Railroad car truck damper wedge fittings

Abstract

There is a damper wedge for a railroad car truck. It has a removable and replaceable friction element that reciprocates on the wear plate of the side frame column of the railroad car truck. It has a non-metallic wear surface; a spring seat that, in use, engages a spring of the railroad car truck; and an inclined damper wedge surface having a primary angle, alpha, and a secondary angle, beta. The inclined damper wedge surface has a curvature. The curvature has a working point. The working point is located in a central region of a contact patch, or working surface patch. The nonmetallic wear surface material is mounted to a carrier that mounts removably to the damper wedge body. The carrier has fingers that span the wedge and that transfer shear and resist torsion, the fingers preventing the non-metallic member from migrating out of position.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.