The American Society of Mechanical Engineers...1987/06/27  · The American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Me-chanical Engineers designates the first Kingsbury

The American Society ofMechanical Engineers

The American Society of Me-chanical Engineers designatesthe first Kingsbury thrust bear-ing at Holtwood HydroelectricStation as an International His-toric Mechanical EngineeringLandmark on June 27, 1987.

The Kingsbury bearing at Holtwood

There’s an invention that’s been working for75 years along the Susquehanna River inLancaster County, Pa., with negligible wear,while withstanding a force of more than220 tons.

The Susquehanna Section of the AmericanSociety of Mechanical Engineers dedicatedthat invention — a 48-inch-diameter thrustbearing — on Saturday, June 27, 1987, asits 23rd International Historic MechanicalEngineering Landmark.

The bearing is the brainchild of the lateprofessor Albert Kingsbury, an engineeringgenius who personally supervised its installa-tion in the 10,000-horsepower Unit 5 of the10-unit Holtwood Hydroelectric Station, June 22through 27, 1912. Holtwood today is ownedand operated by Pennsylvania Power & LightCo. It was built and operated until 1955 byPennsylvania Water & Power Co.

All bearings in rotating machinery need toovercome the effects of friction between re-volving parts and stationary parts. A thrustbearing specifically overcomes the frictioncreated when a shaft exerts a force in adirection parallel to its axis of rotation.

Helicopter rotors and airplane or boat pro-pellers, for instance, need thrust bearings ontheir shafts. So do hydroelectric turbine-generator units.

Until Kingsbury came onto the scene, unitslike Holtwood’s represented the upper sizelimit of hydroelectric design. The rotatingelements at Holtwood Unit 5 have a com-bined weight of more than 180 tons, andthe downward force of water passingthrough the turbine adds another 45 tons.

Roller thrust bearings once used in suchinstallations rarely lasted more than twomonths before needing repair or replacement.

Then Kingsbury came along with the de-ceptively simple idea that instead of roller orball bearings, a thin film of oil could supportthe massive weight — and practically elimi-nate mechanical wear in the bargain.

The principle of the discovery — in Kings-bury’s own words — was this:

In reading (a) paper dealing with flatsurfaces, it occurred to me that herewas a possible solution to the trou-blesome problem of thrust bearings...if an extensive flat surface rubbedover a flat surface slightly inclinedthereto, oil being present, therewould be a pressure distributedabout as sketched...

Former Holtwood superintendent W. Roger Small Jr.checks the glass inspection port on the Unit 5thrust deck that enables operators to view theoil-bathed bearing during operation.

The maximum pressure would occur

somewhat beyond the center of the

bearing block in the direction of mo-

tion and the resultant would be be-

tween that maximum and the center

line of the block. It occurred to me

that if the block were supported

from below on a pivot, at about the

theoretical center of pressure, the oil

pressures would automatically take

the theoretical form, with a resulting

small bearing friction and absence of

wear of the metal parts, and that in

this way a thrust bearing could be

made, with several such blocks set

around in a circle and with proper

arrangements for lubrication.

The diagram at left is taken from a sketch by Kings-bury himself, showing his insight into the pressuredistribution in an offset bearing shoe. Below, a modelof the Kingsbury thrust bearing is affixed to Holtwood’sUnit 5 generator, so that visitors can see the inge-nious way its parts interact.

On the 25th anniversary of its installation,Kingsbury (right) returned to Holtwood fora look at the Unit 5 thrust bearing. Withhim is Frederick A. Allner, who eventuallybecame a Pennsylvania Water & Power Covice president. The arc-shaped piece infront of Allner is one of the bearing shoesthat had been removed for the occasion.

Kingsbury’s design could support 100times the load of the previously used rollerbearings.

The top half of his bearing design is a flat,cast-iron ring, called a “runner.” The runnerrests on six flat shoes, shaped like wedgesof pie to match the shape of the ring.

The entire bearing is bathed in 570 gal-lons of oil. Each of the shoes is pivot-mounted so that it can rock a bit. How thishappens is shown in the diagram, copiedfrom Kingsbury’s original sketch in which heshowed the pressure distribution in the offsetshoes.

