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My
wife said: "I'll give you 12 months"
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Noel
Sheedy's invention was born was born from his dissatisfaction,
as a supplier of conveyor belt systems to the food industry,
with the poor performance of conventional bearings.
With hygiene essential in the food industry, the conveyor
belts were constantly being washed - and, despite lubrication,
the ball bearings quickly rusted.
"I got sick and tired of getting calls from our
clients saying the ball bearings had rusted, and would
we come and replace them - at our expense, of course,"
he said.
"The
stainless steel conveyor belt rollers to which we fitted
the bearings were still in perfect condition, so I started
to think about a new kind of bearing that could be made
from stainless steel."
Mr
Sheedy realised that such a bearing would have to be
one that operated without balls or needles, which must
be made from standard, hard grades of steel.
He
built some prototypes on his metal lathe at home, and,
not wanting to advertise his ideas to the world, sent
them to be tested by an engineer friend at the most
remote place he could think of - a salt mining operation
in Dampier, Western Australia.
"Within
24 hours they were encrusted in salt and no-one could
tell they were there," Mr Sheedy said.
"Three
or four months late they were still going perfectly,
and my friend's boss wanted to know what was going on
- the bearings usually needed to be changed every three
weeks.
"That
was in 1985. Together with my wife, I kept on developing
them up and improving the different plastics, and in
August 1987 I said 'I think we've got something - I'm
going to leave what I'm doing.'
"My
wife said 'I'll give you 12 months', offering to work
to support us while we got the new business going.
"It
hasn't been an easy battle, but we've been helped by
friends in thfood industry who have been looking for
something to take the place of conventional bearings.
"When
friends said 'give us some to try', I said "I can't
give them to you, but I'll sell them to you", and
that's how we've funded our R&D, with testing in
the field."
Mr
Sheedy's business received a significant boost when
BHP carried out a thorough investigation as part of
the process of selecting him for the 1995 BHP Steel
Award.
BHP
hired the Invetech consultancy to conduct a market survey,
and Invetech's estimate is that by the year 2002, the
annual world market for bearings will approach $400
billion.
Australian
Government assistance for Mr Sheedy has included a rebate
on patenting costs, an export incentive and a NIES business
NIES business plan, and he is now hoping for an R&D
grant to develop a world-class aluminium bearing.
Capital
injection needed
Needing a significant capital injection to grow from
a one-man business to a $50 million company over the
next five years, Mr Sheedy is currently negotiating
with some well-known engineering companies interested
in buying shares.
He
is determined, however, that his products should continue
to be manufactured in Australia, to maximise the benefit
of his invention to the Australian economy.
Bearing
has link to horse and buggy days
In simple form, Mr Sheedy's bearing resembles the wooden
bearings once used on timber jinkers and other heavy
trolleys.
This
consisted of a redwood cylinder boiled in pig fat, which
sat between two metal rings, one attached to the axle
and one attached to the inside of the wheel.
Explaining
the historical background to his product, Mr Sheedy
said that in the early 20th century, development of
the "plain" bearing progressed with the use
of plastics and brass rings, but was limited because
early plastics expanded or contracted.
"The
plastic was shrunk or 'sweated' to fit inside the brass
rings," he said. "But it had to be stuck to
either the inner or outer ring, and suffered from excessive
heat buildup and seizure.
"Further
development occurred with the use of phosphorus/bronze,
but 'plain' bearings largely disappeared with the adoption
of ball and roller bearings."
It
now seems likely that with new plastics and a "floating"
design, plain bearings will make a comeback.
[this article originally appeared
in Ascent Technology Magazine, #20, Nov. 1995]
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