Patent 7736062 was granted and assigned to Hamilton Sundstrand on June, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
For machinery comprising rotary components attached to at least one drive shaft, at least one rotary bearing to position the drive shaft with a rotational freedom of movement about a drive shaft axis and associated stationary components, apparatus that comprises: a rotary backup bearing sleeve attached to the drive shaft proximate the bearing comprising a rotary radial surface relative to the drive shaft axis and a rotary axial surface relative to the drive shaft axis; and a stationary backup bearing collar mounted to one of the stationary components proximate the rotary backup bearing sleeve comprising a stationary radial surface relative to the drive shaft axis proximate the rotary radial surface with a predetermined axial clearance and a stationary axial surface relative to the drive shaft axis proximate the rotary radial surface with a predetermined axial clearance.