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US 4,258,629 AGranted
Braking and steering radial truck
AssigneeGeneral Steel Industries, Inc.
InventorsKeith L. Jackson, James J. Reece, Kenneth E. Spencer
Life of this patent
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AssigneeGeneral Steel Industries, Inc.
InventorsKeith L. Jackson, James J. Reece, Kenneth E. Spencer
Estimating the term…
A radial axle railway truck of the rigid frame type has an improved primary suspension for resiliently supporting the truck frame from the axles while permitting arcuate movements of the ends of the axles required to allow the axles to assume radial positions on curved track and an improved disc brake system arranged to minimize interference with wheel-induced steering movements of the axles. The primary suspension comprises journal bearing structures with fore and aft wings, a yoke supported on the wings by flat elastomeric pads yieldable horizontally to accommodate steering movements of the axles and chevron-shaped elastomeric springs carried on the yokes fore and aft of the respective journal boxes and acting in parallel with metal coil springs carried by the yokes. A disc brake system has a single disc at the center of each axle, with underslung brake shoes and the reaction connections of the shoes to the truck frame being substantially horizontal to counter the effect of retardation forces between the respective axle and the truck frame.
In a railway truck, a pair of wheel and axle assemblies each comprising an axle and a pair of railway wheels rigidly mounted on the ends thereof, journal bearing structure including journal bearings on the end portions of each axle and having upwardly facing surfaces fore and aft of the respective bearing and at a substantially lower level than the top of the respective bearing structure mounting flat horizontal elastomeric pad devices, and a yoke embracing each said journal bearing structure and having downwardly facing surfaces carried by said horizontal pad devices on the respective journal bearing structure and having fore and aft surfaces sloping upwardly towards each other and mounting correspondingly sloping elastomeric pad devices, a truck frame having longitudinal side members with downwardly open jaws embracing the respective yokes and having their opposite fore and aft surfaces corresponding in slope with the surfaces of said yokes and resting on said sloping pad devices whereby said truck frame is vertically resiliently supported on said yokes and said yokes are held against substantial longitudinal movement by the resistance of said sloping pad devices to compression longitudinally of the truck, said sloping pad devices being arranged so that the resultant dynamic force lines through them intersect substantially at the center lines of the respective axles whereby to prevent the application to said yokes of overturning moments caused by longitudinal forces, said horizontal pad devices being yieldable in shear to permit said axles to pivot about vertical axes between positions transverse of the truck on tangent track and radial of the track on curved track.
In a railway truck comprising a pair of wheel and axle assemblies each having a pair of railway flanged wheels rigidly mounted on the ends of an axle, journal bearing structure on the end portions of each axle, a truck frame vertically resiliently supported on said journal bearing structures, means mounting said truck frame on said journal bearing structures to permit said axles to pivot a vertical axis between positions transverse of the truck on tangent track and positions substantially radial of the track on curved track, separate snubbers each having a fixed part hung from the side members of said truck frame adjacent each axle longitudinally inwardly from the respective axle and each having a longitudinally movable part extending longitudinally therefrom toward the respective axles, longitudinally extending links connected at their respective ends to the adjacent snubber movable parts and to an end portion of the adjacent axle, and a longitudinal force-transmitting member connecting said snubber fixed parts at each side of the truck to each other, whereby said snubbers react on each other instead of on the truck frame.
In a railway truck comprising a pair of wheel and axle assemblies each having a pair of railway wheels rigidly mounted on the ends of an axle, journal bearing structures on the end portions of each axle, a truck frame carried on said journal bearing structures, means mounting said truck frame on said journal bearing structures to permit said axles to pivot a vertical axis between positions transverse of the truck on tangent track and positions substantially radial of the track on curved track, a brake disc mounted on each said axle substantially at the center thereof, brake shoes supported from said journal bearing structures on both sides of each of said discs and positioned beneath the respective axles for selective engagement, means for urging said shoes into frictional engagement with opposite sides of the respective discs, and longitudinally acting force-transmitting structure connecting said shoes to said truck frame at substantially the level of said shoes, whereby to oppose the tendency of retardation forces to cause relative longitudinal movement between the respective axles and the truck frame during brake application.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.