GB1352499A - Suspension systems for railway vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

1352499 Railway vehicle undercarriages GLOUCESTER RAILWAY CARRIAGE & WAGON CO Ltd 22 April 1971 [25 April 1970] 19986/70 Heading B7L A railway vehicle having a suspension arrangement with damping means wherein the damping force increases with an increase in the vehicle loading comprises, in one embodiment as shown in Fig. 2, a cradle 16, including an axle-box 10 which runs between pedestal guides 11 on a side frame 12, being conventionally sprung at 13; a friction damper pad 26, held in a collet 25 disposed in a bore 28 in the adjacent pedestal guide, engaging an axle-box face; a spring 14 abutting the cradle at 15 and a floating wedge pot 19 at 18, the floating wedge pot being supported on the frame 12 through inclined surfaces 21 and 23 and abutting the collet at 24; the vertical load forces of the floating wedge pot produce lateral forces at the inclined surfaces which are communicated to the friction pad via the collet so increasing the damping force with an increasing load. In a further embodiment of Fig. 10, an inverted saddle 58 is connected to the axle-box 56 by tie-rods 59 and a beam 57, a web 70 of the saddle being frictionally damped by pad 69. In a further embodiment the inclined faces (21) and (23) are separated by bonded rubber pads (36) as described with reference to Fig. 6 (not shown). A still further embodiment is substantially as the first embodiment except that the axle-box is carried on a radius arm (41), Fig. 8 (not shown), pivoted on a fixed fulcrum by a rubber bush (42) to the frame, the friction pad bearing on the face of the axle-box remote from the pivot.