Geared Roller Bearing, Meccano part 167
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Geared Roller Bearing, Meccano part 167 |
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Arch Two , Area 4 1938 |
A red and gold example of the famous giant Meccano "Geared Roller Bearing", part number 167 displayed with its original blue box, dating from the late 1930s, from (or perhaps slightly before) the period when Meccano Ltd. briefly introduced their blue and gold sets.
Background
The Geared Roller Bearing was an entire assembly based on a pair of toothed circular plates, sandwiching a circular frame on which was mounted an array of rollers. The idea was that the pair of plates created a very heavy-duty rotating joint with large mounting areas on both sides, capable of taking and rotating very heavy loads. The load was not being borne by the central axle but was distributed around the rollers by the rollers, which allowed an off-centre weight to be swung around the joint with minimal friction and wear.
Because of the sheer size of the part, it was not used in many official model designs - it appeared in the No 8 Meccano Super Models plans as the basis of a funfair roundabout, and, more critically, was used as the main rotational joint of the Meccano Block-Setting Crane (Meccano Super Models No.4), which made much better use of the part's ability to cope with heavy loads that were not necessarily politely balanced around the joint centre.