The rotating motion of the cast-iron runnersqueezes oil between it and the shoes, andthe oil actually supports the weight, with nophysical contact between the runner and theshoes.

As a kind of engineering “bonus,” thedesign is such that the faster a unit runs,the more weight the bearing is capable ofcarrying.

Kingsbury returned to Holtwood once —to mark the 25th anniversary of the installa-tion of bearing No. 1 in the plant’s Unit 5.Amid all the pomp and ceremony of the oc-casion, he took time out to smear his initialsin the oil film of a Kingsbury bearing shoethat the owners had on display.

Incidentally, the contract between PW&Pand Kingsbury, which agreement the profes-sor described as “a stiff one,” was for $2,650for the construction and installation of thatfirst bearing.

At Holtwood today, a model of the bear-ing is attached to Unit 5, along with a plaquereading:

“The first Kingsbury thrust bearing everinstalled on a hydro-electric generationunit was put into service in this machineon June 22, 1912. It carries a weight of220 tons.

“When the generator was rebuilt for60-cycle service in 1950, the originalKingsbury bearing was retained, as it wasin perfect condition.

“Not a single part has ever beenreplaced.”

The Kingsbury company

Albert Kingsbury was born in Morris, Ill.,in 1863, the son of a Quaker mother andPresbyterian father. His lineage went back toEnglish immigrants who landed in Massa-chusetts in the 17th century.

A well-rounded individual with a sense ofhumor, Kingsbury was equally at ease work-ing with machinery, singing, playing theflute or reading in Spanish, Italian, Greek,French, German or Danish.

Throughout his early life, there remained athread of interest in coefficients of frictionthat appeared to have begun when he under-took the testing of bearing metals whilestudying mechanical engineering at CornellUniversity.

Kingsbury took over the testing of half-journal bearings at Cornell in research under-written by the Pennsylvania Railroad Co.After carefully scraping and refitting all thetest bearings there, he discovered that theyexhibited identical characteristics and showedno detectable wear.

He was to remain intrigued by the mys-teries of friction and the properties of lubri-cants for the rest of his life, whether teachingat New Hampshire College (Durham) after hisgraduation, working in private industry orteaching again at Worcester PolytechnicInstitute.

The inspiration for Kingsbury’s tilting-padbearing came when he read an 1886 paperby Osborne Reynolds on properties of fluid-film-lubricated bearings. Kingsbury built asuccessful thrust bearing in 1898, while atNew Hampshire College.

Eventually lured away from the academiclife by his desire to work more closely withlubrication problems, Kingsbury nonethelesswas awarded two honorary doctorates inrecognition of his contributions to theknowledge of tribology — the study of fric-tion and ways to overcome its effects.

He applied for a U.S. patent in 1907, andeventually was awarded Patent No. 947,242in 1910.

It was when Kingsbury was working atthe East Pittsburgh works of the Westing-house Electric and Manufacturing Co. thatthis daringly innovative engineer chancedupon a daringly innovative company —Pennsylvania Water & Power Co. — that wasin need of a bearing of the sort Kingsburywanted to demonstrate on a commercialscale.

PW&P was a struggling company between1910 — when Holtwood went into operation— and 1914, when the utility was able toturn around its financial fortunes.

Kingsbury, for his part, took the moneyfrom a matured insurance policy and used itto pay Westinghouse for building the firstthrust bearing that was installed at Holtwood.

Both he and PW&P were betting their fu-tures on the success of his bearing in replac-ing the roller bearings that used to wear outin a matter of months at Holtwood and sim-ilar hydroelectric installations.

The first time it was installed, it lookedlike an overheated failure. But Kingsburytook it back to East Pittsburgh and appliedthat same careful scraping technique whoseresults puzzled him at Cornell. Within fivedays, the bearing was installed and runningwithout problems.

After three months, the bearing was takenapart and found to be in perfect condition.PW&P bought more, and eventually put themon all 10 Holtwood hydroelectric units. Cal-culations after that first inspection showedthat the bearing should last 330 years be-fore the shoes’ bearing surface would behalf worn away.

After four years and another inspection,recalculation indicated a more than1,320-year life span.

When the unit was again inspected in1969, the bearing was stall in nearly newcondition.

