EP0609655B1 - Railway freight car - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a railway freight car with a tarpaulin hood (4) which extends over its loading surface (10) and consists of a plurality of gantry-shaped bows (6) which bear a continuous tarpaulin (5) and can each be moved by means of sets of running gear (7) on running rails (8) arranged in the region of external longitudinal members (9) of the underframe (1). In order to avoid a reduction in the available loading cross-section as a result of folding (5a') of the tarpaulin (5) which arises from the bows (6) being pushed together, in addition to the bows (6) which can be moved on the running rails (8) a number of lifting bows (11) can be raised up out of their normal position in which they bear the tarpaulin when the car is closed into a position in which, with the bows (6, 11) pushed together, they hold the folds (5a) of the tarpaulin out of the loading space which is present when the car is closed. In order to help the staff when opening the tarpaulin hood and when raising the lifting bows, force accumulators (21) can be provided on the latter and/or a running gear-side drive which also moves along can be added. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a rail freight wagon with the features of the preamble of claim 1.

Such rail freight cars are known for example from DE-A-39 25 789. When the tarpaulin cover is open, ie when the bows are pushed together, the folds of the tarpaulin hang into the loading space from above and from the side, thereby reducing the loading cross-section. Since the portal-shaped bow is displaced relative to one another both for opening and for closing the tarpaulin, the known construction results overall in a reduced loading volume compared to the loading space when the vehicle is closed.
If the cargo has been loaded too high, the tarpaulin in the fold area can also be damaged when opening, closing and moving the tarpaulin cover.

There is also a foldable convertible top without side wall parts known (DE-U-91 08 115), which extends only in the roof plane of a loading container with fixed side walls and can be pushed together on running rails along the side wall top chords.
The structure for this tarpaulin roof is constructed quite differently from that of the generic rail freight wagon. The crossbeams, which are referred to as bows, are not supported directly, but are articulated indirectly on the drives via half-scissors and are all raised when they are opened. When the convertible top is closed, they lie loosely on the running rails.
With this folding top, it is of course not possible to open the loading area from the side. Also, there is no problem in keeping the tarpaulin from the side of the cargo hold.
A takeover of the support structure known from the above-mentioned DE-GM for a tarpaulin cover with side wall parts does not make sense because there, in contrast to the generic rail freight wagon, the level of the bow does not deviate significantly from the level of the drives either with the tarpaulin closed or in the raised position . Consequently, e.g. B. in the shocks occurring in rough railway operation, at most small tilting and rolling moments from the bow and tarpaulin mass compared to the drive level occur, while in the portal-shaped There are large lever lengths between the drive level and the zenith of the bow, since the bars of the generic rail freight wagon are long. In the case of said maneuvering impacts and floating support of the bow, this would only lead to overloading of the joints between the drives or even lifting and incorrectly attaching the drives. It also could not be ruled out that the tarpaulin cover would swing out laterally beyond the UIC clearance profile if, for. B. strong cross wind affects the large tarpaulin side surface.

US-A-1 863 957 describes a foldable convertible top for a truck, in which auxiliary bows are arranged on both sides next to the bows which can be moved on running rails on common sliding feet. When the convertible top is closed, its supports are inclined in its longitudinal direction and are raised to the vertical when the convertible top is opened (= pushing together the bow or sliding feet). In doing so, they raise the tarpaulin in the roof area, but the lateral folds of the tarpaulin can become trapped and damaged when the auxiliary bow shears against the main bow. Also two such auxiliary bow follow each other so that the tarpaulin can be clamped between them when pushing the bow again.

The invention has for its object to avoid the disadvantages of the known constructions described above and to create a railway freight wagon with tarpaulin cover and portal-shaped bows of the type mentioned, the effective loading volume of which is determined by the profile specified by the bows and thus the loading volume when the tarpaulin cover is closed corresponds, whereby lateral penetration of folds and jamming of the tarpaulin between the bow should be prevented as far as possible.

