means to position the other of the other two bearing shoes relative to the rotating member in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure between the diametrically disposed bearing shoe and the rotating member.

Claim 14

The method according to claim 10 in which the position of at least one of the bearing shoes relative to the rotating member is adjusted by adjusting the position of the pivotal mounting for the bearing shoe by moving the pivotal mounting tangentially to a locus of rotation about the axis of the rotating member.

Claim 15

The method according to claim 10 in which: the plurality of bearing shoes comprises three circumferentially spaced bearing shoes; only the oil pressure between one of the bearing shoes and the rotating member is ascertained; and only one of the other of the bearing shoes has its position adjusted.

Claim 16

The method according to claim 12 in which the position of one of the other bearing shoes relative to the rotating member is adjusted by adjusting the position of the pivotal mounting for the one of the other bearing shoes by moving the pivotal mounting tangentially to a locus of rotation about the axis of the rotating member.

Claim 17

The method according to claim 10 in which: the plurality of bearing shoes comprises four circumferentially spaced bearing shoes; the oil pressure between each of two adjacent bearing shoes and the rotating member are separately ascertained; the position of one of the other two of the bearing shoes relative to the rotating member is first adjusted in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure between the diametrically disposed bearing shoe and the rotating member; and the position of the other of the other two of the bearing shoes relative to the rotating member is then adjusted in accordance with the ascertained oil pressure between the diametrically disposed bearing shoe and the rotating member.

Claim 18

The method according to claim 14 in which the position of each of the other two bearing shoes relative to the rotating member is adjusted by adjusting the position of the pivotal mounting for each of the other two bearing shoes by moving each of the pivotal mountings of the other two bearing shoes tangentially to a locus of rotation about the axis of the rotating member.

Claim 21

The method according to claim 16 in which: the plurality of bearing shoes comprises three bearing shoes circumferentially spaced from each other; the pivotal mounting of one of the bearing shoes is movably supported; and the position of only the movably supported pivotal mounting is changed.

Claim 22

The method according to claim 16 in which: the plurality of bearing shoes comprises four bearing shoes circumferentially spaced from each other; the pivotal mounting of each of two adjacent bearing shoes of the four bearing shoes is separately movably supported; and the position of the movably supported pivotal mountings are changed by moving each of the movably supported pivoted mountings tangentially to a locus of rotation about the axis of the rotating member.

Claim 23

The improvement according to claim 1 in which: said adjustable means includes movable means supported by the housing; the number of said movable means is equal to the number of pivotal mounting means movable by said adjustable means; and said movable means includes means to support one of the moved pivotal mounting means.

Claim 24

The improvement according to claim 2 in which: said adjustable means includes movable means supported by the housing; and said movable means includes means to support the moved pivotal mounting means of the bearing shoe.

Claim 25

The improvement according to claim 3 in which: said adjustable means includes two separate movable means supported by the housing; and each of said movable means includes means to support one of the moved pivotal mounting means of the bearing shoes.

Claim 26

The improvement according to claim 4 in which: said adjustable means includes movable means supported by the housing; the number of said movable means being equal to the number of pivotal mounting means movable by said adjustable means; and said movable means includes means to support one of the moved pivotal mounting means.

Claim 27

The improvement according to claim 5 in which: said adjustable means includes movable means supported by the housing; and said movable means includes means to support the moved pivotal mounting means of the bearing shoe.

Claim 28

The improvement according to claim 6 in which: said adjustable means includes two separate movable means supported by the housing; and each of said movable means includes means to support one of the moved pivotal mounting means of the bearing shoes.