US2580897A

US2580897A - Car door locking mechanism

Info

Publication number: US2580897A
Application number: US752761A
Authority: US
Inventors: George B Dorey
Original assignee: Enterprise Railway Equipment Co
Current assignee: Enterprise Railway Equipment Co
Priority date: 1947-06-05
Filing date: 1947-06-05
Publication date: 1952-01-01
Anticipated expiration: 1969-01-01

Description

Jan. 1, 1952 G. B. DOREY CAR DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM 2 SHEETS--SHEET 1 Filed June 5, 1947 Jan. 1, 1952 DOR-EY 2,580,897

' CAR DOOR-LOCKING MECHANISM F iled June 5, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 W W: 70E

Patented Jan. 1, 1952 new!" OFF-ICE CAR DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM George B. .Dorcy, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application June 5, 1947, Serial No. 752,761

My invention relates to an improved car door locking mechanism for use in connection with the doors of railway hopper cars and the like.

A particular object of my invention is to provide amechanism suitable for use in connection with vertically swinging doors employed in hopper cars and is especially adapted for use in connection with so called unit doors which are swung to closed position manually and thereafter latched in closed position.

One of the particular objects of my invention is to provide a mechanism with the weight thereof so distributed .in relation to the door structure that the weight of the parts will only be lifted a limited vertical distance in the course of the door closing operation.

My invention further resides in certain details of construction and arrangements of parts such as will be more fully pointed out hereinafter and claimed.

For further comprehension of my invention, reference may be had to the accompanying-drawings wherein: Fig. 1 indicates a transverse sectional view of a portion of a so called W type of hopper car, showing in elevation, with the door in open position my improvements in connection therewith. Fig. .2 is a side elevational view of that portion of the car shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan seetional view taken through the door and on a line corresponding substantially to a line 3-3 of Fig. .1. Fig. 4 is a fractional sectional view on an en- Jargedsca'le through one of the crank strait supporting brackets, showing a portion of the pranksha-ftin threading relation with the bracket, said section being taken on a .line corresponding substantially to a line 4-4 of .1. Fig. 5 is a side elevational view on an enlarged scale or that portion of the car illustrated in Fig. 1, said view illustrating the door in closed position. fig. 5

is a side elevational detached view of the outer keeper. Fig. 7 is a frontal elevational view of theouter keeper shown .in Fig.6 as viewed from right to left. Fig. 8 is a side elevational detached .view of the inner keeper. Fig. 9 is a frontal e1 rational view of the inner keeper shown in Fig.

8 .as viewed :from ri ht to left.

In said drawings, 10 denotes-one of the beams of the centersill and 1] one :of the side walls of thecar. customary in the type of car shown, the-hoppers are disposed on each side of the centersill and extend between the side wall and contersill of the car in transversely alined relation. Each .of said hoppers is :defined by a rsloping floor .wall 1.2, a substantially vertical inner wall -13.

1 Claim. (Cl. 105.308)

and an outside hopper wall I4, the latter sloping inwardly and downwardly towards the longitudinal center of the car. r Y I The hopper adjacent the opening is reinforced by a frame which extends around the side walls and bottom :fioor wall of the hopper, said frame is preferablyof angle shape with one flange l6 overlying the hopper walls and having the adjacent flange I1 outstanding from the said overlying wall. Said frame adjacent the upper part of the hopper is provided with a top member :18

, having hinge butts i9 associatedtherewith. The

said frame and edge portions of thehopper walls combine to define the boundaries of adi'scharge opening which is adapted to be closed hy a discharge door 20.

Said door 20 is provided with hinge straps .2l

whereby the door is pivotally :supported from hinge but-ts 19 by means of binge pivots 22 and the door is thus mounted to swing freely in .a substantially vertical position when open as in dicated in Fig. 2. Said door is preferably formed of sheet metal and is flanged upwardly at 2.3 at its marginal edges to provide a pan :shapedstructure which is adapted to embrace the overlying flange of the frame when the door is in closed lnforcing member to stifien the door. Said embossment is in the form of a pan with the :bottom wall 25 extending in the general direction of the door and spaced from the seating'smiace M of 'thedoor and the sides of said pan shaped structure being indicated at 25,21, 28 and 29. In

its preferred form the embossment is made suili- Iciently large to take in as much of the door area as possible in order to attain large cubical carrying capacity. The disposition of the major portion of the weight of the door below t level O the marginal abuttin portions of the door is of advantage in the raising of the door to closed position. It will be noted by reference to Fig. 5 that the door when in closed position lies at an angle to the vertical and that the main "portion of the door as represented by the pan shape portion lies in a more pe t-pendicular plane than the abutting marginal portion .24 and consequently the raising operation of the door is a comparatively easy matter.

