US1132683A

US1132683A - Car-door-operating mechanism.

Info

Publication number: US1132683A
Application number: US84413914A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bror T Peterson
Original assignee: BEN R PETERSON; WILLIAM J MAXWELL
Current assignee: BEN R PETERSON; WILLIAM J MAXWELL
Priority date: 1914-06-10
Filing date: 1914-06-10
Publication date: 1915-03-23
Anticipated expiration: 1932-03-23

Description

B. T. PETERSON. GAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

ABPLI'OATI'ON FILED JUNE 10, 1914.

1, 1 32,683. Patented Mar. 23,

Jaw/J67" errand.

anon 'r. rnrnason', or cnicaeo, rumors, assrenon or oNn-rriinn renew a. rnrnnson AND own-mien r WILLIAM a. MAXWELL, corn; or cruoaeo,

ILLINOIS.

c nnamonornna'rme MECHANISM.

- Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Mar. as, rare.

Application filed me in; 1914. Serial No. 844,139.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Bron T. PETERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois," have invented certain newv and useful Improvements in Car-Door-Uperatslug-Mechanisms, of which the'following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for effecting the opening and closing of freightcar doors of that type wherein the door is suspended from -a trolley-rail above the door-opening, and. is slid ed ewise parallel with the side wall of the car in efiecting the opening and closing movements of the door. It is found in practice that, under various conditions, the opening and closing of these doors is a matter of considerable difficulty. Not infrequently the contents of the car become jammed or wedged against the inner side of the door to such an extent as to make it impossible to open the latter by manually pushing the same, is is done under normal conditions. Again, in winter weather, the trolley-rail and trolleys of the door become -more or less clogged with snow and ice,

causing the door to stick. Still again, after a freight car has seen considerable service,

the side wall of the car becomes more or less warped or the trolley-rail gets out of true position, causing the trolley-wheels to become wholly or partially derailed. These and other causes which might be mentioned often render the opening and closing of the door a matter of considerablejdifiiculty; and

the general object of the present invention is to provide a-- simple, inexpensive, and

' easily manipulated device, by the manual manipulation of which a powerful leverage can be obtained to efiectthe opening and closing movements of the door. By this same mechanism it is also possible to securel fasten the door in closed position, so that it cannot be opened either without a proper key or, where a key-operated lock is not emplolyed, without destroying. the usual carsea My invention, its mode of use, and its advantages, will all be readily understood when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which I have illustrated one practical embodiment of the invention, and in which Figure 1 is afragmentary side elevation of a car, showing the car-door in closed poenlarged sectional detail on the line 3-3 of I Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a perspective elevation of the ratchet-operating pawls, which arepreferably formed in a single or integral structure.

Referring to the drawing, 5 designates the side wall of the car-body, in which is formed the usual opening 6.

7 designates the door, suspended by hanger brackets 8 and trolley-wheels 9 from a trolley-rail 10. mounted just above the door-opening; and 11 designates a series of spaced guide or keeper lugs secured to the side wall of the car-body below the dooropening and overlapping the lower edge of the door.- The parts as thus far described are, or may be, all as usual in car-doors of this type. Y

Secured-to the sidewall of the car-body above and below the door-opening, as by screws 12 passing through lateral lugs 13, are a pair of upper and lower rack bars 14 and 15. Journaled in upper -and lower bearings 16 and 17 on the outer face of .the door 7 is a vertical shaft 18, fast on the upper and lower ends of which shaft are

spur gears

19 and 20 meshing with the rack bars 14 and 15, respectively. The shaft 18 is secured in position by a pair of collars 21 and 22 keyed to the shaft above and below the upper bearing 16. Fast on a squared portion 18' of the shaft 18 are a pair of oppositely facing ratchet-disks 23 and 24.- located the former directly above the latter; and straddling these ratchet disks and pivotedon the shaft 18 is the forked inner end 25 of an operating lever 25, said lever and the ratchet disks. being confined on the shafta common hub through which the pivot pin or stud 28 passes. On the back of this hub is formed a seat 31 for one end of a pawlcontrolling spring 32, the seat-engaging end of the spring being confined by a radially projecting stud.33, and the Opposite end of the spring abutting against the cross member of the fork and confined by a stud 34. lVhen the pawl 29 is in engagement with the ratchet 23, the pawl 30 is, of course, in idle position relatively to its ratchet 24:, andthe p'awls are maintained in this position by the thrust of the spring 32 against one side of the stud 33. 'When the pawls are shifted, to the reverse position, indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, the spring 32 engages theopposite side of the stud 33, and thus acts to hold the pawls insuch'reversed position. Obviously, other and equivalent spring pawl-controlling means might be employed.

