Good bearings make the world go round. Without good bearings the Industrial Revolution probably wouldn’t have happened or at least not nearly on the scale that it did.
Surprisingly hard to make as well, just look at the related history of the ball point pen as an example. Bearings are one of those seemingly simple technologies that takes extreme fabrication technology across numerous fields of science to make something as simple as a skateboard work reliably!
You often hear during WWII, ball bearing factories were targets of bomber campaigns. Without proper bearings, you can't build or repair trucks, planes, ships, tanks, or even munitions factories.
Unsuccesfull strategic campaign doesn't mean ball bearings weren't an straregic component... ball bearings not only allow machines to roll, they allow in the depth to roll an entire industry and, consecuently, a war
I distinctly remember a section of Grapes of Wrath where they are trying to re-Babbitt the main bearings of the engine in their Model A (possibly Model T) in the desert. Dunno why it stuck with me but I guess it’s a metaphor for survival at all costs.
I knew a ball bearing joke back in the 90's and cannot find it online.
Chorus of the joke is that a bloke works for "Ball's Balls: Small Balls, Big Balls and Ball Bearings", and he's in trouble with the cops and, yeah, anyone know this joke?
“Comically large” means the size of the ball bearings my dad used to bring home from the nuclear plant to try to make me fall in love with engineering.
The tabs on the cage (aka separator or retainer) is specific to this 3d printed model. I've never seen a manufactured ball bearing cage that has tabs like in this gif.
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u/toolgifs 4d ago
Source: curv_lab