FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2006
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10 and rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
An improved self aligning bearing block
APPLICANT
Crompton Greaves Limited, CG House, Dr Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai 400 030, Maharashtra, India, an Indian Company
INVENTOR
Shroff Suhas Pramodchandra , Crompton Greaves Ltd , S2, Switchgear Complex, A3, Ambad, MIDC Nashik, Maharashtra, INDIA, an Indian National
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the nature of this invention and
the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of mechanical assemblies. Particularly, this invention relates to a self aligning bearing block.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Air circuit breaker includes a switching mechanism that opens or closes a current conduction circuit. In the circuit breaker, the charging operation of a closing spring, a closing operation and a tripping operation are basic operations of the air circuit breaker. During the charging operation, much load is applied to the cam shaft that charges the closing spring by large charge elastic energy according to high elastic coefficient of the closing spring.
In order to tolerate much load and smooth rotation, a bearing is used through which the cam passes. The bearing is a support structure which may be deformed or suffer damages by the load in direction of axis according to the structure that supports the bearing. To sustain the load and facilitate smooth rotation it is essential that the bearing have be strong and robust. There exist several types of bearings in the existing art which involve special process of casting. Further, it is not easy to customize the shape and size of bearing as it involves mould and tooling cost.
To overcome these and several others the proposed invention is disclosed herewith.

PRIOR ART
EP1914776A1 discloses a trust bearing support member which includes a flange substantially having a ring shape which includes an axial hole wall forming an axial hole through which the rotational shaft passes.
US7605508B2 discloses an electrical machine with rotor shaft coupled via the ball race with a plastic molded bearing block in the axial direction. The outer ring of the ball race is supported in the bearing block.
EP1145263B1 discloses a charging shaft mounted in a bearing block GB812646A discloses a self-aligning ball bearing assembly with outer side face of the ball race supported by a flat end-plate.
None of these provide a self-aligning bearing block, or a bearing block with additional play.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide an improved bearing block, which block does not require special casting process.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bearing block, which block does not require costly and heavy machining.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved bearing block, which block reduces the cycle time of operation by eliminating the one complete process of bearing pressing in to machining block.
Still another object of the proposed invention is to provide an improved bearing block, which block increases the operational safety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to this invention, there is provided a self aligning bearing block comprising a substantially circular through recess in said block, ball raceway adapted to be fitted in said through recess, such that it lines the inner circumference of said recess, hollow ball with operatively laterally clipped-off sides adapted to receive a shaft through its operatively lateral clipped off sides, said ball adapted to be fitted into said ball raceway and further adapted to have a pre-defined amount of play in said ball raceway.
Typically, said block includes a rubber cast lining interposed between said recess inner circumference and said ball raceway outer circumference.
Typically, said bearing block is a metal bearing block.
Typically, said ball raceway is a metal ball raceway.
Typically, said hollow ball is a metal ball.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
Figure la illustrates a schematic front view of a bearing block; and Figure lb illustrates a schematic side view of Figure la.
The invention will now be described in relation to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
Figure 2a illustrates a schematic front view of a self-aligning bearing block; and
Figure 2b illustrates a schematic side view of Figure 1a.
Figure 3 illustrates a perspective view of the self-alignin.g bearing block of Figure
2a.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
Figure la illustrates a schematic front view of a bearing block (100); and Figure lb illustrates a schematic side view of Figure 1a.
There was provided a bearing block (10) with a circular recess (12). The circular recess includes a ball raceway (14) for receiving a shaft. Typically, it includes a plurality of ball-bearings along its circumference.
According to this invention, there is provided a self-aligning bearing block adapted to receive a (rotating) shaft and providing smooth self-aligning rotation by providing a pre-set amount of play for its alignment.
Figure 2a illustrates a schematic front view of a self-aligning bearing block; and Figure 2b illustrates a schematic side view of Figure 1a.

Figure 3 illustrates a perspective view of the self-aligning bearing block of Figure 2a.
Typicaliy, said bearing block is a bearing block of a switching mechanism for an air circuit breaker.
In accordance with an embodiment of this invention, there is provided a recessed block (20), said recess (22) being a through recess i.e. a hollow in said block. Typically, said through recess is a circular through recess.
In accordance with another embodiment of this invention, there is provided a ball raceway (24) adapted to be fitted in said through recess. Typically, the ball raceway is adapted to line the inner circumference of said recess.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of this invention, there is provided a hollow ball (26) with operatively laterally clipped-off sides adapted to receive a shaft through its operatively lateral clipped off sides, said ball adapted to be fitted into said ball raceway and further adapted to have a pre-defined amount of play in said ball raceway.
The bearing block serves the purpose of a bearing and also gives more contact surface area and rigidity to the shaft.
The basic purpose of bearing block is to avoid rework and reduce the scrap of bearing while assembling it in its housing. The productivity also increases as the bearing block is readily available unlike the bearing which requires assembling. The new bearing block includes a ball raceway which is fitted inside the housing.

The adjustment of the ball raceway also assists in self aligning of the bearing assembly in turn improving the productivity and reducing the down time.
In accordance with the invention, the proposed bearing block can be customized easily and hence the assembly time significantly reduces. Further with the proposed shape structure and size of the bearing block the inventory has also reduced.
The introduction of a ball in a ball raceway provides additional degrees of freedom to the shaft that passes through the ball and the bearing thereby. This degree of freedom includes additional play to the shaft, thereby eliminating its rigid interface, and allowing self-alignment feature.

We claim,
1. A self aligning bearing block comprising a substantially circular through recess in said block, ball raceway adapted to be fitted in said through recess, such that it lines the inner circumference of said recess, hollow ball with operatively laterally clipped-off sides adapted to receive a shaft through its operatively lateral clipped off sides, said ball adapted to be fitted into said ball raceway and further adapted to have a pre-defined amount of play in said ball raceway.
2. A self-aligning bearing block as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said block includes a rubber cast lining interposed between said recess inner circumference and said ball raceway outer circumference.
3. A self-aligning bearing block as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said bearing block is a metal bearing block.
4. A self-aligning bearing block as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said ball raceway is a metal ball raceway.
5. A self-aligning bearing block as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said hollow ball is a metal ball.