US3872795A

US3872795A - Resiliently frictionally roll stabilized railway car

Info

Publication number: US3872795A
Application number: US210175A
Authority: US
Inventors: Carl E Tack
Original assignee: Amsted Industries Inc
Current assignee: Amsted Industries Inc
Priority date: 1969-08-26
Filing date: 1971-12-20
Publication date: 1975-03-25
Anticipated expiration: 1992-03-25

Abstract

A spring supported yoke is positioned above each side frame of the car truck in constant frictional engagement with the bolster of the overlying car body. A pair of spaced legs depend from each end of the yoke and are frictionally engaged by a snubbing device in the side frame. The snubbing device includes a wedge secured to the side frame and a friction shoe supported on said wedge. A spring extends between the friction shoe and the yoke through an opening in the side frame.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Tack Mar. 25, 1975 [54] RESILIENTLY FRICTIONALLY ROLL 538,865 /1895 Brill et a1. 105/200 X STABILIZED RAILWAY CAR 630,358 81899 Kmg ..l 308/138 1,431,050 10 1922 Seelar eta... Inventor: Carl E. Tack, Elmhurst. Ill 2,961,974 11/1960 Seelig, Jr. /171 3,024,742 3 1962 B1 tt 105 197 D X [73] Assgneei M lncorpmted 3,043,241 7i1962 0:62: 105/199 CB Chlcago, 3,731,638 5/1973 Tack 105/199 CB x [22] Filed: Dec. 20, 1971 Primary Examiner-Lloyd L. King [21] 2l0l75 Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 853,176, Aug. 26, 1969, [57] ABSTRACT d. abandone A spring supported yoke is positloned above each side US A R frame Of the Car truck in constant frictional engage- 165/453 267/9 A 308/138 ment with the bolster of the overlying car body. A pair 51 int. c1. 1361f 5/14, B6lf 5/24, F 17/26 of F legs depend from each 3 3 and [58] Field of 105/164 171 197 R 197 A, are frictionally engaged by a snnbbmg devlce 1n the 105/197 D 199 A 199 E R 206 side frame. The snubbing device includes a wedge se- 2O6R 3 5 2611/9 cured t0 the side frame and a friction shoe supported on said wedge. A spring extends between the friction [56] References Cited shoe and the yoke through an opening in the side UNITED STATES PATENTS frame 516,935 3/1894 Kling 105/199 R 7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures RESILIENTLY FRICTIONALLY ROLL STABILIZED RAILWAY CAR This application is a continuation, of copending application Ser. No. 853,176, filed Aug. 26, I969, now abandoned.

This invention relates to stabilizing arrangements for railway vehicles wherein rocking of the car body from side to side and swiveling of the car truck relative to the body is minimized.

With the advent of larger and heavier railway vehicles, the problems of car rocking and truck swiveling have become increasingly significant. Under certain conditions, the action of a railway vehicle over staggered rail joints and at critical speeds results in violent rocking of the car body from side to side. Another undesirable occurrence is the longitudinal movement of the truck side frames relative to one another, commonly referred to as truck swiveling.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a device that may be easily incorporated into a conventional railway vehicle and that minimizes the car rocking and truck swiveling referred to above.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view, with certain parts removed and with a portion shown in section, of a railway vehicle that incorporates features of the presently described invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along section line 33 of'FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the friction shoe and wedge structure of the present invention isolated from surrounding structure.

It will be understood that a normal railway vehicle comprises a car body supported upon two trucks, and the drawings and description, for the sake of brevity, are confined to one side of one truck, inasmuch as both sides thereof include identical parts.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the railway vehicle is shown comprising a car body, a portion of which is generally indicated at 10, supported upon the bolster 12 of the car truck 14 in a conventional manner. Each end of the bolster 12 is carried in the window 116 of a side corresponding pedestal 24 on both sides of the side frame. A friction plate 40 is secured on the top of the channel member 32 and frictionally engages a similar friction plate 42 secured to the bolster 44 of the car body 10 (FIG. 1). As best shown in FIG. 2, guide lugs 37 and 39 extend laterally from the compression member of the side frame 116 on both sides thereof and are engageable with the end surfaces of

respective legs

34 and 35 of the yoke 30, said guide lugs serving to pre vent longitudinal movement of the yoke relative to the side frames.

As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a wedge 46 is secured within the opening 36 on both sides of the side frame 18. For this purpose, a support member 48 (FIG. 1) may be secured within each column 38 contiguous with the outer periphery of the opening 36, and the wedge 46 may be welded along its lower edge 50 (FIG.

frame 18 comprising compression 20 and tension 22 members, which are joined together at their ends in pedestals 24 supported upon wheel and axle assemblies (shown in outline at 26). The bolster 12 is supported upon springs, indicated diagrammatically at 28, which rest on the tension member 22 of the side frame 18. It will be understood that the aforementioned structure is conventional and need not be described in greater detail.

