A bearing built on an atomic scale.

Nanobearings, consisting of two internally sliding tubes, have recently been constructed, one atom at a time.

A type of rolling element bearing utilizing rollers which are long and thin, carried in a thinwall cup, often made of drawn mild steel.

They are generally designed for a minimal outside diameter above the shaft size. Most often, there is no inner race; instead, the shaft is hardened and finished to allow the rolls to ride directly on it. Needle roller bearings often do not have cages or retainers.

Bearing manufacturer that got its start as a doorbell company.

In 1889, the New Departure Bell Company was founded in Hartford, Connecticut to manufacture a new-style clockwork doorbell chime invented by the founding Rockwell brothers. To cash in on the bicycling craze sweeping the world, the company added a bicycle bell and began working on other bicycle parts.

In 1898, New Departure developed the first one-way bicycle clutch, which allowed a cyclist to stop pedaling and coast. In 1899, they added a braking system to the one-way clutch, and ended up with the so-called "coaster brake," which revolutionized bicycling.

New Departure added ball bearing manufacturing capability in 1908, and later became the world's largest ball bearing manufacturer.

In a move to bring its key suppliers under one roof, General Motors purchased New Departure in 1916, rolling it into a new division -- United Motors Corp. -- along with Hyatt Roller Bearing and several other former supplier companies.

Also known as Case Nitriding

Nitriding involves infusing nitrogen into the surface layer of the part at a specific temperature, changing the alloy at that layer. The parts are then heat treated normally, the end result being a bearing with standard hardness under a much harder shell and an expected life up to eight times longer.

Nitriding the steel raceway surface of a bearing particularly benefits applications where resistance to contamination and debris is needed, and where thin fluid or solid lubrication films could result in damage to the raceway surfaces.

The process is commonly used on the raceways of ceramic hybrid ball bearings because it brings the steel raceways up to a hardness similar to the ceramic balls.

The generic term for the process by which both nitrogen and carbon are absorbed into the surface layers of a ferrous material such as steel.

Nitrocarburizing is done primarily to provide a scuff-resistant surface and improve fatigue resistance.

The process of heating a ferrous alloy material to above the transformation temperature, then slowly air-cooling, usually to room temperature. Normalizing re-stabilizes a material, especially after it has been machined or stressed in any way.