US2036931A - Grain door - Google Patents

Description

Patented Apr. 7, 1936 PATENT OFFICE GRAIN DOOR Henry William Ethell, Erinview, Manitoba, Canada Application August 8,

l Claim.

The invention relates to improvements in grain doors and an object of the invention is, to produce a door for railroad freight cars which is simple in construction, will permit the loading of the cars with grain, such as wheat, oats,

barley, etc., can be quickly opened at the terminal for dumping purposes and when not in use, conveniently stored under the roof of the car, readily accessible for further use.

A further object of the invention is, to construct the operating parts of the door as a permanent part of the freight car and such, that the door may be erected into place without requiring special tools.

A further object of the invention is, to construct the door in tiers of sections, the said sections having their upper and lower edges cut in complementary abutments, forming, when in use, a grain tight wall to prevent see-page and permitting, due to the sectional construction, the stacking of the sections in a minimum of space when stored.

A further object of the invention is, to provide the car with door guides and a lock and the lower section with connections such, that by the use of a crane or other lifting force, the door can be bodily lifted, either for a short distance and held by the lock for dumping purposes, or carried up to the storage position.

A still further object of the invention is, to loosely mount the sections on the door guides to permit them to turn at the upper corner when moving along the guides,'and to construct the guides at a slight angle so that the said clearance is taken up on the bottom section, forcing it tight to the door posts, while the weight of the grain is utilized to maintain the upper sections in a similar grain tight engagement.

With the above important objects in view which will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists essentially, in the arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter, more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary, vertical, longitudinal section taken through a freight car and looking at the inner side of the grain door.

Fig. 2 is a vertical, cross sectional| view taken at 2 2, Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, horizontal section taken at 3 3, Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective View of an end of one of the door sections showing the shape of the 1934, Serial No. 738,970

upper and lower edges and one of the guiding U bars.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the lower part of the door showing the hook connections for lifting it up.

In the drawings, like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several gures.

A freight car is generally indicated by the numeral I and comprises a floor 2 and sides 3. The upper ends of the sides are fastened to a sill 4 which carries crossbeams 5 supporting the roof Ei. The usual doorways 'i are provided on either side with door posts 3 and 9 extending between the floor and the sill. f

On the sides of the door posts remote from thedoorway, I fasten as by bolts IE), a pair of angle irons I I and I2 which extend up the sides of the posts and then curve inward under the sill and terminate in a horizontal plane a short distance within the car proper. It will here be noticed, that the angle irons at the floor level are slightly in from the inner edge of the door posts and that they extend upward at a slight slant until they are flush with the edge before starting to curve.

A pair of channel irons I 3 and I4 extend across the car at the doorways and are supported centrally from the crossbeams 5 by bolts I5. These channels are positioned between the ends of the angle irons Il and l2 on either doorway and are aligned therebetween, although they do not touch each other. The central part of the channels are provided with projecting webs I3 fastened to the base part of the channel irons and extending outward therefrom to a point level with the two opposing flanges. This divides the area between the anges into two compartments I4 and I5. These webs extend from the ends of the channels and terminate a short distance from the bolts I5, leaving a Vertical passage IB for a purpose later described.

A grain door IE is received against the inner sides of the door posts and comprises a plurality of sections I'I extending slightly more than the full width of the door posts and carried one on top of the other. The upper part of each section presents a lengthwise extending tongue I 8 on the outer edge and on the inner edge, from the bottom of the tongue, a downwardly sloping face I9. The lower part of the section is cornplementary to the upper part (with the exception of the bottoni section) so that all the sections receive each other and present a grain tight abutment on their inner faces.

At either end. of each section, I provide a U shaped bar 2U fastened through the base of the U to the section by rivets 2|. The ends of the U bar are bent around the end of the section and pass over to the angle irons II and I2 and are then hooked over the flanges thereof. By this arrangement, all the sections are maintained in their proper places in respect to each otherl and the angle irons form a guide for their vertical movements. It will also be noticed that as the angle irons are placed on the sides of the door posts, they are out of the way when the car is used for other merchandise.

On the bottom of the lower section and adjacent the ends thereof, I locate a pair of U shaped straps 22 and 23, which straddlethe bottom of the section and are fastened thereto by bolts 24 passing through the section. Hooks 25 are pivotally connected to the ends of the bolts 24 at their outer extremities.

When the freight car reaches the terminal and it is desired to empty the car, a chain is connected across the hooks 25. A 'crane or other source of lifting power is attached to the chain and the door can be bodily lifted, the U shaped hooks 20 sliding along the angle irons II and I2. As the door is lifted, the hooks click past a pair of lock bars 26 pivoted on the dooi` posts and riding against the iianges of the angle irons. When the bottom Asection has cleared the lock bars, the lifting'force is released and the lock bars support the door in an elevated position, the majority of the grain in the meantime having run out through the opening below the door. The car is then tipped over on its side and the balance of the grain is removed.

If it is desired to store the door, the operator may re-connect the crane and lift the sections or he may do the workmanually, lifting each section, one at a time, the sections passing around the curved, upper ends of the angle irons II and I2 and are then received between the upper flanges of the channel irons I3 and Ill and the webs I3'. The sections are then slid along the compartments I4 toward the centre of the car and all the rst sections are passed down the vertical passages IIB where they are stored in a horizontal position in the lower compartments I5 while the latter sections are stored in a similar position in the upper `compartments I4. 'I'he arrangement is shown to advantage at 21 in Fig. 2.

In reference to the moving of the sections along the angle irons II and I2 to the storage position, it will be noticed, that due to the slope of the angle irons, the connections between the sections and thefangleirons is very loose the farther up the sections are lifted and due to this construction, the angle irons not only avoid the sill at the upper corner, but the loose play afforded, permit the sections to pass freely around the curve without binding.

From a consideration of Fig. 2, it will be observed that the sections in the lower compartments I5 cannot escape at the ends of the channels due to an upstanding bolt 28 carried at the ends or the lower anges of the channel irons. 'I'he U shaped bars 26 on the sections in the upper compartments I4 are slightly below the position they should occupy to become re-attached to the angle irons II and I2 and accordingly, the jolting of the car over the rails will not cause them to slide down the irons. On the other hand, the space below the angle irons to the web E3 is too small to permit them to pass underneath and accordingly, they are maintained in their stored position. When the door is to be re-erected however, the operator will bring each section to a position in front of the ends of the angle irons II and I2, lift each section to re-hook the U bars to the vsaid angle .irons and they can then be slid down into the doorway, the lock bars of course being released.

While I have shown the sections made from lumber, it will be appreciated that pressed metal or other suitable material could be substituted.

What I claim as my invention is:

In combination with a railroad freight car having opposing doorways with side door posts, a grain door construction therefore comprising vertical angle guides secured to the faces of :2.

the door posts remote from the door ways and positioned at a slight outward sloping angle theredown, a grain door adapted to be received against the car interior faces of the door posts comprising a multiplicity of individual sections stacked one above the other in grain tight abutments and each of said sections provided at either end, on the car interior side with U shaped straps, said straps, bent around the ends of the sections and hooked over the fianges of the adjacent guides for vertical sliding movement of the sections thereon and such that the receding lower portion of the guides, through the straps, will hold the lower door sections in a grain tight engagement with the interior faces of the door posts while the upper advancing portions of the guides, through the said strips, will loosely retain the upper door sections in position to be pressed into similar grain tight engagement with the door posts by the weight of loading grain.

HENRY WILLIAM ETHELL.

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