What is "thrust bearing"

Thrust \Thrust\, n.

1. A violent push or driving, as with a pointed weapon moved in the direction of its length, or with the hand or foot, or with any instrument; a stab; -- a word much used as a term of fencing.

   [Polites] Pyrrhus with his lance pursues, And often reaches, and his thrusts renews.
   --Dryden.

2. An attack; an assault.

   One thrust at your pure, pretended mechanism.
   --Dr. H. More.

3. (Mech.) The force or pressure of one part of a construction against other parts; especially (Arch.), a horizontal or diagonal outward pressure, as of an arch against its abutments, or of rafters against the wall which support them.

4. (Mining) The breaking down of the roof of a gallery under its superincumbent weight.

   Thrust bearing (Screw Steamers), a bearing arranged to receive the thrust or endwise pressure of the screw shaft.

   Thrust plane (Geol.), the surface along which dislocation has taken place in the case of a reversed fault.

   Syn: Push; shove; assault; attack.

   Usage: Thrust, Push, Shove. Push and shove usually imply the application of force by a body already in contact with the body to be impelled. Thrust, often, but not always, implies the impulse or application of force by a body which is in motion before it reaches the body to be impelled.

n. a bearing designed to take thrusts parallel to the axis of revolution

A thrust bearing is a particular type of rotary rolling-element bearing. Like other bearings they permit rotation between parts, but they are designed to support a predominately axial load.

Thrust bearings come in several varieties.

• Thrust ball bearings, composed of ball bearings supported in a ring, can be used in low thrust applications where there is little axial load.
• Cylindrical thrust roller bearings consist of small cylindrical rollers arranged flat with their axes pointing to the axis of the bearing. They give very good carrying capacity and are cheap, but tend to wear due to the differences in radial speed and friction which is higher than with ball bearings.
• Tapered roller thrust bearings consist of small tapered rollers arranged so that their axes all converge at a point on the axis of the bearing. The length of the roller and the diameter of the wide and the narrow ends and the angle of rollers need to be carefully calculated to provide the correct taper so that each end of the roller rolls smoothly on the bearing face without skidding. These are the type most commonly used in automotive applications (to support the wheels of a motor car for example), where they are used in pairs to accommodate axial thrust in either direction, as well as radial loads. They can support greater thrust loads than the ball type due to the larger contact area, but are more expensive to manufacture.

• Spherical roller thrust bearings use asymmetrical rollers of spherical shape, rolling inside a house washer with a raceway with spherical inner shape. They can accommodate combined radial and axial loads and also accommodate misalignment of the shafts. They are often used together with radial spherical roller bearings. Spherical roller thrust bearings offer the highest load rating density of all thrust bearings.
• Fluid bearings, where the axial thrust is supported on a thin layer of pressurized liquid—these give low drag.
• Magnetic bearings, where the axial thrust is supported on a magnetic field. This is used where very high speeds or very low drag is needed, for example the Zippe-type centrifuge.

Thrust bearings are commonly used in automotive, marine, and aerospace applications. They are also used in the main and tail rotor blade grips of RC (radio controlled) helicopters.

Thrust bearings are used in cars because the forward gears in modern car gearboxes use helical gears which, while aiding in smoothness and noise reduction, cause axial forces that need to be dealt with.

Thrust bearings are also used with radio antenna masts to reduce the load on an antenna rotator.

One specific thrust bearing in an automobile is the clutch "throw out" bearing, sometimes called the clutch release bearing.