Bearing selection is an interesting concept. Can you really select the bearing – or does the bearing select you? It seems that we have come to understand where to use bearings by where they have been used successfully in the past. For instance, we’ve come to know the turbocharger bearing is a floating ring bearing, foil bearings are on the aircraft air-cycle machines, and the standard bearing for midrange industrial pumps is the preloaded pair of ball bearings in the back and a deep groove bearing up front. We also know that the big industrial compressors and turbines use tilt pads, canned pumps and mag drives use carbon and ceramic sleeves, and if you look far enough back, you might find a whole family of machines using bronze sleeves with pick-up rings. Those old sleeves got us through the industrial revolution. Recently, I saw a vendor with a bearing offering that has a wet sump under the bearing and they use the thrust collar to pump oil up into the sleeves. What was old is new again, but better!