Abstract: According to one example, a hydrostatic bearing includes a carriage, and a guide rail that, when combined with the carriage, provides for linear motion of the carriage with respect to the guide rail. The hydrostatic bearing is configured to transfer forces between the carriage and the guide rail without mechanical contact between the carriage and the guide rail by supplying pressurized, incompressible fluid to bearing pockets in the carriage. Each of the bearing pockets is enclosed by a bearing land of a bearing pad, and the bearing pad comprises the general shape of a parallelogram, a trapezoid, an arrow, or any other shape where the edges are generally not orthogonal to the direction of motion.