Kingsbury’s bearing made possible thedesign of much larger hydroelectric units,such as those of the Tennessee Valley Au-thority and Bonneville Power Authority andat the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams.

In addition, Kingsbury bearings have beenused extensively in marine propulsion — forthe propeller shafts of large ships and evennuclear-powered submarines. The first suchapplication was on U.S. Navy ships in 1917.

History of Holtwood HydroThe Holtwood Hydroelectric Station was

built between 1905 and 1910 by the Penn-sylvania Water & Power Co. PW&P mergedwith Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., theplant’s present owner and operator, in 1955.

The Kingsbury thrust bearing is far fromthe only technology pioneered at Holtwood.

A hydraulic laboratory existed there formany years, and in it were tested not onlythe runner (turbine blade) design for the SafeHarbor Hydroelectric Development, eightmiles upriver from Holtwood, but also run-ners for many large hydroelectric develop-ments throughout the country, includingBonneville and Santee-Cooper.

Another interesting facet of “river technol-ogy” was the dredging and burning of an-thracite culm, or “fines” (waste coal thatwashed into the river from the anthracitebelt as far north as Luzerne and Lackawan-na counties).

For years, commercial dredging was donein the Holtwood impoundment (Lake Aldred),and later in the Safe Harbor impoundment(Lake Clarke). Indeed, Holtwood Steam Elec-tric Station was built to burn river coal, anddid so until cleaner coal-mining and process-ing methods shut off the flow of available“fines” and environmental regulations in 1972made it impractical to continue dredging.

Other technological pioneering at Holt-wood included PW&P’s testing of lightning-protection systems and water-deluge fire-

fighting systems to protect large transform-ers. The systems protecting transformers atall PP&L plants today are direct descendantsof the prototypes developed at Holtwood.

Notwithstanding the embryonic state oflarge-project engineering and constructiontechniques when Holtwood was built, itsmassive concrete dam has withstood all ma-jor floods on the Susquehanna, including thedevastating flood of 1936, the assault ofTropical Storm Agnes in 1972 and a massiveice jam in 1978.

Thanks to PP&L’s ongoing “Extended Life”program for its generating stations, Holt-wood is expected to have a useful life wellinto the next century, and far longer thanmight have been projected for it in 1910.

At the time of the Kingsbury thrust bear-ing’s dedication as an International HistoricMechanical Engineering Landmark, a com-plete rebuild of Holtwood’s hydroelectricUnit 8 was in progress. Other units will berebuilt on a continuing schedule.

With that kind of maintenance and withoriginal equipment of the quality of theKingsbury bearing, it’s possible that Holt-wood Hydroelectric Station may never “wearout.”

Seen here from the York County side ofthe river, Holtwood Hydroelectric Stationhas been a familiar landmark along theSusquehanna for more than 76 years.

Text of the KingsburyPlaque at Holtwood

(Editor’s note: The ASMEplans to erect a plaque forthe Michell bearing at anotherlocation. That plaque will re-peat the last paragraph fromthe Kingsbury plaque, butwith Kingsbury’s name substi-tuted for Michell’s.)

The ASME’s History and HeritageProgram

The ASME History and Heritage programbegan in September 1971. To implementand achieve its goals, ASME formed a His-tory and Heritage Committee, composed ofmechanical engineers, historians of technol-ogy, and the curator of Mechanical and CivilEngineering at the Smithsonian Institution.The committee provides a public service byexamining, noting, recording and acknowl-edging mechanical engineering achievementsof particular significance. For further informa-tion, please contact the Public InformationDepartment, American Society of MechanicalEngineers, 354 East 47th Street, New York,N.Y. 10017, (212) 705-7740.

About the Landmarks

The Kingsbury Bearing is the 23rd Interna-tional Historic Mechanical Engineering Land-mark to be designated. Additionally, sincethe ASME National Historic Mechanical Engi-neering Program began in 1971, 87 NationalHistoric Mechanical Engineering Landmarks,one International Mechanical EngineeringHeritage Site, one International MechanicalEngineering Heritage Collection, and two Na-tional Mechanical Engineering Heritage Siteshave been recognized. Each reflects its influ-ence on society in its immediate locale, na-tionwide or throughout the world.

