Hydrodynamic combined axial and radial bearing

Claim 1

A rotatable shaft structure and hydrodynamic combined thrust and radial bearing therefor comprising a bearing housing surrounding a shaft, an annular bearing disc surrounding said shaft and which is seated with axial clearance between two axially spaced collars on said shaft, first and second axial thrust bearings disposed on the faces of said collars for establishing a sliding contact with the opposite sides of said bearing disc, a sleeve surrounding and in contact with the outer periphery of said bearing disc, radially elastic means disposed between the outer periphery of said sleeve and said bearing housing for supporting said sleeve and bearing disc in a radially elastic manner, spring means supported within said bearing housing and which serve to apply an axial force to said bearing disc for loading it in the direction of said first thrust bearing, a radial bearing disposed between the inner periphery of said bearing disc and the shaft surface between said collars, and means establishing a flow path for oil to lubricate all of said bearings in series, the direction of oil flow being from an oil inlet in a radially inward direction through the lubricating gap established at said first thrust bearing, thence in an axial direction through the lubricating gap established at said radial bearing and thence in a radially outward direction through the lubricating gap established at said second thrust bearing.