Screw Jack

A screw jack is a gearbox assembly (either worm gear or bevel gear) and a transmission product
(lead screw, ball screw or roller screw) which through use of a motor is used to convert rotary into
linear motion. They can be used to push, pull, tension, lock, unlock, tilt, pivot, roll, slide and lift or
lower loads, anything from a few kilos to thousands of tonnes.

Screw jacks usually operate in high-load applications. The competing technology at high loads
tends to be hydraulics; however, hydraulics are less energy-efficient than electro-mechanical
actuation provided by screw jacks.
Hydraulic systems waste energy as the fluid circulates at constant pressure, regardless of the
amount of work required to be carried out by hydraulic positioning. A hydraulic jack or ram
requires a constant pressure to maintain its position when holding a load in place. By contrast, an
electric motor used to power a screw jack uses energy only when it drives the load to a required
position.

The advantages of electro-mechanical over hydraulic can be summarized by:

1. Demand for increased safety, in the event of power loss, screw jacks can be self locking
2. Demand for machinery that operates with better energy efficiency
3. Demand for machinery that operates greater levels of precision
4. Machinery that requires less maintenance
5. Machinery that requires less manual intervention to set up processes
6. Increased range of actuation in terms of variable positioning
7. Accurate and smooth delivery of force
8. Cleaner machinery
Plummer Block

This type of bearing consists of I) a cast iron pedestal, ii) gun metal, or brass bush split into two
halves called “brasses”, and iii) a cast iron cap and two mild steel bolts. The detailed drawing of a
pedestal bearing is shown in image below. The rotation of the bush inside the bearing housing is
arrested by a snug at the bottom of the lower brass. The cap is tightened on the pedestal block by
means of bolts and nuts.