Rotary stepped joint for waveguides

Claim 1

A rotary stepping joint for waveguides comprising a stack or pack of plates overlapping one another, each provided with at least one rectangular hole forming the waveguide section of an individual step, each of the plates being made of at least two discrete materials, of which one is a highly electrically conducting metal having said rectangular hole formed therein, and the other of which being a highly hard material forming at least that plate portion in the joint which is mechanically connected to a plate adjacent thereto, wherein at least three cylindrical holes of a circular cross-section are formed in the hard material portion of each plate, a highly hard material ball substantially of the same diameter as the cylindrical hole being accommodated within each of said cylindrical holes, the thickness of said plates is slightly less than the diameter of said balls, the cylindrical holes of each of the joint plates are disaligned with respect to the similar holes in the plate adjacent thereto, said stack or pack of plates including an end plate on each end of said stack or pack, and a next-to-the-end plate adjacent each end plate, the side of said next-to-the-end plate abutting said end plate having cut down planes formed by recesses in said next-tothe-end plate, balls abutting on said cutdown planes and also abutting on the end plates, a rigid retainer compressing said plates together, said retainer being coupled to saiD end plates through ball crowns and being separated from a side of said stack or pack by roller bearings spaced along said side,.