US2305241A - Closure securing means - Google Patents

Description

1942- E. w. DUNCAN 2,305,241

'- CLOSURE SECURING MEANS v I Filed Jan. 16, 1940 2 Shets-Sheef. 1'

E. W. DUNCAN CLOSURE SECURING MEANS Dec. 15, 1942.

' Filed Jan. 16, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Elma/rm Patented Dec. 15, 1942 UNITED STATES E ATE NT OFFICE 2- Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in dump cars of the type having drop bottom doors and pertains particularly to an improved means for controlling the opening or dropping of such doors.

The present invention relates particularly to.

those types of dump cars having drop bottom doors which are used in transporting coal or similar material from a source of supply to a dumping point, and has for its primary object to provide a novel electrically controlled latching means for the doors forming the bottom of such car whereby such doors will be automatically released by the energization of the electrical control mechanism when each of the drop bottom doors of the car comes into a predetermined position, whereby the contents or a portion of the contents of the car will be discharged therefrom as each door is released.

A further and more specific object of the invention is to provide ina car structure having hinged drop bottom doors, a latching element associated with each door to oscillate on an axis extending longitudinally of the car and an electrically energized unit controlling an oscillatable keeper pin which engages the adjacent latch and which,'when the electrical unit is energized, is shifted to release the latch for the opening of the adjacent door under the action of gravity.

A further object of the invention is to provide a control mechanism for drop bottom doors, as above described, which is housed within the car in such manner that it will occupy a minimum of space and will be completely protected 5 against damage from coal or other material thrown or dumped into the car.

The invention will be best understood from. a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawings but may be changed or modified so long as such drop bottom door controlling mechanism em- 55 bodying the present invention an'dlshowing .one' of such doors in open position over the material receiving hopper. 5 Fig. 3 is a partial transverse section taken on the line 33 of Fig. l. 1

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on theline 34 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6- illustrates diagrammatically the electrical control means for one bottom door.

Referring nowmore particularly'to theidraw- I ings, the numeral II generally designates a car of the character commonly employed in coal mines into which the mined coal is thrown to be transported from the mine to a suitable dump or receiver such as is indicated at 2 inFig; 2, such receiver being disposed beneath the track 3 on which the car moves. The car structure shown has the vertical lower side walls' i merging into upwardly and outwardly sloping portions 5, and vertical end walls 6. Axles I extending transversely of the car through the lower portions of the side walls 4 are connected with supporting wheels 8 which run upon .the track 3'.

Extending transversely within the car between the wall portions 4 are the axle'housings 9, each of which has a'horizontal toplwall Ii) and the upper part of such housing is transversely roundedan'd provided with an opening ll which'is covered by a removable cover plate or door I 2, thus dividing each' housing into the upper and lower casings I3 and M, respectively, the lower casing housing the axle as shown in Fig. 4.

At one end of the car structure there extends inwardly and downwardly from the adjacent end wall 6, an apron l5 whileat the opposite end of the car a similar apron I6 is located and connected at its top edge with the adjacent end wall 6, this latter apron having a relatively long vertical inner wall portion I1 and a housing l8 extending upwardly from the sloping top part thereof, as shown in Fig. 2. The lower wall portion !1 of the apron I6 is provided with a downwardly opening recess IQ for the purpose hereinafter stated.

The bottom for the car I is made up in'three sections which are indicated by the numerals 20, 2| and 22, which constitute downwardly opening doors. The door 20 is hingedly supported upon a shaft 23 extending transversely of the 'car'beneath the apron l5 while the doors 2 l andZZ are supported upon similar supporting shafts indicated by the numeral 24 and each disposed within the lower chamber of the housing 9 'of an axle shown in Fig. 4. The doors forming the car bottom when in closed position all lie in a common plane and the free edges of the doors 2!] and 2I abut against the lower edge of one side wall of an axle housing, as shown in Fig. 4, while the free edge of the door 22 abuts against the lower edge of the vertical wall portion I I of the apron I5.

