US1084729A - Car-door-operating mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

G. C. CHERBONNIER. GAR DOOR OPERATING MEGHANISM.l APPLICATION FILED JULY 5, 1913.

A1,084,729. Patented Ja,11.2o,1914

UNTTED STATES PATENT oFFicE.

GEORGE C. CHERBONNIER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN CAB. AND FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CAR-DOOR-OPElRATING MECHANISM.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

Original application led October 9, 1911, Serial No. 653,758. Divided and this application filed July 5, 1913. Serial No. 777,489.

To all whom it may concern. v

Bc it known that I, Gnonon C. CHnBBoN- Ninn, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful ImprovementV in Car Door Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a full,V

clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a car provided with my improved door operating mechanism. Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the door and its operating mechanism. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken through the bottom portion of one side of a car and showing a drop door equipped with my improved operating mechanism. Fig.' 4 is a perspective view of one of the gravity latches and a portion of the housing to which the latch is pivotally connected. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified construction wherein the gravity latches are connected by a rail or bar.

'My invention relates generally to new and useful improvements in dumping cars, and more particularly to the means for holding the drop doors' of the car closed.

The construction herein shown and described is an improvement on the construction disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 905,123, granted to me January 18, 1908, and the prese'nt application is a division of my copending application filed October 9, 1911, Serial Number 653,7 58. In both the patent and application just referred to, the drop door of the car is equipped on its free edge with one or more latching members, which, as the door is drawn into its closed position by a chain or like flexible connection operating on the winding shaft, engage against said winding shaft and move inward to pass the same, after which said latching devices are pulled outward under the infiuence of the winding chain or cable so as to engage on top of the winding shaft to hold the door in its closed position.

In my present construction, the latching members carried by the free edge of the door are,"by the force of gravity, caused to swing outward after passing the winding shaft so as to enga e on top of the latter to hold the door close By my improved construction, the winding chain or cable is connected directly to the free edge of the door instead of to the latching devices, and thus said devices are free to move independently of the winding chain or cable.

The particular objects of my resent invention are to generally simplifry and improve the constructions shown in the patent and application above mentioned, and to arrange simple gravity latches on the free edges of drop doors of dumping cars so that said latches will automatically seat themselves upon the winding shaft and hold the doors in their closed posiinons.

To the above purposes, y invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings, 10 designates one of the center sills of the car under-frame, 11 the floor sheet, 12 the side sill and 13 the side wall of the car. The fioor sheet is provided with openings through which the contents of the car is adapted to discharge, said openings being normally closed by doors, such as 14. Each door preferably comprises a sheet 'metal plate reinforced and stilfened in any suitable manner and hinged to the car underframe, preferably the center sill, in any suitable manner;r The outer free edge of each door is normally positioned beneath the inner edge of the side sill 12, as shown in Fig. 3.

Arranged beneath the side sill 12 and 0perating in the usual manner is a winding shaft 15, to which is connected one end of a winding chain or cable 16, the opposite end being attached to a suitable bracket 17. the same being fixed to and depending from the free edge of the door. Fixed to the free edge of the door and preferably at points near its ends are bracket lugs or housings 18 which constitute pivotal supports for the gravity latches 19, Each of these gravity latches comprises a short body portion 20 which is preferably hollow and provided with a smooth outer face 21 which normally occupies an inclined osition.

Formed integral wlth, andl projecting inwardly and downwardly from the -lower corner of the body 20, is a plate 24, and

-found desirable to unite the two latches of each door with a bar, as shown in I `ig..5, for the purpose of adding sufiicient weight' to the latching members to insure their operation by gravityfand Where such con- 'struction employed, the latching members swing together and operate as one piece.

As the winding shaft 15 1s operated to wind the chain 1G thereon, the door 14 will he swung upward so that its free' ndge is brought into engagement with the side sill '12 and just prior to the time the door reaches its full closed position, the` inclined faces 2l of the gravity latches will' strike against the winding shaft, and as the door continues to move, said gravity latches Will swing inward until they pass the Winding shaft'. and immediately thereafter, said latches` will, by gravity, swing outward until thc curved bearing surfaces 26 rest on top of the Winding shaft. Yhen the latches arc properly seated upon the winding shaft, the door will be held in its closed position and the weight of the load upon the door acting through the gravity latches onto the ywinding shaft causes said latches to perform the function of toggle links, and thus the weight of the load is utilized in maintaining said gravity latches upon their seats. n

Yl`o open the door, it is only necessary to rotate the shaft 1'5 in a direction to unwind the chain and the surface of said winding shaft bears upon the curved bearing surfaces QG of the gravity latches and through friction said gravity latches are swung inward until they are free of said Winding shaft.

