Patent 7637670 was granted and assigned to NTN Corporation on December, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A cage of a thrust roller bearing is formed of an annular plate material and has a plurality of pockets to house rollers on surface which intersect with a bearing rotation axis. A first roller contact part comprising a first roller stopper to prevent the roller from escaping upward and a first roller guide surface to guide a roller rotation on its processed surface, and a second roller contact part comprising a second roller stopper to prevent the roller from escaping downward and a second roller guide surface to guide the roller rotation on its processed surface are provided on a wall surface of the pocket opposed to an outer periphery of the roller. In addition, a non-contact part retreating from the roller contact part is provided.