At the free edge of each of the doors there is secured a keeper pin 25 which is in a plane above the top surface of the door and extends beyond the adjacent edge of the door and these keepers on the doors 2!! and 2| enter a recess or notch 26 in the lower edge of the wall of the axle housing which the door abuts when in closed position while the keeper carried by the door 22 enters the recess I9 in the apron wall I'I.

Pivotally supported upon the inner side of the notched side wall of each housing 9 upon the pivot pin 21 and within the casing or chamber I4 .is an oscillatable latch bolt 23. This latch bolt 28 is in the form of a flat plate in which is a keeper receiving recess 29 bordered on one side by a short finger 30 and upon the opposite side by a longer finger 3 I. The edge of the latch bolt plate remote from the recess 29 is provided with the two shoulders 32 and 33.

Pivotally supported on a pin member 34 for oscillation on an axis parallel with the axis of oscillation of the adjacent latch bolt 23 is an elongated detent 35, the lower end of which is cutoff obliquely as indicated at 35, for selective engagement with the shoulders 32, 33 of the adjacent bolt. This detent 35 extends upwardly through a recess 31 in the adjacent horizontal wall II] of the axle housing and at its upper end terminates in the lateral extension 38.

Within the upper chamber I3 of each of the axle housings there is supported upon the wall It a solenoid coil 39 having a relatively long movable armature 40 extended at one end thereinto. Each of the armatures 40 passes through a guide plate M and has its outer end connected with a head 42 which is slidably supported upon the wall I0 and which has a transverse notch 43 in its top surface in which is engaged the lateral extension 38 of the adjacent detent 35. An expansion spring 44 encircles the armature 40 between the plate M and the head 42 and normally urges the head and armature away from the solenoid so as to maintain the detent 35 in the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3.

Housed beneath the apron I5 is an electrically controlled latch structure simliar to the ones enclosed within the axle housings 9, for maintaining the adjacent drop door 22 in raised, closed position. This mechanism includes a pivotally supported latch bolt 45 of the same form as the bolts 28, this bolt having a keeper receiving recess 46 and the upper and lower arms 41 and 48 corresponding respectively with the arms 3| and 30 of the plates 28. The back edge of the bolt plate 45 is formed with the spaced shoulders 49 and 50. This plate 48 is pivotally supported upon the inner side of the wall l1 upon the pivot pin 5| and adjacent this pin is a pivot pin 52 on which is oscillatably supported a detent 53 corresponding with the detent 35.

One end of this bar is adapted for selective engagement with the shoulders 49-50 of the adjacent keeper and the other end of the detent lies beneath the housing I8 in which is disposed the solenoid coil 54 having the movable armature 55 which is pivotally coupled at its lower end at 55 with the adjacent end of the detent 53.

An expansion spring 51 is interposed between the detent 53 and the overlying portion of the apron which shields and encloses this latch mechanism in the end of the car and normally tends to urge the outer end of the detent 53 downwardly so as to maintain the opposite end of the detent in contact with th shoulder 49 when the adjacent door 22 is in closed position.

As will be readily seen from the foregoing, when the doors are in. their closed positions, the keepers 25 will be disposed within the recesses of the adjacent latch bolts, these recesses being horizontally directed as is clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and the adjacent detents will have their ends in engagement with on of the shoulders of the adjacent latch bolt to hold this bolt against turning so'that the keeper within the latch bolt recess will rest upon the lower and shorter arm of the bolt. Upon energization of the latch controlling solenoids, the armatures of the solenoids will bedrawn inwardly and the detents coupled with the armatures will be oscillated to disengage from the upper shoulders of the latch bolts. This; will permit the latch bolts to turn or oscillate so that the recesses thereof will be directed downwardly, this oscillation of the latch bolts being brought about by gravity and the weight imposed upon the shorter lower arms thereof through the medium of the supported keepers. Since the solenoids will only b momentarily energized, it will be apparent that the control springs associated with them will immediately react to force the detents back to their former positions and to force the armatures of the solenoids outwardly and thus the lower shoulders of the latch bolts will come into engagement with the detents and the latch bolts will be prevented from swinging beyond th position where their recesses are downwardly directed. The longer upper arms of the latching bolts will thus be disposed in a position where they will be contacted by the door keepers 25 when the doors are raised to closed position and when this occurs, the latch bolts will be swung back to keeper retaining position and the upper shoulder of each latch bolt will ride across the end of the adjacent detent, shifting it momentarily against the tension of the adjacent control spring until the shoulder is in position where the end of the detent can swing back into position over the shoulder.

