US2000164A - House car - Google Patents

Description

May 7, 1935. F. DlTcHFlELD 2,000,164

HOUSE CAR Filed May 12, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F. DITCHFIELD May 7, 1935.

HOUSE CAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May l2, 1933 Patented May 7, 193s HOUSE CAR -Frank Ditchfield, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, of one-half to The Youngstown Steel Door Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio, and one-half to Pressed Steel Car Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of New Jersey l Application May 12, 1933,` Serial No. 670,725

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in house car.

The railroads of the United States today own many thousands of wood sheathed box cars of the type commonly known as the U. S. R. 'A. double sheathed box car. Cars of this type, as well known to those skilled in the art, comprise a metal underframe including channel side sills; wood posts and braces; outer wood sheathing; inner wood lining; wood side plates; sheet metal ends; and a roof structure including inside metal carlines. The construction of these cars is such that the inside width is approximately 8' 6", the wood posts being disposed so that their inner vertical faces are approximately in line with the outer surfaces of the webs of the inturned channel sidesills. Because of the woodside wall structure, the side walls of these cars perform no substantial load carrying function, the load being carried almost entirely by the underframe.

The superstructures of many of said wood double sheathed box cars is so badly deteriorated as to render the cars unt for further service in their present condition and the remainder of said cars are rapidly approaching the same condition. 'Ilhe underframes of most of said cars, however, being of metal are still serviceable as are also the metal carlines and the usual metal ends. Asis also well known, there is a constant demand for replacement of wood box cars by metal sheathed cars and, at the Apresent time, the American Railway Association is giving serious consideration to the adoption of a standard all steel box car in which the inside width between linings is approximately three inches greater than that of many of the existing wood sheathed box cars in order to lbetter meet present day requirements.

Confronted with these conditions, the rail"- roads are faced with the diiiicult problem of determining whether or not to try and -keep in repair thev present wood sheathed cars with attendant heavy and frequently recurring repair bills or to provide steel sheathed cars that will more .satisfactorily meet present requirements of service. Obviously, it is to the' advantage of the owners of the wood double sheathed box cars to reclaim or salvage as much of the same as can safely and economically be reused rather than to build entire new cars and, further, it is to their great advantage in converting them to steel sheathed cars, to utilize the steel sides of, the cars as load-carrying members in theform of girders to thereby relieve the under- (Cl. 10S-409) frame between bolsters of as much of the loadcarrying function as possible and, when deemed desirable, to increase the effective inside width of the car to meet the prospective requirements of the American Railway Association.

One object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a metal sheathed box car or other type of house car that may readily'be converted from a wood sheathed car and wherein all of the original metal underframe, metal ends and metal carlines may be retained and reused to thereby minimize the cost of conversion in obtaining an all metal car without decrease of inside width and with provision for increasing such width 15 whenever this is deemed desirable.

Another object of the invention is to provide a metal lsheathed car of the character indicated in the preceding paragraph wherein the arrangement is such that the metal sides of the car are made to function as true load-carrying 20 in wood sheathed cars and at the same time pro- 25 long the life of the car.

Another object of the invention is to provide an all steel or metal sheathed house car wherein not only is the metal side wall sheathing so united to a metal side plate and side sill as to provide a girder load-carrying structure, but also to provide such means of connection between the metal side wall sheathing andthe side sill that the sheathing may be located at any desired distance outwardly of the plane of the side sill to Athereby eliminate any necessity of relocating the side sills in the case of a conversion from a wood sheathed car and, in the case of new cars, to minimize the lengths of the cross members of the underframe and consequently the amount of materialvrequired therefor in providing a car of any given over-all inside Width.

Other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from the description and claims hereinafter following.

In the drawings forming a part of this specication, Figure lz is a' side elevational view from the end to approximately the middle of the usual side door opening of a house car showing the improvements incorporated therein, parts being broken out to better accommodate the figure on the sheet. Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View, upon an enlarged scale, corresponding to the sectionv lin'e 2-2 of Figure 1, parts also being broken out to better accommodate the view on the sheet. Figures 3, 4 and 5 are detailed, horizontal sectional views corresponding to the section lines 3 3, 4-4 and4 5-5 respectively of Figure 1. Figure 6 is a view similar to the lower portion of Figure 2, illustrating a somewhat different embodiment of the invention. vAnd Figure 7 is a view similar to the top portion of .Flgure ,2 illustrating a modication .in the side plate arrangement.

