GB475907A - Improvements in trucks and wheel trains, especially intended for railroad vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

475,907. Railway-vehicle axle-trucks. BUGATTI, E. May 29, 1936, No. 15253. Convention date, June 3, 1935. [Class 103 (vi)] In a railway vehicle of the kind in which some or all of the axles carried by the underframe or a truck frame are capable of lateral displacement and are so interconnected that displacement of one axle produces a corresponding opposed displacement of the other axle or axles, the interconnection is effected wholly or partly through a hydraulic transmission employing a substantially incompressible liquid. In the arrangement shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1, the four axles a, b, c, d of a truck have rigidly mounted thereon pistons operating in cylinders a<1>, b<1>, c<1>, d<1> secured to the truck frame C, which is pivoted to the underframe at P. The pairs of cylinders a<1>, b<1> and c<1>, d<1> are interconnected by double conduits so that when one axle, e.g. a, is displaced say, to the left on a curve, the associated axle b is correspondingly displaced to the right. Alternatively, the cylinders a, c and b, d may be associated with each other. Further modifications are described in which the invention is applied to arrangements of three or five axles in a main or truck frame, the diameters of the cylinders being chosen to provide the requisite control of the displacement of the axles. Fig. 7 shows a practical construction in which the piston 6 and axle 1, on which the wheel 5 is loosely mounted, are slidable relatively to the main or truck frame, strap 3 of the suspension springs 4, and cylinder 7, the latter being supported by brackets 8 from the straps 3. A pair of conduits 22 render the piston and cylinder double acting, while stops are disposed on the axle or piston to limit the lateral displacement. In another construction, Fig. 8, the piston 6 is single acting and its displacements are effected by a rod 9 and roller 10 making contact with the wheel 5, which, in this case, is secured to the axle 1. Further modifications are described in which the pistons are secured to the vehicle or truck frame, while the cylinders are displaceable with the axles, and in which the pistons are replaced by flexible membranes.