Bob, It looks good. Of course I’m already a believer. I recently saw a plant using bronze sleeve bearings with a total-loss drip oil system. They use 2000 gallons of oil a year! And most is not captured, but spills into the water. Horrible. I recommended LV bearings below water, greased roller bearings above.
I am a true believer in lignum vitae
We have several hydro stations that I have been employee for 38 years; we previously had lignum vitae in all of our lower bearings which are lubricated by the water in the earlier years. In 1967 when I worked here in the summer while in high school, I recall us installing a new set of […]
Lignum-Vitae Bearings and how they last.
I have no way of monitoring the bearing it is about 12 feet under water I do drain the pit to do maintenance ever 3 to 4 months the bearings have around 8,000 hours on them and believe or not it will wear the shaft more than the bearing. the shaft has a bearing sleeve […]
Lignum-Vitae Bearings vs. other wood bearings and composites
This is an actual response to a customer who decided to use oak as a bearing material and then switched back to Lignum-Vitae. We are proud to bring this great material to the Hydro Industry. Over a period of a couple of weeks the material failed. This is the owner of Lignum-Vitae’s response once he […]
“Hydro Engineer – Uses of Lignum-Vitae Bearings” is locked Hydro Engineer – Uses of Lignum-Vitae Bearings
From a Hydro Engineer… On Lignum Vitae it’s uses are especially suited to wet environments. Inside head boxes eg VAT and Slice rolls, Savall Showers and core shafts Hydro turbines, any where there’s a shaft that turns in a wet environment. Even ship shaft logs. Lignum bearings run on some of the most recent submarines. […]
From the Army Corps of Engineers – Lignum Vitae Bearings
From the Army Corps of Engineers “The original hydro turbine bearings made of Lignum Vitae, lasted from 1934 to 2001. The Lignum Vitae bearing design kept the hydro turbine in service for sixty-seven years! Modern composite metal bearing materials such as Txxxxxx, Rxxxxx, Mxxxxxx, and Pxxxxxxx are unacceptable materials due to their inability to match […]
United States Naval Institute proceedings, Volume 45 P. 1929
Lignum-vitae, The Vital Wood.—The propeller shaft of every battleship, every destroyer, every transport, in fact, every large steamship, revolves in a wooden bearing at the stern end. Of all the thousands of woods in the world, true lignum-vitae, a native of the West Indies and certain other parts of tropical America, is the only one […]
Lignum-Vitae Water Lubricated Bearings benefits featured in the July issue of Hydro Review!
Back to our Roots: The Return of an Old Friend for Turbine Bearing Rehab 07/21/2014 When faced with the need for an efficient bearing solution for the 242-MW Osage hydropower plant, Ameren sought an option that would extend bearing life and found bearings made of lignum vitae wood fit the bill. By Alan Sullivan and […]
I have seen it outperform other materials time and again.
I read that when it came out, made me smile. Reminded me of a few phone calls with you several years ago when we discussed the performance of LV. I have seen it outperform other materials time and again. Good for you, I think the industry is starting to get it! Dan
"The Natural Bearing Choice for Over 130 Years"