Rail road freight car with resilient suspension
First Claim
1. A three piece rail road car truck, the truck having a longitudinal rolling direction, and a transverse direction extending cross-wise to the rolling direction, said truck comprising:
- a pair of first and second side frames and a truck bolster defining primary members of said three piece truck, said bolster being resiliently mounted transversely relative to said side frames, said truck being free of a transom;
said side frames each having a side frame window bounded by a pair of first and second side frame columns, a lower member and an upper member;
said first side frame column having a first planar wear plate mounted thereto;
said second side frame column having a second planar wear plate mounted thereto;
said truck bolster having first and second ends;
wheelsets, each said wheelset having an axle having two wheels mounted thereto, and each axle being mounted to said side frames;
first and second spring groups, one of said spring groups being mounted in each of said side frames, each said spring group supporting one of said ends of said bolster within its respective side frame window;
each of said spring groups including coils of springs sitting in a side-by-side grouping, said grouping having four cornermost springs, said cornermost springs including a first inboard corner spring, a second inboard corner spring spaced lengthwise along said side frame from said first inboard corner spring, a first outboard corner spring, a second outboard corner spring spaced lengthwise along said side frame from said first outboard corner spring;
said first outboard corner spring being spaced laterally outboard of said first inboard corner spring;
said second outboard corner spring being spaced laterally outboard of said second inboard corner spring;
first and second damper groups mounted at respective ends of said bolster;
said first damper group including a first damper and a second damper, said first damper being located in the transverse direction inboard of the second damper;
each of said first and second dampers being seated in said first end of said bolster and being independently driven to contact said first wear plate of said first side frame column of said first side frame;
said first damper being mounted over said first inboard corner spring, said second damper being mounted over said first outboard corner spring;
said first inboard corner and first outboard corner springs each having a spring of smaller diameter nested therewithin;
said dampers include angled damper wedges working in correspondingly angled damper pockets, said angled damper wedges having a damper angle of greater than 35 degrees; and
said first spring group has a combined vertical spring rate, and substantially more than 15% of that spring rate is applied beneath said first damper group.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An auto rack rail road freight car is provided for carrying low density, relatively high value, relatively fragile lading. The car has a relatively soft suspension and an empty vertical bounce natural frequency of less than 2.0 Hz. The car also has additional ballast to increase the dead sprung weight of the car relative to the weight of the lading. In the embodiments in which multi-unit articulated freight cars are employed, such as for auto rack rail cars, the ballast is located preferentially toward the coupler end trucks. The trucks for the rail car have an increased wheel base and damping located to provide a greater moment arm and bearing face to encourage a higher threshold for rail car hunting.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A three piece rail road car truck, the truck having a longitudinal rolling direction, and a transverse direction extending cross-wise to the rolling direction, said truck comprising:
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a pair of first and second side frames and a truck bolster defining primary members of said three piece truck, said bolster being resiliently mounted transversely relative to said side frames, said truck being free of a transom; said side frames each having a side frame window bounded by a pair of first and second side frame columns, a lower member and an upper member; said first side frame column having a first planar wear plate mounted thereto; said second side frame column having a second planar wear plate mounted thereto; said truck bolster having first and second ends; wheelsets, each said wheelset having an axle having two wheels mounted thereto, and each axle being mounted to said side frames; first and second spring groups, one of said spring groups being mounted in each of said side frames, each said spring group supporting one of said ends of said bolster within its respective side frame window; each of said spring groups including coils of springs sitting in a side-by-side grouping, said grouping having four cornermost springs, said cornermost springs including a first inboard corner spring, a second inboard corner spring spaced lengthwise along said side frame from said first inboard corner spring, a first outboard corner spring, a second outboard corner spring spaced lengthwise along said side frame from said first outboard corner spring; said first outboard corner spring being spaced laterally outboard of said first inboard corner spring; said second outboard corner spring being spaced laterally outboard of said second inboard corner spring; first and second damper groups mounted at respective ends of said bolster; said first damper group including a first damper and a second damper, said first damper being located in the transverse direction inboard of the second damper; each of said first and second dampers being seated in said first end of said bolster and being independently driven to contact said first wear plate of said first side frame column of said first side frame; said first damper being mounted over said first inboard corner spring, said second damper being mounted over said first outboard corner spring; said first inboard corner and first outboard corner springs each having a spring of smaller diameter nested therewithin; said dampers include angled damper wedges working in correspondingly angled damper pockets, said angled damper wedges having a damper angle of greater than 35 degrees; and said first spring group has a combined vertical spring rate, and substantially more than 15% of that spring rate is applied beneath said first damper group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A three piece rail road car truck, the truck having a longitudinal rolling direction, and a transverse direction extending cross-wise to the rolling direction, said truck comprising:
