US1185268A - Theft-preventing car-door. - Google Patents

Description

C. W. WHITE.

THEFT PREVENTING CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 29. 1915.

Patented May 30, 1916 4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

C.- W. WHITE.

THEFT PREVENTING CA'R DOOR. APPLICATION FILED-JULY 29, 1915.

" Patehted May 30, 191

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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' THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH cm, WASHINGTON, D. c

C. W. WHITE.

THEFT PREVENTING CAR DOOR.

APPLlCATlON man JULY 29,1915.

Patented May 30,1916.

SHEETSSHEET 3;

0. w. WHITE. THEFT PREVENTING CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 29 Patented May 30, 1916.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4 g h w CHARLES W. WHITE, OF EAST ST. LOUIS,

ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH T0 JOI-IN FITZGERALD, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, AND ONE-FOURTH TO JOHN W.

WRIGHT, OF EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS.

THEFT-PREVENTING CAB-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 34), rare.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES WV. VVHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of East St. Louis, in the county of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Theft-Preventing Car-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to doors, and particularly to doors for freight cars and the like, such, for instance, as for the wellknown type of boX cars in use on railroads.

In the use of freight cars closed by means of the sliding doors with whichsuch cars are usually equipped, it has been found in practice that, even when said doors are locked and sealed in the customary manner, frequent loss of cargo has occurred through unauthorized persons gaining access to a car through the doorway without breaking lock or seal, one method of such unauthorized access being by means of prying the lower portion of the closed door away from the car-body sufliciently to permit someone of slight build to enter through the gap thus formed and to pass portions of the cargo out of the car through said gap, and,'in the case of a car loaded with grain or the like in bulk, the unauthorized removal of all or part of the cargo through such a gap may very readily be accomplished and has frequently been done. Moreover, in the case of a freight car carrying grain and being closed with sliding doors of ordinary construction, there may be loss of part of the cargo in transit because said doors may be warped out of shape and may therefore, or for any other reason, fail to close tightly over the openings of'the doorways.

The present invention has for its object to provide a closure for box-car doorways or the like whereby said doorways may be effectively closed and locked in a simple manner against unauthorized access therethrough to the contents of said car, and, also, to provide a closure which will effectively close said doorways against'lossby leakage of grain or the like shipped in bulk.

Another object is to provide a closure for a car doorway or the like consisting of a plurality of separable members adapted to be slidably mounted in suitable guides therefor, and adapted, also, when not in use as a .bination and arrangement of parts described closure, to be moved separately or in groups of two or more out of the way to appropriate storage racks adjacent the roof of the car.

Another object is to provide a plurality of separable members slidably mounted in appropriate guides therefor adapted for partially or entirely closing the doorway of a freight car or the like depending upon the number of said members that are slidably adjusted to closing position adjacent said doorway, and, adapted also to serve as loadretaining means, when in said closing position, for cargo, such for instance, as grain in bulk loaded into the car.

Another object is to provide a closure of the character described with which a freight car or the like of ordinary construction may readily be equipped either after the car has been built or while it is being built.

