Motorized railway truck articulated shaft housing
AssigneeThe Garrett Corporation
InventorThomas F. Fitzgibbon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for suspending the traction motor and gear box of a parallel drive arrangement in a railway truck or the like in which the gear box and traction motor shafts are flexibly coupled together to accommodate relative movement between the two shafts. In addition, an arrangement is provided by which the mounting of the motor on the railway truck accommodates lateral displacement while the coupling between the traction motor housing and the gear box accommodates angular and offset misalignment of the coupled shafts.
Claims23
A railway motor mounting system comprising:
- a truck frame supported on a wheel and axle set;
- a gear box comprising a plurality of gears in a drive train coupled to directly drive the axle, said plurality including a pinion gear having an input shaft positioned adjacent one end of the gear box and connected to a drive gear attached to the axle;
- means supporting said one end of the gear box from the truck frame, the other end being supported on the axle by anti-friction bearings;
- a traction motor having a housing and an output shaft parallel to the axle and flexibly coupled to drive the pinion gear shaft;
- first motor support means mounting the rearward end of the motor housing remote from said output shaft to the truck frame;
- and
- second motor support means mounting the forward end of the motor housing adjacent the output shaft to the gear box, said second support means comprising a flexible joint surrounding said shafts and extending between the gear box and the housing of the traction motor.
A coupling assembly between a motor having a housing and an output shaft and a gear box having an input shaft, the two shafts being coupled together in driving relationship, wherein the gear box supports the shaft end of the motor and is subject to excursionary movements tending to develop angular and offset misalignments of said shafts relative to each other, the assembly comprising:
- a first flexible torque-transmitting coupling connected between the two shafts;
- a second flexible support coupling extending about the first coupling and having a pair of mating members, one being affixed to the gear box and the other being affixed to the motor housing, adapted to accommodate relative angular and offset movements of one member with respect to the other,
- said members comprising concentric cylindrical housings having a region of overlap and having matching circumferential grooves in respective adjacent surfaces in the region of overlap;
- and
- a plurality of elastomeric O-rings, one in each of said grooves.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.