US1027198A - Dumping-car-valve-operating mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

.J. Goonwm. Y DUMPING GAR VALVE OPERATING MEQHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, 1909.

Patented May 21, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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J. M.' GOODWIN. DUMPING GAR VALVE OPERATING MECHANISM.

Patented May 21, 1912.

APPLIOATION IILED JUNE 16, 1909.

I nventor:

by I I I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

35 which. is located between the inclined and comprises a ratchet detent mechanism for,

v the chain winding shafts of such cars or re- JOHN M.. GOODWIN, 0F SPOKANE,- WASHINGTON.

DUMPING-C-AR-VALVE-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent;

Patented May 21, 1912.

Application filed June 16, 1909. Serial No. 502,432.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. Goonwm, a citizen of the United States, residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of lVashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dumping- Car-Valve-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a full, true, and concise specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for operating trap or valve doors of hopper bottom receptacles of railway dumping'cars or other conveyances, and briefly described it ceptacles, which serves as retaining mechanism for the said shaft while 1t 1s bemg rotated in closing the valves and also as the releasing mechanismtherefor when it is desired to dump the load, and in its latter function my invention providesa safe and powerful means for tripping the valves, while weighted with the load, without danger of recoil or kicking back, frequently incident to theunlocking of detents that are heavily loaded.

Referring to the drawings filed herewith, Figure 1 represents the front elevation of a preferred embodiment of my device; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation'thereof.

In this preferred form, A represents the 7 side wall and floor of an ordinary hopper car having angle irons a riveted to the exterior thereof as a means of securing in place the upright gusset-sheet b, a series of the upright portions of the car frame or body, as will be well understood by those familiar with this art. A'strap 0 is secured to the gusset-sheet near its middle and eX- of the said sheet, meeting the depending extremity of an exterior vertical cleat won the outside of the car body to which the said strap is firmly secured. This strap and the gusset-sheet form the support for certain fulcrumed parts of the device, which parts are located between them, as indicated in the drawings. For the sake of clearness,the strap 0 is broken away in Fig. 1 to show the parts beyond. To the gusset-sheet b is riveted a series of brackets at, one only of which is shownin the drawings, which brackets support the valve-chain shaft 6, to

which is keyed the ratchet-wheel f, the said twh2tft and wheel constituting a well known means for closing and supporting dumping valves of hopper cars. Its chain connections for this purpose are therefore not illustrated herein. The teeth of the ratchet wheel f are provided with shroud flanges f V f on opposite sides and projecting slightly beyond the ends of the teeth, as plainly indicated in the drawings. The valve chains or any equivalent connection, it will be understood, are intended to be wound upon chain-shaft e as a Windlass or otherwise operated by said shaft.

The detent mechanism which cooperates with the ratchet wheel, with the functions above referred to, is comprised essentially of a detent lever provided with a detent tooth for engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel and also with a fulcrum and a power arm to which a system of multiplying levers may. be and preferably is connected as a means for disengaging the detent tooth from M the detent lever is formed by the edge or.

edges of the two shroud flanges f f with which the ratchet wheel is provided, and

which form an abutment of relatively fixed location upon which the studs 75, projecting laterally from the end of the lever eX- tension k find a bearing. The normal location of the pivot. h is somewhat inboard of p the axis of the studs its so that the detent tooth k is urged by gravity into engagement with the ratchet wheel, but a weight may be added to the lever, as by casting it upon it, as shown at 72,, to facilitate the action. The fulcrum studs k are also held against their bearing by the same arrangement.

a The pivot support it is shiftably mounted according to-the preferred form of this invention, by being supported on the end of a short link if pivotally hinged from a bracket 9 secured to the'under side of the car body. The pivot'h serves to connect j the power arm of the detent lever with the link and with. the multiplying levers presently described. By swinging the link and power arm outwardly, the detent lever is made to swing on its fulcrum studs it to the 'position shown in dotted lines in Fig.1,

wherein the detent tooth if becomes released from its engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel, thereby releasing the valves supported by the shaft 6. In so doing the fulcrum studs 7L move slightly upwardly on the edges of the shroud flanges, for obvious reasons, and the tooth k is thereby caused to move with the ratchet wheel teeth, while being at the same time withdrawn from them. The ratchet wheel teeth may be somewhat undercut if need be without interfering with this action, and in any case, the withdrawal of the detent tooth is gradually and easily accomplished. The action referred to will be apparent from a consideration of the full and dotted line position of the detent lever shown in Fig. 1. After the release of the ratchet wheel, the pivotal support h is shifted back again to its former position wherein the detent tooth 7L5 rests upon the ratchet wheel teeth and cotiperates therewith as an ordinary pawl with its ratchet wheel. The winding of the chains on the shaft is usually accomplished by an intermittent rotary motion and during the intervals the said lever holds the ratchet against reverse rotation. During this ratchet engagement the fulcrum studs 7L may have engagement with the fulcrum bearing, if desired, but this of course is not necessary.

The lever 7L and its supporting link 7L are related to the ratchet wheel teeth, on the principle of a toggle joint, so that when in position for the ratchet action of the lever, the toggle joint is just beyond the dead center line, and the tendency of the parts is thus to maintain themselves in a locked position under pressure from the wheel.

