Bearing arrangement for the armature shaft of an electric motor

摘要

The invention is directed to a bearing arrangement for the shaft of the armature of an electric motor disposed in a support frame and subject to axial thrust. The bearing arrangement includes a bearing housing disposed so as to receive an end portion of the shaft therein and defining a bearing wall for receiving the axial thrust of the shaft. The bearing housing has a structure formed thereon for mounting the bearing housing to the support frame. A bearing at the interface of the bearing wall and the end portion transmits the axial thrust of the shaft to the bearing wall. A shaft bearing rotatably engages the end portion of the shaft and elastic material interposed between the structure and the support frame deforms elastically in response to the axial thrust applied to the bearing wall. The mounting structure is located with respect to the shaft axially back of the end of the end portion and the bearing wall is disposed axially beyond the mounting structure and the end portion so that the axial thrust of the shaft against the bearing wall will cause the bearing housing to center itself with respect to the axial thrust thereby taking up misalignment of the shaft relative to the shaft bearing.