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a pair of first and second side frames and a truck bolster defining primary members of said three piece truck, said bolster being resiliently mounted transversely relative to said side frames, said truck being free of a transom; said side frames each having a side frame window bounded by a pair of first and second side frame columns, a lower member and an upper member; said first side frame column having a first planar wear plate mounted thereto; said second side frame column having a second planar wear plate mounted thereto; said truck bolster having first and second ends; wheelsets, each said wheelset having an axle having two wheels mounted thereto, and each axle being mounted to said side frames; first and second spring groups, one of said first and second spring groups being mounted in each of said side frames, each said spring group supporting one of said ends of said bolster within its respective side frame window; each of said spring groups having four cornermost springs, said cornermost springs including a first inboard corner spring, a second inboard corner spring spaced lengthwise along said side frame from said first inboard corner spring, a first outboard corner spring, a second outboard corner spring spaced lengthwise along said side frame from said first outboard corner spring; said first outboard corner spring being spaced laterally outboard of said first inboard corner spring; said second outboard corner spring being spaced laterally outboard of said second inboard corner spring; first and second damper groups mounted at respective ends of said bolster; said first damper group including a first damper and a second damper, said first damper being located in the transverse direction inboard of the second damper; each of said first and second dampers being seated in said first end of said bolster and being mounted to contact said first wear plate of said first side frame, said first damper being driven by said first inboard corner spring, said second damper being driven by said first outboard corner spring, and each of said first and second dampers being driven independently of the other; said first inboard corner and first outboard corner springs each having a smaller diameter spring nested therewithin; said first and second damper groups each include angled damper wedges working in correspondingly angled damper pockets, said angled damper wedges having a damper angle of greater than 35 degrees; and said first spring group has a combined vertical spring rate, and more than 15% of that spring rate is applied beneath said first damper group. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A three piece rail road car truck, the truck having a longitudinal rolling direction, and a transverse direction extending cross-wise to the rolling direction, said truck comprising:
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a pair of first and second side frames and a truck bolster resiliently mounted transversely relative thereto, said truck being free of a transom; said side frames each having a side frame window bounded by a pair of first and second side frame columns, a lower member and an upper member; said first side frame column having a first planar wear plate mounted thereto; said truck bolster having first and second ends; first and second spring groups, one of said spring groups being mounted in each of said side frames, each said spring group supporting one of said ends of said bolster within its respective side frame window; first and second damper groups mounted at respective ends of said bolster; said first damper group including four dampers, said four dampers including a first inboard damper, a second inboard damper, a first outboard damper and a second outboard damper, said four dampers being mounted in a four cornered arrangement in which two of said dampers work between said first end of said bolster and said first side frame column of said first side frame, and two of said dampers work between said first end of said bolster and said second side frame column of said first side frame; said first spring group having four cornermost springs, said cornermost springs including a first inboard corner spring, a second inboard corner spring spaced lengthwise along said side frame from said first inboard corner spring, a first outboard corner spring, a second outboard corner spring spaced lengthwise along said side frame from said first outboard corner spring; said first outboard corner spring being spaced laterally outboard of said first inboard corner spring; said second outboard corner spring being spaced laterally outboard of said second inboard corner spring; said first inboard damper being driven by said first inboard corner spring; said second inboard damper being driven by said second inboard corner spring; said first outboard damper being driven by said first outboard corner spring; said second outboard damper being driven by said second outboard corner spring; each of said first inboard and outboard dampers being seated in said first end of said bolster and being independently driven to contact said first wear plate of said first side frame column of said first side frame; each of said four dampers being independently driven; each of said four dampers being driven by an outer spring and an inner spring, said inner spring being nested within said outer spring. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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Specification