US1085196A

US1085196A - Running-board for cars.

Info

Publication number: US1085196A
Application number: US73033312A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ira Shannon Downing
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1912-11-09
Filing date: 1912-11-09
Publication date: 1914-01-27
Anticipated expiration: 1931-01-27

Description

I. S. DOWNING.

RUNNING BOARD FOR (JARS.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 9, 1912.

1,085,1 96, Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

WITNESSES: 2 I VENTOR.

W I BY m//W b Q M M A T ORNEY tive view of a portion of the footing plate or at the top of the car, showing the saddle in IRA SHANNON DOWNING, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO.

RUNNING-BOARD FOR CARS.

Specification of Letterslatent.

Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

' Application filed November 9. 1912. Serial No. 780,383.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRA S. DOWNING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Running Boards for Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to running boards for the tops of freight cars and the like, and has for its primary objects; the provision of a running board presenting an antislipping surface of a superior character; the provision of a running board which will normally keep itself free of ice and snow; and the provision of a running board which will require little attention or repair, which can be cheaply constructed, and which has little tendency to cause deterioration in the roof beneath it. Certain embodiments of the invention are" illustrated in the accompanying drawing, w'herein I Figure 1 is a perspective view of a freight car with my improved running board applied thereto; Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspecsheet employed; Fig. 3 is a plan View of one of the saddles employed; Fig. 4 is a section side elevation; Fig. 5 is a section on the line VV of Fig. 4 Fig. 6 is a section through a modified form of saddle, and Fig. 7 is a section through the saddle-employed where two sections of the running board are joined together end to-end.

Referring to the drawings, l is the car body; 2 is the car roof; 3 is one of the roof carlines (Fig. 4) to which the running board is secured as hereinafter explained; 4 is the footing plate or sheet of the running board;

- sagging.

5 and 6 are metal side strips to which the edges of the plate 4 are secured; and 7 a're saddles lying beneath the plate 4 andsecured at their ends to the side strips 5 and'6.

The footing plate 4 is of expanded metal, and preferably has its

edges

8 and 9 turned down and left solid as indicated in Fig. 2. The sheets 4 are preferably used in lengths of about tenfeet, and the

solid edges

8 and 9 permit of a more secure attachment to the side strips 5 and 6 than would be the case if the sheet were expanded clear to its edges. The attachment between the

downturned edges

8 and 9 and the side strips 5 and 6 is preferably secured by means of rivets. The expanded metal gives a very desirable footing, as expanded metal is so twisted in its formation as to present a network of relatively sharp corners, thus giving a first class antislipping surface. Furthermore the slight amount of give incident to expanded metal serves to make the footing more Secure, thus differentiating from the ordinary metal footingssuch as gratings and the like, wherein the hard and yielding quality of the metal tends to cause unsteadiness and slipping, particularly in wet weather.

Spaced apart about twenty inches are the transverse saddles 7 shown in detail in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, such saddles being formed on their lower sides to fit the top of the car, and upon their upper sides engage and support the sheets 4. These saddles are preferably malleable castings of the cross section indicated in Fig. 5, the upper flange of the saddle being secured to the expanded metal sheet 4 by means of the bolts 10', and the end flanges (Fig. 4) being secured to the side strips 5 and 6 by means of the bolts 11. The I central portion of the saddle is recessed as indicated at 12, and in this recess fits the head of the securing bolt 13, such securing bolt extending down through the carline 3 as indicated in Fig. 4. Any other suitable fastening means might obviously be substituted in place of the securing means 10, 11, and 13. It will be seen that by securing the

side edges

8 and 9. of the expanded metal sheet 4 to the strips 5 and 6, and by securing the sheet to the saddles by means of the bolts 10, each rectangular section of expanded metal bounded by the strips and the saddles is maintained against sagging, so that a lighter grade of sheet metal may be employed than if the metal had to depend upon \its own stifi'ness'to prevent it from As indicated in Fig. 4, the lower edges of the side strips 5 and 6 lie above the top of the car roof 2, thus providing a space to permit the passage of any water or snow which otherwise might 'collect beneath the expanded metal footing. 4. This arrangement not only prevents the filling up of the space beneath the sheet 4 with snow, and the consequent spoiling of the footing when this becomes a solid mass, but also tends to prevent deterioration in the roof beneath the running board due to the holding of moisture. V

In Fi 6 is illustrated another form of saddle 7 such saddle in this instance being made in the form of 'a channel. This channel is secured at its ends to the side strips 5 and 6 by means of bolts as in the other type of saddle, but issecured to the footing sheet 4 in a difi'erent manner. The saddle is provided with a plurality of upstanding lugs 14 adapted to project through the spaces in the footing, and these projections are subsequently bent over so as to clamp the sheet 4 to the saddle.

- Fig. 7 illustrates the construction em'- ployed where one section of the running board is secured to another, the number of sections necessary in order to form thecomplete running board depending of course upon the length of the car. The means employed for connecting the two sections is a malleable casting 15 in the form of an inverted Y. The end edges of the footing sheets 4 are turned down as indicated in Fig. 6 and held in place by means of the angles 16 clamped in position by means of the bolts 17.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use,'what I-claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following.

1. In combination in a running board for cars, a pair of metal side strips, a plurality of metal saddles fitting the top of the car and secured at their ends to the side strips, and a metal sheet having its edges turned downward and solidand secured to the side strips, and its middle portion expanded to fdrm an antislipping footing.

2. In combination in a running board for cars, a pair of metal side strips, a plurality of metal saddles fitting the top of the car and secured at their ends to.'the side strips, a metal sheet having its edges turned downward and solid and secured to the side strips, and its middle portion expanded to form an antislipping footing, said saddles lying beneath and secured to the metal sheet and having their ends secured to the side strips.

3. In combination in a running boardfor cars, a footing sheet of expanded metal, a plurality of metal saddles spaced along the footing 'sheet and extending transversely 7 thereof, and a pair of metal side strips secured to the edges of the footing sheet and to the edges of the saddles, and having their lower edges lying above the lower edges of the saddles at the ends thereof whereby a space is provided between the top of the car on which the running board is used and the "lower edges ofthe side strips.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in'the presence of the two subscribed witnesses. J

IRA SHANNCN DOWNING.

Witnesses C. G. WALKER, W. K. DICKERSON.