US1486235A - Device for transferbing railway cars - Google Patents

Description

March 11 19240 11,486,235

H. B. DWIGHT DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING RAILWAY CARS Filed July- 1. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I nvenior March 11 1924.

. H.- B. DWIGHT DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING RAILWAY CARS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invewl-or 3:5 Herbert B. Dwight Filed July 1, 1922 H. B. DWIGHT DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING RAILWAY CARS March 111 1924 Filed July 1. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Mar. 11, 1924.

HERBERT BRISTOL DWIGHT, OF HAIJIILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA.

DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING B-AIINVAY CARS.

Application filed July 1,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT BinsToL DWIGHT, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of Hamilton, in the county of VVentworth, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Transferring Railway Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for transferring railway cars with particular reference to the use of travelling crane equipment applicable to railway terminal yards, and the object of the invention is to increase the speed with which cars may be sorted and trains made up in a railway terminal yard; to increase the capacity for handling cars in a railway terminal of a given size and to prevent the extreme congestion which often occurs when an unusually large number of freight cars are sent to a terminal. Other objects will appear in the course of the following specification.

My invention consists essentially of the application to a railway terminal yard, having the usual series of parallel tracks, of a plurality of travelling cranes some of which are operable lengthwise of the yard and parallel with the tracks, while other of the cranes are operable crosswise of the tracks, the cranes being specially equipped to lift a car bodily off the tracks, remove it to any other desired point in the yard and redeposit it upon any other desired track location, all as hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which;

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a railway terminal yard showing the application of my travelling crane system thereto.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic end elevation of a terminal yard showing the application of my invention thereto.

Fig. 3 is an elevation, partly in section, showing one of my travelling cranes in the position ready to lift a car, a rigid vertical crane arm carried thereby being broken away intermediately of its length and a car grappling arrangement carried by the lower end of this rigid arm being shown in end elevation.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the lower por- 1922. Serial No. 572,191.

tion of a rigid crane arm used in my invention showing, in side elevation, a car grappling frame carried at the lower end thereof. 7

Fig. 5 is a detached side elevation of a built up type of truck frame used on some freight cars, showing the application thereto of a pad used in my invention.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the pad shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a detached view showing a modified form of grappling device.

In the drawings like characters of ref erence indicate corresponding parts in the different views.

1 indicates a series of parallel railway tracks in a terminal yard, 2 being the usual diagonal or ladder track having switch connections with each of the tracks 1.

3 are two overhead crane runways disposed lengthwise of the yard and parallel with the tracks 1.

4; are crane runways disposed crosswise of the yard and at a considerable height above the runways 3.

5 are overhead cranes running on the lengthwise runways 3, and 6 are overhead cranes on the crosswise runways 4.

7 indicate railway cars, 8 being the wheels thereof and 9 the end frames of the trucks.

10 are the main carriages of the cranes 5 which operate, in the usual manner, on tracks 11 mounted upon the cranes 5.

12 is a circular subsidiary carriage rotatably mounted upon a circular track 13 carried by the main carriage 10 and by the crosswise crane 6.

These subsidiary carriages 12 are provided with a centrally located hollow cylindrical sleeve 14 which extends above and below the carriage 12, the lower sleeve extension having a bearing in a central circular orifice in the main carriage 10.

15 is a rack carried by the upper face of each of the carriages 12 and extends around the periphery thereof.

16 is an electric motor mounted upon the main carriage 10 and driving a pinion 17 which meshes with the rack 15.

18 is a rigid crane arm, the upper portion 19 of which is cylindrical and is journalled within the sleeve 14 of the subsidiary carriage 12.

formed on bosses 20 is a vertically disposed rack formed on the exterior of the cylindrical portion 19, and 21 is a pinion rotatably carried by the subsidiary carriage 12 and is driven by a motor 22. I

23 is a horizontal beam carried by the lower end of the rigid crane arm 19.

24 are depending hangers carried on each side of the beam 23.

These hangers are arranged in laterally opposed pairs, the hangers of each pair being connected by a cross member 25.

The hangers carry on their upper ends rollers 26 which engage runways 27 in the beam 24 so that the hangers are movable along the beam.

28 are lifting members hingedly connected at 29 to the lower ends of the hangers 24. These lifting members are provided with upwardly disposed shoulders 30 which engage downwardly disposed shoulders 31 32 carried by the hangers 24.

33 are cables connected at 34 to the lifting members 28 and pass upwardly over rollers 35 journalled in the rigid arm 18 and are connected to drums 36 which drums are rotated by a motor 37 mounted within the rigid arm 18.

There are two rollers 35, one being at each side of the arm 18. The cables 33 from the two lifting members 28 at one side of the beam 23 pass over the roller on the corresponding side of the arm 18. I

Suitable guides are provided on the hangers 24 for guiding the cables 33. These are indicated at 56 (see Figs. 3 and 4) and might be in the form of pulleys, rollers, plain guide brackets or any other suitable device.

38 are downwardly inclined guide plates extending along the outer sides of the rails 1 and slope downwardly towards the rails (see Fig.

39 are downwardlyinclined curved plates similarly disposed along the inner sides of the rails 1.

These guide plates 38 and 39 are rigidly supported in any suitable manner from the road bed, as for instance upon a concrete foundation as indicated diagrammatically by the broken lines at 55 and 56 in Fig. 3.

40 indicates a built up type of end frame used on some freight car trucks in which the through bolts 41 project below the frame. v

42 is a metal pad detachably mounted on the bottom member of the frame 40 by set screws or studs 43. This pad is provided with recesses 44 adapted to accommodate the lower; projecting portions of the bolts 41 and is provided with the flat under surface 45, the purpose of which will appear hereinafter.

Referring to Figure 7 an alternative form of grappling device is shown, which consists of a divided hook having the upper portion 46 and the lower portion 47. The hook is hingedly connected at 48 to the lower end of the hanger 24.

49 is a boss formed on the hanger and engages the upper hook portion 46 and lim-- its the upward rotation thereof.

50 and 51 are opposed engaging shoulders formed on the upper and lower hook portions respectively.

In this construction the cable 33 is secured at 52 to the lower hook portion 47.

53 indicates the rimof one of the car wheels 8, 54 being the web of the wheel. 7

Suitable brakes (not shown) would be provided for all motors used. V

The construction and operation of my invention is as follows:

When it is desired to remove a car from one track location to another within the yard, one of the cranes 5 is brought to its proper position above the car, and the main carriage 10 moved so that it is over the car to be lifted.

The cables 33 are then slackened by means of the motor 37 so that the lifting mem bers 28 hang freely.

The rigid vertical arm 18 is then lowered by means of the motor 22, rack 20 and pinion 21 so that the hangers 24 pass downwardly on each side of the car.

As the arm descends the freely hanging members 28 strike the inclined guide plates 38 and are automatically raised into their correct position to engage under the trucks of the car. When in this position the cables 33 are tightened. Y

The inclined plates 38 thus constitute means for guiding the grappling elements into the correct operative engagement with the running gear as the crane descends.

Upon the raising of the arm 18 the car is bodily lifted off the rails 1 and since the lifting members 28 engage under the trucks it will be evident that the entire car, including all the running gear thereof, is lifted and while in the suspended position no disengagement of any of the running gear is possible.

The car is then transferred to the desired new track location and the arm 18 lowered.

As the car is lowered if it is not positioned exactly centrally above the track the wheels 8 will engage the inclined guide plates 38, and will be automatically guided thereby into their correct position upon the rails.

The plates 39 on the inside of the rails will also assist in properly positioning the car these plates 38 and also the plates 39 form a means of automatically guiding it to its correct position on the rails.

In this way a great saving in time will be effected since it is only necessary for the crane operator to gauge the position of his crane approximately and it is not necessary that time and labor be wasted in coupling up the grappling mechanism.

A feature of my construction is the incorporation of a turntable within the crane and from an examination of Figure 3, "it will be noted that, when the car is suspended, the rigid vertical arm 18 may be rotated by means of the motor 16, pinion 17 and rack 15 so that the car may be turned end for end.

In transfeu'ing cars by the method de scribed it is essential that provision be made for preventing the undue swinging of the suspended car and this is entirely overcome in my invention by the manner in which the vertical arm is connected to the crane.

The sleeve 14. in which the upper end of the crane arm is journalled forms a means of preventing all swinging of the arm and therefore the danger of accidents due to swinging of a suspended car is eliminated.

Ordinarily the lifting members 28 will extend under the flat end surface of the truck frame but in certain types such as that illustrated in Figure there are bolts extending through the frame in which cases it will be advisable to fit a pad such as the pad 42.

