Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, P.C.
Thrust ball bearing and open-type scroll compressor
 A thrust ball bearing provided in an open scroll-type compressor can withstand a large compressive load on the bearing and prevents wear of the mating surfaces. The thrust ball bearing has a first thrust plate 9a for performing spiral revolution; a second thrust plate 4a opposing the first thrust plate 9a; and a retaining device 40 disposed between the thrust plates 4a, 9a and provided with retaining cavities 42 for retaining a ball 41 in each cavity where a radius .rho. of spiral revolution of the first plate, a diameter d of the ball and a diameter D of the retaining cavity are related by an expression D.gtoreq.d.times..rho.. 
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
F F
F16C F01C
additional inventional
Makoto Kazuhide Shigeki Tetsuzou
Takeuchi Watanabe Miura Ukai