How this year’s manus winners applied high-performance plastics

As performance of engineering plastics continues to advance, more and more conventional metal bearing applications convert to plastic bearings. There are many reasons for this: tribopolymer bearings are lubricant- and maintenance-free, lightweight, corrosion-free and cost-efficient. Their application is diverse... from asparagus harvesting machines to whirlpool covers to gears for church clocks.

Celebrating the use of plastic bearings in imaginative applications is the manus award and, this year, 445 inventors from 32 different countries applied. The judging panel, made up of representatives from the trade media, industry and research, selected three winners that stand out for their technical and economic efficiency and creativity.