Further this invention consists of the comin this specification and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein like numbers of reference denote like parts wherever they'occur, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a freight car with the two endportions broken away looking at the outside of a side of the body of the 'car at a doorway thereof, showing the closure of the present invention in closing position in said doorway, the sliding door usually provided on freight cars being shown in open position; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of a fragment of a freight car, on a lin substantially midway between the sides of the car, looking against the inside of the closure in closing position in a' doorway, the ordinary sliding door, also, being closed; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view on the line 33,'Fig. 2, on an enlarged scale, showing details of construction of the ends of the closure members and associated parts, a portion intermediate the sides of the doorway having been broken away; Fig. i is a transverse sectional view of the body of a freight ear equipped with closures embodying the present invention, said section being on a line across the car between the sides of two opposite doorways, parts between the tops and bottoms of the a portion of the I doorways having been broken away, said view showing the closure in closing position in one doorway with the ordinary sliding door, also, in closed position, the other doorway being open and the separable sliding members of the closure being moved to stored position. on the storage racks adjacent the roof of the car; Fig. 5 is a side view showing details of construction of the storage racks and parts associated therewith and depicts the manner of removing the racks from association with a car-body; Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view on the line 6-6, Fig. 4, on an enlarged scale, showing details of construction of the rackhanger suspended substantially midway between the two sides of the car-body; Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showing details of construction of a raclnhanger suspended near a doorway, and showing, also, a retaining device removably borne by the racks adjacent said rackhanger -adapted for holding the separable slidable members in stored position on said racks; Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view on the line 88, Fig. 4, on an enlarged scale, showing further details of construction of the hanger and racks shown in Fig. 7, Fig. 8 showing a vertical cross-sectional view of the hanger of Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a sectional view on the line 9-9, Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale, showing details of construction of the separable member adjacent the sill of a door-way with a prying-pocket adjacent the lower edge of said member; Fig. 10 is a sectional view on the line l010, Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale, showing details of construction of a prying pocket borne by each separable member; Fig. 11 is a view in detail diagrammatically illustrating the manner of removing a separable slidable member from its guides, storage rack, and associated parts for the purpose of repair or for any other purpose; Fig. 12 is a fragmentary plan view looking at a longitudinal edge of a separable member; and Fig. 13 is a plan view looking at a side of the fragment of a separable member shown in Fig. 12.

For illustration car-body 1 of the usual box-car type in use on railroads may be provided with two opposite doorways 2 in the sides of thecar-body, and the usual sliding doors 3 may be provided for said doorways. A pair of opposite members 4 may be provided borne adjacent the inside of opposite vertical frames 5 of each doorway 2, said members being adapted to extend upwardly substantially from floor 6 of carbody 1. toward the upper frame or lintel 7 of said doorway for a distance suitable for the purposes of this invention, as hereinafter more particularly described, each of said members 4, as best seen in Fig. 3, being adapted to form a vertical groove 8 and may comprise metal angleplate 9 provided with a forwardly turned flange 10 borne by the edge of one side of said angle-plate, the edge of the other side of said angle-plate bearing a wearplate 11 adapted to lie adjacent the inner side of a door-frame 5 opposits-the flange-bearing side of said angleplate. ear-plate 11 may be substantially wider than the fiange bearing side of said angle-plate and may, also, be of relatively less thickness than said angle-plate, the details of construction and shape of groove 8, angle-plate 9, flange 10, and wear-plate 11, together with their position in association with a door-frame 5 and other parts, being best seen in Fig. 3, wherein posts 12 are shown adjacent the back of angle-plate 9, said posts being adapted to extend substantially from floor to roof of a car-body and may constitute part of the frame of acarbody.

A plurality of separable door members 13 may be provided adapted to extend removably across a doorway 2 and being adapted, also, to be slidably mounted, one above another, in grooves 8 of a pair of members 4, as shown in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, the longitudinal edges of said members being adapted to form closely fitting joints between each separable member and its next adjacent separable members, one form of construction for said edges being shown in the drawings wherein said edges are adapted to form rabbetted joints, as best seen at 14 in Figs. 4, 10, 11, 12, and 13, it being, of course, understood that any other well-known construction of said longitudinal edges may be employed to form an intimate joint, such, for instance, as a groove and tongue joint, a beveled joint, and the like. The lower longitudinal edge of a separable door member 13 adapted to be adjusted adjacent floor 6 may be a substantially straight edge, as shown at 15 in the cross-sectional views in Figs. 4 and 9, which edge is adapted to rest flatly upon sill-plate 16 of a doorway 2, and upwardlyturned flange 17 borne by the rearward edge of said sill-plate may be provided adapted to engage a portion of the rearward side of separable door member 13 adjacent thereto, as best seen in Fig. 4, thus providing means for forming an intimate joint between said edge of said separable member and said sill-plate.