This object is achieved with the characterizing features of claim 1.
The characterizing features of the subclaims indicate advantageous developments of the invention.

With the proposal according to the invention, the folds of the tarpaulin which are present during opening and closing and in the open position are kept out of the loading space predetermined by the profile of the bows by providing a plurality of lifting bows between the bows which are firmly supported on running gear and rails.

Regardless of the particular design, the invention achieves the advantage that the loading space specified by the shape of the bow is essentially available for accommodating cargo and that damage to the tarpaulin by the cargo when opening, closing and moving the tarpaulin cover is avoided.

A lifting bow is arranged between two collapsible bow, which can be moved from the normal position into the raised position when the bow is pushed together. This ensures that the folds of the tarpaulin which arise when the bow is pushed together are pushed upwards towards the outside of the wagon from the loading space profile defined by the bow, although further bow also remain in the normal position with regard to their arcuate parts.

Fundamentally, a division into a plurality of hoops that can be raised and not raised is arbitrary; it is essential that the tarpaulin is raised at least at certain intervals to such an extent that wrinkles do not form anywhere in the load compartment profile. In principle, the desired effect could also be achieved by lifting every third or fourth bar or a plurality / several groups of neighboring bars.

According to a further feature of the invention, the arcuate part of at least every second of the collapsible bows can be raised relative to the vertical bow supports by a respective lifting element. Pressure medium cylinders, which are actuated in a suitable manner, could also be used as lifting elements.

These bows, which are altogether variable in height, can be moved together with the normal bows on the running tracks by means of separate drives. In this case, they are equipped with mechanical lifting elements between the drive and the bow, which are controlled accordingly.

According to a further feature of the invention, it is also possible to dispense with the arrangement of drives on the lifting brackets if the bogie lifting bows on their vertical bow supports can each be lifted by lifting scissors, the intersecting scissor arms of which on the one hand on adjacent bows and on the other hand via connecting rods on the bow support of the lifting bow are articulated. In this case there is an automatic lifting of the lifting bow as soon as the distance between adjacent bow is reduced during the opening process of the tarpaulin cover.

In order to achieve reliable guidance of the lifting bow, according to a further feature of the invention, each bow support is additionally guided by means of an elongated hole on a bearing pin which pivotably connects the two scissor arms of the lifting shears to one another. The scissor arms are preferably movably attached by means of a joint at the lower end of the adjacent bow. If this joint is formed on a clamp, this results in a particularly simple construction, which also allows subsequent retrofitting of existing tarpaulin wagons.

Under unfavorable weather conditions (low temperatures, snow load), manual opening of the tarpaulin cover can be difficult due to the increased rigidity of the tarpaulin material. For this purpose, further measures to support the operating personnel are specified, which are based on an energy storage support for lifting the folds, provided that this occurs when movable bows are pushed together, and include a drive on the side of the tarpaulin cover.

The previous simple handling of the tarpaulin hood is not impaired by the development according to the invention. Their advantages therefore also apply to the equipment according to the invention.

Further details and advantages of the object result from the drawing of an exemplary embodiment and the following detailed description thereof.

Figur 1

eine Seitenansicht eines geschlossenen Planenhaubenwagens,

Figur 2

einen Querschnitt durch den Planenhaubenwagen zur Gegenüberstellung der Laderaumverhältnisse bei geschlossener und geöffneter Planenhaube in konventioneller und in erfindungsgemäßer Ausführung,

Figur 3

eine Seitenansicht zweier benachbarter verfahrbarer Spriegel, zwischen denen ein Hubspriegel angeordnet ist, wobei sich die Spriegel in der Normalstellung befinden,

Figur 4

eine der Fig. 3 entsprechende Seitenansicht bei zusammengeschobenen Spriegeln und angehobenem Hubspriegel,

Figur 5

eine Anordnung einer Kraftspeicherunterstützung an einem Hubspriegel entsprechend der Stellung in Fig. 3,

Figur 6

die Anordnung nach Fig. 5 mit angehobenem Hubspriegel entsprechend der Stellung in Fig. 4,

Figur 7

eine Querschnittskizze eines Endbereichs der Planenhaube mit einer schematisch angedeuteten Antriebsvorrichtung, und

Figur 7a

ein in Fig. 7 durch einen Kreis bezeichnetes Detail a der Antriebsvorrichtung.