The present invention comprises a vertically movable yoke, generally indicated at 30, spring supported above each side frame 18 and in frictional engagement with the car body 10. As will be hereinafter more fully described, vertical movement of the yoke is also snubbed by suitable friction means within the side frame.

The yoke 30 comprises a channel member 32 of greater inside width than the compression member 20 of the side frame 18 and a pair of spaced opposed legs 34 and 35 (FIG. 3) depending from each end of said channel member in the vicinity of the opening 36 that is conventionally included between the column 38 and 3) to said support. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the wedge 46 comprises an outward facing vertical friction surface 52 and a substantially V-shaped concave snubbing surface 54 that is inclined outward from top to bottom.

A friction shoe 56 is also provided in each opening 36 at both sides of the side frame, said friction shoe comprising an outward facing vertical friction surface 58 and a substantially V-shaped convex snubbing surface 60 that is inclined inward from top to bottom and is substantially complementary with and frictionally engages the snubbing surface 54 of the wedge 46.

Friction plates 62 and 64 (FIG. 3) are secured on the inside surface of

respective legs

34 and 35 of the yoke 30 to be frictionally engaged by the respective outward facing

vertical surfaces

58 and 52 of the friction shoe and

wedge

56 and 46, respectively. It will be noted that the friction shoe 56 is not attached to any of the surrounding structure, but is held in position by its engagement with the wedge 46 and the friction plate 62. A substantially vertically disposed, helical spring, indicated diagrammatically at 66, extends through an opening 66 in the compression member 20 of the side frame 18 between the channel member 32 of the yoke 30 and a top surface of the friction shoe 56. Annular bosses, 70 and 72, are provided respectively on the channel member 32 and friction shoe 52 to retain the spring 66 in position.

Additional retaining means for the yoke 30 is provided by way of a bolt 74 extending between the

spaced legs

34 and 35 in the vicinity of the wedge 46 and friction shoe 56. Aligned, downwardly open slots are provided in each of the wedge 46 and friction shoe 56 at 76 and 78, respectively, to accommodate the bolt 74 and prevent interference therewith. Also, a thimble 60 is provided around the bolt 74 to prevent inward distorting of the

legs

34 and 35. As shown, the bolt 74 is so positioned as to be normally entirely spaced from the wedge 46 and friction shoe 5 6.

In operation, the car body 16, being conventionally spring supported on the bolster 12 of the truck 14, is also supported at its sides by constant Contact with the yoke 30. Longitudinal shifting of the side frame 18 rela tive to the car body is minimized because of the frictional contact between the wear plate 42 secured to the body bolster 44 and the wear plate 40 secured to the yoke 30. As the car body moves downward relative to the side frame the spring 66 is compressed, which causes the friction shoe 56 to wedge down between the friction plate 62 and the wedge 46, and causes increased friction between the vertical surface 58 of said friction shoe and its corresponding friction plate 62 and the vertical surface 52 of said wedge and its corresponding friction plate 64. Such snubbing of downward motions of the car body at the maximum distance from the center of the truck has been found to be particularly effective in reducing rocking of the car body from side to side.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed 1. In a railway vehicle including a car body having a car bolster supported upon the bolster of a car truck wherein each end of the truck bolster is springsupported in a side frame in turn supported upon wheel and axle assemblies, the improvement comprising: a yoke positioned between the car body and the side frame, said yoke being bifurcated to define a pair of spaced legs depending downwardly and receiving the side frame therebetween, said yoke having a friction surface, said car body having a friction surface, spring means on said frame urging said yoke surface into engagement with said car body friction surface, and snubbing means actuated by said spring means for frictionally engaging each pair of legs and yieldingly resisting vertical movements of the yoke, whereby a stabilizing effect is provided which substantially reduces both the rocking of the car body and truck swivel, said reduction of truck swivel being accomplished by said frictional engagement of the yoke surface with the car body surface and said reduction of the rocking of the car body being accomplished by said snubbing means attenuating the energy imparted thereto from the car body through said resiliently supported yoke.

