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The thrust pad

There was a need for a thrust bearing in flour-milling machinery. The moving millstone was
driven by a vertical shaft that was supported by some sort of footstep bearing. I have shown an
arrangement for a footstep bearing in figure 16-16. The sliding surfaces are just the flat end of
the shaft and the face in the base. There can be no wedge action with such an arrangement and
lubrication was from a reservoir in the base with a radial groove in the shaft to carry oil to the
centre of the shaft where it might find its way between
the two surfaces. Wear must have been inevitable.
When the screw propeller began to be used on ships in
about 1850 there was a need for a thrust bearing to
transfer the force produced on the propeller, that had
been transmitted through the shaft, on to the structure
of the ship and, of course, bearings to support this long
shaft. For 50 years the thrust bearing was the plain
annular bearing shown in figure 16-17 derived from the
footstep bearing possibly with several bearing collars on
Fig 16-16

the same shaft. At the end of the 19th


idea of wedge action was evolved by
others and around 1900 the problem
bearing was resolved by an Australian
(He pronounced it Mitchel.) He
self-aligning thrust pad.

century
the
Navier
and
of the thrust
called Michell.
invented the

In essence his invention was to divide


the
annular
thrust pad into eight separate sectors
and allow each
sector to pivot about a radial axis. The
arrangement is
shown in figure 16-18 which is taken Fig 16-17
from
a
photograph. The substantial back-plate has radial grooves and the thrust pads have elongated
nibs, shown on the inverted pad top left,
that fit in these grooves to act as pivots.
The shaft with a plain collar goes through
the hole in the middle so that the collar
rests on the thrust pads. The pivots on
which the pads move are offset to one
side so that when lubricant is fed to the
rotating shaft it goes under the pads and
they rock until they make a small angle
and produce a wedge of oil and high
pressures. If the pivots are in the right
position the pads are self-aligning. Such a
bearing is unidirectional. Michell bearings
are very much smaller than plain bearings
for the same duty and much more
Fig 16-18
reliable. They appear to be easy to supply
with lubricant. Given the very thin films involved these bearings require great accuracy in
manufacture.
I do not know for sure but presumably these are used in pairs one for ahead one for astern.

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