The door is adapted to be kicked or swung to closed position manually and is retained in closed position by door locking mechanism which includes a crankshaft 30 carried by the door and co-operating keeper means carried by the hopper as indicated at'3l on the inner side of the hopper and at32 on the outer side of the hopper. Said crankshaft 30 includes a main body portion 33 lying outwardly of the embossment and is pivotally mounted in brackets indicated at 34 and V 35 respectively, said brackets in turn being mounted on the embossment. r I

The crankshaft at each end thereof and are spaced therefrom a sufficient distance to accommodate the upwardly extending door flange and the adj acentar'm 36.

outwardly of the supporting brackets is provided with a crank portion including an arm 36 and an outstanding projection 31 in the form of a trunnion. The said arms 36 straddle the door and the weighted portion of the arms and associated trunnions 3T operate to maintainthe arms in normal latching position so that the mechanism will always be in readiness to function in the manner of an automatically engageable latch as the door is moved to closed position. The

shaft supporting brackets 34 and are mounted at the respective ends of the embossment and are each formed with oppositely directed

open bearings

38 and 39 spaced'lengthwlse ofthe shaft to provide an elongated aperture 40 disposed between said respective bearings and through which the bent portions 4|. of the crankshaft may be *threaded as indicated in Fig. 4. The function of bearing 38 is to prevent outward movement of the shaft and the function of bearing 39 is to provide a rigid bearing support for the shaft beyond the limits of the embossment. Each said :bracket-includes angularly related walls as in- Idicated at 42 and 43 respectively for. attachment to the

respective walls

25 and 26 of ment by means of rivets 44; H e

The outer bracket34, which is located adjacent the sloping wall of the hopper, is provided with an end wall 45, said wall 45 being disposed in a planethe embosssubstantially normal to the'pivotal axis of shaft 30; said wall 45 is adapted to act as a guide for .the adjacent arm-36 of the crankshaft throughout its entire range ofswinging movement and also operates to limit inward longitudinal move- :ment of the shaft. Outward longitudinal movement of the shaft is prevented by a strap plate 46 which is spaced from the wall 45 a sufficient distance to accommodate the associated arm 35 between said respective walls. The plate 46 is secured to wall 45 by means of rivets 41.

The plate 46 is maintained in spaced relation with respect to wall 45 by means of ferrules 48 :and-49, said ferrule 48 in addition to its function as a spacer also operating as a stop to limit downward movement of the related arm 36. The

ferrule 49 is located at theupper portion of the strap and forms apivotal support for a locking dog 56, said dog being adaptedto be swung into locking engagement with the crankshaft arm to thereby lock the m'echanism in operative Iatch ing position. The said dog 50 is pivotally mounted at a location so related to the undersideof the door as to permit the placement of the said dog gagement with the trunnionportions 31 of the The body portion 54 of the inner keeper 3! is disposed in a plane normal to the axis of the v shaft 30 and is formed with a secondary supporting shoulder 55 lying outwardly of and beyond the main supporting shoulders 5|, said secondary shoulder being for the purpose of supporting the door in partially closed position. Said secondary shoulder 55 i's connected with the main supportingshoulder 50 by a wall 56 extending at an incline between said main and secondary shoulders. Beyond the secondary shoulder 55 the body portion 54 is provided with a forwardly projecting extension presenting an edge surface 51 constituting a downwardly inclined runway leading from the tip of said shoulder 55 and adapted to engage the trunnion portion 31 of the shaft as the'door is moved to'closed position.

Movement of the door in a closing direction 'brings the trunnion 31 of the arm 36 at the inner side of the door into contact with'the surface 5'! thereby displacing the latch from its normal latching position. Continued'movement of the door in a, closing direction finally results in the associated trunnion dropping into engagement with the secondary shoulder 55 and the door is then retained in partially closed position entirely by the inner keeper 3i and independently of the outer keeper 32.

The door may be moved from its partially closed 'to fully closed position by movement of the shaft arms 36' in a downward direction, and to this end a fulcrum plate'56 is welded or otherwise secured to the outstanding flange ll of theframe l6 adjacent the outer supporting keeper, said plate being adapted to serve as a fulcrum for a removable'bar as'will be described.

Assuming that the door is in partially closed position as indicated in Fig. 2 by conventional clot and dash lines, the closing operation is effected by inserting abar 59 between trunnion 3'! and fulcrum 58 and bearing upwardly as indicated at 60'which results in forcing the trunnion portion 31 at the inner keeper downwardly along inclined surface 56 and wedging the door to closed position.

The outer keeper :2 is provided with a laterally extending projection 6| for co-operation with a removable bar 62 whereby the latch may be conveniently and safely released by an operator standing at the side of the car.

Said fulcrum extension 6i may also be employed in the course of the door raising operation for levering the door to fully closed position by inserting a suitable tool between the fulcrum 6| and the trunnion 31 and exerting pressure in adoor closing direction.

It will be noted that the main portion'of the shaft indicated' at" 36, together with theJa'ss'ociated supporting 'bearings'only lift a shortSvertical distance as indicated at 63 in the coursaof the door raising operation and this feature isa factor which contributes to ease of door operation.

An advantageous feature of my improved construction resides in the fact that the latching mechanism is substantially contained within the plane of the outer hopper side wall and also within the plane of the side flange of the door with the exception of a slightly projecting portion of the crank 31 and this absence of clumsy projecting parts beyond the hopper is a most desirable condition.

What I claim is:

In a car door mechanism for the hopper of a car body having a discharge opening and a door pivotally mounted adjacent the upper part of the opening for closing said opening; the improvement which consists of latching means for retaining the door in closed position, said means including members respectively carried by the door and car body, said members on the door including a crank shaft pivotally mounted adjacent the swinging edge of the door and having an arm at each end thereof formed with a projection extending lengthwise of the shaft and spaced appreciably from the pivotal axis of the shaft, said members on the car body including shouldered keepers co-operating with the projections of the shaft; brackets on the door for supporting the shaft, one of said brackets having a pair of guiding walls associated therewith, said walls being spaced apart to accommodate one of the arms therebetween; and a locking dog pivotally mounted between said walls and adapted to engage the related arm for locking the door mechanism in operative latching position.

GEORGE B. DOREY.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS