US2565292A - Sectional flooring, decks, and racks - Google Patents

Description

0. F. ARTHUR SECTIONAL FLOORING, DECKS AND RACKS 2 Sheets$heet 1 Filed April 11, 1947 INVENTOR. Oscme FI ARTHUR.

ATTORNEY.

Aug. 21, 1951 O, F, ARTHUR 2,565,292

SECTIONAL. FLOORING, DECKS AND RACKS Filed April 11, 1947 2 SheetsSheet 2 g] wv urn (M 0504/? FT (4277/02 Patented Aug. 21, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE 2,565,292 SECTIONAL FLOORING, DECKS, AND RACKS Oscar F. Arthur, Connellsville, Pa., assignor' to Tri-State Engineering Company, Washington, Pa., a corporation of Maryland Application April 11, 1947'; Serial No. 740,777

4 Claims.

This invention relates to auxiliary flooring or floor racks that are particularly adapted for use in railway refrigerator" cars, and car floors that frequently become wet through condensation of water vapor or from other causes. Heretofore, it has been common practice to use floor racks formed of wood slats nailed to heavy wood sills. The, racks serve to support the car lading out of engagement with the damp floor, and also permit circulation of air within the car body and beneath the goods contained therein. From time to time, the racks will be raised to permit the cleaning of the main floor surfaces.

The floor racks as heretofore employed have not been entirely satisfactory because the wood is subject to deterioration by dampness and absorbs odors. Also, the slatted form of the rack surface is not suitable for travel thereover of hand trucks that are used in loading and unloading the cars. The truck wheels when traveling nearly parallel to the slats sometimes catch on the edges of the slats and are deflected thereby from the direction in which the trucker desires to travel. Also, there is splintering and chipping away of the corners of the slats by the truck wheels.

While I herein show and describe my invention as used more particularly as auxiliary flooring for railway cars, it is useful also for various other purposes, as in slaughter houses, factories, to provide drainage for slops, for ventilation, and to serve as a non-slip surface. Also, for sidewalk gratings, temporary walks, as shelves, etc.

My invention has for its object the provision of a floor rack or auxiliary flooring of such form that it can conveniently be formed of light weight metal parts and which will still have adequate strength for its purpose, will also permit of better circulation of air than the wooden racks, and upon which trucks of either the hand-lift or powered type can be moved more freely than in the case of racks of the wood-slat type.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a schematic plan view showing the arrangement of floor racks in a car body; Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view through a car body showing one of the floor racks of Fig. 1 raised to inoperative position; Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of one of the floor racks; Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional plan view of one of the floor racks of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal edge view of the structure of Fig. 5, and Fig. 6 is an end view thereof.

Only so much of a car body I5 is shown as is necessary to an understanding of my invention.

In the present instance, a refrigerator car is indicated having the usual icing or refrigerating compartments [6. The usual floor ll of the car body has placed thereon my auxiliary flooring or floor racks [8 arranged in two rows as shown in Fig. l and each of which is connected to the adjacent side wall of the'car by a pair of hinges l9 that are shown more clearly in Figs. 4 and 5', so that the panels or racks can beswung. to vertical positions against the car sides to permit cleaning of the car floor or when it is desired to place the lading directly on the car floor l1. Swivel hooks 20 may be provided for releasably holding the floor panels IS in their raised positions. By reason of the tread surface structure of the racks to be hereinafter explained, wheeled trucks can be moved along the racks [8 to place goods in the car and to remove the goods from the car, the car being provided with the usual side doors at 22.

Each floor rack panel l8 has a tread surface that may suitably be in the form of a sheet of expanded metal 24 (Fig. 4) that has been rolled to flatten the same, to eliminate the usual sharp corners and edges found on newly manufactured expanded metal. The deck or tread surface sheets 24 are welded to a deck sheet support of 0 gauge longitudinal wires 25 and transverse wires 26 that are welded together. The underframing or base for the deck sheet 24 may suitably also be made mainly of 0 gauge wires or rods and comprises pairs of floor rods 21 that are bent upwardly at their ends 28 and welded to the decksupporting wires.

Groups of U-shaped legs 29 are welded at their mid portions to the top surfaces of the floor rods 21 and at their upper ends to certain of the wires 25 and wires 25a, these groups of legs being dlstributed at appropriate intervals throughout the undersurface of the deck. Tie rods 3| are welded to the floor rods 21 and extend the full width of the panel. Similarly, tie rods 32 extend crosswise of the panel and are welded to the undersides of wires 25 and reinforcing wires 25a (Figs. 3 and 6). To give greater floor-bearing area, and to further stiffen and brace the legs 29, sheet metal plates 33 (Fig. 2) are welded to the tops of the floor rods 27, but are deflected to the lower plane thereof as shown more clearly in Fig. 2, so that they will rest upon the car floor ll.

Sheet metal strips 34 are welded to the edges of the expanded metal sheets 24, so as to eliminate ragged ends of expanded metal and to facilitate movement of truck wheels on to the expanded metal sheet.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a floor rack having a reticulated metal deck sheet that serves as a tread surface, a deck sheet support of welded wire mesh form upon which the deck sheet is mounted, rod-like leg elements for supporting the deck sheet support, floor-engaging bars secured to the lower ends of the leg elements, and tie members disposed transversely of the bars and secured thereto, the reticulated sheet being of expanded metal and the deck sheet support being in the form of wires welded in relatively-crossed relation to form rectangular openings that are of greater width than the openings through the tread surface.

2. In a floor rack for railway cars, a reticulated deck sheet, a deck sheet support of wires welded together in crossed relation, leg members in the form of rods bent to approximately U- shape and having their upper ends welded to the deck sheet support, floor rods welded to the lower ends of the legs and extending perpendicularly to the planes thereof, and tie members welded to the floor rods and extending transversely thereof.

3. In a floor rack for railway cars, a reticulated deck sheet, a deck sheet support of wires welded together in crossed relation, leg members of rodlike form Welded at their upper ends to the deck sheet support, tie rods welded, some to the under surface of the deck and some to the legs, floor rods welded to the lower ends of the legs, and tie 4 members welded to the floor rods and extending transversely thereof.

4. In a floor rack for railway cars, a reticulated deck sheet, a deck sheet support of wires welded together in crossed relation, leg members of rodlike form welded at their upper ends to the deck sheet support, tie rods, some welded to the under surface of the deck and some to the legs, floor rods welded to the lower ends of the legs, and floor engaging strips of sheet metal extending transversely of the fioor rods and welded thereto, the major portion of each strip occupying the same plane as the floor rods.

OSCAR F. ARTHUR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 451,682 Hicks May 5, 1891 680,943 Sharp Aug. 20, 1901 993,798 Schuster May 30, 1911 1,017,028 VVilhelmi Feb. 13, 1912 1,370,362 Redding Mar, 1, 1921 2,214,547 Bonsall Sept. 10, 1940 2,278,354 Johnston Mar. 31, 1942 2,291,472 Johnston July 28, 1942

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