Abstract: A wheel chock for a motor vehicle container made of composite material which is adapted to be selectively connected to a pair of rails fastened to the container floor, and which is made of a flexible copolymer material capable of withstanding the loads incurred by vehicles restrained by the chocks, and which is constructed to be easily connected to and disconnected from the rails and be supported above the container floor to prevent damage to the floor.

Abstract: A wheel restraining cleat and strap for use with a pair of wheel chocks to anchor a vehicle wheel to a supporting surface such as a floor of a railway car for transporting vehicles, which includes a strap of flexible material for overlying the tire of the vehicle wheel and carrying thereon a cleat formed of a material having both flexibility and resiliency so that it grabs the tire to retain the strap in overlying relation with the wheel. The cleat includes protuberances on the tire-engaging side to prevent slippage between the tire and the cleat, thereby maintaining the strap in overlying tie-down relation to the wheel. The cleat is sufficiently bendable to conform to surfaces of tires of different diameters.

Abstract: A friction wedge for use in a railroad car truck bolster pocket which has a slanted rear wall and adjoining side walls perpendicular thereto, one surface thereof adapted to bear against a portion of a car truck side frame and a slanted surface and adjoining sides adapted to bear against the slanted rear wall and adjoining side walls of the bolster pocket. The friction wedge includes a metal body and a polymer cover providing the slanted surface and adjoining sides, with the polymer cover being formed in a plurality of sections movable relative to each other and the metal body such that, during use, the polymer sections may move into contact with the pocket rear wall and adjoining side walls.

Abstract: A railroad truck includes a pair of side frames with wheeled axles mounted there between. A roller bearing adaptor is mounted upon a roller bearing at each end of each axle with the side frames being mounted upon a shear pad mounted on the roller bearing adaptors. There is a subframe for interconnecting the wheeled axles by connecting opposite corner adaptors and there is a rigid connection between each adaptor and the subframe. Each rigid connection includes an adaptor portion and a subframe portion, with said portions being relatively vertically disposed. There are vertical fastening means connecting said vertically disposed adaptor and subframe portions. The vertically disposed portions have cooperating means thereon which substantially eliminate horizontal shear forces upon the fastening means.

Abstract: A hubodometer having a wide range of selectable gear ratios so that the same basic structure can be used to indicate distance traveled by wheels of greatly different wheel diameters in either miles or kilometers. The hubodometer has an elongated bore extending through a frame and centered on the axis of rotation of the hubodometer. An odometer helical drive gear and shaft is mounted on the frame transversely to the axis of rotation and removed from the bore in the frame. In assembly of the hubodometer, if a first gear ratio is desired, a support shaft carrying a gear is located within the bore and is fixed to rotate with the casing on its axis of rotation. This gear engages the odometer helical drive gear at a first locus so that the odometer reading is responsive to the rotation of the casing with a first gear ratio. If a second gear ratio is desired, a support shaft having no gear is located within the bore and is fixed to rotate with the hubodometer casing.

Abstract: A hubodometer having a casing supported solely by, and balanced on, its mounting bracket by a ring-like shock mount. Additionally, an odometer mechanism assembly is carried by, and balanced on, a drive-gear shaft located within the casing on the axis of rotation of the hubodometer. The casing is formed by two joined cup-like shells each having a circular flange integrally formed at a mouth of the shell and lying against the flange of the other shell to define an enclosed cavity. An elastic-like gasket is seated upon the joined flanges, and a rigid retainer ring is seated upon the gasket. The retainer ring is fitted tightly to a circular wall of the mounting bracket to nest the casing at least partially within a socket cavity defined by the mounting bracket. The elongated drive-gear shaft has its shaft extremities anchored to opposite bottoms of each casing shell.

Abstract: A railroad car truck bolster has a plurality of pockets each of which will position a friction wedge for use in damping motion between the bolster and the side frame. Each pocket has a slanted rear wall and adjoining side walls perpendicular thereto, the side walls being generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bolster. One of the side walls is designated the inboard side wall and the other is designated the outboard side wall. The present invention is specifically concerned with a wear plate which is positioned within the friction wedge pocket and has a main portion formed and adapted to substantially conform to the pocket slanted wall and at least one wall portion integral therewith and formed and adapted to substantially conform to the pocket outboard side wall, an area subject to substantially greater wear than the inboard pocket side wall. Further, there are elements on the wear plate for cooperative attachment of the wear plate to the pocket.

