Lubricating and load-carrying pad for railway car center bearings and the like

Claim 1

IN A HEAVY-DUTY, LOAD-SUPPORTING RAILWAY CAR CENTER BEARING HAVING RIGID, FLAT NORMALLY PARALLEL BEARING SURFACES DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL OT THE AXIS OF LOAD SUPPORT AND PROVIDING FOR OSCILLATORY MOVEMENT BETWEEN SAID SURFACES ABOUT SAID AXIS AS WELL AS FOR LIMITED TILTING OF SAID SURFACES OUT OF PARALLELISM, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES A FLEXIBLE AND RESILIENT LUBRICANT-RETAINING AND LOAD-CARRYING PAD OF METAL WIRE ADAPTED TO BE INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID RIGID FLAT BEARING SURFACES, SAID PAD BEING COMPOSED OF A STRIP OF FLATTENED TUBULAR KNITTED METAL WIRE FABRIC CONVOLUTELY WOUND UPON ITSELF AND SAID PAD BEING HIGHLY COMPRESSED IN DIRECTIONS TRANSVERSE THE WIDTH OF SAID STRIP AND PARALLEL WITH THE AXIS OF LOAD SUPPORT, THE METAL WIRE OF WHICH SAID PAD IS COMPOSED HAVING CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSIONS WHICH ARE VERY SMALL COMPARED WITH THE TOTAL SIZE OF SAID PAD WHEREBY ADJACENT ELEMENTS OF SAID WIRE IN SAID COMPRESSED PAD ARE IN INTIMATE INTERLOCKING RELATIONSHIP WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM THROUGHOUT THE VOLUME OF SAID PAD WITH PORTIONS OF ADJACENT ELEMENTS OF SAID WIRE SPACED TO FORM SMALL POCKETS AND PASSAGEWAYS OF APPROXIMATELY CAPILLARY SIZE, SAID PAD BEING ADAPTED TO RETAIN LUBRICANT IN A SUBSTANTIALLY EVENLY DISTRIBUTED CONTINUOUS PHASE THROUGHOUT THE VOLUME OF THE PAD IN SAID SMALL POCKETS AND PASSAGEWAYS THROUGH WHICH LUBRICANT MAY FLOW INTO CONTACT WITH SAID BEARING SURFACES, SAID PORTIONS OF SAID ELEMENTS OF SAID WIRE BEING RESILIENTLY MOVABLE RELATIVE INTO ONE ANOTHER AND IN MANY INSTANCES BEING MOVABLE INTO FRICTIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH ONE ANOTHER TO MAKE SAID PAD RESILIENTLY COMPRESSIBLE TO YIELD SLIGHTLY AND RECOVER UNDER VARYING LOAD CONDITIONS, YET FIRM ENOUGH TO MAINTAIN A VERY HIGH PERCENTAGE OF THE LUBRICANT-RETAINING AND LOADDISTRIBUTING CAPACITY THEREOF UNDER CONDITIONS INCLUDING SEVERE LOAD VARIATIONS AND TILTING OF SAID BEARING SURFACES OUT OF PARALLELISM.