Rolamite
Encyclopedia
Rolamite is a technology for very low friction
Friction
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and/or material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction:...

 bearings
Bearing (mechanical)
A bearing is a device to allow constrained relative motion between two or more parts, typically rotation or linear movement. Bearings may be classified broadly according to the motions they allow and according to their principle of operation as well as by the directions of applied loads they can...

 developed by Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories
The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....

 in the 1960s. Invented by Sandia engineer Donald F. Wilkes and patented by him on June 24, 1969 these devices use a stressed metal band and counter rotating rollers within an enclosure to create a linear bearing device that loses very little energy to friction. One source claims it is the only basic mechanical invention of the 20th century. Tests by Sandia indicated that Rolamite mechanisms demonstrated friction coefficients as low as 0.0005, an order of magnitude better than ball bearing
Ball bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this by using at least two races to contain the balls and transmit...

s at the time.

Linear

  • Bishop,James E., (11/27/1973). "Remember the Rolamite? World's 27th-and Newest-'Elementary Mechanism' Still Works, but It Hasn't Revolutionized Technology" The Wall Street Journal Page 46.

Rotary

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