Ball bearings
Ball bearings
A ball is a small round object with many uses. It’s widely used in ball games, in which the sport of ball handling follows the shape of the ball when it’s thrown, kick or hit. Balls can also be employed for simpler activities, like juggling or catching. The balls we know today come in all shapes and sizes. However, all balls have one common feature: the ability to roll.
As balls got more popular, manufacturers started making them in all possible shapes and sizes. In later years, a few specific types of balls emerged. Initially, there were two types: the spherical balls and the flat ones. The flat ones had a flat surface, just like a hockey puck, while the spherical ones had a spin. The surface of a spherical ball tends to roll faster than the flat one. The ball with a flat surface, meanwhile, loses energy as it rolls, giving it a slower speed.
In order to reduce friction, ball bearings were invented. Plastic ball bearings are made of special plastics with helical grooves, allowing for smoother rolling. High-tech equipment and sophisticated engineering methods have improved the production of ball bearings. Plastic ball bearings are now more durable and cheaper than steel balls. Some of the plastic ball bearings available these days are even shaped like cones.
Cast iron ball bearings, on the other hand, have a solid, smooth rolling surface, but are much heavier than their plastic counterparts. They were initially intended for use in large industrial equipment. Over the years, however, the iron ball bearings have found widespread use in different applications. They’re best suited for heavy loads because they’re able to sustain greater bending loads, which enable them to handle larger and longer loads. They don’t require a large cooling area. Still, these bearings are not well suited to applications where there are a lot of direct impacts between the rolling surfaces of the bearing and the rolling structure of the assembly.
Most of today’s ball bearings are spherical in shape. However, some of them are also oblong-shaped. The oblong-shaped ball bearings are the most popular ones used these days. These balls are also referred to as globes or spheres. The basic design of spherical ball bearings is similar to that of a sphere.
The basic idea behind spherical bearings is to provide the smooth rolling action needed by the ball while it goes through its orbit in the course of a basketball game. This idea has led to the increased popularity of ball games. Ball games are played across various sports including baseball, softball, volleyball, basketball, hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, track events, wrestling and baseball. There are even fitness ball exercises for athletes that require players to perform various sprints and bounces. With these balls made especially for sports, you can definitely say goodbye to sore feet and ankles.