GL: Cutless bearing

[fred]

I'd sent a previous email which never came back to me thru the list, so I
assume it vanished into data heaven.

We'd discussed cutlass vs cutless a
year ago and at that time I noted that most google search links were for
"cutlass bearings" at that time, plus dictionary.com had it only as "cutlass
bearings".

Now checking again, it seems to have changed.  Google is evenly
split on numbers of links, now.  The majority of links now favor "cutless
bearings" and photos someone sent me of actual product appear to show it that
way too.

So, it's "cutless"

I stand corrected.

Fred.
----------------------------------------
From: LRZeitlin at aol.com
Sent:
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 11:58 AM
To: great-loop at lists.samurai.com
Subject: Re: GL: Cutless bearing 

In a message dated 1/16/08 12:00:40 AM,
great-loop-request at lists.samurai.com 
writes:

> There are no dictionary
entries for cutless bearing, but bearing is spelled
> correctly.
> 
> I am
still at a loss.
> 
> 

Elaine,

The correct name for a water lubricated
rubber bearing is "Cutless." It is, 
in fact a trade name used by the
original manufacturer of these bearings. I 
believe it was the Goodyear
rubber company that introduced them in the '20s 
(although I could be wrong -
the little grey memory cells aren't what they used to 
be).

Wet rubber has
a very low coefficient of friction against metal. The bearings 
were designed
to replace metal and lignum vitae bearings and to resist cuts 
by sand
particles. The flutes in the rubber entrap a layer of water and when 
the
shaft is turning at a relatively high speed it is hydronamically supported.
Patents on these bearings have long since expired. Other manufacturers
employed the name cutlass to avoid infringing on the original trademark.
Either 
useage is correct today. The name cutless seems to have passed into
the public 
domain like Kleenex.

Here is a blurb from Duramax, one of the
current manufacturers of these 
bearings:

When used in propeller shaft
housing, the cutless bearing provides a 
structural support with built-in
resilience that allows the bearing to yield in 
sympathy with the bending of
the boats structure and thus prevents shaft bearing 
misalignment or shaft
wear. The bearing also reduces vibration and the volume of 
noise being
transmitted into the boat. It also absorbs shock and has an 
advantage of
being almost maintenance free. 

The name cutless is derived from the
ability of such bearings to pass 
abrasive materials such as sand and marine
organisms across its surface and into the 
flushing grooves. These abrasive
particles do not embed into the bearing 
surface and cause little cutting and
wearing of the shaft. 

Larry Z

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