The transverse ends 18 of separable door members 13 may be substantially hookshaped, as best seen in Fig. 3 and as shown, also, in Figs. 12 and 13, said ends being adapted to fit slidably in grooves 8 of members 4, there being suflicient play between adjacent parts of said member 4 and said ends of separable door members 13, as best seen in Fig. 3, to permit said members to slide freely in said grooves without binding. A wear-plate 19, made of metal or any other suitable material, may be provided borne by the portions of said ends 18 adapted to be in slidable engagement with the adjacent wall of the flange-bearing side of angle-plate 9, which wear-plate may, also, extend over the edge along the thickness of said ends, as best seen in Fig. 12.

Each separable door member 13 may be provided with one or more pockets 20 borne by a surface of said separable door members which is turned toward the outside when said members are in closing position across a doorway 2 as illustrated in Fig. 1, said pockets being adapted to provide suitable means for engaging the end of a bar or the like (not shown) with which to apply power to move saidseparable door members upwardly in grooves S'against the pressure of the contents of the car upon the other side of said separable members, or for generally facilitating the work of moving said separable door members upwardly in said grooves by an operator from the track-level or ground, the construction of a form of said pockets being depicted in plan view in Fig. 1 and in vertical cross section in Figs. 4 and 10, wherein a recess 21 formed in said surface of each separable door member 13 is lined with an appropriately shaped metal plate 22, said plate having a portion 23 adapted to extend over upon the surface of said separable door member adjacent said recess, the purpose of said lining 22 and said extension 23 thereof being to protect said recess and the parts of said separable door member adjacent thereto from wear and from being battered or otherwise damaged in using said bar or the like in moving said separable door members in their grooves.

The separable door member 13 adapted to rest upon door-sill-plate 16 adjacent floor 6 may be provided with one or more pockets 24 adapted to receive the end of a crow-bar or the like (not shown), to facilitate prying said separable door member upwardly away from said sillplate and thus, also, moving upwardly such other separable door members 13 as may be superimposed one above the other above said lowest separable door member, a construction of said pockets 24 being shown in plan in Fig. -1 and in vertical cross-section in Fig. 9, wherein a recess 25, which may be triangular in cross section as shown in said Fig. 9, is formed in the outside surface of said separable member adjacent its lower longitudinal edge, said recess being lined with an appropriately shaped metal plate 26 held in place by means of one or more screws 27 or the like. said recess so formed and lined providing a means against which to bear the end of said crow-bar (not shown) to permit'same to be used as a lifting lever fulcrumed against the forward edge of sillplate 16 or the like, said plate 26 being adapted to protect said recess against wear.

A pair of transverse beams 28 may be provided adapted to extend across the interior 'of car-body 1 adjacent roof 29, said beams being appropriately spaced apart for the purpose of this invention and being supported in place by any suitable means. A pair of hangers 30, opposite each other, may be provided suspended from said beams near each doorway 2, said hangers being secured to said beams by any suitable means, such, for instance, as by means of bolts 31 through ap propriate bolt-holes 32. i The depending porwith a pair of lateral projections 33, one above another, having pins 34 borne by their ends, each pin being adapted to support one end of a rack-bar 35 and36, there being two pairs of each of said rack-bars, the other ends of said rack-bars being removably supported in appropriate slots or openings 37 in a pair of hangers 38, said hangers 38 being secured by bolts 39 or the like to cross-beam 28 substantially midway between the two opposite doorways 2, the pair of lower rackbars 35 and the pair of upper rack-bars 36' being adapted to extend from a pair of intermediate hangers 38 to and slightly beyond the pair of hangers 30 to form a set of stor age racks for a set comprising a plurality of separable door members 13 slidably associated with one doorway 2, and another pair of lower rack-bars 35 and another pair of upper rack-bars 36 being adapted to extend from said intermediate hangers 38 to and slightly beyond the other pair of hangers 30 to form a set of storage racks for a set comprising a plurality of separable members 13 slidably associated with the other doorway 2, as best seen in Fig. 4.

