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Ball Bearing

Mechanical Engineering

A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses a set of balls to keep the moving parts of a machine separated and reduce friction between them, supporting both radial and axial loads with a much lower coefficient of friction than sliding surfaces produce. The Welsh inventor and ironmaster Philip Vaughan patented the first modern design for a ball bearing in Carmarthen in 1794, and the now-familiar radial ball bearing was designed decades later, in 1869, by the Parisian bicycle mechanic Jules Suriray, whose bearings were fitted to the bicycle that won the Paris-Rouen race that same year.

Facts
Patent or First-Use Date
1794-01-01 1
Sourced to the subject's own accountOnly the year of the patent is given in the source; the exact day is not stated.
YearSourced to the subject's own account
1794 1
SignificanceSourced to the subject's own account
Philip Vaughan, a Welsh inventor and ironmaster, patented the first modern ball bearing design in 1794, with the ball running along a groove in the axle assembly, decades before Jules Suriray's 1869 radial ball bearing used on a racing bicycle. 1
Connections

Associated With

Ceramics, Materials
PEEK, Materials
PTFE, Materials
Steel, Materials

In Field

Source Ball Bearing (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Ball Bearing (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • History section, opening paragraph
    the first modern recorded patent on ball bearings was awarded to Philip Vaughan, a Welsh inventor and ironmaster who created the first design for a ball bearing in Carmarthen in 1794.
  • History section, Vaughan patent sentence
    the first modern recorded patent on ball bearings was awarded to Philip Vaughan, a Welsh inventor and ironmaster who created the first design for a ball bearing in Carmarthen in 1794.
  • History section, opening paragraph, second sentence
    His is the first modern ball-bearing design, with the ball running along a groove in the axle assembly.
  • In Field: Mechanical Engineering, Categories
    Bearings (mechanical)
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