Abstract: A constant contact resilient side bearing adapted to be positioned on a railroad car truck bolster and in constant contact with the underside of the car body for retarding movement of the car truck relative to the car body includes a housing adapted to be positioned on the bolster and which may, in some applications, be integrally cast with the bolster. A pair of rollers are mounted within the housing for contact with the underside of a car body, the rollers being arranged with their axes approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bolster or generally having the roller axes intersect in the center of the center plate. A resilient elastomeric pad is positioned within the housing and beneath the rollers. The pad provides resistance to movement of the rollers responsive to relative rotation between the car truck bolster and car body underside.

Abstract: A friction member for use in the bolster pocket of a stabilized railroad car truck having a bolster positioned within a side frame window has a slanted friction surface adapted to bear against a slanted wear surface within the bolster pocket and a vertical friction surface adapted to bear against a side frame wear surface. The slanted friction surface has a profile in a generally horizontal plane consisting of a central flat portion and adjoining outside arcuate portions. The flat portion has a width equal to twice the distance between the side frame center line and the point of rotation of the side frame relative to the bolster, with said point of rotation being selected such that, during side frame rotation, the distance from the side frame center line to the point of intersection of the plane of the vertical friction surface and the plane of the side frame wear surface is no greater than one half of said friction member horizontal thickness.

Abstract: A railroad car truck bolster has a centrally disposed vertically arranged longitudinally extending web. The web has spaced reinforcing means with the spacing of the reinforcing means being sufficient to cause certain fractures in the web propagating along lines of maximum shear stress at approximately 45 degrees to lines of principal stress to reach a reinforcing means at a point closer to the neutral axis of the web than the next adjacent external surface of the web. The bolster side walls have openings with the above-described spaced web reinforcing means being generally in alignment with the bolster side wall openings.

Abstract: A supportive spring system particularly adaptable to vehicles such as railway cars that are operated with widely variable loads from empty to fully loaded condition. Such a spring system utilizing a plurality of helical spring units comprises multiple nested springs with primary springs having greater axial length than one or more secondary springs so that the primary springs alone provide the necessary supportive capacity to yieldingly support the weight due to an empty or slightly loaded car. When cars are heavily loaded, the secondary springs also become supportive and all sets of springs act in unison. To prevent the secondary springs from bouncing and becoming misaligned due to the vehicle's movement on the track, the lower coterminating end coils of the primary and secondary springs are yieldingly bonded together by an elastomeric material.

Abstract: A railroad car truck has a pair of wheelsets and means for providing relative restraint between wheelsets. A pair of side frames are supported on the wheelsets through resilient pads with the resilient pads providing greater shear resistance in a lateral direction than in a longitudinal direction.

Abstract: A friction member for use in the bolster pocket of a stabilized railroad car truck has a slanted friction surface adapted to bear against the bolster within the bolster pocket and a vertical friction surface adapted to bear against the side frame. The slanted friction surface has a generally flat portion at the lower end thereof and a generally arcuate portion at the upper end thereof. The two portions of the slanted friction surface are tangent, one to another, with the point of tangency being located so as to insure full contact between the vertical friction surface and the adjacent side frame.

Abstract: A railroad truck side frame includes spaced tension and compression members connected by vertical columns. The tension and compression members, as well as the vertical columns, define a window and there is a bolster extending through the window. One side of each vertical column has a widened area, with the opposite side of each vertical column being substantially coplanar with the side frame. The bolster has lugs projecting from both sides thereof on opposite sides of each column, with the space between lugs on each side of the bolster being substantially greater than the width of the side frame and slightly greater than the distance between the outside of the widened area and the opposite side of the vertical column.

Abstract: A bolster for use in a stabilized railroad car truck has stabilizer pockets on each side of each end. Portions of the bolster adjacent the pockets extend above the bolster top wall. There are reinforcing means for each bolster pocket positioned generally at the midpoint of each pocket and within the bolster structure.

Abstract: A stabilized railroad car truck has a side frame with a window, a bolster extending into the window, a stabilizer pocket on each side of the bolster and a friction element in each pocket. The spring means constitute coaxially positioned spring assemblies supporting each friction element provide generally constant column pressure from each friction element onto its associated side frame wearing area from no load up until approximately half-load, with linearly increasing column pressure from approximately half-load up until full load.

Abstract: A dampened bolster and side frame assembly for a railway truck including widened lands on the side frame and a plurality of spaced wedges on each side of the bolster and on opposite sides of the frame center line.