The pair of slots or openings 37 borne by each of the pair of intermediate hangers 38 may be formed by looping the depending portion of said hanger upon itself and dividing said loop into two portions by means of a transverse partition 40 secured in place by any suitable means. Pins or the like 41 may be provided borne by hangers 38 within each slot 37, said pins being adapted to serve as stops to limit the inward movement in said slots of the removable ends 42 of each set of said storage racks, as best seen in Fig. 5. The other ends 43 of each set of storage racks may protrude slightly forwardly of their corresponding hangers 30 toward a doorway 2, said ends 43 of the lower pair of rack-bars 35 of each set of racks being adapted to project forwardly beyond said hangers 30 relatively farther than the corresponding ends 43 of the upper pair of rack-bars 36 of that set of racks, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the construction and arrangement of parts being such that tron of each of said hangers may be provlded there will be. a sufiicient gap between said ends 43 ends of the corresponding pair of groove bearing members 4 to permit each separable door member 13 to be moved from said vertical groove-bearing members 4 to horizontal rack- bars 35 and 36, beveled portions 44 of rack-ends'43 being adapted to facilitate said movement of said separable members from the position shown in doorway 2 on the right hand side of Fig. 4 relatively to the storage position shown on the left hand side of intermediate hanger 38 in said Fig. In order to permit any one or all of a set of separable door members 13 to be entirely removed from operative association with the storage racks and a doorway 2 for any purpose, such for instance, as for repair, and to permit same again to be remounted in operative association with said parts without removing one or more rackbars 35 and 36 or without removing one or both of a pair of groove-bearing guides 4, the gap between ends 43 of each of a pair of lower rack-bars 35 and the upper ends of each of a pair of groove-bearing guides 4 is made sutliciently great to provide that each separable door member 13 may be slipped edge-wise in and out of said gap, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 11, wherein the full width of said gap is pointed out by opposite arrow-head 45 to be greater than the thickness of each slidable door member 13, beams 28 having a cut-out portion 46 at their ends to permit said separable door members to be tilted, as shown in said Fig. 11, in the process of removing same through said gap. In order to prevent a slidable door member 13 from slipping out through gap 45 when being moved past said gap guides 4 to the storage rack and the reverse, a removable block 47 or the like may be provided borne by the inward portion of each member 4 acent the upper end there of and removably attached thereto by any suitable means, said block being adapted to partially bridge said gap suiiiciently to narrowthe opening thereof to less than the thickness of a separable door member 13, as clearly shown by the dotted outline of block 47 and a separable door member 13 adjacent thereto in said Fig. 11. Normally block 4. is in place in obstructing position, but when itis desired to open said gap for the purpose of removing or inserting thereto a separable door member 13, said block may be re moved.

Each rack-bar is spaced apart from its companion rack-bar 35. v and each rack-bar is spaced apart from its companion rackbar 36 a suitable distance to provide 'tl at the grooves of hook-shaped ends 18 of each separable door member may slidably engage the upper edges of said companion rack bars, hangers 38 being adapted to prevent of each set of racks and the upper the movement of said separable door members inwardly on said racks beyond said hangers, and the construction of parts adj acent hangers 30' being such that the upper edge of each rack- bar 35, 36 may extend above its adjacent projection 33 to provide that said separable door members may slide freely on said rack-bars over said projections, the vertical space between a lower pair of rack-bars 35 and an upper pair of rackbars 36- associated therewith, and between said upper pair of rackbars and the lower edges of beams 28 being adapted to the thickness of separable door members 13 to he slidable therebetween.

A rack-bar 35 and a rack-bar 36 secured to their hanger 30 may be removed from posi tion in a car-body 1, shown in Fig. 4, by removing bolts 31 from bolt-holes 32 and then withdrawing ends from openings 37 in hanger 38, as illustrated in Fig. 5, thus mak ing convenient the removal of a portion of the storage racks for repairing same or for any other purpose without disturbing other portions of said racks.

