Ball bearing assembly

Claim 1

An anti-friction ball bearing assembly in combination with a shaft comprising an outer sleeve and an inner sleeve concentrically fitting within said outer sleeve, said inner sleeve having a central opening for the passage of said shaft therethrough, balls, the inner sleeve having a number of tracks defining paths for the circulation of said balls between said sleeves and said shaft during relative movement between said shaft and said bearing assembly, the outer surface of the inner sleeve being polyhedronal in shape, the inner surface of the outer sleeve being provided with a number of guideways, the intersections of the plane portions defining the outer surface of the inner sleeve registering with said guideways, said inner surface of the oter sleeve is further provided with a number of substantially concave Bearing surfaces aligned with said tracks such that they provide a rolling bearing surface for said balls, while said balls are in their loaded state, said shaft having a plurality of longitudinally extending shallow raceways providing generally conforming bearing surfaces for said balls as they encounter said shaft and said raceways, said vertical depth of said raceways being only a fraction of the diameter of said balls, the length of said raceways on said circular shaft is at least equal to the linear travel of said bearing assembly, there being a raceway on said circular shaft for each track of balls.