Amsted Rail Company, Inc.

Ici Americas, Inc.

Asf-keystone, Inc.

Michael J McCann

William Lefebvre

Andrew H Martin

Homer W Fogle, Jr

Neal B Cohen

Louis J Caparoni

Frank Backo, Iii

Robert H Banfield

Frank Backo Iii

Railcar monitoring utilizes instrumented, flexible pads supported within the truck pedestal jaws on the bearing adapters. The pads contain sensors for monitoring temperature pressure, shifting loads, truck hunting and the like and have circuitry for processing information received from the sensors and for processing and reporting departures of performance variables to a remote source. The system cyclically activates polling each pad on a car and communicates signals of critical departures and car identity to a remote source.

Railroad train monitoring system

A sensor interface is disclosed including a flexible substrate in which are embedded sensors for measuring physical parameters such as temperature, displacement, velocity, acceleration, stress, strain, pressure and force present between objects such as a railcar bearing and a truck side frame. The substrate is positioned between the objects of interest Electronic components such as a data processing unit, a data storage device, a communication device and a power source may also be embedded within the substrate. The electronic devices communicate with one another and the sensors to process signals generated by the sensors indicative of the parameters being measured.

Flexible sensor interface for a railcar truck

In a currency alarm pack, greater flexibility is achieved by multiple circuit boards and an alarm device, connected together by a thin, flexible substrate having printed conductors. The components are movable relative to one another for realistic flexure of the stack. At least two of the components are slidable relative to the stack along its direction of elongation as the stack is flexed. Portions of the substrate have tabs which extend laterally between opposed peripheral portions of adjacent intermediate sheets of the currency pack so that the alarm components are supported and can slide longitudinally as the stack is flexed. Adjacent components are connected by narrow portions of the substrate, which permit torsion of the stack. These narrow portions extend transverse to the surfaces of the currency sheets to allow the alarm components a high degree of relative movement. Compressible foam pads conceal the presence of the alarm components. The intermediate sheets of the pack are stitched together loosely by threads to permit shear motion of the pack while maintaining its integrity. The threads have loops extending laterally across the outermost intermediate sheets to hold flexible covers removably. In another version, each opening of the central cavity is covered by two flexible flaps pivoted near the ends of the alarm packs.

Currency alarm pack

Growing community of inventors

Wilmington, DE, United States of America

Michael J McCann