Abstract
A transducer has been developed to sense the variation of oil-film thickness in a thrust bearing by sweeping across the working face of the pads and ‘viewing’ them from the rotor. This device was used to compare the deflection of a circular pad with theory, and some degrees of correlation was found. The pads tested formed wedge-shaped films by elastic flexure and successfully carried considerable loads. A tentative explanation is provided for their means of starting to operate successfully.

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