2. In a railway vehicle having a car body supported upon a bolster, said bolster being mounted at its end on springs supported upon a side frame having an upper surface, said side frame being supported by wheel and axle assemblies, the improvement comprising: a yoke having an upper member in frictional bearing engagement with said car body and having a bifurcated end portion including spaced legs, said upper member being located between the upper surface of the side frame and said car body and said legs of said yoke straddling said side frame, said side frame having an opening between said legs, means on said side frame to limit movement of said yoke longitudinally along said side frame, a snubbing device between said legs and attached to the side frame said snubbing device having a wedge shaped member secured to said side frame, said wedge shaped member having a vertical surface and an angular surface, said angular surface facing upwardly, a second wedge shaped member having a vertical surface facing outward and frictionally engageable with an interior surface of one of said legs, the other leg being frictionally engageable with the vertical surface of said first-mentioned wedge shaped member, said angular surface of the first-mentioned wedge shaped member frictionally engaging a complementary surface of said second wedge shaped member, and spring means extending through the opening in said side frame between said legs to the bottom surface of the upper yoke member and being engaged by said upper member, said spring means being supported by the second wedge shaped member, said spring means urging said upper yoke member into engagement with said car body.

3. In a railway vehicle having a car body supported upon a bolster, said bolster being mounted at its ends on springs supported upon a side frame having an upper surface, said side frame being located on wheel and axle assemblies, the improvement comprising: a yoke having an upper member in frictional engagement with said car body, said upper member being located between the upper surface of said side frame and said car body, said yoke having legs depending downwardly from said member and vertically movable with respect to said side frame at the inboard and outboard sides thereof, respectively, means on said side frame to limit movement of said yoke longitudinally along said side frame, resilient means engaged with said upper member for urging it upwardly into said frictional engagement with said car body, and means carried by said side frame for supporting said resilient means, whereby truck swivel is frictionally resisted.

4. The improvement in claim 3 wherein the means to limit yoke movement comprise guide lugs on the side frame engageable with said legs.

5. In a railway car wherein a car body bolster is supported on a truck bolster and wherein a side frame member carries springs supporting said truck bolster; the combination of a car body member overlying said side frame member, a friction device carried by the side frame member, said device comprising a part in frictional, separable engagement with the car body member, said friction device comprising a friction surface carried by the side frame member, a friction shoe,

wedge means urging said shoe toward said friction surface, and friction shoe actuating means comprising compression spring means for interengaging the wedge means and friction shoe thereby urging the shoe against the friction surface, said spring means reacting against said part to urge it into said engagement with said car body member, whereby downward rocking movement of said car body member toward said side frame member is immediately resisted by said compression spring means and by said friction shoe and upward movement of said car body member away from said side frame member is entirely free from resistance by said compression spring means and by said friction shoe.

6. A railway car truck according to claim 5 wherein the compression spring means extends through an opening of the side frame member above the friction shoe.

7. A railway car truck according to claim 5 wherein the friction device comprises spaced legs depending from the part and attached thereto and wherein the wedge means comprises a side frame wedge surface sloping toward one leg and engaging the friction shoe, the shoe frictionally engaging said one leg along said friction surface, and the side frame frictionally engaging the other leg, and wherein the compression spring means is compressed by and between said part and said shoe.

Claims

1. In a railway vehicle including a car body having a car bolster supported upon the bolster of a car truck wherein each end of the truck bolster is spring-supported in a side frame in turn supported upon wheel and axle assemblies, the improvement comprising: a yoke positioned between the car body and the side frame, said yoke being bifurcated to define a pair of spaced legs depending downwardly and receiving the side frame therebetween, said yoke having a friction surface, said car body having a friction surface, spring means on said frame urging said yoke surface into engagement with said car body friction surface, and snubbing means actuated by said spring means for frictionally engaging each pair of legs and yieldingly resisting vertical movements of the yoke, whereby a stabilizing effect is provided which substantially reduces both the rocking of the car body and truck swivel, said reduction of truck swivel being accomplished by said frictional engagement of the yoke surface with the car body surface and said reduction of the rocking of the car body being accomplished by said snubbing means attenuating the energy imparted thereto from the car body through said resiliently supported yoke.

5. In a railway car wherein a car body bolster is supported on a truck bolster and wherein a side frame member carries springs supporting said truck bolster; the combination of a car body member overlying said side frame member, a friction device carried by the side frame member, said device comprising a part in frictional, separable engagement with the car body member, said friction device comprising a friction surface carried by the side frame member, a friction shoe, wedge means urging said shoe toward said friction surface, and friction shoe actuating means comprising compression spring means for interengaging the wedge means and friction shoe thereby urging the shoe against the friction surface, said spring means reacting against said part to urge it into said engagement with said car body member, whereby downward rocking movement of said car body member toward said side frame member is immediately resisted by said compression spring means and by said friction shoe and upward movement of said car body member away from said side frame member is entirely free from resistance by said compression spring means and by said friction shoe.