Why call it a cutless bearing?

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lampshuk

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This has been bugging me for ages - is it so unusual that a bearing isn't cut that it's worth differentiating it from all other types of bearing with their inconvenient gashes and lacerations?

Not to mention the spelling-autocorrect confusion of those calling it a cutlass bearing! Surely the opposite of a cutless bearing?

Anyway: wikipedia to the rescue:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stave_bearing

"Cutless bearing" is to "Stave bearing" as "Hoover" is to "vacuum cleaner".

This page explains the sort of cuts that are avoided:

http://web.archive.org/web/20110717111846/http://www.tufnol.com/tufnol/default.asp?id=99

Just thought I would share that with anyone who, like me, had been wondering the same thing and not got around to Googling it.

Cheers,

Lampsh.
 
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More than that, "cutless" was the trade name of the original manufacturer and like Hoover has been adopted as a generic term.
 
lampshuk said:
This has been bugging me for ages - is it so unusual that a bearing isn't cut that it's worth differentiating it from all other types of bearing with their inconvenient gashes and lacerations?

Not to mention the spelling-autocorrect confusion of those calling it a cutlass bearing! Surely the opposite of a cutless bearing?

Anyway: wikipedia to the rescue:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stave_bearing

"Cutless bearing" is to "Stave bearing" as "Hoover" is to "vacuum cleaner".

This page explains the sort of cuts that are avoided:

http://web.archive.org/web/20110717111846/http://www.tufnol.com/tufnol/default.asp?id=99

.
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Having read through both of those links, it's not at all clear to me that any 'cuts' are avoided.

Isn't a 'cutless' bearing just a (moulded) plain bearing? (And why is included in the Wikipedia page about 'Stave Bearings' when it doesn't meet the definition of stave bearing given on that page?) I suppose moulding a bearing does avoid machining it, but that would make the name 'cutless' a bit obscure.

That raises the delicious possibility that the brand name 'Cutless' is just a fairly random name (could have just as easily have been 'Sabre' brand bearings), intended to be 'cutlass' but misspelt from the outset, and the pedants (myself included) who have been insisting on the 'correct' spelling . . . .;)
 
I worked in collaboration for some years with Weir Pumps' research division at Alloa when I was based in Aberdeen. They have a lot of experience in rubber-lined pumps, in my case for a multi-phase pump able to cope with both gas and liquids. Their explanation for the word 'cutless' was the one passed over in one sentence in the Wiki link. Early versions of rubber bearings were made by cutting the grooves in a solid tube of rubber material, which had to be made in two halves to enable this to be done. Over time the cuts initiated cracks that caused the bearing to fail in a relatively short service life. A bearing moulded in one piece lasted considerably longer and was named 'cutless' by its original manufacturer.
 
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PCUK said:
Hoover, Jabsco, jacuzzi, Cutless, any more brand names in common use coming to mind?:confused:
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Heroin, marketed by Bayer as a super painkiller as it made users heroes against pain. Until about 100 years ago also sold as childrens cough medicine.
 
vyv_cox said:
I worked in collaboration for some years with Weir Pumps' research division at Alloa when I was based in Aberdeen. They have a lot of experience in rubber-lined pumps, in my case for a multi-phase pump able to cope with both gas and liquids. Their explanation for the word 'cutless' was the one passed over in one sentence in the Wiki link. Early versions of rubber bearings were made by cutting the grooves in a solid tube of rubber material, which had to be made in two halves to enable this to be done. Over time the cuts initiated cracks that caused the bearing to fail in a relatively short service life. A bearing moulded in one piece lasted considerably longer and was named 'cutless' by its original manufacturer.
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Thanks, Vyv. That makes perfect sense. A great piece of marketing to call it "Cutless", then ...
 
vyv_cox said:
I worked in collaboration for some years with Weir Pumps' research division at Alloa when I was based in Aberdeen. They have a lot of experience in rubber-lined pumps, in my case for a multi-phase pump able to cope with both gas and liquids. Their explanation for the word 'cutless' was the one passed over in one sentence in the Wiki link. Early versions of rubber bearings were made by cutting the grooves in a solid tube of rubber material, which had to be made in two halves to enable this to be done. Over time the cuts initiated cracks that caused the bearing to fail in a relatively short service life. A bearing moulded in one piece lasted considerably longer and was named 'cutless' by its original manufacturer.
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Good old Harlands knew their chief engineer when he transferred to Weir Pumps
 
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