As previously stated, cars of the type herein described are designed for use in handling coal or other similar material which is dropped downwardly into a hopper, as shown in Fig. 2, and in order to energize the door latch releasing solenoids at the proper moment to permit the doors to open over the receiver 2, there is provided a circuit closing means which includes a stationary arcuate switch strip 58 arranged in a suitable position at one side of the track 3, as shown in Fig. 2, and electrically connected'with one side of a source of electric potential 58, as shown in Fig. 6; the other side of such source being grounded, as at 53. Coacting with the stationary switch strip or contact 58 are swinging contacts GI supported at one side of the car to slide over the stationary strip 58 as each car door moves into the position over the receiver 2 where it is to be opened and each of these swinging contacts is electrically coupled to the wire 52 with one side of a door latch controlling solenoid, the other side of the solenoid being grounded, as indicated at 53. Thus it will be readily apparent that when the car moves along the track toward the place where the doors are to be released,

the energization of a latch bolt actuating solenoid will occur as each door moves over such place, such as the hopper or receiver 2, through the closing of the control circm't by the engagement of the solenoid switch unit 51 with the fixed or stationary switch strip 58.

While I have described and illustrated a car structure having three drop bottom doors, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to a car having this number of doors as a greater or lesser number of doors may be employed if desired.

What is claimed is:

1. In a lading carrying receptacle of the character set forth having a bottom discharge opening and a door for said opening pivoted to swing on an axis extending transversely of the receptacle, the door carrying a keeper pin extending from an edge thereof; a completely housed latching means for engaging said keeper comprising a housing extending across the interior of the receptacle and having one side wall engaged at one edge by the said edge of the door when the latter is closed, said wall edge having a keeper receiving recess therein, a latch bolt in the form of a flat plate disposed with a flat side against the inner face of said wall adjacent said recess and completely shielded by said wall from contact with material passing through said opening, said latch bolt plate having a peripheral recess coacting with the wall recess to receive said keeper, pivot means for said plate facilitating turning the same to arrange the recesses to open in the same direction or in difierent direc tions, said plate having a peripheral shoulder, a pivoted detent in the housing adapted to engage one end with said shoulder, and an electro-magnetic means enclosed in the housing and operatively coupled with the detent to oscillate the same for engagement with and disengagement from said shoulder.

2. In a lading carrying vehicle having supporting wheels and axles therefor extending transversely thereof together with bottom discharge openings and a door for each opening pivoted to swing on an axis extending transversely of the receptacle, each door carrying a keeper pin extending from an edge thereof; a housing extending transversely of the receptacle over and shielding each axle, each housing having one wall arranged to be engaged at its lower edge by the said edge of a door when the latter is closed, the said housing Wall having a downwardly opening recess to receive the door keeper, a latch bolt in the form of a flat plate disposed against the inner side of said wall adjacent said recess and completely shielded by said housing wall from contact with material passing through the adjacent opening, said keeper plate having a peripheral recess coacting with the wall recess to receive the keeper, pivot means for said plate facilitating turning the same to arrange the recess thereof to open in the same direction as the Wall recess or in a different direction with respect thereto, said plate having a peripheral shoulder, a detent pivotally mounted upon said will within the housing and adapted to engage one end with said shoulder, a solenoid having a reciprocable armature, means for supporting said solenoid within the housing above the latch bolt for horizontal movement of the solenoid, a head carried by said solenoid and slidable on said supporting means, resilient means normally urging movement of the armature and head outwardly. from the solenoid, said head having a slot therein, and said detent having an upper laterally turned portion loosely engaged in said slot.

ED W. DUNCAN.

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