The operating means by which the pivotal support of the detent lever, that is to say its pivot stud 7a, is shifted, comprise a forked link embracing the said pivot stud 7L and connected by its other end with the short arm of a knee lever formed of parts marked 71 2' which are fulcrumed on a stud 2' suit ably supported in the strap a and gussetsheet 6. The part marked 2' is the operating handle of the knee lever and of the device as a whole and its length, in proportion to the part a forming the short arm is such as to constitute a power multiplying means whereby the power arm of the detent lever may be shifted. In the position of the parts when the said lever has ratchet engagement with the wheel, the handle 2' is in an upright position as shown in the full lines in Fig. 1, and when it is desired to dump the vehicle this handle is pulled down to its dotted line position, thereby rotating the part i to an upright position and shifting the connecting lin k j and pivot stud 71 which latter moves outwardly and upwardly by reason of its support upon the swinging link if. When the handle is in its upright position it may be locked therein by means of a gravity detent is, which is pivoted at k to the gusset-sheet b and provided with a handle 7?.

The part z' forming the crank arm of the knee lever above referred to, is extended outwardly beyond the edge of the gusset.- sheet where it bears a laterally projecting lug 2' of which the face 2' is adapted to engage the edge of the strap when the operating handle 7? is vertical, and the face i is adapted to engage the strap when the handle is in its horizontal position, thereby providing positive stops to limit the movement of the handle from its locked to its released position and thus forestalling the danger of the handles being turned more than a quadrant, which in the arrangement shown might reengage the detent teeth k with the ratchet wheel during its unwinding movement.

I claim:

1. In combination with a hopper car an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door actuating shaft journaled on the body of the car, a ratchet wheel mounted 011 the shaft, a lever-pawl therefor, mounted to receive oscillatory movement from the teeth of the ratchet wheel, a fulcrum bearing for said lever-pawl and means for shifting the pawl about its fulcrum to disengage it from the teeth of the ratchet.

2. In combination with a hopper car an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door actuating shaft, journaled on the body of the car, a ratchet wheel mounted on the shaft and having a part forming a fulcrum abutment, a lever-pawl for engaging the teeth of the ratchet wheel, a pivot on which said lever is hung and means for shifting said pivot to move the pawl into engagement with the abutment and to disengage it from the ratchet teeth.

8. In combination with a hopper car an operating mechanism for the doors of the car, comprising a door operating shaft, journaled on the body of the car, a ratchet wheel, a second class lever movably supported by its power arm and having a detent tooth for engaging the wheel, a fulcrum bearing for said lever and means for swinging the power arm of the lever about the fulcrum bearing to disengage the tooth.

4. In combination with a hopper car, an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door actuating shaft journaled on the car body, a ratchet wheel mounted on the shaft, a lever pivotall-y supported by its power arm and having a detent tooth for engaging the ratchet wheel, the lever and the tooth being urged toward the wheel and being free to oscillate under the action of the ratchet teeth "thereof, a fulcrum bearing for the lever, serving to limit its movement toward gagement with the teeth of the wheel and having its power arm pivotally connected to a pivotally supported link, an abutment for engaging the lever inthe movement of the tooth toward the wheel and serving as a fulcrum bearing for the lever in disengaging the tooth from the wheel.

6. In combination with a hopper car, an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door actuating shaft journaled on the body of the car, a ratchet wheel mounted on said: shaft lever provided with a detent tooth for engagement with the wheel and having its power arm pivotally supported on a pivotally mounted link, the link and lever being adapted to pass the dead center line, when said tooth engages the ratchet wheel, and an abutment for limiting the movement of the lever toward the wheel and serving as a fulcrum bearing for the lever in disengag ing the tooth from the wheel.

'7. In combination with a hopper car, an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door actuatmg shaft journaled on the car, a ratchet wheel mounted on the shaft, a detent lever therefor, pivotally supported by its power arm to have ratchet engagement with the wheel, a fulcrum bearing for the lever and means comprising a set of power multiplying connections, connected to the power arm, to swing it in a direction away from the ratchet wheel about the fulcrum bearing.

8. In combinationewith a hopper car, an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door operating shaft journaled on'the body of the car, a rotary Windlass member mounted on the shaft, a lever fulcrumed against said memher, and having a detent tooth for engagement therewith and means for shifting the lever about its fulcrum to withdraw the tooth from engagement with said member.

9. In combination with a hopper car, an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door actuating shaft, journaled on the body of the car, a shrouded ratchet wheel mounted on the shaft, a detent lever fulcrumed against the shroud of the wheel and having a tooth for ratchet engagement with the teeth of the wheel and means for shifting the lever upon its fulcrum.

10. In combination with a hopper car, an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door actuating shaft journaled on the body of the car, a shrouded ratchet wheel mounted on the shaft, a pivotally hung pawl therefor, having a tooth for engaging the ratchet teeth and a part engaging the shroud of the wheel and forming a fulcrum for the'pawl and means for shifting the pivot of the pawl and thereby swinging the pawl about its fulcrum.

11. In combination with a hopper car, an operating mechanism for the discharge doors of the car, comprising a door actuating shaft, journaled on the body of the car, a ratchet wheel mounted on the shaft, a detent lever therefor, having a tooth for engaging the teeth of the wheel and means for swinging the lever about a shifting fulcrum to withdraw the tooth in the direction of the movement of the ratchet wheel.

12. The combination with a hopper car, of a detent lever pivotally supported to exert its thrust upwardly against the floor of said car, a chain-winding ratchet wheel having ratchet engagement with said lever, and means for shifting the pivotal connection of said lever to shift it out of said ratchet engagement.

13. The combination with a hopper car, of a link pivoted under the inclined floor thereof, a detent lever hung from said link and having ratchet engagement with a chain-winding ratchet-wheel, a fulcrum for said lever and means for shifting saidlink and lever to swing the latter on said fulcrum and out of said ratchet engagement. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to the specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN M. GOODWIN.

.Witnesses:

MAYME SHERER, A. W. DEAVITT.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

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