In said drawings, there has been illustrated only approximately one half of the side of a house car but as will be understood by those skilled in the art, the remainder of the side of the car will be similar and the -two sides of the car will be alike, it being deemed necessary to illustrate and describe only what corresponds approximately to one quarterV of the car. 4 In the drawings, one of the metal side sills of the car is indicated at I0, the same being of well known channel cross section withthe web extending vertically'and the ilanges extending inwardly toward the center sill.l Each side sill, ascustomary, will be secured to the ends of the usual end sill, bolsters and intermediate cross members, one only of the latter being indicated at'II in Figure 1. As customary, the house car is provided with a central door opening on each side of the car, as indicated at I2, and with sheet metal ends or end walls, one of which is indicated at I3the latter having its side edges ilanged backwardly so as to extend toward the door openings, as indicated at I4, to thus rigidify the end wall at thev corners of the car and also provide means for attaching the sheet metal sheathing as hereinafter described. 4One of the wood corner posts is indicated at I5 and the wood lining for'the end wall at I6. A portion of one of the metal carlines is indicated at I1. All ofthe parts so far described are the same as employed in the U. S. R. A. standard double sheathed box car and, when such a car is converted to an all steel car in accordance with the present invention, may be reused without change or modication, thus saving so much expense to the present owners of such cars. It will, of course, also be understood that the parts hereinbefore described may constitute parts of an entirely new car when the inventionl is utilized in new cars.

Continuing the description of the present in vention, a metal side platey I8'will be employed, the same being of Z-cross section in the form shown in Figure 2 and of w-cross section, as shown at II8 in Figure 7. The Z side plate is disposed with its web horizontally, its inner flange I9 extended vertically and its outer flange 23 depending vertically. Preferably, a metal roof will be employed as shown at 2I, the eaves of the panels thereof being extended outwardly and riveted to one ange of an eaves angle 22, which in turn is riveted to the upstanding ange I9 of the side plateand to the ends of the carlines I1, as shown. At the ends of the car, suitable gusset plates 23 will preferably be employed riveted to the side plate and the side flange o f the sheet metal end.

'I'he side posts of the door opening preferably each comprises a metal Z-sectioned post 24 so disposed that the web thereof is parallel to the side wall of the car and with one flange extended outwardly to provide the usual door abutment and the other flange extended inwardly. Each post 24 is secured at its upper end to the web of the side plate by riveted angle clips 25-25. AAt its bottom, each post 24 is extended down below the oor line so as to overlap the web of the side sul, as indicated at m, and is there rigidly secured to the side sill by an inner pair of riveted angle clips 26--26 and a larger angle 2 1. The usual wood door post filler is indicated at .28 and an inside nailing strip for the usual wood lining 29 .is indicated at 30.

Intermediate side posts, preferablyl of Z-cross section as indicated at 3l, are employed, the same being arranged with their webs perpendicular to the side wall, as best shown in Figure 4. Each of said posts 3I is secured or anchored at its upper end to the side plate by other riveted angle clips 'S2-42 and are anchored at their bottom ends in the manner'hereinafter described. It will be noted that the side posts including the door posts 24 are all disposed in a vertical plane outwardly of the vertical plane defined by the web of the side sill.

The outer side wall sheathing is comprised of a plurality of sheet metal, preferably steel, panels 33-33, withvvertically lapped joints at each side pt 3I, as indicated at 34. The sheathing, along its upper edge, is extended on the inner side of the depending flange 20 of the side plate and rigidlysecured thereto by a horizontal series of rivets 35. At the vertical edge adjacent the door opening, the sheathing is lapped over the web of the door post 24 and secured to the latter by a vertical series of rivets 36. At each'side post 3l, the panels are overlapped, as best shown in Figure 4, and there secured to the outer flange of the post by a the offset portion 39, respectively. The three lapped plies 42, 39 and I4 are secured by a vertically extending series of rivets 43 and the lapped reinforcing plate andmain section of the, sheathing are similarly secured by a vertically extending series of rivets 44.

Thelower edge of the metal sheathing is preferably terminated a slight distance above the top ilange of the side sill and, due to the location of the posts as hereinbefore set forth, it is obvious that the plane of the sheathing is outwardly offset from the .plane of the web of the side sill a distance slightly exceeding the width of the side wall posts employed, as clearly shown in Figure 2. To unite the side sheathing to the sill in such manner as to utilize the side wall of the car as a load-carrying girder, a special member is employed as indicated at 50 best in Figure 2. In the form of the invention illustrated in Figures l to 5, each of said members 50 will extend from a door post to the corresponding adjacent corner or end wall of the car. Each said member 50 is preferablyof steel and of Z-cross section, with the web 5I thereof disposed horizontally and flush with the upper flange of the side sill, the inner flange 52 extending downwardly and riveted to the web of the side sill and the outer flange 53 extended upwardly beneath the sheathing to overlap the latter and riveted thereto by a. horizontally extending series of rivets 54. Each of the intermediate side posts 3| is also secured or anchored at its lower end to the corresponding member. 50 and the side sill preferably by a flat rectangular plate 55 extending over both the web of the member 50 and the upper flange of the side sill and riveted to both and by a pai-r of riveted angle clips 56-56. In the construction best shown in Figure 2, each side post 3| is preferably inwardly offset at its lower end, as indicated at |3I, to compensate for the Vthickness of the flange 53.

