all kinds of railway vehicles (railway rolling stock)
Author: Date: 2015/11/22 10:49:26
In a preferred embodiment, a multiple axle railway vehicle truck has axle and wheel assemblies mounted with relatively large lateral clearances to provide for lateral movement when negotiating sharp curves. The brake rigging is provided with stabilizing means adapted to normally maintain the brake shoes in a desired nominal position relative to the frame so as to be properly aligned with the wheel treads in their centered axle positions, the stabilizing means being resiliently yieldable to permit any of the brake shoes to be deflected outwardly when they are contacted by their respective wheel flanges upon a sufficient lateral movement of the their respective axles.
Disclosed herein is a new and improved railway vehicle supported by rimless support wheels and guided by special guide wheels and control wheels on a unique track system comprising horizontal main rails having horizontal surfaces upon which traction wheels mounted on horizontal axes for the car are supported, guide rails having vertical control surfaces spaced above or below (depending upon whether the railway vehicle is bottom supported or suspended) in non-branching portions of the rail system, and auxiliary or directional rails also having vertical control surfaces. The vertical surfaces of the directional rails contact the control wheels mounted on the railway vehicle for controlling che direction that the railway vehicle takes in traversing a branch. The guide wheels and control wheels are mounted on vertical axes for rotation in horizontal planes and are supported on a unique linkage which is adapted, under a dynamic control influence applied from within the railway rolling stock itself or from a static camming control influence applied by a steering rail disposed in the railway rolling stock path prior to a junction (in which pairs of tracks are merging or diverging), to pivot the control wheels about the guide wheels to contact a selected one of the directional rails for the purpose of properly and safely directing the railway vehicle as it traverses the junction.