Adam:
Timken Roller Bearing started out as a bearing for wagon axles. One of the reasons ball bearings were never used much in automobile and truck engines was the fact that these are multi-cylinder engines with one-piece crankshafts. No way to get a ball bearing assembly onto one of the inner main journals or onto a crankpin journal.
On the other hand, engines having 'built up' or 'pressed up' cranks such as motorcycle engines used ball and roller bearings for the main and connecting rod big end bearings. Radial (piston) aircraft engines also used ball bearings or straight roller bearings on the crankshaft main and con rod journals.
Locomobile had some dealings with the Stanley Brothers (possibly buying patent and manufacturing rights from them). There is some story there where the Stanleys sold their patent and manufacturing rights to Locomobile. Locomobile, in turn, brought in a business partner and sold him a half interest in the company for what they paid the Stanleys. In the meanwhile, the Stanleys relocated and renamed their company and went on to make some improved steam cars.
Bicycles and wagons used 'antifriction' bearings prior to automobile engines (and steam cars). Old hand operated geared forge blowers as made by Buffalo Forge and their competitor, Champion Blower & Forge both used 'bicycle' type ball bearings in their blower gearcases. These had hardened and ground male cones on the shafts, and hardened and ground female cones that seated in counterbores in the gearcases. Buffalo used loose balls, while Champion used a brass bearing 'star' to hold the balls in some kind of spacing. In both these blowers, bears are adjusted the same way bicycle axle bearings are adjusted: make up on the male cones (which are tapped with a fine thread and screw onto the shafts). I believe the first 'ball bearing assemblies' were European inventions.
As for Babbitt metal, this is a generic term and there are many different types and alloys. At the hydro electric plant, we used to send the bearing shoes out for rebabbitting. The original thrust bearing shoes (the thrust runner or thrust disc on each unit being 120" diameter, 14 tilting pad shoes) were babbitted by Hitachi, the turbine/generator manufacturer in about 1971 when the original units were built in Japan. The babbitting on the thrust shoes and shaft guide bearing shoes held up for many years. Eventually, it began to fail, showing signs of cracking and some wiping. We had bearing shoes and thrust bearing pads sent out for rebabbitting and nothing gave the service life that original babbitt from Hitachi gave. We often saw cracking in the rebabbitting that seemed to follow the lines of the keyways cut into the steel bearing shoes or thrust bearing pads. Our other problem was that the newer babbitts tended to 'self relieve' over time. If we witnessed flatness checks on the thrust shoe rebabbitting (flatness had to be within 0.0001" in 10" per Hitachi, with 85-90% blue contact on a lab grade surface plate), if those shoes were stored for a few years, they were not flat when we checked them prior to installation. Many times, we had to re-scrape sets of thrust shoes that we had in our warehouse at the plant. We tried storing the shoes down in the plant where the temperature was more constant than up at the warehouse. We had no luck with getting the shoes to maintain flatness over time. We used "Planecators" as well as blue checks and knew the shoes were flat within specs following rebabbitting, so all I could think of was the babbitt, having been machined and scraped, was 'self relieving' over time.
We worked with Kingsbury as well as Hitachi on the problems. It turned out that original Hitachi babbitt had a healthy does of cadmium in it. This cadmium increased strength at grain boundaries and was key to the original shoes holding flatness in storage, as well as the longer service life. Cadmium, being found to be quite toxic, could no longer be used in bearing metals in the USA. Working with Kingsbury, we wound up with a babbitt that contained some percentage of copper, a lot of tin, and some antimony. Kingsbury and Hitachi both had detailed procedures for babbitting, including how to pour the babbitt and how to cool the bearing after pouring. Kingsbury had a large tank of molten pure tin. Bearings to be rebabbitted were painted with a chalk wash to keep the babbitt from sticking where it was not wanted. Surfaces to receive babbitt were machined to new metal and a rough surface finish was used. Abrasive blasting and acid pickling/neutralizing/rinsing were also done. The bearings to be rebabbitted got lowered into the molten tin tank and left submerged in the molten tin for quite some time. They were pulled out by electric hoist/monorail and stainless wire brushes were used to remove excess molten tin, while stainless spatulas were used to work the tin into any odd corners in the keyways where air bubbles might have been. The tinned bearing shoes or pads were then swung onto babbitting benches or stands and steel mold bands were quickly clamped onto them. At the same time, large gas burners were lit under the shoes or pads on the babbitting stands to keep them preheated. Kingsbury sometimes poured using a babbitt pump to pump molten babbitt. For our jobs, they used multiple ladles. Once the babbitt was poured to depth, the gas burners were turned off and pressurized water jets under the bearing shoes or pads were turned on. Kingsbury had a tank of something like 100,000 gallons of water that was allowed to come to ambient temperature. This water was pumped into the jets to cool the shoes or pads as quickly as possible to ambient temperature. Initially, I thought this was odd, but Hitachi verified this was their own factory procedure.
We spent a lot of time and money chasing things like flatness on the babbitted thrust shoes and good bearing contact on the shaft guide bearing shoes. We used to have the rebabbitting shops take a skim cut on the rebabbitted areas, then do an ultrasonic test to check integrity of the bond between the babbitt and the steel shoes.
We also spent a lot of time developing our scraping methods. For years, Hitachi insisted the only way to scrape in those big bearings was hand scraping. Kingsbury p[ut us onto using the Biax power scrapers. About the time we got good with that, CNC machining centers were able to machine the babbitt to required flatness and surface finish. SInce the thrust shoes have port for high pressure oil to initially lift the rotating assembly up off the thrust shoes, Hitachi suddenly told us we no longer needed to scrape the surface on the thrust shoes. As long flatness and surface finish specs were met, they were OK with it. The guide bearing shoes on the shaft journals still had to be hand scraped, but that was nowhere near the job we used to have with the thrust shoes.
When we pour bearings for line shaft bearings or old woodworking machinery, we use a 'basic' babbitt having a lot of lead in it. Years ago, I had sent out the main bearing shoes for a Skinner Unaflow engine for rebabbitting. A General Electric apparatus repair shop did the job, and they called me to confirm choice of babbitt. I went with a high tin babbitt rather than the softer grade used for steam engine bearings in lighter service.
I also had occasion to work on the Alco 539 series diesel engines used in some older diesel locomotives. "539" means the engine series came out in May of 1939. These engines have shell type bearings, but not in the automotive sense. They have heavy bronze shells with the babbitt deposited by centrifugal casting (which many people refer to as 'spin babbitting'). The bearings are made in halves, and are bored to size. The shells are quite thick and the deposition of babbitt is also quite thick. A different animal than the shell type bearings in an automobile engine.
When the shell type of bearing came into use in automobile engines, it increased the service life of the car engines by a quantum leap. A properly designed 'plain bearing' given proper lubrication will give some amazing service. Having lived with babbitted bearings in the hydro turbines and plenty more along the way, I have a good deal of respect for plain bearings and what they can do. I think the Stanley Brothers and then Locomobile were looking to build a very light and compact steam engine. Ball bearings seemed a way to reduce weight and space, so they used them in their steam engines. How well those bearings held up in service probably never entered into the picture since people did not put great amounts of mileage on their steam cars (or any early cars, given the condition or lack of roads and much else).
