	US 7,455,456 B2
	Bearing unit and rotation drive device using the same
Yuji Shishido, Kanagawa (Japan); Kenichiro Yazawa, Tokyo (Japan); Takeshi Kaneko, Chiba (Japan); Kiyoyuki Takada, Chiba (Japan); Hiroshi Sato, Chiba (Japan); Yoshiaki Kakinuma, Tokyo (Japan); and Ichiro Nakamura, Chiba (Japan)
Assigned to Sony Corporation, (Japan)
Appl. No. 10/506,433 PCT Filed Jan. 08, 2004, PCT No. PCT/JP2004/000063 § 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Apr. 04, 2005, PCT Pub. No. WO2004/063582, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 29, 2004.
Claims priority of application No. 2003-004928 (JP), filed on Jan. 10, 2003; application No. 2003-053231 (JP), filed on Feb. 28, 2003; and application No. 2003-300529 (JP), filed on Aug. 25, 2003.
Prior Publication US 2005/0163404 A1, Jul. 28, 2005
Int. Cl. F16C 32/06 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 384—107 [384/100; 384/132]

7 Claims

1. A bearing unit comprising:

a shaft;

a radial bearing for peripherally supporting the shaft;

a thrust bearing for supporting an end of the shaft in the thrusting direction thereof;

a space-forming member arranged outside the radial bearing and the thrust bearing;

a housing having the space-forming member in the inside, said housing being hermetically sealed except a shaft receiving hole through which the shaft is made to extend;

viscous fluid filled in the housing; and

a communication passage way arranged between the space-forming member and the radial bearing so as to make the end in the thrusting direction of the shaft projecting from the radial bearing and the other end of the shaft communicate with each other.