I
Didn't Know That...
Here
are some interesting facts you can drop the next time you
want to impress your friends and co-workers (maybe even
the boss!) about the history of bearings:
- Wooden
roller bearings for cart wheels were used in Germany and
France as early as 100 B.C. An
early example of a wooden ball bearing, supporting a rotating
table, was retrieved from the remains of a Roman ship
in Lake Nemi, Italy. The wreck was dated to 40 BC.
- Leonardo
da Vinci was first to develop an early model for ball
bearings in the 16th century.
- English
inventor Philip Vaughn obtained the first patent for today's
ball bearings while working on carriage axels
in 1791.
- The
first linear bearings were an arrangement of tree trunks
laid down under sleds. This technology is known to date
at least as far back as the construction of the Pyramids
of Giza.
- The
first practical caged-roller bearing was invented by horologist
John Harrison in his H3 chronometer of 1760.
- The
captured, or caged, ball bearing was originally described
by Galileo in the 1600s. The mounting of bearings into
a set was not accomplished for many years after that.
- The
first patent for a ball race was by Philip Vaughan of
Carmarthen in 1794. The modern, self-aligning design of
ball bearing is attributed to Sven Wingquist of the SKF
ball-bearing manufacturer in 1907.
The
RBI Bearing Group
Your
Chinese Bearing Solution
Doing
business in China is very different from doing business
here. Add in cultural differences, communication challenges,
geographical distance - and you soon understand why having
a partner who knows China is so important.
The
RBI Bearing Group consists of wholly owned and operated
ball bearing factories and joint venture relationships in
China. This
structure enables us to focus on what we do best in our
own factories while also providing our customers with competitive,
quality ball bearing products from trusted production partner
specialists. (Click on the picture to enlarge)
Our Quality Control
and Technical Center in Wuxi, China is the gateway through
which everything flows. New project prints and specifications
generated by our sales department are reviewed by our North
American management team and sent to the QC&T Center.
After
review by our Wuxi engineers, the QC&T Center will determine
which factory is best suited to produce the product. All
pertinent information is clearly communicated to our management
team throughout the production process.
With RBI Bearing
as your partner, you get the best of both worlds.
Profile:
Tom Brantner
Regional
Manager
 Tom
joined our sales department in 1995 after working as an
independent rep for 3 years selling RBI products to OEM's.
He has combined industry experience of over 26 years with
various bearing manufacturers.
Tom was promoted to Regional sales Manager in 2000.
"RBI
is a unique and exciting place to be today. Our ability
to source specialty manufacturers within our group in China
gives us a tremendous advantage in producing specific applications
for our customers. We're not just another bearing company
- we're experts at finding solutions for bearing application
challenges in China."
Click
here for
more profiles of the RBI USA management
and sales team!
Final
Word
"You're
only as good as the people you hire."
-Ray
Kroc
Your
Chinese Bearing Solution. |