Show it

Figure 1

a side view of a closed tarpaulin wagon,

Figure 2

2 shows a cross section through the tarpaulin hood wagon to compare the loading space conditions with the tarpaulin hood closed and open in a conventional and in the inventive design,

Figure 3

a side view of two adjacent movable bow, between which a lifting bow is arranged, the bow being in the normal position,

Figure 4

3 shows a side view corresponding to FIG. 3 when the hoops are pushed together and the hoisting hoop is raised,

Figure 5

an arrangement of an energy storage support on a lifting bow according to the position in Fig. 3,

Figure 6

5 with raised hoisting bow corresponding to the position in Fig. 4,

Figure 7

a cross-sectional sketch of an end region of the tarpaulin hood with a schematically indicated drive device, and

Figure 7a

a detail a of the drive device designated by a circle in FIG. 7.

The embodiment shown schematically in FIG. 1 of a tarpaulin hood wagon reveals its underframe 1, which in the embodiment rests on two biaxial bogies 2. The car body is formed by two fixed end walls 3 and a tarpaulin cover 4, which consists of a continuous tarpaulin 5 and a plurality of bars 6.

As can be seen in the section of the tarpaulin 5 in the lower left part of FIG. 1, each bow 6 is provided at its two lower ends with a running gear 7 which can be moved on running rails 8, which are each arranged on the outside of the outer longitudinal member 9 of the underframe 1 . The bow 6 and thus the tarpaulin carried by them are moved by hand or by means of a drive device, which will be discussed with reference to FIGS. 7 and 7a.

In this way, it is possible to release the loading area of the tarpaulin hood wagon for loading and unloading both from the long sides and from above, the tarpaulin hood only covering approximately 1/4 of the loading area with the bows 6 displaced to one of the end walls. The tarpaulin 5 folds in the manner of a harmonica when the bow 6 is pushed together, to which it is fastened in a suitable manner, for example by means of straps.

A cross-section through the tarpaulin wagon according to FIG. 2 illustrates the loading cross-section which results when the tarpaulin is closed above the loading floor 10 and which is delimited laterally and above by bow 6 with vertical bow brackets on both sides and an arc-shaped part connecting these at the top.

In the known embodiment, the loading cross-section is considerably reduced when the tarpaulin cover is opened, because the tarpaulin 5 between the collapsed bows due to the shortening of the distance Has excess length and folds 5a '(only indicated by dashed lines), which protrude deep into the loading cross section.

As FIG. 2 further shows, such a restriction of the loading profile is avoided if a plurality of hoops, in particular hoisting hoops 11, essentially move from their normal position, which supports the tarpaulin 5 when the car is closed, into a fold 5a of the tarpaulin 5 when the hoops 6 are pushed together from the existing hold when the car is closed. As a result, the inevitable folds 5a come to lie outside the actual loading space, so that it is available with a full cross section for the cargo.

3 and 4 , an embodiment of a lifting rod construction is shown, by which every second bow is automatically raised when the tarpaulin wagon is opened.
A lifting bow 11 of the type indicated in FIG. 2 is arranged between each two adjacent normal bow 6 with drives 7. Vertical bow supports 12 of these lifting bow 11 can each be raised by lifting scissors. This consists of intersecting scissor arms 13 which are pivotally connected to one another by a bearing pin 14. In order to simultaneously effect an additional guidance of the lower end of the vertical bow supports 12, these are guided on the respective bearing pin 14 by means of an elongated hole 12a.
The lower ends of the scissor arms 13 are pivotally fastened by means of joints 15 formed on clamps or weld-on brackets just above the drives 7 to the respective adjacent brackets 6, while the upper ends of the scissor arms 13 are articulated to the bow support 12 of the lifting bow 11 via paired connecting rods 16.

