US1402995A - Car door mechanism - Google Patents

Description

H. T. ANDERSON.

CAR DOOR MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED uaczr. 1920.

Patented Jan. 10, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR 6 51a,;

H. T. ANDERSON.

CAR DOOR MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED DEC-27, 1-920.

Patented Jan. 110, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

H. T. ANDERSON.

CAR DOOR MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED 050.27.1920.

Patented Jan. 10, 1922..

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

FIG. 6

INVENTQR warren tartar HARRY T. ANDERSON, OF BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 STANDARD STEEL GAR COMPANY, OEPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA.

Application filed December 97, 1920. Serial No. 433,302.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY T. ANDERSON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Butler, in the county of Butler and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Car Door Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to doors for hopperbottom railway cars.

One object of my invention is to provide a car door which shall be capable of adapting itself to the door opening, whether the door and the opening are in their normal relation or otherwise.

Another object of my invention is to provideimproved means for operating car doors whereby the door, after being closed, shall be kept shut by the weight of the load in the car and shall be provided with an op crating lever having a flexible connection of adjustablelength between the lever and the door. I

Railway cars having hopper bottoms closed by swinging doors with rigid hin s fulcrumed to the body of the car, are requently improperly hinged, causing openings around the door, and allowing part of the load to escape. In order to prevent this, I mount the door loosely on a support so that the door has a certain amount of independent movement which permits it to adapt itself to varying angles of the door opening.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. lis a transverse vertical sectional view through a .portion of a car provided with door mechanism constructed in accordance'with 'my invention, the section being taken on the line 1.'1, Fig. 2; Fig.2 is a side view of one-half of the same car, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section on the. line 2 2,

' Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding to Fig. 1 and showing the d tails of the door; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a modified form of hinge construction; Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view showing my invention applied to a standard form of hopper car; and Fig. 6 is a side view taken from the right of Fig. 5.

The car shown in the drawing comprises a center sill 2, side .sills 3, sides 4 and converging bottom plates 5,.these parts being'of ordinary construction. At the bottom of the hopper formed by the side plates 5 are open- Speciflcation of Letters Patent.

CAB DOOR MECH ings 6, the car being provided with four of these openings, each of which is closed by means of a door,.the construction of which forms the subject of my invention. Around each of the openings 6 on the under side of the car isriveted a downwardly and inwardly tapering plate 7 which forms an extension of the opening 6 and fits within a closure member or door 8 that is pressed from sheet material in the form of a pan' having upwardly and outwardly flaring sides 9 which conform to the shape of the extension 7. The door 8 is provided with a longitudinal stifiening and bearing rib 10 and is pivotally attached by means of ears 11 to two supporting arms 12. Bolts 13 extend through openings in the cars 11 and through corresponding openings in the supports 12,

as shown in Fig. 2.

The supports 12 are hinged at 15 to links 16 which are supported by hooks 17 secured to the underside of the car bottom, and the supports 12 are secured together to form a rigid frame by means of a plate 18 which is riveted to the free ends of the supports 12. Each of the supports 12 consists of an inverted channel bar formed of pressed metal and having its end closed as shown at 19, Fig. 2, with a portion 20 of one of its sides adjacent to the ends 19 cut off at 21, Fig. 1,

and bent flush with the end 19 to form a bearing of substantial length for the plate 18, which is secured to the ends of the supports 12 by means of rivets 22.

A clevis 23 is bolted to the plate 18 midway between its ends and one end of an operating chain 24 is attached to this clevis. The chain 24 passes over a roller 25 carried in a stirrup 26 secured to the underside of the car bottom and then passes over a sheave 27 carried by an operating lever 28, and from the sheave 27 to an eye-bolt 29 which is carried by a bracket 30 and is adjustable in this bracket by means of a nut 31 and a lock nut 32. One of the angle bars 33 forming the frame of the car bottom happens to extend near the upper run of the chain 24 and is bent up as shown at '34 so as to provide proper clearance for the chain. The lever 28 is pivoted at 35 to a bracket 36 that is riveted to the underside of the car and the outer end of'this lever is received between parallel brackets 37 and is held against having a T'-shaped end 39, openings being formed in the brackets 37 to permit the pin 38 to be inserted and withdrawn.

