How roller bearing (Timken) came about

[Ranger Mike]

TL;DR Summary

why roller bearing vs ball bearing

Roller bearing has more area, less friction and how it evolved.

 

[Baluncore]

Roller bearings have existed for more than 2000 years, ball races were developed and first employed in the late 1860s for bicycles.

Heinrich Hertz, now of frequency fame, was an experimental physicist and applied mathematician who did the classical elasticity calculations on ball and roller bearings, published in 1881-1882. He calculated the loads, deflection, and fatigue limits, that made reliable rolling bearings possible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_mechanics

Henry Timken, was a German immigrant to the USA, who improved rolling bearings and founded the Timken Roller Bearing Company in 1899. He applied the tapered roller bearings to wheeled transport.

 

[Hornbein]

In my Michigan use Timken Roller Bearings advertised heavily. I can still sing the chorus of their jingle.