The operation of the modified grappling arrangement shown in Fig. 7 will be apparent.

when lowering the crane over a car the cables 38 will be slackened as already described with the previous construction, permitting the divided hooks to hang freely, and at the proper time these hooks will be placed in their operative engagement with the car wheels by hand and upon the tightening of the cables 33 the hooks will securely grip the wheels under the rim 53.

The car is lifted by raising the rigid vertical arm as already described.

he cross cranes 6 must of course be at such a height that a.car can be lifted over the other cars and the crane runways which are parallel to the tracks. In order to permit operation of these crosswise cranes the tracks under the crosswise runways should be kept clear so that there will be space for the lengthwise cranes to deposit cars within the sphere of the crosswise cranes.

These cross cranes would be used in shifting cars from the sphere of one lengthwise crane to another.

7 he cranes 5 and 6 and the main crane carriages 10 would be electrically driven in the ordinary manner and as this forms no part of my invention the details of this drive have not been illustrated or described.

A further feature of my construction is that due to the use of an absolutely rigid crane arm, it will be possible for the cranes to be used as locomotives for simply pushing cars along the tracks and thus the cranes will of themselves be able to completely make up a train without assistance from a locomotive. A crane which lifts by means of cables is not rigid enough to operate quickly and satisfactorily as a locomotive or to stop a car quickly and accurately.

The application of my system to a terminal yard will not in any way interfere with the operation of the ordinary method of switching cars since the tracks are not interfered with. This permits the removal of a car track location without interfering with independent switching operations which may be going on on that track by a locomotive in the ordinary way.

It is to be noted that with my device the car wheels are maintained parallel to the rails while the car is suspended.

From the foregoing it will be evident that I have devised valuable improvements in equipment for transferring railway cars which should greatly increase the capacity of railway terminal yards and greatly expedite the sorting of cars and the making up of trains.

Various modifications may be made in my invention without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims and therefore the forms shown are to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

For instance, while I have illustrated and described a particular car grappling mechanism, various modifications might be made in the exact details. of construction.

Also it might be desirable in certain installations to employ gantry cranes in place of the overhead type above described in which case the construction would necessarily have to be slightly altered to suit this type of crane.

Also it is to be understood that the lifting members 28 might be arranged to limit longitudinal movement of the car due to inertia of the car upon the starting and stopping of the crane.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a device for transferring railway cars the combination with a travelling crane adapted to lift a car bodily off the supporting rails, of car grappling elements carried by the crane and engageable with the running gear of a car to be lifted, inclined guide plates placed parallel with and on the outer sides of the rails, said plates being situated adjacent to and inclined downgear of the car as the car is lowered to be redeposlted upon the rails.

wardly towards the rails and adapted to on gage the grappling elements as the crane is lowered to pick up a car.

2. In a device for transferring railway cars the combination with a travelling crane adapted to lift a car bodily off the supporting rails, of car grappling elements carried by the crane and engageable with the running gear of a car to be lifted, lncllned igulde plates placed parallel with and on the inner sides of the rails, said plates being situated adprcent to and inclined downwardly towards the rails and adapted to engage the running gear of the car as the car is lowered to be redeposited upon the rails.

3. In a device for transferrlng railway cars the conib1nat1on with a travelling crane adapted to lift a car bodily off the supporting rails, of car grappling elements carried by the crane and engageable wlth the running gear of a car to be lifted, 1n-

- clined guide plates placed parallel with and 4. A device for transferring railway cars comprising a crane, a rlgid vertical arm slidably carried in vertical guides on the crane, means for raising and lowering the arm vertically in its guides, means for retating the arm about its vertical axis, and

car grappling means carried at the lower end of the rigid arm, sald grappling means engageable with a fixed portlon of the truck of a car to be lifted.

down in vertical guides, a horizontal beam carried at the lower end of the rigid arm, depending hangers associated with the horizontal. beam, said hangers arranged in a plurality ofrpairs, each pair composed of a hanger at each side of the beam and adapted to lie at opposite sides of a car to be lifted, the pairs being movable longitudinally of the beam, lifting members hingedly carried at the lower ends of the hangers and engageable with the running gear of a car to be lifted, engaging bosses formed on the hangers and lifting members for limiting the upward rotation of said lifting members, means for maintaining the aforesaid bosses in their engaged positions and means for raising and lowering the rigid vertical arm.

HERBERT BRISTOL DWIGHT.

Witnesses:

JOHN J. MAYNARD, NORIEEN Cows,

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