Rail road car truck and members therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10286932-B2
Application number	US-201615063858-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2016
Priority date	Jul 8, 2003
Publication date	May 14, 2019
Grant date	May 14, 2019

Abstract

A rail road freight car truck has a truck bolster and a pair of side frames, the truck bolster being mounted transversely relative to the side frames. The mounting interface between the ends of the axles and the sideframe pedestals allows lateral rocking motion of the sideframes in the manner of a swing motion truck. The lateral swinging motion is combined with a longitudinal self steering capability. The self steering capability may be obtained by use of a longitudinally oriented rocker that may tend to permit resistance to deflection that is proportional to the weight carried across the interface. The truck may have auxiliary centering elements mounted in the pedestal seats, and those auxiliary centering elements may be made of resilient elastomeric material. The truck may also have friction dampers that have a disinclination to stick-slip behavior. The friction dampers may be provided with brake linings, or similar features, on the face engaging the sideframe columns, on the slope face, or both. The friction dampers may operate to yield upward and downward friction forces that are not overly unequal. The friction dampers may be mounted in a four-cornered arrangement at each end of the truck bolster. The spring groups may include sub-groups of springs of different heights.

First claim

We claim:

1. A self-steering apparatus for a railroad car truck having first and second sideframes mounted on first and second wheelsets of the trucks, the wheelsets having bearings mounted at opposite ends thereof, each of the sideframes having sideframe pedestals in which ends of the wheelsets are located, the self-steering apparatus being mounted between the bearings at the ends of the wheelsets and the respective mating sideframe pedestals, wherein the self-steering apparatus comprises:
a pedestal seat of a roof of one of the sideframe pedestals;
a bearing adapter having an underside having axially spaced apart arches, said bearing adapter underside being formed to seat on one of the bearings;
said bearing adapter having an upper portion for co-operation with the pedestal seat;
said bearing adapter having first and second ends, and respective first and second pairs of axially spaced apart corner abutments at each of said first and second ends, each of said first and second pairs of corner abutments defining an accommodation for a thrust lug of the associated sideframe pedestal;
on installation in the respective sideframe pedestal, said bearing adapter being captured between opposed thrust lugs of that sideframe pedestal;
a self-steering interface defined between said bearing adapter and said pedestal seat roof; and
said self-steering apparatus having a force-deflection characteristic that is a function of vertical load passed through the self-steering apparatus.

2. The self-steering apparatus of claim 1 wherein, for a given vertical load, said force-deflection characteristic is a linear force-deflection characteristic.

3. The self-steering apparatus of claim 2 wherein said force-deflection characteristic varies linearly with vertical loading of said truck.

4. The self-steering apparatus of claim 1 wherein said self-steering apparatus includes rolling contact rocker fittings.

5. The self-steering apparatus of claim 4 wherein, when assembled, said self-steering apparatus includes at least one rolling contact rocker fitting operable to rock lengthwise relative to the sideframe.

6. The self-steering apparatus of claim 5 , wherein said apparatus includes rolling contact rocker fittings operable to rock both cross-wise and lengthwise relative to the sideframe.

7. The self-steering apparatus of claim 6 wherein said rolling contact rocker fittings include a first surface of compound curvature, and a second surface, said first surface being operable to rock in rolling contact against said second surface in both cross-wise and lengthwise directions.

8. The self-steering apparatus of claim 7 wherein said apparatus is chosen from the set of said apparatus consisting of assemblies in which:
(a) at least a portion of said first surface is spherical;
(b) at least a portion of said second surface is spherical;
(c) at least a portion of said second surface is flat;
(d) said second surface is also a surface of compound curvature; and
(e) said first and second surfaces are rockingly matable saddle shaped surfaces.

9. The self-steering apparatus of claim 7 wherein said first surface is an upper surface of said bearing adapter, and said second surface is a downwardly facing surface of said pedestal seat.

10. The self-steering apparatus of claim 1 wherein said apparatus includes an auxiliary centering member.

11. The self-steering apparatus of claim 10 said auxiliary centering member including a resilient member, said resilient member being operable to urge said self-steering apparatus to a centered position.

12. A railroad car truck having the self-steering apparatus of claim 11 , wherein:
said truck has a pair of first and second sideframes and a bolster extending laterally therebetween;
said bolster has first and second ends mounted to said first and second sideframes respectively;
said truck has first and second groups of dampers mounted to work between said bolster and said first and second sideframes, respectively; and
said first group includes dampers mounted in an arrangement of dampers that is four-cornered.

13. The self-steering apparatus of claim 11 wherein:
said apparatus includes a rocker trapped between said pedestal seat and said bearing adapter;
said rocker having a first rolling contact rocker surface mounted in rolling contact engagement with said pedestal seat; and
said rocker having a second rolling contact rocker surface mounted in rolling contact engagement with said bearing adapter.

14. The self-steering apparatus of claim 13 wherein said rolling contact between said rocker and at least one of (a) said pedestal seat, and (b) said bearing adapter, is rolling line contact.

Assignees

• Nat Steel Car Ltd

Inventors

• Forbes James Wilfred
• Hematian Jamal

Classifications

• B61F5/28

  Axle-boxes integral with, or directly secured to, vehicle or bogie underframes · CPC title

• B61F5/30 Primary

  Axle-boxes mounted for movement under spring control in vehicle or bogie underframes {(B61F5/36 takes precedence over B61F5/305 - B61F5/34)} · CPC title

• B61F5/38

  Arrangements or devices for adjusting or allowing self- adjustment of wheel axles or bogies when rounding curves, e.g. sliding axles, swinging axles · CPC title

• B61F5/14

  Side bearings · CPC title

• B61F5/04

  Bolster supports or mountings (side bearings B61F5/14) · CPC title