Water lubricated rubber bearing

Claim 1

An elastomeric bearing for a rotatable shaft comprising housing means providing a cylindrical bore adapted to be positioned around said shaft, a plurality of segmental bearing staves formed entirely of elastomeric material and providing an inner bearing surface of elastomeric material adapted to provide bearing contact with the surface of said shaft and cooperate with the bearing surface of the other of said staves to form a tubular bearing having a bearing axis, the exterior of said staves cooperating to define a cylindrical surface around said axis engaging substantially throughout its entire extent with a mating inner surface on said housing means, said staves and housing means providing a mating key and keyway extending substantially parallel to said bearing axis with the staves extending past said key and keyway, said staves, housing means, and key and keyway being proportioned to provide clearance when said staves are unstressed, said housing means including clamping means releasably producing pressure between said mating inner surface of said housing and the exterior surface of said staves and causing said key and keyway to engage without clearance, said pressure between said mating inner surface of said housing and said exterior surface of said stave cooperating with said key and keyway to provide the entire locking of said staves in said housing means, and stop means opposing said clamping means when said staves are in a predetermined position and accurately determining the position of said inner bearing surface of all of said staves, release of said clamping means permitting axial movement of said staves relative to said housing assembly.