A. brace-rod 48 may be provided associated with each hanger 38, said brace-rod having one end secured to said hanger at 49 and having its other end secured to an adjacent carline at 50, as best seen in Fig. 6, by any suitable means, and a brace-rod 51 may be provided associated with each hanger 30, said brace-rod 51 having one end secured to said hanger 30 at 52 and having its other end secured to an adjacent purling or other part of the frame or": car-body 1, as best seen in Fig. 2, by any suitable means, said bracerods being adapted to strengthen and stit ten the structure of the storage racks.

To provide means for locking a plurality of separable door members 13 in closing position in a doorway 2, shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and in the right-hand doorway in Fig. 4, a pin 54 may be provided for each side-frame 5 of said doorway, said pin being adapted to be removably borne in a socket 55, which may be sunk through wear-plate 11 and into each side-f ame 5,said pin having a portion adapted to protrude outwardly from said socket, said portion being adapted to en gage the upper longitudinal edge of the topmost of a plurality of superimposed sepa rable door members in closing position in a doorway 2, thus preventing the upward movement of said separable door members in their grooved guides 4. A form of construction of pin 54 in looking position is shown in detail on the lefthand side of Fig. 3, wherein a shoulder 56 borne by said pin is adapted to limit the depth to which said pin may be inserted into socket and a bent portion 57 of its protruding portion is adapted removably to engage flanged edge 10 of angle-plate 9 to wedge said pin firmly in place in looking position, one end of chain 58 being secured to said bent portion of pin 54 and the other end of said chain being secured to post 12 or any other suitable p0rtion of the frame of car-body 1 to prevent pin 54: from being lost or misplaced when removed from socket, 55 and not in use as a locking device.

A removable guard 59 may be provided adapted to be hooked over an upper rack-bar 36 and extend downwardly to and under the adjacent lower rack-bar 35, said guard being adapted to be so disposed on said rackbars between the rearward edge of each hanger 30 and the hook-shaped ends 18 of separable door members 13 stored in each set of racks, there being two guards 59 provided for each set of storage racks, and for preventing said guards from being lost or misplaced when not in use, each guard may be secured to one end of a chain 60, the other end of said chain being secured to an adjacent post 19. or to any other convenient part of the frame of car-body 1, the purpose of said guards being to prevent the separable door members 13 stored in said storage racks from being shaken or otherwise moved forwardly from stored position past hangers 30 by the rocking of a moving train or the like, a suitable form of said guard being shown in detail in guarding position in Fig. 7. It is, of course, understood that if the construction and location of any carline 61 or a pair of said carlines is suitable for the purposes for which a beam or a pair of beams 28 is provided, said beam or beams may be omitted and the appropriately constructed and located carline or carlines may be substituted therefor, and, it is, of course, also, understood that in constructing a new carbody 1 to be equipped with the closure embodying the present invention, the framing thereof may be so constructed and arranged that members thereof may be used in association with the parts of this closure without adding special beams, such, for instance, as beams 28.

Separable members 13 may be made of wood of suitable thickness to provide the necessary strength for a stout closure, and, in practice, it has been found that the width of a member 13 may be such that when a full set comprising, for example, fourteen members 13, as shown in the drawings, are in place in closing position in a doorway 2 of ordinary construction, an oblong opening will be formed between the topmost member 13 and the top of said doorway, as best seen in Fig. 1, said opening being in the nature of a hand-hole through which locking pins 54: may be reached for inserting same into and removing them from socket 55 to lock and unlock said closure from the outside of the car.