The hinge construction described above has the advantage that the door when opened swings past the vertical line into the position shown in dotted lines on Fig. 1, so that little or no material will be retained in the pan 8 when the door is opened. When this feature is not required the modified form of hinge attachment shown in Fig. 4 may be employed. As shown in the latter figure the supports 12, instead of being hinged to the links 16, are bent upwardly as shown at and are provided with eyes which are hinged at 41 directly to the under side of the car bottom. I

In the operation of the door mechanism described above, the door is moved from the dotted-line open position shown in Fig. 1 to the full line closed position by raising the lever-28 from its dotted-line positon to ts full line position. The pull thus applied to the chain 21 raises the frame formed by the supports 12 and the bar 18, and forces the closure member 8 against the tapering extension 7. The main object is to provide an equalized door that will close regardless of binding of hinges. If the door is improperly hinged, or if for any other reason the door does not correctly meet the door opening, the closure member 8 will adapt itself to the shape of the extension 7 by turning on its pivot pins 13, the tapering shape of the sides 9 and of the extension 7 insuring that the door will be in engagement all around the opening. When the lever 28 is raised to its full-line position for closing the door, the line of pull upon the chain 24 crosses the pivot 35 of the operating lever and therefore the weight of the door and the pressure of the load in the car tends to force the lever up. The door is thus kept closed by its own wei ht and the weight of the load until the ever 28 is again lowered. The function of the pin 38 is merely to insure that the lever 28 will not be dislodged by the jolting of the car.

- Various adjustments may be provided for insuring that the door will be tightly closed by an upward movement of the lever 28. As shown, this adjustment is effected by changing the position of the eye-bolt 29 in the bracket 30. The sheave 27 may also be made adjustable on the lever 28 if desired and will have the same effect as the adjustment of the eye-bolt 29 in changing the effective length of the chain 24.

Figs. 5 and 6 show the application of my equalized door construction to a standard form of hopper car. A portion of the car body is shown at 45 with the usual hopper 46 and a door 47 which is suitably ressed from sheet metal with a downturne flange 48 and with a rib 49. The door 47 is atdoors on opposite sides of the car body.

Suitable operating mechanism is attached to the center of the bar 55 and, consists, as shown, of a link '56, a pivoted bolt on one end of which extends through a sleeve 57 carried by the bar 55, while the opposite end of the link 56 is attached through in termediate link 58 and crank 59 to an operating shaft 60, this construction forming the well known Simonton type of door-operating mechanism. This mechanism forms no part of my present invention and is therefore not described in further detail.

When the door 48 is brought into the closed position shown in Fig. 5 it tilts around the bolts 53, if necessary, so as to bring the door tightly against the door opening, its operation in this respect being similar to that described above in connection with Figs. .1 to 4.

- Various changes in the form and construction of parts may be made without departing from my invention and I therefore desire that no. limitations be imposed upon my invention unless indicated in 'the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A car door movable on hinges toward. and from the door openlngand capable of.

movement independent of its hinges for adapting itself to the said door openin 2. A car door movable bodily on hlnges toward and from the door opening and capable of pivotal movement independent of its hinges for adapting itself to contortions of the door opening.

3. Car door mechanism comprising a support and a closure member carried by the said support, hinge members attached to the car body, links pivotally attached to said hinge members and to said support, and

capable of pivotal movement on the said support independently of the movement of the said support and the said links to adapt itself to the shape of the door opening.

4. Car door mechanism comprising a supporting frame composed of .arms adapted to be hinged to the bottom of a car and having their free ends connected, a closure member pivotally mounted in the said frame-and engaging the said frame only through, its pivots. and means for raisingand lowering the said frame.

5. Car door mechanism comprising a pivotally movable supporting frame, a closure member pivotall supported in the said frame and provi ed on all sides with flaring side portions and an extension rigidly secured entirely around the door opening adapted to fit within the said flaring side portions of the closure member.

6. Car door mechanism comprising a pivotally movable frame, 'a closure member secured on the said frame, a chain having its ends attached to the said frame and to the car bottom respectively, and an operating lever pivoted to the bottom of the car and carrying a sheave engaging the said chain.

7. A car door comprising an 'extenslon rigidly secured entirely around the door said frame comprising a plurality of parallel channel arms, a plate engaging the ends of said channel arms and pivot pins extending through the said channelarms for supporting the said closurecmember.

9. A car door comprising a closure mem I ber and a swinging frame for pivotally supporting the said closure member, the said frame comprising a plurality of parallel channel arms, means for pivotally attaching the said arms-to the car body, and a plate connecting the free ends of the said channel arms, each of the said channel arms having its free end closed and having a portion of one of its-sides adjacent to its closed end cut away and bent flush with the said closed end, thereby forming a bearing of substantial length for the said plate.

- 10. A car door comprising a closure member and a swinging frame for pivotally supporting the said closure member, the said frame comprising a plurality of parallel channel arms, means for pivotally attaching the said arms to the car body, and a plate connecting the free ends of the said channel arms, each of the said channel arms having its free end closed and having a portion of one of its sides adjacent to its closed end cut away and bent flush with the said closed end, thereby forming a bearing of substantial length for the sald plate, ears depending from the bottom of the said closure member and embracing the said channel arms, and- )ANDERSON have hereunto set my hand.

HARRY T. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. WILL,,,/ HENRY How.

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