10 Things in Your Office You Didn’t Realize Had Ball Bearings in Them 

A woman working on multiple monitors in her office. Photo by thisisengineering on Unsplash.
Photo by thisisengineering on Unsplash.

At Alpine Bearing, our world revolves around bearings. What you might not know is that your world does too. Whether you work in a skyscraping office building or the corner of your bedroom, you use bearings every day. 

Here are 10 places bearings might be hiding in your office: 

  1. Desk chair. That swiveling action lets you dispatch paperwork from every corner of your workstation with ease. A bearing in your desk chair’s central support is responsible for its effortless swivel. Just don’t go too fast or you might get dizzy. 
  2. Printer. As paper spools through your printer, bearings smooth and control the movement of the rollers and print head. The precision of these bearings lets you print type so small you’ll need your reading glasses. 
  3. Pens. When talking about ball bearings in pens, most people think of ballpoints. That’s not a bearing – just a ball. But, if you have a higher-end pen, the clicker mechanism to retract and extend the tip likely has a bearing in it. 
  4. Filing cabinet. Stacks of paper can be heavy, but the right bearings can handle the strain. Heavy-duty filing cabinets have ball bearing suspensions so you can pull documents forward without friction. 
  5. Fridge. If someone’s always stealing your lunch, you can blame the bearings in the office fridge. They keep the door’s operation quiet and fluid, so the culprit can slip away with your sandwich unnoticed. There are bearings in the microwave too! 
  6. Hard drive. Though solid-state memory is all the rage, many computers and external storage devices still store data on discs. Since hard disc drives usually spin between 5400 and 7200 rpm, the tiny instrument bearings in them need to be resilient and machined to be vibration-free. 
  7. Supply cart. A cart or table with casters lets you move brainstorming supplies across the office. There’s a ball bearing in each wheel. Particularly irresponsible workers enjoy racing supply carts down the hallway, but we can’t recommend it. 
  8. Vending machine. Okay, so you probably don’t have a vending machine in your home office…but they’re a staple of office buildings. Vending machines use bearings in their motors and dispensing mechanisms. 
  9. Fan. Nobody likes a stuffy office, so a fan is a must. Whether it’s a gargantuan ceiling fan or a tiny personal one you plug into your laptop’s USB, a bearing keeps its blades spinning evenly. 
  10. Laminator. If you’re lucky, you have the king of business appliances in your office: the laminator. Bearings help regulate the movement of paper and thermal plastic through the laminator. 

Look around your office. Bearings are everywhere, thanklessly turning to make your workday more comfortable and productive. 

If you’d like to learn more about a specific application of bearings, get a technical consultation, or order bearings, contact one of our sales engineers. 

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