In a railway freight car truck, two axles are held in a pair of laterally spaced sideframes, with a bolster extending laterally between and supported on each sideframe. The wheels are press fit on the axles, with the ends of the axles also fitted with a roller bearing assembly. The roller bearing assembly itself is fit into a bearing adapter that is fit into a pedestal jaw opening at the longitudinal end of each sideframe. The ends of the bolsters are themselves supported on spring groups, which are supported on the lower portion of the center openings of the sideframes.
The bearing adapter, which is itself fit on top of the roller bearing assembly, is usually comprised of a unitary cast steel piece. An elastomeric adapter pad is fitted on top of the bearing adapter. The adapter pad itself is usually comprised of an injection molded polymer or a castable polyurethane. The adapter pad usually includes four depending legs, two each of which extend from opposite longitudinal edges of the adapter pad. The depending legs are spaced laterally at each longitudinal edge of the adapter pad such that the depending legs are received in openings between laterally spaced shoulders of the bearing adapter. To avoid the build up of static electricity between the axle rotating within the roller bearing assembly and the railway freight car truck, it is desirable to have an electrical connection between the bearing adapter and the sideframe pedestal jaw.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved bearing adapter and pad assembly that provides an improved electrical connection between the bearing adapter and the sideframe pedestal jaw.