With the construction described, it will be seen that a rugged, rigid connectionis eiected between the sheathing at the top with the side plate and also at r`the bottom with the side sill and between the sheathing and the several metal posts and side flange of the metal end, thus utilizingy the sheathing as the web of an all metal girder and the side plate and side sill as chords, whereby the side walls of the car function as load-carrying members to relieve the underframe of such function between bolsters and utilizing the center sill of the underframe for its primary purpose of transmitting pulling and bufng shocks.

At suitable intervals, preferably in line with the cross members of the underframe such as that shown at in Figure 1, additional bracing castings 51 may be employed, the same being of generally angular cross section suitably reinforced by ribs and riveted to the web of the side sill and web section^5| of the member 50. Also, to provide for nailing strips for the lining '29, angle clips 58-58 may be riveted to the inner side of the sheathing and to which the nailing strips 59 are secured by bolts 60. The fiooring-Sl of the car, in the form shown in Figure 2, is extended so as to rest on both the upper angev of the side sill and the web section of the member 50, and associated therewith is the usual grain shedding cleat 62.

Referring to the modified form shown in Figure 6, the arrangement is approximately the same as that previously described, except that all of the intermediate side posts 23|, as well as the door posts, are extended downwardly below the licor level and so as to overlie 4the side sill Y, ||0 and to which the posts are directly riveted, as indicated at 63, and additionally secured by plates and angles 64-85. In this form, the connecting member between the lower edge ofthe sheathing and the side sill will comprise a series of members |50, each extending between a pair of posts, said members being preferably of the same Z-cross section as the member 50 and secured to the sheathing'and sill in the same nner.

l the ooring above the rails, which may be desired by the railroads. In such case, additional In the Figure 6 form, it will be noted that the members |50 -have their web sections disposed ina plane* slightly e1e-"' vatedabove the top flange of the side sill, this t being done to allow of the use of thinner ooring |6| without, however, changing the level .of

In the drawings and preceding description,

particular reference has been made to an embodiment of the invention involving a converted double sheathed wood box car wherein are reused the side sill, carlines and sheet metal ends. In such cases, it is obvious that the wood sheathed car wherein the sides perform no appreciable load-carrying function becomes converted not only to an all metal sheathed car, but one wherein the sides function as load-carrying members, an important advantage as will be understood by those skilled in the art. Further, in such a converted car, it will be seen that no relocation of the side sills is required and that the inside width of the car is maintained while still providing the rigid connection between the sheathing and side sills. In the drawings, the arrangement disclosed is that of a car having substantially the same inside width as the wood sheathed car from which converted, but, as will be readily apparent, the inside width may be increasedl to any reasonable desired amount merely by making the web section 5| of the lower attaching means, wider than as shown in the drawings, the posts and sheathing being correspondingly outwardly offset, it being understood that proper compensation will likewise be made in the side plate arrangement. Hence in converting a car as described, increased side width may be obtained Without any appreciable diierence in expense whenever this is deemed desirable. Furthermore, when the improvements are incorporated in a new car, it willl be evident that the side sills thereof may be located as indicated in the drawings, that is, with relatively short cross members of the underframe while still obtaining any desired inside or outside widthA of the car and hence permitting of a saving of the material requiredv for the cross members of the underframe in such new cars and at the same time retaining the side girder formation notwithstanding that the metal sheathing is disposed in a plane outwardly of the plane of the side sills.

Although the preferred manner of carrying out the invention has herein been shown and described, the same is intended only by way of illustration, since it is evident that various changes and modifications may be 'made without departing from the spirit of the invention and all such changes and modifications are contemplated that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1; A house car` having a side door opening comprising: an underframe including a metal side sill; a side plate; metal door and interme- 'diate side posts disposed outwardly of the plane of the side sill and having their lower ends extended jdownwardly below the top of the side sill and secured to the latter; means for securing the upper ends of said posts to the side plate; sheet metal sheathing between each door post and corner of the car secured along its upper edge tothe side plate and to the outer sides of saidy posts, the lower edge of said sheathing having a vertically disposed side ilange extending from the end of the car toward the door opening; outer side wall metal sheathing having the main portion thereof disposed in a vertical plane laterally oiiset from the vertical plane of said end wall side flange;4 and means connecting the verticall corner end portion of the sheathing to said end wall ange, said means including a laterally oil'set marginal portion of the metal sheathing lapping said nange and a vertically extending reinforcing plate having laterally offset sections, one of-said sections lapping the main portion of the metal sheathing and the other section lapping the oii'set marginal portion of the sheathing, a vertical series of rivets securing said overlapped section and main portion and. another vertical series of rivets securing the side iiange o'set marginal portion and lapping section.

3. A house car including: a channel side sill; sheet metal sheathing disposed in a plane outwardly of the side sill; metallic means of substantially Z-cross section having the web thereof disposed horizontally, the outer ange riveted to the lower edge of the sheathing and the inner 4flange riveted to the side sill, the web being disposed above the top of the side sill and providing a support ior flooring in vertically spaced relation to the top of the side sill; and a plate extending'along and secured to the top of the side sill and having an upwardlyoiset section for additionally supporting the flooring in spaced relation to the side sill.

. FRANK DITCHFIELD.

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