LAYING HEAD BEARING WITH OFFSET PRELOADING

摘要

PURPOSE: A laying head bearing with offset preloading is provided to eliminate or at least significantly reduce roller skidding and vibration caused by clearances in the front bearing assembly. CONSTITUTION: The bearing assembly is characterized in that it is a bearing assembly for rotatably supporting a quill in the housing(12) of a rolling mill laying head, the bearing assembly comprises first and second axially spaced roller bearing sets(16a,16b) interposed between the quill(14) and the housing(12); and force exerting means for applying a radial preloading force to the first bearing set(16a) at a first location around the circumference thereof, the preloading force being opposed by a reactionary force (F2) acting on the second bearing set(16b) at a second location around the circumference thereof disposed 180 degrees from the first location, wherein the first and second bearing sets(16a,16b) each comprise roller elements(26) captured between circular inner and outer races(28,30), the inner races being fixed with respect to the quill and the outer races being fixed with respect to the housing, wherein the force exerting means is supported by the housing and is arranged to act on the outer race of the first bearing set, and the reactionary force is exerted by the housing acting on the outer race of the second bearing set, wherein the bearing assembly further comprises first and second cartridges(34,36) respectively containing the first and second bearing sets, and means for retaining the cartridges in an integral axially aligned and abutting relationship, wherein the second cartridge is received and rotatably fixed in a bore(13) in a front plate of the housing, and the first cartridge projects axially from the second cartridge and inwardly into the housing, wherein the force exerting means is constructed and arranged to engage the first cartridge, wherein the center to center distance (d) between the first and second bearing sets is between about 5 to 40% of the nominal diameter (D) of the bearing sets, and wherein the preloading force is resiliently applied.