In operation, each doorway 2 having been closed to a suitable height by means of sliding a set of a plurality of separable door members 13 in closing relation to the doorways, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and in the righthand doorway in Fig. 4, and pins 5t having been placed in socket 55 with bent portion 54 in engagement with the adjacent edge of a flange 10, as best seen on the left-hand side of Fig. 3, sliding door 3 may be drawn to closing position in front of said doorway and in front of said separable door members in closed position in said doorway, and seal 62, Fig. 3, may be applied in the usual manner to seal said sliding door in closing position. The doorways are thus securely closed against unauthorized access to the interior of car-body 1, for, even should an intruder pry the lower end of a closed sliding door 3 away from the outside of the car-body, the arrangement of parts is such that there is not space enough between the inside of said sliding door and the outside of said separable door members 13 to permit him to enter therein or to reach upwardly therein to manipulate locking pins 54:, and, locking pins 5 1 being in looking position same will hold separable door members in closed position against the force of a crow-bar applied to pockets 2a or 20. Moreover, the well-known construction of parts associated with the upper end of closed sliding door 3 are such that access may not be had to reach said locking pins to manipulate same from above. Thus it will be seen that doorways 2 are closed by means of the closure of this invention securely, effectively, 1

and simply, without operating cumbersome and complicated mechanism and that the cargo in a car thus closed is safe, en route, against unauthorized access thereto.

The authorized opening of a doorway closed as described is, also, very simple. Seal 62 having been broken and sliding door 3 having been moved to open position, Fig. 1, the operator may stand upon the exposed portion of sill-plate 16 and, reaching inwardly through the opening between the topmost member 13 and the top of the doorway, he may withdraw locking pins 5d from locking position, whereupon said separable door members 13 may be moved successively 1 or in groups from closing position in the doorway to stored position in their appropriate storage racks, as shown on the lefthand side in Fig. 4, so that when all of said separable door members 13 comprising a complete set for a doorway are stored in said racks they will lie in two tiers, as shown in said Fig. 41.

When it is desired to use a doorway 2 without closing same with separable door members 13 of this invention and merely closing said doorway with the ordinary sliding door 3 in the usual manner, said members 13 may be stored out of the way in the storage racks, as shown in said Fig.

4, and guards 59 having been placed in guarding position, as hereinabove described, said stored members will remain in said storage racks and will not be shaken or moved therefrom by the rocking of a moving train or the like.

Should it be desired to use any or all of a set of movable door members 13 associated with a doorway 3 principally as a retaining wall of an adjusted height across said doorway in any case, such, for instance, as in the case of a car-body I loaded with grain in bulk, any desired number of said members 13 may be moved to closing position in said doorway, with or without locking pins 54 in locking position, to form a tight and substantial retaining wall across said doorway.

An advantage of the present invention is that in loading a car equipped with the closure emboying this device, the closure in the doorway may be built up member by member as said loading progresses, and, reversely, when unloading the car, the closure may be removed member by member.

Other advantages of this invention are simplicity of construction, fewness of parts, facility of smooth operation without cumbersome or complicated mechanism, and a construction and' arrangement of parts whereby a car or the like may be equipped with this'invention when said car is being built or afterward without changing the general plan and design thereof, and, also, whereby parts of the device may be dismounted and removed for the purpose of repair and the like without dismounting and removing other parts.

It is, of course, understood that the closure embodying the present invention may, also, be used in association with doorways and the like openings in ware-houses, grain elevators, storage bins, and the like, the specific application thereof in association with car-body l of a railroad freight car described in this specification and shown in the accompanying drawings being only by way of illustration.

Many changes in the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts may be made without departing from the nature and spirit of the present invention.

It will be observed that the groove at each end of the separable door members 13 is positioned a substantial distance from the ends of the members. One of the objects of so positioning the said grooves is that a substantial portion of the ends of the mem bers is confined bodily within the slideway, thus overcoming all tendency of the members to assume a tangent position with respect to the slideway, the groove being held in a substantially parallel position with the flange the grooves being wide enough with respect to the thickness of the flange 10 to allow free vertical movement, but sufficiently relatively narrow to prevent the flange assuming a tangent position therein. whereby the members 13 are free to be slid in said slideways. These grooves cooperate with the storage racks to prevent the members 13 from assuming a tangent position on said racks whereby they may be readily removed from said racks to their operative position in the slideways of the door.

