While it’s true that bearings might not come up in everyday conversations, they may never be the theme at Bingo night, or even come up during a heated game of trivia – but there are definitely a few things about bearings you don’t yet know, and they are far from boring!
Bearings Aren’t New Nowadays
Yes, there are many new ways we’ve found to implement the handy little buggers, but that’s not to say bearings haven’t in fact been around a very long time.
It’s easy to think that bearings just sprouted up out of nowhere as modern technology has risen in the last 50 years, but they’ve been around far longer than that.
Thousands of years ago, the ancient Egyptians used a form of roller bearings to build massive structures such as the great pyramids.
Remains of Roman ships dating back to 40 BC have been found with wooden ball bearings that supported rotating tables.
Bearings are Uses Everywhere
Did you ever hear the phrase, “a spider has eight legs and there’s always one within eight feet of you?” It would be easy to guess the same is true for bearings.
If you take a quick look around, you will notice bearings are everywhere, all around you. They’re in water heaters, microwaves, computers, airplanes, satellites, telescopes, washing machines, skateboards, and the list goes on and on.
Bearings are Perfect spherical object
In shape and structure, that is.
If you were to take it upon yourself to attempt to file down a ball bearing – in the how many licks does it take to get to the center of a lollipop kind of way – your file would be guaranteed to wear out long before the ball bearing ever does!
Secondly, they’re perfectly round. For a fun comparison – if you were to expand a ball bearing to match the size of the Earth, you would notice that the ball bearing would be more round than the Earth itself. This has to do with centrifugal forces pulling at the Earth, making it an oblate spheroid rather than a perfect spherical object.
Bearings Won the World’s First Bicycle Race
According to the New World Encyclopedia’s history of bearings: In August of 1869, the first French patent for ball bearings was received by Parisian bicycle mechanic Jules Suriray. Shortly after that, James Moore came in first place in the world’s first bicycle race, the Paris-Rouen, in November of 1869. His first place medal was no doubt thanks to the new bearings that had been fitted to his bike.
We Once Declared War on Bearings
During the Second World War, factories in Germany that manufactured ball bearings were often targeted to be destroyed. Reason being, the bearings were an essential part of the war industry in Germany, and thus destroying them gave the Allies a much needed headway. Schweinfurt was one location of a major bearings manufacturing plant that was targeted.
Bearings Make the World Go ‘Round'
Global demand is pushing bearing manufacturers to churn out more product, faster, with ever more innovative designs. As consumers and corporations demand more from technology, and the bearings market continues to grow, we’re sure to see bearings play an important role in our future.
Bearings Aren’t New Nowadays
Yes, there are many new ways we’ve found to implement the handy little buggers, but that’s not to say bearings haven’t in fact been around a very long time.
It’s easy to think that bearings just sprouted up out of nowhere as modern technology has risen in the last 50 years, but they’ve been around far longer than that.
Thousands of years ago, the ancient Egyptians used a form of roller bearings to build massive structures such as the great pyramids.
Remains of Roman ships dating back to 40 BC have been found with wooden ball bearings that supported rotating tables.
Bearings are Uses Everywhere
Did you ever hear the phrase, “a spider has eight legs and there’s always one within eight feet of you?” It would be easy to guess the same is true for bearings.
If you take a quick look around, you will notice bearings are everywhere, all around you. They’re in water heaters, microwaves, computers, airplanes, satellites, telescopes, washing machines, skateboards, and the list goes on and on.
Bearings are Perfect spherical object
In shape and structure, that is.
If you were to take it upon yourself to attempt to file down a ball bearing – in the how many licks does it take to get to the center of a lollipop kind of way – your file would be guaranteed to wear out long before the ball bearing ever does!
Secondly, they’re perfectly round. For a fun comparison – if you were to expand a ball bearing to match the size of the Earth, you would notice that the ball bearing would be more round than the Earth itself. This has to do with centrifugal forces pulling at the Earth, making it an oblate spheroid rather than a perfect spherical object.
Bearings Won the World’s First Bicycle Race
According to the New World Encyclopedia’s history of bearings: In August of 1869, the first French patent for ball bearings was received by Parisian bicycle mechanic Jules Suriray. Shortly after that, James Moore came in first place in the world’s first bicycle race, the Paris-Rouen, in November of 1869. His first place medal was no doubt thanks to the new bearings that had been fitted to his bike.
We Once Declared War on Bearings
During the Second World War, factories in Germany that manufactured ball bearings were often targeted to be destroyed. Reason being, the bearings were an essential part of the war industry in Germany, and thus destroying them gave the Allies a much needed headway. Schweinfurt was one location of a major bearings manufacturing plant that was targeted.
Bearings Make the World Go ‘Round'
Global demand is pushing bearing manufacturers to churn out more product, faster, with ever more innovative designs. As consumers and corporations demand more from technology, and the bearings market continues to grow, we’re sure to see bearings play an important role in our future.
