RBC Bearings Inc. (USA; NASDAQ: ROLL;5251R9N7) has acquired Lubron Bearing Systems (USA; website).

Located in Huntington Beach California, Lubron manufactures highly engineered self-lubricating bearings used in structures and bridge joints, seismic isolators, undersea oil exploration rigs, missile launch systems, and nuclear power generating equipment from large generators to smaller ones used in nuclear-powered submarines.

Lubron's bearings are manufactured in a wide variety of configurations and materials for the varying applications -- bronze, Meehanite, carbon steel, stainless steel, various alloys, PTFE, and engineered composites. The basic material and bearing structure is then often lubricated via embedded PTFE, solid graphite, or other materials.

The bearings' applications are highly varied, and produced in sleeve, flange, thrust, spherical and radial, and plate configurations.

AE series bearings, lubricants and alloys, are designed specifically for and installed in nuclear power plants around the world.

Lubron AE series

AQ series are PTFE-impregnated bronze alloy bearings are intended for water control systems; nearly 14,000 for are in the water control systems of Hoover Dam and Grand Coulee Dam, and also help secure offshore oil drilling platforms the ocean floor.

HP series bearings are also PTFE-impregnated bronze alloy bearings for water control systems, but are smaller close-tolerance units for finer control and able to handle continuous wave motion.

SL series are graphite-embedded bronze/Meehanite alloy bearings for high-loads and wide temperature ranges found in industrial and structural applications; they re now installed in the renovated sections of New York's Manhattan Bridge, and in the new bogeys guiding Milwaukee's Miller Park retractable roof.
2006 article: Miller Park roof bearings and drives replaced
TF [PTFE fabric] bearings have similar structural applications to SL but are PTFE fabric bonded to load-bearing substrates and produced in several configurations. Since 2002, TF slide bearings, moving at 50 inches per second, have guided the launch heads supporting Atlas rockets during liftoff, but variations also support the Denver airport's fabric roof, the steel roof of the Carver-Hawkeye arena, and have been a seismic retrofit to San Francisco's iconic Bay Bridge.

TR [PTFE resin] bearings are a lower cost alternative to TF where loads are not as severe.

TX [fiber-reinforced PTFE] bearings are designed for in-water hydroturbine and similar applications.

Michael Hartnett, RBC's Chairman and CEO, said: "The addition of Lubron's very unique and complimentary bearings to our portfolio of highly engineered products increases the breadth of our current offering to customers while also increasing our prospects for future growth. The acquisition is in line with our strategy of product portfolio expansion to supply the expanding markets of infrastructure repair and construction."