I claim:

1. The combination with a car body having opposite doorway openings of a pair of central hangers having upper and lower sockets formed therein, removable end l1angers located adjacent each of the doorway openings, and a pair of rails secured to each of said end hangers, said rails lying in the same vertical plane and in spaced relation to each other, the inner end of said rails being freely insertible into said upper and lower sockets of the central hanger.

2. The combination with a car body having opposite doorway openings of a pair of central hangers having upper and lower sockets formed therein, removable end hangers located adjacent each of the door av openings, and a pair of rails secured to each of said end hangers, said rails lying in the same vertical plane and in spaced relation to each other, the inner end of said rails being freely insertible into said upper and lower sockets of the central hangers, and the upper of said rails being of wedge shape at its outer end and. terminating short of the outer end of the lower of said rails.

3. A rack of the character described comprising rails lying in spaced relation upon opposite sides of a doorway opening and arranged in pairs, the rails of one pair being located one above the other, hangers for supporting the inner ends of said rails and hangers for supporting the outer ends of said rails, a plurality of separable closure members adapted to be supported upon said rails, and a retaining member arranged to engage said rails between said separable members and the outer of said hangers thereby to prevent the removal of the separable members from said rails said retaining member comprising a hook-like portion adapted to engage over the uppermost of said rails, a body portion spanning the space between the top of the upper rail and the bottom of the lower rail, and a lateral extension which underlies said lower rail.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination with a car body having opposite doorway openings of a closure for said openings comprising a plurality of separable interengaging members vertically grooved across their inner faces adjacent to their ends, angle plates of L-shape in cross section constituting runways in which the ends of said separable members are received and in the grooves of which portions of said runways engage, pins arranged to engage apart of the car body in a position to overlie the uppermost of said separable members, and members carried by said pins and arranged to engage beneath portions of the angle plate thereby to retain said pins in position.

5. The combination with a car body hav ing a doorway opening of vertical runways at the opposite sides of the doorway opening, a closure for the doorway opening comprising a plurality of separable members the ends of which are disposed to move vertically in said runways, said runways comprising portions which overlap the end por tions of said separable members, and a pin having a crank end which engages a portion of the car body above the uppermost of said separable members and the crank end of which is of such length as to engage beneath said overlapping portion of the runway thereby to retain said pin in position.

6. The-combination with a car body having a doorway opening of an outer door for closing said opening and an inner closure comprising a plurality of separable members, vertical runways at the opposite sides of the doorway opening in which the ends of said separable members are slidably mounted, a pin engaging a portion of the car body above the uppermost of said separable members and in position to prevent upward movement of said separable members, and means carried by said pin for engaging a portion of the adjacent runway whereby said pin is held against dislodgement, said separable members being of such number as to terminate short of the top of the doorway opening, whereby an opening is left above the uppermost of said separable members, said pin being accessible through said opening when the outer door is opened and inaccessiblethrough said opening when the outer door is closed.

7 In a closure for the opposite doorways of a freight car and the like, the combination, with an outer sliding door for each of said doorways, of an inner closure for each of said doorways, each of said inner closures comprising a plurality of separable members having grooved end-portions, a pair of vertically-grooved guides borne adjacent opposite sides of each doorway, said members being adapted to be'mounted across said doorway slidably supported in said guides in engagement in the grooves of said end-portions, and overhead storage racks for said members within said car, said racks comprising parallel rails adapted to support said members in slidable engagement in the grooves of said end-portions, said rails being divided transversely substantially intermediate said doorways, a pair of hangers, each hanger being adapted as a common support for removably supporting adj aoent ends of said rails at said division and adapted, also, as a means to limit the inward move ment of said separable members stored in said racks, and two pairs of removable hangers, each pair being adapted to support the other ends of said rails adjacent toia corresponding doorway' In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

CHARLES W. WHITE.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner Patents, Washington, D. G."

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