The outer end of the operating lever 25 is preferably formed with a slot 35 which,

when the door is in; closed position, as shown in Fig. l, engages a staple 36 secured in the side wall of the ear adjacent to one edge of the door-opening, and the operating lever may be locked to the staple 36 by'an ordinary padlock or, as herein shown, by a cotter pin 37, in which case the lower end of the cotter pin is preferably apertured to receive a car seal, indicated at 38.

In the operation of the mechanism, where the door may, from'one'or more of a variety of causes, tend to stick, the operating lever 'is swung hack and forth with the pawl 29 engaged with the ratchet disk 23. By reason of this mechanism, a very powerful leverage is obtained, tending to move the door edgewise towardopen position. if, when the-door is to be closed, it sticks and resists an ordinary manual push, the

pawls

29 and 30 are reversed to throw the pawl 30 into operative engagement with the ratchet disk 24, and the operating lever 25 is similarly actuated to shift the door step by step to closed position. When the door is either closed or open, the operating lever .25 can be swung to a position parallel with and closely alongside the door, where it is out of the way and not likely to he struck and injured by passing objects.

- By the use of my invention, a serious practical diihculty in the manipulation of car- @5 doors of this type, which from one cause or I another are more or less out of normal condition, is remedied. ll am aware that it has heretofore been proposed to employ dooroperating mechanisms including a vertcial W shaftv journaled on the side wall of the car and provided with one or more rack and pinion connections to the door, and with a crank or hand-wheel for turning the shaft; but such a mechanism is less efficient and 0 much harder to operate than the mechanism menses herein disclosed, and in many situations could not perform the work of the latter.

ll claim:

1. The combination with a car body having a side opening, and a door mounted to slide across said opening, of rack-bars secured to the outer side of the side wall of the car above and below said opening, journal bearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper and lower edges of the latter, a vertical shaft mounted in said bearings and carrying on its upper and lower ends spur gears meshing with said rack-bars, and shaft-operating means secured to said shaft intermediate said bearings. 2. The combination with} a car body having a side opening, and a door suspended from a trolley rail above said opening and adapted to slide across the latter, of rackbars secured to the outer side of the side wall of the car above and below said opening, ournal bearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper and lower edges of the latter, a vertical shaft mounted in said bearings and carrying on its upper lower ends spur gears meshing with said rack-bars, shaft-operating means secured said shaft intermediate said bearings, keeper lugs secured to the side wall of the car body below /said opening and overlapping the lower edge of the door.

3. The combination with a car body having a side opening, and a door mounted to slide across said opening, of rack-bars secured to the outer side of the side wall of the car above and below said openings, journal hearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper-and lower edges of the latteri, a vertical shaft mounted in said bearings and carrying on its upper and lower ends spur gears meshing with said rack-baraIa'ratchet disk fast on said shaft intermediate said bearings, and an operating lever pivoted on said shaft and carrying a pawl engaging said ratchet disk.

l. The combination with a car body having a side opening, and a door mounted to slide across said opening, of rack-bars secured to the outer side of the side wall of the car above and. below said opening, ournal hearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper and lower edges of the latter, a vertical shaft mounted in said bearings and carrying on its upper and lower ends spur gears meshing with said rack-bars, a pair of oppositely facing ratchet disks fast on said shaft intermediate said bearings, an operating lever having a forked end pivoted to said shaft and straddling said ratchet disks, a pair of rigidly connected pawls pivoted in the forked end of said lever for coiiperation with said ratchet disks respectively, and a spring operative to hold either of said 'pawls in engagement with its ratchet disk and simultaneously hold the other pawl in idle position.

5. The combination with a car body hav: ing a side opening, and a door mounted to slide across saidopening, of-rack-bars secured to the outer side of the side wall of the car above and below said opening, journal bearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper and lower edges of the latter, a vertical shaft mounted in said bear ings and carrying on its upper and lower ends spur gears meshing with said rackbars, a ratchet disk fast on said shaft intermediate said bearings, an operating lever pivoted on said shaft and carrying a pawl engaging said ratchet disk, and means for securing the free end of said operating lever to the side wall of the car opposite one vertical edge of said opening when the door is in closed position.

I 6. In a car door operating mechanism, the combination with rack-bars secured to the outer side of the side wall of the car above and below the door opening, of a vertical shaft journaled on the door and carrying at its upper, and lower ends spur gears mesh- &

ing with said rack-bars, a ratchet disk fast slotted end of saidlever when the door is in closed position, and a cotter-pin for securing said lever on said staple, said cotter-pin being apertured for the application of a car seal thereto.

' BROR T. PETERSON.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL N. Pom), W. J. MAXWELL.

' car adjacent to one vertical edge of the door opening and adapted to be engaged by the