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From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Instructions for mounting standard radial type ball bearings.

Identifier  ExFiles\Box 115\2\  scan0553
Date  1st November 1940 guessed
  
PAGE 2

Romanian peasant house with four-sided roof, showing escape-holes for smoke.

the ceremonial spoonful of preserved fruit which polite people offer to their guests.

After the World War the peasants demanded more land, so the government tried an interesting experiment. It expropriated the holdings of the large landlords and even the Crown lands, and divided them equally among the peasants, share and share alike. In the beginning it worked very badly, for the new owner had no capital and knew nothing of scientific farming. So he reverted to the old ways. He scratched the soil with Grandpa’s old wooden plow, and craftily employed certain pagan charms to insure him a good crop. The immediate result was poor grain, much of which could not be sold. As time went on, the ignorant and lazy could not pay their taxes and lost their land, which was promptly bought by the thrifty ones. Gypsies swapped theirs for anything which came to hand, and took to the road with their monkeys and dancing bears. So the estates in the hands of the more industrious peasants grew larger and larger, while methods of farming were improved, so that the quality and the quantity of the grain is now higher than in the days of the great landlords.

The racial groups in this country do not mix. Romanian, Saxon, Magyar, Jew and Gypsy live together with as much forbearance as they can muster, but there is no love lost between them. They do not intermarry, nor do they sell land to one another.

The Saxon villages, homes of Germans who settled here in the thirteenth century, are clean but austere and silent, their houses hidden behind high walls and not even a dog to be seen in the streets. In the fields, the women wear old-fashioned German clothes and absurdly wide straw hats to protect their complexions of peaches and cream.

In Romanian villages, on the contrary, the pretty blue or pink plastered houses, with verandas where the family sleeps in summer, are open for all to see. Steep roofs are hooded low with thatch or covered with satiny white shingles. There are no chimneys, but each roof has two openings, like sleepy eyes, through which pale blue smoke curls up from the hearth-fire built on the kitchen floor.

On Sunday afternoon the village street is a sight to warm your heart. The men argue in heated groups about politics and crops; all the marriageable girls in their gay Sunday costumes and bright silk head-kerchiefs have taken

PAGE 11

The DRAGON

Mounting Standard Radial Type Ball Bearings

Care in Assembly is Necessary for Anti-Friction Bearings

Before mounting a bearing, check the shaft for proper size, straightness and cleanliness. A worn shaft should be replaced, as the bearing seat on the shaft must be absolutely round — not tapered or oval — and free from burrs or rough spots.

In the majority of cases no elaborate equipment is necessary for mounting ball bearings. However, it is essential that all equipment be absolutely clean.

For the actual mounting, several methods are recommended. The arbor press method, especially where short shafts prevail, is the easiest, being also quick and sure. A sleeve slipped over the shaft (and abutting the inner ring) will insure uniform pressure on the inner ring.

The hammer-and-pipe method is perhaps the most common, but it also requires the most care. With the Radial, Thrust, Wireloc, Shielded and Sealed types, make certain that the bearing is right side up. Whatever the type, it is imperative that the bearing be placed as nearly square as possible on the end of the shaft.

Start the bearing on the shaft squarely by tapping it lightly all around, or better, place a flat block (metal, not wood) across the inner ring and strike that. Never do more than tap the bearing directly without inserting some substance such as leather or fiber between the ring and hammer, as the rings are extremely hard and may break under a direct blow.

After the bearing is properly started, place a piece of metal tubing or pipe against the inner ring and drive the bearing along the shaft by means of light hammer blows on a flat bar placed across the end of the tube. The tubing slips over the shaft as it works along and enables an even pressure to be applied to the inner ring. If the bearing does not go on smoothly (that is, if there is any sticking) it usually means that the bearing was not started squarely and that the cocked inner ring is scoring the shaft as it is driven along. If this is the case, do not force the bearing on, but take it off and start over.

Never strike the balls, retainer or outer ring, for the original accurate fit-up will be destroyed and the ball races damaged.

Drive the bearing on until the inner ring abuts the shaft shoulder squarely. This can be judged by the “solid feeling” of the blow. It can also be checked by noting the absence of light between the inner race and the shaft shoulder.

The oil bath method can be used quite profitably where the shaft is very long. The oil should be heated to approximately 300°F and the bearing immersed in it for about two minutes. This will expand the inner ring sufficiently to enable the bearing to be slipped on the shaft to the proper position. In cooling, the inner ring is locked in place snugly and squarely.

Once a ball bearing is mounted correctly, further adjustment is unnecessary. The bearing is fitted-up with exactly the right axial and radial play at the time of manufacture, and the user, being thus relieved of the adjusting process, can treat the bearing as a unit.
  
  


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