the shaft 300 and the surrounding sleeve 336 this fluid is drawn into the shaft end and counter plate thrust bearing region 325 to support relative rotation between the end of the shaft and the facing surface of the counterplate the fluid being maintained in the gap 325 by the grooved pattern during rotation a journal bearing 354 as is well known in this technology is defined on the outer surface 350 of the shaft or the facing surface 352 of the sleeve utilizing the fluid in gap 330 this journal bearing 354 would have the dual function of supporting the shaft for rotation and if biased to accomplish this goal could also tend to force fluid from the gap 330 toward the shaft counterplate gap 325 to this end the journal bearing in the gap 330 could be defined with the grooves proportioned to create a downward bias toward the thrust bearing 340 at gap 325 this journal bearing 354 aids in moving fluid from the journal gap 330 toward the thrust gap 325 especially at start up and maintains it during continuous running conditions to prevent the shaft from being displaced axially too far from the counterplate by the axially upward thrust bearing at gap 325 between the shaft end and counterplate an opposing bias is typically introduced this bias is utilized to prevent the gap 325 from becoming too large which would reduce the effectiveness of the shaft thrust bearing at gap 325 for this reason the journal bearing defined on the conical cross sectional surface 352 of shaft 300 is provided this journal bearing since it appears on a conically tapered surface will have a downward thrust component in the direction of arrow 360 which acts against the upward force component 362 which is.