Railcar constant contact side bearing assembly

A constant contact side bearing assembly for a railcar, comprising:

• a housing including generally vertical wall structure defining a central axis for said side bearing assembly;
• a multipiece cap arranged in operable combination with said housing, said cap including a first plastic member movably arranged within said housing, a second plastic member movably arranged at least partially within said housing and slidably carried by first plastic member, with a portion of said second plastic member extending beyond said housing and defining a generally flat surface;
• a spring arranged within said housing for returning energy imparted to said side bearing assembly;
• and
• wherein said cap members define cooperating angled surfaces therebetween and disposed at an angle ranging between about 20 degrees and about 30 degrees relative to a horizontal plane for urging and maintaining generally vertical wall structure on said first plastic member and generally vertical wall structure on said second plastic member into sliding engagement with the generally vertical wall structure on said housing while maintaining vertical reciprocity of both cap members relative to said housing during operation of said side bearing assembly;
• and
• wherein an insert is maintained in operable association with the generally flat surface on said second plastic member to contact an underside of said railcar whereby allowing said side bearing assembly to establish a coefficient of friction ranging between about 0.4 and about 0.9 with said railcar during operation of said constant contact side bearing assembly.

A constant contact side bearing assembly for a railcar, comprising:

• a housing including vertical wall structure defining a central axis for said side bearing assembly;
• a non-metal spring seat arranged within said housing for vertical reciprocatory movement;
• a non-metal top cap at least partially arranged within said housing for vertical reciprocatory movement, with said top cap having a generally flat surface spaced at least partially above the wall structure of said housing, with said non-metal top cap being carried by said non-metal spring seat;
• a spring arranged within said housing for returning energy imparted to said side bearing assembly;
• wherein said spring seat and said top cap define cooperating angled surfaces therebetween for urging said spring seat and said top cap in opposed generally horizontal directions away from the central axis of said side bearing assembly such that non-metal wall structure on each of said spring seat and said top cap is maintained in sliding engagement with the wall structure on said housing in response to a vertical load acting on said side bearing assembly while maintaining vertical reciprocity of said spring seat and said top cap relative to said housing;
• and
• wherein an insert is maintained in operable association with the generally flat surface on said top cap to contact an underside of said railcar whereby allowing said side bearing assembly to establish a coefficient of friction ranging between about 0.4 and about 0.9 with said railcar during operation of said constant contact side bearing assembly.

A constant contact side bearing assembly for a railcar, comprising:

• a housing including vertical wall structure defining a central axis for said side bearing assembly;
• with the vertical wall structure of said housing defining a first generally vertical sliding surface;
• a spring seat arranged within said housing;
• a top cap at least partially arranged within said housing, with said top cap having a plate portion spaced at least partially above the wall structure of said housing so as to define a friction surface for said side bearing assembly, with said top cap being carried by said spring seat;
• a spring arranged within said housing for resiliently urging said friction surface on said top cap into frictional sliding contacts with a part on said railcar;
• wherein said spring seat and said top cap define cooperating angled surfaces therebetween for urging said spring seat and said top cap in opposed generally horizontal directions away from the central axis of said side bearing assembly and such that second and third generally vertical sliding surfaces defined by generally vertical wall structure on said spring seat and said top cap, respectively, are moved into sliding engagement with the first sliding surface on the wall structure defined by said housing in response to a vertical load acting on said side bearing assembly;
• and
• wherein structure is provided between the sliding surface on the wall structure of said housing and the sliding surface on the wall structure of each of said spring seat and said top cap to inhibit binding and promote vertical reciprocatory movement of said spring seat and said top cap relative to said housing during operation of said bearing assembly.