According to David P. Kitlan, the ASMESusquehanna Section’s History & HeritageCommittee chairman, this region of Pennsyl-vania is particularly rich in examples ofengineering innovation and progress, andthe section has sponsored more NationalHistoric Mechanical Engineering Landmarksthan any other in the country.

The Kingsbury bearing, however, is thesection’s first International ASME HistoricMechanical Engineering Landmark, so desig-nated because of the global consequences ofKingsbury’s invention and its applications.

Other engineering accomplishments al-ready recognized as “landmarks” in Pennsyl-vania include: The Pennsylvania Railroad“GG-1” electric locomotive No. 4800 atStrasburg; the Worthington cross-compoundsteam pumping engine at York; the Kaplanhydroelectric turbine at York Haven Hydro-electric Plant, York Haven; the Cornwall IronFurnace in Lebanon County; the FairmountWater Works in Philadelphia; the steamengines of the USS Olympia, berthed in Phil-adelphia; the Monongahela and Duquesneinclines at Pittsburgh: and the Drake oil wellat Titusville.

An ASME landmark represents a progres-sive step in the evolution of mechanicalengineering. Site designations note an eventor development of clear historical impor-tance to mechanical engineers. Collectionsmark the contributions of a number of ob-jects with special significance to the histor-ical development of mechanical engineering.

The ASME Historical Mechanical Engineer-ing Program illuminates our technologicalheritage and serves to encourage the preser-vation of the physical remains of historicallyimportant works. It provides an annotatedroster for engineers, students, educators,historians and travelers. It helps establishpersistent reminders of where we have beenand where we are going along the divergentpaths of discovery.

INTERNATIONAL HISTORIC MECHANICAL ENGINEERING LANDMARKKINGSBURY THRUST BEARING

HOLTWOOD UNIT #5HOLTWOOD, PA.

1912

THE LOAD IN A KINGSBURY BEARING IS CARRIED BY A WEDGE-SHAPED OIL FILM FORMED BETWEENTHE SHAFT THRUST-COLLAR AND A SERIES OF STATIONARY PIVOTED PADS OR SEGMENTS. THIS RE-SULTS IN AN EXTREMELY LOW COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION AND NEGLIGIBLE BEARING WEAR.

ALBERT KINGSBURY (1863-1944) DEVELOPED THE PRINCIPLE IN THE COURSE OF BEARING ANDLUBRICATION INVESTIGATIONS COMMENCING IN 1888 WHILE A STUDENT. HIS FIRST EXPERIMENTALBEARING WAS TESTED IN 1904, AND HE FILED FOR A PATENT IN 1907 — GRANTED IN 1910.

THE FIRST KINGSBURY BEARING IN HYDROELECTRIC SERVICE — ONE OF ITS MAJOR APPLICATIONS —WAS INSTALLED HERE IN 1912. IT REMAINS IN FULL USE TODAY. KINGSBURY THRUST AND JOURNALBEARINGS HAVE BEEN APPLIED TO LARGE MACHINERY OF ALL TYPES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

IN ONE OF THOSE COINCIDENCES WITH WHICH THE HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY IS STREWN, AUSTRA-LIAN A. G. M. MICHELL SIMULTANEOUSLY AND INDEPENDENTLY INVENTED A BEARING ON THE SAMEPRINCIPLE, THE TYPE BEING KNOWN IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD BY HIS NAME.

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS — 1987

History and description of PP&L

Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., incor-porated June 4, 1920, now serves2.5 million people in all or parts of 29Central Eastern Pennsylvania counties.

Thomas A. Edison himself establishedseveral of the companies that were pre-

cursors of PP&L, and he built the world’sfirst three-wire electric supply system inSunbury. The first electrically lightedhotel and church both were locatedwithin what is now PP&L’s service area.

Ideally located near a majority of themid-Atlantic states’ population, PP&Lcontributes to the economic health andgrowth of the area not only by provid-ing dependable and economical electrici-ty, but by an aggressive economic de-

velopment program to nurture existingcompanies and encourage others tolocate in its territory.

Holtwood Hydroelectric Station, whosefirst unit was completed in 1910, beforePP&L was formed, is the oldest of PP&L’sgenerating facilities. The Holtwood damwas, for a short time, the longest in thenation, and the generating plant wasthe largest hydro station as well.

