Cage control of skew angle in roller bearings

Claim 1

A bearing comprising inner and outer members having inner and outer raceways spaced apart to define an annular space therebetween, a plurality of rolling elements in said annular space engaging said raceways at contact zones, operation of said bearing under externally applied load having a radial and axial component normally producing forces creating a negative moment on the rolling elements tending to dispose said rolling elements at a negative skew angle relative to the axis of the bearing wherein the friction force components in the axial direction arising in said contact zones of each raceway act in the same direction as the axial component of the externally applied load on the respective raceways, a cage for circumferentially spacing said rolling elements, the improvement comprising skew control means associated with said cage operable during operation of the bearing for a predetermined relative movement of said members and said rolling elements, to cause all the rolling elements in the load zone to assume a non-negative skew angle within a predetermined angular range, said rolling elements having a finite skew angle when the axis of the rolling element and the axis of the bearing are not coplanar, said means engageable with the rolling elements at predetermined locations during operation of the bearing to develop forces between said cage and rolling elements at said predetermined locations to maintain a non-negatively skewed position of the rolling elements, said rolling elements being positively skewed when the friction force components in the axial direction arising in a contact zone between said rolling elements and raceways and acting on a raceway are so directed that they oppose the axial component of the externally applied load carried by said raceway.