Bearing cage segment including joint edge for welding

Abstract

A sheet metal bearing cage segment includes a first ring section, at least one second ring section and a plurality of bridges connecting the first and second ring sections and forming pockets for receiving at least one rolling element. The first ring section and/or the at least one second ring section includes a circumferentially facing joint edge configured to be connected to another circumferentially facing joint edge to form a to-be-formed pocket. The joint is spaced from the plurality of bridges, and the joint edge is formed by laser cutting. The joint edge may include a chamfer on a radially outer side and/or on a radially inner side.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A bearing cage segment comprising:
 a first sheet metal ring section,   at least one second sheet metal ring section, and   a plurality of sheet metal bridges connecting the first ring section to the at least one second ring section, circumferentially adjacent pairs of the bridges forming pockets for receiving at least one rolling element,   wherein the first ring section and/or the at least one second ring section includes a circumferentially facing joint edge configured to be connected to another circumferentially facing joint edge to form a to-be-formed pocket,   wherein the joint edge is spaced from the plurality of bridges, and   wherein the joint edge is formed by laser cutting.   
     
     
         2 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the joint edge includes a chamfer on a radially outer side and/or on a radially inner side.   
     
     
         3 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein the chamfer comprises a rolled or milled portion of the first and/or second ring section.   
     
     
         4 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the entire to-be-formed pocket is laser-cut, and the other pockets are punched.   
     
     
         5 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the joint edge is disposed midway between the one of the adjacent pairs of the plurality of bridges.   
     
     
         6 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the first and second ring sections each include the joint edge.   
     
     
         7 . A sheet metal bearing cage including:
 at least one bearing cage segment according to  claim 1 ,   wherein the at least one bearing cage segment or the plurality of bearing cage segments are connected at their joint edges via a material-bonded connection.   
     
     
         8 . The sheet metal bearing cage according to  claim 7 ,
 wherein the material-bonded connection is a weld.   
     
     
         9 . The sheet metal bearing cage according to  claim 8 ,
 wherein the weld is an electric resistance weld or a laser weld.   
     
     
         10 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the joint edge has a radial width less than a radial thickness of the bearing cage segment at a location between one pair of the adjacent pairs of bridges.   
     
     
         11 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the first ring section has a radial outer surface and a radial inner surface and including a radially inwardly sloped wall connecting the radial outer surface to the joint edge.   
     
     
         12 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the first ring section has a radial outer surface and a radial inner surface and including a radially outwardly sloped wall connecting the radial inner surface to the joint edge.   
     
     
         13 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the first ring section has a radial outer surface and a radial inner surface and including a radially inwardly sloped wall connecting the radial outer surface to the joint edge and a radially outwardly sloped wall connecting the radially inner surface to the joint edge.   
     
     
         14 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the bearing cage segment is configured as a needle-roller bearing cage segment.   
     
     
         15 . A bearing cage segment comprising:
 a first sheet metal ring section,   at least one second sheet metal ring section, and   a plurality of sheet metal bridges connecting the first ring section to the second ring section, adjacent pairs of the bridges forming pockets for receiving at least one rolling element,   wherein the first ring section and the second ring section each include a ring section portion having a free end configured to be welded to a free end of another ring section portion of the bearing cage segment or to a ring section portion of another bearing cage segment,   wherein the free ends are formed by laser cutting, and   wherein a radial width of each of the free ends is less than a radial thickness of the first sheet metal ring section at a location between one adjacent pair of the bridges.   
     
     
         16 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 15 ,
 wherein the first ring section has a radial outer surface and a radial inner surface and including a radially inwardly sloped wall connecting the radial outer surface to the free end.   
     
     
         17 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 15 ,
 wherein the first ring section has a radial outer surface and a radial inner surface and including a radially outwardly sloped wall connecting the radial inner surface to the free end.   
     
     
         18 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 15 ,
 wherein the first ring section has a radial outer surface and a radial inner surface and including a radially inwardly sloped wall connecting the radial outer surface to the free end and a radially outwardly sloped wall connecting the radially inner surface to the free end.   
     
     
         19 . The bearing cage segment according to  claim 18  configured as a needle-roller bearing cage segment.