Roller Bearings

[Charles Wilson]

One of the great Proofs of the Correctness of the Norton Design was the lack of motoring friction that came from the use of Roller Bearings and the Air-Kooled Rotor (Damn Smilies, again...). At the same time, the Sophisticates were telling us that rollers were OK for use on goat carts and the like but that, in the end, civilization could only advance by the use of Plain Bearings. At every stage of advance in the Norton Rotary design, however, as the Horsepower went up, there appeared to be no great increase in failures caused by the use of RBs, even though the Rotor face conducted heat through the rotor to the bearing surface.In the Official Survey of Norton Reliability, is there any indication that the use of RBs was a mistake, with greater failure rate as the HP went up and up?CW

[gripper]

To lubricate a plain bearing you would need a feed of oil to it. That would then end up being burnt. From what I can work out, the roller bearing can survive with a much smaller supply of oil and, in view of the high temperatures involved in an air cooled wankel engine, a roller is probably better suited to the expansion involved without nipping up. I suggest that plain bearings in a wankel engine is a non starter.