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Ball bearings

Svenka Kullager Fabriken (SKF)Circa 1920

Musée des arts et métiers

Musée des arts et métiers
Paris, France

Movement and its transmission cause friction, which both heats and wears a machine’s components. Replacing sliding motion with rolling motion is one of the solutions to this, in the same way that tree trunks were used to move heavy stones during the construction of the pyramids. In the 16th century, Leonardo da Vinci drew the principle of the ball bearing. The first patent was registered in 1794, but not until the development of the bicycle and its use in the wheel and peddle axles to reduce friction and breakage risks did the ball bearing show its true worth. Soon used in industry, it was improved by the Swedish engineer Sven Wingquist, one of the founders of the ball and roller bearing makers SKF. In 1922 an article in La Nature emphasized the ball bearing’s advantages: its considerable power economies, reduction of friction, increase in rotation speed, enhanced security, almost unnecessary greasing and very low component wear. For bearings demanding more rigidity, roller bearings are used instead of ball bearings. The bearings on display in the museum were designed for the axles of railway carriages. They were donated by SKF in 1922 at the request of Édouard Sauvage, professor of the Conservatoire’s industrial applied mechanics chair.

Details

  • Title: Ball bearings
  • Creator: Svenka Kullager Fabriken (SKF)
  • Date: Circa 1920
  • Date Created: Circa 1920
  • Location: Sweden
  • Provenance: Musée des arts et métiers
  • Contributor: Author: Lionel Dufaux. English translation: David Wharry
  • Inventory number: Inv. 16260
  • Credits: © Musée des arts et métiers-Cnam/photo Sylvain Pelly

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