Gravitylatches of my improved construction are very simple, can be cheaply manui'actured'and 'automatically seat themselves to hold the door in closed position. `It will be readily understood that minor .gp'nges in the size, form and construction the various parts of my improved door operatingr mechanism can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit nl' my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A door operating mechanism compris- The lowerends or un-v ing a door, a winding shaft for raising the -door to its closed position, and a door locking member'operating Wholly by gravity tor engaging said shaft and supporting the door in its closed position. A

2. A door operating mechanism comprising a door, a windingshaft and connections for raising the' door to'its closed position, and a plurality of independently movable devices for cooperating with the shaft; to support the door in its closedA position.

In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, of a winding shaft and connections for raising the door to its closed position, and a plurality of gravity operated door supporting devices adapted to coperate with the .winding shaft when the door is in its closed4 position.

4. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, of a Winding shaft and connections between the door and shaft for raising the door to its closed position,

and a plurality of door supporting devices adapted to coperate with the shaft to support the door in its closed position, which devices operate wholly by gravity while moving into position to engage the winding shaft.

5. Ina door operating mechanism,- the combination with a door, of a winding shaft, a flexible connection between said shaft and the door. and a gravity actuated device for supporting the door in its closed position, said device having a curved bearing surface adapted to engage upon the winding shaft.

G. In a door operating mechanism, t-he combination of a door, a winding shaft, and a gravity actuated device pivoted to the free edge of the door for coperating with the winding shaft when the door is in its closed position, the lower end of which gravity actuated device is curved and adapted to' bear upon the winding shaft.

7. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a hinged door, of a winding shaft, latches carried by the free edge of the door and actuated by gravity while moving into position to engage the winding shaft and lock the door in its closed position, which latches are swung inwardly by engagement with the winding shaft during the closing movement of the door.

8. In a door operating mechanism, the combination With a door, of a Winding shaft and vconnections for raising the door to its closed position, a latch pivotally mounted on the door adjacent the edge' thereof, which latch is adapted to swing inwardly by engagement With the winding shaft when the door is closed and to swing outwardly by gravity when past the winding shaft, and said gravity latch ,being provided at its lower end with a curved surface which is adapted to engage the winding shaft when the door is closed.

9. In a door operating mechanism, the combination of a door, a Winding shaft, a gravity device carried by the door for engaging the winding shaft to lock the door in its closed position, and which device engages against the winding shaft and moves inwardly to pass said Winding shaft during the closing movement ot' the door, and then swings outwardly by tgravity for engaging the winding shaft to lock the door.

10. In a door operating mechanism the. combination with a door, of door operating mechanism,l and a gravity actuated door latehing member pivotally connected to the free edge of the door and adapted to engage with a art of the door operating means to hold said door closed.

1l. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, of a pair of housings fixed on the iree edge of the door, and door latches having ,their upper ends seated in and pivotally connected to said housings, which door latches swing by gravity into a position to lock the door in closed position.

l?4 In a. door operating mechanism of the class described, the combination with a door, of gravity locking devices therefor, and housings, parts of which extend over the upper ends ot said gravity locking devices, which housings are tixed to the door.

13. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, of means for raising said door, and a pivotallyr mounted latch arranged on the underside of said door and provided with a curved bearing face that rests on a support when the door is closed, which pivotally mounted latch is swung outwardly by the force ot gravity after the edge of the door passes the support so that the curved bearing face of said latch engages the support to hold the door in locked position.

14. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, ot a winding shaft. a flexible connection between the door and shaft, and a device pivotally connected to the door for engaging the winding shaft to lock the door in its closed position, which device is provided with a curved bearing face for engaging the Winding shaft, and which device swings outwardly by gravity after passing above the Winding shaft to engage thereon and hold the door in locked position.

15. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a hinged door, of means for raising said door, and a latch pivotally mounted on said door and adapted to swing by gravity into a position for engaging a portion of the door raising means to lock 'said door in its closed position.

16. In a door operating mechanism.y the combination with a door. of means including a Winding shaft for moving the door to its closed position, and a latch pivotally mounted on the door and adapted to swing by gravity into position to engage the Winding shaft of the door operating mechanism to hold the door in closed position, which latch is provided with a curved winding shaft engaging tace.

17. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door, ot a winding shaft. a flexible connection between the shaft and door, and a pair of independently operating door latch devices pi vota ily mounted on the i'ree edge of 'the door and adapted to swing under the torce of gravity into position to engage the winding shaft to hohl the door in closed position, which gravity latches are provided, with curved shaft engaging faces.

In testimony hereof I hereunto atiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 28th day ot rme, 1913.

GEORGE C. CHERBOXNlElii.

vitnesws' (')swn 'i'lminmnm HARRY I5. Pinon.

Copies ot this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ai Patents, Washington, D. C.

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