3, the zenith of the lifting bow 11 is in the normal position at the same height as the rigid bow 6, so that the tarpaulin 5 smoothly over the alternating Bow 6 and hoop bow 11 spans. If, on the other hand, the bow 6 is pushed together with the aid of its drives 7, the lifting bow 11 located between them is raised automatically with the aid of the lifting scissors. This has the effect that the folds 5a of the tarpaulin 5 which form when the bow 6 is pushed together do not protrude into the loading profile predetermined by the shape of the bow 6, but are pressed outwards according to FIG. 4, which shows adjacent bow 6 in the pushed-together position . As a result, the loading space profile is kept free from the penetration of folds 5a 'of the tarpaulin 5; in addition, the tarpaulin 5 can no longer be damaged when the bows 6 are pushed together by cargo which is located on the loading floor and is towering too high.

A variant of the scissor lifting linkage, in which the lifting of the lifting bow and thus the opening of the tarpaulin hood is supported by energy stores, is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 . The additional transverse guidance of the vertical hoisting bow support 12 on the universal joint (bearing pin 14) is omitted in favor of supporting the scissor arms 13 on the bow supports of the movable hoops 6 in the upper direction. The connecting rods 16 are articulated in the upper region of the section of the scissor arms 13 between the universal joint and the upper support.

The latter comprises, in a mirror image arrangement on both sides of the lifting shears, guide parts 17 which are fastened to the bow supports of the adjacent movable bow 6. Each guide part 17 has an elongated hole 18 in which a bearing axis 19 of a roller 20 is guided so as to be vertically displaceable. This bearing axis 19 is attached to the upper end of the respective scissor arm 13 so that the roller 20 can roll on the vertical bow support when the adjacent bow is pushed together and pulled apart.
The forced guidance of the bearing axles 19 in the elongated holes 18 prevents the rollers 20 from being lifted off the bows 6, especially when the tarpaulin cover is closed.

At least one of the two rollers 20 per lifting bow 11 is supported in the vertical direction indirectly on an energy store 21 - here designed as a helical compression spring - which counteracts the vertical weight force component which is exerted by the lifting bow 11 via the oblique connecting rod 16 on the upper scissor arm 13, and which biases the scissor arms in the direction of their extended position.
The horizontal component of the weight force presses the roller 20 against the vertical bow support.
The energy accumulator 21 is stabilized transversely in the exemplary embodiment by a guide rod 22 which extends longitudinally through the spring cavity. As the lower abutment for the energy accumulator 21, an angle 23 is fastened to the guide piece 17, the horizontal limb holding the energy accumulator 21 being penetrated by the guide rod 22 and guiding it - likewise in the vertical direction - so as to be displaceable. The upper end of the energy accumulator 21 is supported on the bearing of the bearing axis 19.

Although only one guide part 17 per roller 20 can be seen in the sectional view shown here, each roller 20 or its bearing axis 19 is guided linearly on both sides of the roller on the vehicle being carried out, two guide parts 17 each roller and also the energy accumulator 21 and its guide surrounded by two shells in a box-like manner and thus protecting them from damage in rough railway operations.

The support provided here by a force accumulator can also be carried out on both sides on both scissor arms 13 if required. Instead of coil springs, other types of energy storage, z. B. gas springs can be used.

In the normal position visible in FIG. 5 when the bows are pulled apart (closed tarpaulin hood), the energy accumulator is largely compressed so that it exerts a large supporting force on the bearing axis 19. At the same time, the weight of the Lifting bow 11 due to the strong inclination of the connecting rods 16 a large component in the longitudinal or displacement direction of the tarpaulin cover, which corresponds to a high displacement resistance.

Starting from the position shown in FIG. 5, the roller 20 runs vertically upwards when the tarpaulin hood is opened under the pressure of the energy accumulator 21 on the bow 6.