Also on the site is the HoltwoodSteam Electric Station, location of thenation’s largest anthracite-burning boiler.

Other PP&L hydro facilities are thewholly owned Wallenpaupack Hydro-

electric Station, completed in 1926, andthe Safe Harbor Hydroelectric Develop-ment (one-third interest), which datesback to 1931.

The Sunbury Steam Electric Station,

which went on-line in 1949, is PP&L’sother anthracite-burning facility. Its fouranthracite-fired boilers make it thelargest anthracite-burning generatingplant in the nation.

The company has four plants wherebituminous coal is burned: Sunbury;Martins Creek Steam Electric Station —on line in 1954; Brunner Island SteamElectric Station — 1961; and MontourSteam Electric Station — 1972.

The Martins Creek station also is thelocation of two heavy-oil-burning units,dating to 1975.

PP&L’s newest large plant is thenuclear-powered Susquehanna Steam

Electric Station, with an in-service dateof 1983.

In addition, PP&L owns part interestsin the Keystone and Conemaugh plantsin western Pennsylvania.

More than 25 light-oil-fueled combus-tion turbines are located throughout thePP&L system to provide additional peak-load power when needed.

The ASME

All PP&L’s plants combined have a ca-

pacity of more than 8.8 million kilowatts.

Formed in 1880, the American Societyof Mechanical Engineers is a profes-sional society dedicated to the mainte-

nance of high engineering standardsand to education of the public in mat-ters relating to engineering.

Acknowledgments

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Richard Rosenberg, PresidentRichard A. Hirsch, Vice President, Region IIIMichael R. C. Grandia, History and Heritage Chairman, Region IIIDr. David L. Belden, Executive Director

The ASME Susquehanna Section

Theodore Taormina, ChairmanWilliam J. Stewart, Secretary-TreasurerDavid P. Kitlan, Chairman, History and Heritage Committee

The ASME National History and Heritage Committee

Dr. R. C. Dalzell, Chairman

Robert M. Vogel, SecretaryDr. Robert B. GaitherDr. R. S. HartenbergDr. J. Paul HartmanDr. Euan F. C. SomerscalesJ. P. Van Overveen

Carron Garvin-Donohue, Staff liaison

Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.

Robert K. Campbell, President and Chief Executive OfficerJohn T. Kauffman, Executive Vice President-OperationsThomas M. Crimmins Jr., Vice President-Power Production

Alden F. Wagner Jr., Superintendent of Plant-Holtwood OperationsN. Christian Porse, Supervisor-Hydro Generating PlantJames K. Witman, Power Production Engineer

Kingsbury, Inc.

Margaretta Clulow, ChairmanGeorge Olsen, PresidentRichard S. Gregory, Vice President and General ManagerAndrew M. Mikula, Director of Marketing

References for Further Reading:

Mechanical Engineering magazine, December 1950, p. 957

PP&L Insights newsletter, June 24, 1983, p. 2PP&L REPORTER magazine, October 1985, p. 10

The American Society ofMechanical Engineers

345 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017

Specifications for the first Kingsbury bearing at Holtwood:� Designed for a 12,000-kilowatt water-wheel-driven generator� Capable of supporting a 400,000-lb. load in continuous operation� To operate between 94 and 116 RPM

� Lubrication to be a high grade oil known as “Renown Engine Oil”� Intake temperature of oil to be not more than 40 degrees C� Must be capable of 10 RPM for 15 minutes and also 20 RPM for one hour

without undue heating of any part, providing oil is supplied at 17.5 gallonsper minute

� Must be capable of operating at a runaway speed of 170 RPM for one hour,providing oil is supplied at 17.5 gallons per minute

� Must be capable of operating during one-half hour of interruption of oil cir-culation, providing no oil is lost from the casing – or for 20 minutes at anoverspeed not to exceed 40 percent above 116 RPM

� Diameter: 48 inches

� Height: 24 inches

� Approximate weight: 2.5 tons

The ASME was assisted in preparation of this publication by Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. and Kingsbury. Inc

ASME Identification Number HH 0587 (6M 6/87)

H123