🔍 Key Concepts

• Kingsbury thrust bearing purpose in a propulsion shaft line • Function of pivoted shoes (tilting pads) in hydrodynamic bearings • How a wedge-shaped oil film carries heavy axial loads

💭 Think About

• First decide: does a Kingsbury bearing mainly handle axial (thrust) loads or radial loads? How does that narrow down the choices? • Think about why the shoes are made to pivot/tilt instead of being fixed. What shape of oil film does that create when the shaft turns? • Which of the options describes the primary design feature that makes Kingsbury bearings so effective for heavy propeller thrust loads?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify whether a Kingsbury bearing is classified as a thrust bearing or radial bearing • Recall that each shoe forms a hydrodynamic oil wedge when the shaft rotates—how is that related to the shoes’ ability to pivot? • Eliminate any choice that describes a function normally associated with a radial (journal) bearing rather than a thrust bearing