In Figure 6, the collapsed position of two adjacent bow 6 is outlined, in which the partially relieved energy store has expanded. As can be seen, the connecting rods 16 are vertical in the end position, the weight of the lifting bow and the tarpaulin raised by it have no or only a small lever against the mobile bow. The horizontal component of the weight force has almost disappeared, while the energy accumulator still exerts a small preload force. An automatic lowering of the lifting bow - and an undesired closing movement of the open tarpaulin cover - under the weight of the raised lifting bow and tarpaulin folds is avoided.

In order to achieve an operating force when opening the tarpaulin cover, which corresponds approximately to the level of a conventional tarpaulin hood trolley without lifting bow, it is sufficient if the energy storage support balances the weight portion of the lifting bow lift - plus the frictional forces. It should also be avoided that the tarpaulin hood can contract itself due to the internal spring preload after unlocking the fixed end walls and that higher tensile forces would have to be applied to close them.

For this purpose, the lever lengths in the lifting linkage and the spring rate of the energy accumulator must be carefully coordinated with each other and with the lifting bow and tarpaulin weight.

Another option that can make it easier to manipulate the tarpaulin hood equipped with lifting hoops is a traveling drive for the front-mounted hoop drives, with which the operating personnel can remove the tarpaulin hood from a handwheel or a plug-in coupling for a hand-held drive machine End faces from or towards these can move longitudinally.

A greatly simplified schematic diagram of such a drive is shown in FIG. 7 . On the basis of a cross-section through the loading space of the car, it is indicated schematically that a double-sided drive can be installed even with one-sided force or torque introduction at an operating point 24 via two non-self-locking bevel gears 25 and as a power transmission a flexible shaft 26 connecting the gears (indicated by dash-dotted lines) . The shaft 26 extends along the tunnel arch formed by the tarpaulin cover and is preferably arranged within one of the movable bows 6. To simplify this figure, the lifting bow has been omitted.

FIG. 7a shows, with the detail a encircled in FIG. 7, a sectional sketch from a drive side with the operating point 24. A handwheel 27 is attached to this, with which a main shaft 28 of the angular gear 25 can be rotated manually. A square can be provided in the hub of the handwheel 27 as a coupling for attaching a drive machine.

The flexible or articulated shaft 26 is coupled to an output shaft of the angular gear 25 pointing upwards at an angle to the main shaft 28, while a pinion 29, preferably by means of a torsionally flexible coupling, is fastened to the inner end of the continuous main shaft on the carriage side. This meshes with a toothed rack 30, which in turn is fastened to the underframe 1 of the rail freight wagon and extends parallel to the running rails 8 for the drives 7 of the bow 6 over its entire length between the end faces 2. Pinion and rack form the drive means in the narrower sense.

In the form of a roller chain, a particularly cost-effective design of the rack 30 is indicated. In order to create a close mechanical connection of the drive to the drive 7 of the bow to be driven, the toothed rack / roller chain 30 is preferably fastened directly to the running rail 8 or by means of a continuous angle profile 31 on supporting elements provided for this purpose.

The first two bow on each end of the car are firmly connected to each other in a known manner by sheets and can not be pushed together. This gives the rotating drive to be arranged in this area a broad, tilt-proof base on a chassis formed from four drives 8.

The chain only needs to be hung on the base frame 1 or on the angle section 31 at spaced apart points, since a possible small sag cannot have a disruptive effect on the engagement of the pinion 29. It is prevented from evading upwards by the angle profile 31; in this arrangement it is protected against damage in the best possible way.

If you now turn the handwheel 27, the pinion 29 also rotates in the same sense and runs along the rack 30. The flexible shaft 26 also rotates synchronously and drives the second non-self-locking bevel gear 25 to drive the pinion located on the other side of the car, which rotates in the same direction as the pinion 29 and in turn runs along or under a rack / roller chain. As with the previous tarpaulin hood, the operator walks along the long side of the trolley during opening so that it can precisely determine the desired opening width.

With this drive transmission from the force application side (control point 24) to the opposite long side of the vehicle, bending or shear loads of the bow to be driven are largely prevented or reduced to the extent which is inevitable due to the torsional elasticity of the flexible shaft.

