Abstract
A new method is described of dynamically stabilizing railway bogies, four-wheel wagons, and road-railers so as to be proof against undesirable lateral oscillations. It is generally accepted that the root cause of all such oscillations is the inherent instability of the ordinary axle-set, i.e. the integral unit of live axle and two wheels. By seeking to eliminate this instability, the new method tackles the problem at its source. It puts a stop to the mild, though ever-present, snaking action to which the conventionally mounted axle is prone, and ipso facto cuts out the possibility of such action developing into the more violent unstable motions that are usually referred to as ‘hunting’.
The principle relied upon in the method is that of the inertia-guided axle, i.e. an axle with a leading guiding arm that is integral with it in yaw and that is connected at its forward end, by means of a velocity damper, to a floating mass (provided by, and identified with, the mass of the vehicle body itself) whose lateral inertia provides the necessary guidance. Alternate guiding arms come into action wherever the direction of travel is reversed.
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