(under subclass 331) Apparatus provided with a specific bearing or seal structure.
(1) Note. Since nearly all rolling cutters employ some form of bearing, nominally recited bearing structures have been excluded and such patents have been classified on the basis of the cutting features claimed. A claim reciting a "bearing sleeve", a "roller bearing", or a "ball bearing having inner and outer races" would be considered to involve a mere nominal recitation of bearing structure but patents claiming specific locations of bearings with respect to the cutters; specific bearing shape, characteristics or materials, or bearings which detachably secure the cutters to their axles have been considered to involve more than nominal bearing structure. For example, a claim reciting "a bushing having a hard faced bearing surface" or "a pair of ball bearings engaging shoulders in the rolling cutter" would be classified in this or the indented subclass.
SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:
359, 364, 367+, and 370, for bearing or seal structures of the type there provided.
SEE OR SEARCH CLASS
277, Seal for a Joint or Juncture, for a generic sealing means or process, 358+, for a relatively rotatable radially extending sealing face member (e.g., face, mechanical, etc.) or subclasses 500+ or a dynamic circumferential contact seal for other than a piston.
384, Bearings,
94, for bearing structure with a seal which are adapted for use in roller type rock drill bits and only enough support structure for the bearing, the drill bit can be broadly recited as a support for the bearing but not details of cutting, teeth, etc.
