Founded in 1919 as Roller Bearing Company of America in Newark, New Jersey, the company originally manufactured bearing products including tapered roller bearings, spherical bearings, and needle roller bearings.  Since its earliest days, the company has been at the forefront of bearing technology, and provided solutions to aerospace and industrial customers’ problems.  For instance…

• When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Roller Bearing Company became the sole source of the landing gear bearings on bombers manufactured by the Ford Motor Company.  That RBC facility, which moved from Newark to West Trenton, New Jersey, continues today to be a major supplier of helicopter main and tail rotor flight control bearings.  
• Founded by Louis Heim in 1942, the Heim name has been known and respected for designing the first integral rod end bearing, specifically the Unibal® spherical bearing rod end.  This bearing was originally designed to solve aircraft delivery delays due to critical shortages in rod ends and self-aligning bearings during the war effort.  Heim® is also well known for inventing centerless grinding and in inventing the swaging process used in the manufacture of spherical plain bearings.  In addition to rod end and spherical bearings, Heim® manufactures specialized radial ball bearings, such as a cobalt race hybrid bearing with silicon nitride balls for a hot bleed air valve application in aircraft auxiliary power units.  Heim® is also the world’s largest provider of aerospace ball bearing rod ends, including manufacture with the corrosion resistant AeroCres™ material.  Ball bearing rod ends can be found throughout aircraft in positioning and linkage assemblies, as well as swaged tubes.
• Engineers at another RBC division actually invented the lined spherical bearing, with the first application developed in 1957 for the Chevrolet Corvette steering joint. Today, the company has over 25 different liner systems depending upon the loading, wear, and temperature conditions in the application (including the patented Fibriloid® and Fiberglide® liner technology).

RBC Aerospace Bearings, designed and produced at 8 RBC facilities around the world, includes sphericals, rod ends, journal plain bearings, ball bearings, cylindrical roller bearings, needle track roller and cam follower bearings, tapered roller bearings, airframe control, thin section ball bearings, ball bearing rod ends, and precision ground ball screws. In some areas, RBC is the number one producer of a specific product such as 52100 cadmium plated and 440C stainless steel airframe control ball bearings, with virtually every series and size of Mil-Spec (Military Specification) approvals. The facility in Torrington, Connecticut, acquired in 2004, has been well known for decades as a leading producer of aircraft needle track roller bearings, cam followers, radial ball bearings, and a specialized series of airframe control ball bearings. Metric rod ends and sphericals are manufactured in our Delemont, Switzerland facility.

The RBC aerospace divisions are well versed in the many bearing materials, from the standard 52100, 440C and 15-5 /17-4 stainless product, to the processing of exotic materials like stellite, titanium, inconel, XD-15®, and AeroCres®. 

Aerospace segments served by RBC Aerospace Bearings include commercial and military aircraft with both fixed and rotary wing designs.  The company serves the world’s major airframers by providing bearings and related products for:
- engines and accessories,
- missiles, incendiary devices, and optical targeting
- space vehicles and engines,
- major subsystems including landing gear and electrical generation
applications
- smaller subsystem and component applications, such as primary and
secondary flight  control actuation and swaged tube bearings.

Customers of RBC’s aerospace operations include an impressive list of international  names, including Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Bombardier, Embraer, NASA, Bell Helicopter, Eurocopter and Sikorsky, Rolls-Royce,
GE Aircraft Engines, Snecma, Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, ASCO, Goodrich Aerospace, Moog, Parker, Messier-Dowty, Raytheon, Primus University Swage, LeFiell, Tyee, and the U.S. Government. 

Quality Statement

All of RBC’s aerospace bearings divisions have a formal, documented, and aerospace- approved quality system in place.  The company is approved to many OEM quality systems, including Pratt & Whitney, GE Aircraft Engines, Boeing Commercial Aircraft, Boeing Helicopter, Sikorsky, Airbus UK, Airbus Deutschland, Rolls-Royce, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Snecma, Goodrich, British Aerospace, and the U.S. Government, to name a few.  We are on a self-release program with many of these companies.  

One of the west coast facilities, in fact, was promoted to Gold Level Preferred Supplier status at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Florida.  At this point RBC is the only Gold bearing supplier to the Lockheed organization.

All aerospace divisions of RBC are ISO and AS9100 certified.  Additionally, they are NADCAP accredited in-house for non-destructive testing, heat treat, and weld, or using NADCAP accredited sourcing.  

Strategic Plan and Vision

RBC Bearings’ strategic plan and vision is to continue down the path of profitability and growth through market penetration, the addition of new products, and acquisitions, to which RBC’s aggressive track record of aerospace acquisition attests.