Of course, an operating point of the same type can also be provided on the angular gear on the opposite side, so that the drive can be operated optionally from both long sides. A further drive device of the type described here is provided on the other end face of the tarpaulin hood wagon, which cooperates with the same rack 30.

Although the drive presented here can in principle also be used for tarpaulin hood wagons without lifting bow and for all other hood shapes (e.g. also with telescopic hoods), its particular advantages lie precisely in the interaction with the lifting bow described above. If necessary, it can also be combined with the previously described energy storage support, whereby these two options complement each other in a meaningful way.

Claims (10)

1. Railway freight wagon having a retractable cover (4) extending over its load platform and consisting of a plurality of bows, which carry a flexible hood with side walls and for opening the wagon are movable on running gears (7) along running rails (8) arranged on the level of said platform adjacent to longitudinal girders of a wagon underframe (1), the movable portal shaped bows (6) having, in the area of the hood side walls, bow supports vertically supported on the running gears (7),
   characterized in that a lifting bow (11) is arranged between respective pairs of bows (6) which are movable along the running rails (8) at a constant level, the lifting bow (11) being mechanically rectilinearly liftable when contracting the bows (6) from a normal position carrying the flexible hood (5) when the wagon is closed to a position keeping folds of the flexible hood essentially out of the existing cargo space.
2. Railway freight wagon according to claim 1,
   characterized in that the lifting bows provided with running gears (7) are provided with a mechanical lifting device.
3. Railway freight wagon according to claim 1,
   characterized in that lifting bows (11) without running gears are liftable via their vertical bow supports (12) by means of respective lifting shears, the cross arms (13) of the latter being hingedly connected to adjacent bows (6) at their one end and to the bow support (12) of the lifting bow (11) via connecting rods (16) at their other end.
4. Railway freight wagon according to claim 3,
   characterized in that each bow support (12) of the lifting bows (11) is guided by means of a slot (12a) on a journal bolt (14), which rotatably connects the two arms (13) of the lifting shears.
5. Railway freight wagon according to claim 3 or 4,
   characterized in that each of the shear arms (13) provided for lifting a lifting bow (11) is, at its end, supported via a roller (20) to an adjacent movable bow (6), at least one guiding element (17) being assigned to each roller (20) and the journal (19) thereof in order to prevent lifting the roller off the bow.
6. Railway freight wagon according to claim 1, 3 or 5,
   characterized in that at least one force store (21) is assigned to each of the lifting bows (11), which is supported on one side by one of the contractable bows provided with a running gear (7) and is charged on the other side with at least one component of the weight of the lifting bow (11).
7. Railway freight wagon according to claims 5 and 6,
   characterized in that the force store (21) is supported at one side at the journal (journal bolt 19) of one of the rollers (20) and at the other side at the respective bow (6), along which is rolling said roller (29).
8. Railway freight wagon according to one of the preceding claims,
   characterized in that a drive device is provided for moving bows provided with running gears along the running rails, the device comprising

   - at least one operating station (24) apt for introducing a force or a torque and drive means (29, 30) coupled to the operating station (24) at one of the sides of the railway freight wagon and

   - a force transmission (26) guided along a tunnel arch constituted by the flexible hood cover (4) for transmitting a rotational movement from the operating station (24) on drive means (29, 30) provided at the opposite side of the wagon.
9. Railway freight wagon according to claim 8,
   characterized in that each drive device comprises an angle transmission (25) on either side of the wagon and a flexible or cardan shaft (26) operatively connecting the two angle transmissions (25) to each other,
   each angle transmission (25) having a pinion (29) intermeshing with a rack (30) which is mounted on the wagon underframe (1),
   the two pinions (29) being drivable by means of the operating station (10) in an equidirectional rotation.
10. Railway freight wagon according to claim 9,
    characterized in that the flexible or cardan shaft (12) extends essentially along a hollow space constituted by a bow (6) and its bow supports.

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