Fittings for railroad car truck

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9278700-B2
Application number	US-201414275168-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2014
Priority date	Jul 8, 2003
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

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. An auxiliary centering member for a railroad freight car truck, the freight car truck having a sideframe and a wheelset to which the sideframe is mounted, the sideframe having a pedestal, the pedestal having a first rocker surface; the wheelset having a bearing, and a bearing adapter being mounted on the bearing, the bearing adapter having a second rocker surface in rolling contact engagement with the first rocker surface, wherein:
said auxiliary centering member is shaped to seat between the bearing adapter and the sideframe pedestal;
said auxiliary centering member is resilient;
said auxiliary centering member is positioned, when installed, to urge the bearing adapter second rocker surface to a centered position relative to the sideframe pedestal first rocker surface; and
as installed, said auxiliary centering member seats clear of the first and second rocker surfaces whereby rolling contact engagement of the first and second surfaces is unimpeded by said auxiliary centering member.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said auxiliary centering member is made of an elastomer.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said auxiliary centering member has a first part and a second part; said first part overlies a portion of an upper surface of the bearing adapter, and said first part has an accommodation formed therein to permit unobstructed rolling contact of the first and second rolling contact surfaces.

4. The combination of claim 2 wherein:
the bearing adapter has first and second ends that, on installation, face toward each of first and second pedestal thrust lugs of a pedestal jaw of the sideframe; and
at least a first portion of the auxiliary centering member seats between the first end of the bearing adapter and the first thrust lug.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said auxiliary centering member has a second portion that seats against said second end wall of said bearing adapter.

6. The auxiliary centering member of claim 1 , the bearing adapter having a first end that, on installation, seats opposite a first thrust lug of a pedestal jaw of the pedestal of the sideframe, the first end of the bearing adapter being bracketed by first and second corner abutments that stand proud of the first end, wherein said auxiliary centering member, when seen from above as installed, has a channel shape, the channel having a back for location next to the first end of the bearing adapter, and first and second legs for location next to the first and second corner abutments of the bearing adapter, said first and second legs extending away from the first end of the bearing adapter.

7. The auxiliary centering member of claim 6 wherein said first and second legs wrap around sides of the first thrust lug, whereby said first leg is between the first corner abutment of the bearing adapter and the a first side of the thrust lug, and the second leg is between the second corner abutment of the bearing adapter and a second side of the thrust lug.

8. The auxiliary centering member of claim 1 wherein, when seen from above as installed, the auxiliary centering member has a channel shape, the channel shape having a back lying between a thrust lug of the sideframe pedestal and an end of the bearing adapter, the channel shape also having first and second legs that extend about sides of the thrust lug.

9. The auxiliary centering member of claim 1 wherein said auxiliary centering member has a first portion that seats between a first end wall of the bearing adapter and a first pedestal jaw thrust lug of the pedestal, and a second portion that seats above the first pedestal jaw thrust lug.

10. A set of two of the auxiliary centering members of claim 1 .

11. A combination of the set of two auxiliary centering members of claim 10 and the bearing adapter.

12. The auxiliary centering member of claim 1 wherein:
said auxiliary centering member is made of an elastomer;
said auxiliary centering member has a channel shape when seen from above as installed;
said channel shape includes a back for positioning against a first end wall of the bearing adapter, and first and second legs extending away from said back, said first and second legs being for placement against first and second spaced apart corner abutments of the bearing adapter, and, when installed, said back and legs of said auxiliary centering member wrap around a thrust lug of a pedestal jaw of the sideframe pedestal.

13. A set of two of the auxiliary centering members of claim 12 , a first of said two auxiliary centering members seating against the first end wall of the bearing adapter, and a second of said two auxiliary centering members seating against a second end wall of the bearing adapter.

14. A combination of the set of two auxiliary centering members of claim 13 and the bearing adapter.

15. The combination of claim 14 wherein the bearing adapter has a crowned surface having a cross-wise curvature permitting the sideframe to swing laterally, and a lengthwise curvature permitting the truck to self-steer.

16. The combination of claim 15 wherein the bearing first and second corner abutments of the bearing adapter have protrusions; said legs of said auxiliary centering member being located adjacent to said protrusions; and said protrusions defining stops facing toward sides of the first thrust lug of the pedestal jaw, in operations said protrusions limiting compression of said legs of said first auxiliary centering member.

17. A snubber for use between a bearing-adapter and a sideframe of a railroad car truck, the sideframe having a sideframe pedestal, the sideframe pedestal having a roof with a first rolling contact rocker fitting, and a downwardly extending jaw, the jaw having a pair of first and second opposed sideframe pedestal thrust lugs, the bearing adapter having a lower surface for seating on a cylindrical bearing casing of a wheelset bearing, and an upper surface defining a second rolling contact rocker surface in rolling contact rocking engagement with the first rolling contact rocker surface of the sideframe, the bearing adapter having a first end facing the first thrust lug, and a second end facing the second thrust lug, wherein said snubber, as installed and viewed from above, has a first portion that seats between the first end of the bearing adapter and the first thrust lug, a second portion that extends adjacent to a first side face of the first thrust lug, and a third portion that extends adjacent an opposite, second side face of the thrust lug, said snubber being free of any portion impeding rolling contact of the first and second surfaces.

18. A set of two snubbers according to claim 17 , the second snubber being for seating between the second end of the bearing adapter and the second thrust lug of the sideframe pedestal jaw.

19. A set of two snubbers according to claim 17 , the snubbers being mounted symmetrically relative to the bearing adapter, and being made of elastomeric material.

20. A set of two snubbers according to claim 17 , the first snubber being for mounting between the first end of the bearing adapter and the first thrust lug, the second snubber being for mounting between the second end of the bearing adapter and the second thrust lug, the two snubbers being elastomeric, and, when viewed from above as installed, each said snubber has a U-shape, the open end of the U-shapes of the snubbers facing away from each other.

21. A combination comprising:
a railroad car sideframe pedestal; a bearing adapter; and a first resilien

Assignees

• Nat Steel Car Ltd

Inventors

• Forbes James Wilfred
• Hematian Jamal

Classifications

• B61F3/02

  with more than one axle · 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

• B61F5/308

  incorporating damping devices · CPC title

• B61F5/14

  Side bearings · CPC title

• B61F5/40

  Bogies with side frames mounted for longitudinal relative movements · CPC title