US2879558A - Railway car side door operating gear - Google Patents

Description

March 31, 1959 T. c. SQDDY 7 RAILWAY CAR s10: DOOR OPERATING GEAR Filed Feb. 29, 1956 2 Sheet s-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ziw 2% W my.

March 31, 1959 T. c. SODDY RAILWAY CAR SIDE DOOR OPERATING GEAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 29; 1956 INVENTOR. m/ 6?. J

United States Patent 2,879,558 RAILWAY CAR SIDE DOOR OPERATING GEAR Thomas C. Soddy, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Chicago Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 29, 1956,.Serial No. 568,487 7 Claims. (CI. 20-23) The invention relates to railway car door mounting and locking structure and is particularly adapted for a refrigerator car and door assembly in which the door is of substantial thickness and the outer face of the door is flush with the face of the car side wall when the door is closed.

One object of the invention is to adapt a door structure for a door opening which is longer than is customary without unduly increasing the size and weight of an individual door used to close the opening.

Another object is to facilitate the opening and closing movements of the door by affording the operator a high ratio leverage for effecting initial opening and closing movements of the door.

Another object is to avoid the undue projection of an operating handle outwardly from the door and the hazard of injury to the operator because of such projection.

Another object is to simplify and lower the cost of car door operating mechanisms of the general type involved.

These and other detailed objects of the invention are attained by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, illustrating a selected embodiment of the invention, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a door structure and the associated mounting and car side wall.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section on line 2--2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a similar section illustrating the initial opening movement of the door.

Figure 4 is avdetail section on the same section but illustrating further opening movement of the door.

Figure 5 is a section similar to Figure 3 showing the front edge of the door moved fully out of the door opening in the car side wall. This figure also shows the door near the end of a closing movement and about to be swung into the door opening.

.Figure 6 is. a vertical transverse section through the door and car side on the line 6 -6 of Figure 1 but drawn to a smaller scale.

Figure 7 is a top view and section of a lock taken on line 7-7 of Figure 1.

Figure 8 is a side view of the lock.

The car side construction includes a sill channel 1 provided with a threshold reinforcing angle 3, there being an upper side plate 5. The car wall has a door opening 6 bounded by a front post 7 and a rear post 9. A narrow door 11, approximately two feet wide, is hinged at 13 to front door post 7 and is provided with ,a locking shaft 15 having offset crank pins 17 engageable in retaining cam-like brackets 19 on the car side and thrusting the door outwardly and inwardly when the locking shaft is rotated by a handle 21 as is a common expedient. With handle 21 lodged in a retaining bracket 23, the hinged door is locked in closed position.

Alongside the remainder of the door opening and below the level of the threshold is a track 25 mounted on brackets 27 carried by the side sill. A front carriage 29 and a rear carriage 30 are mounted on individual rollers 33 which travel along track 25 and are movable relative to each other lengthwise of the track.

A relatively wide door 31 mounted on carriages 29,, 30 by means of upright trunnions 35, 36 journaled on the door and having crank arms 37, 38 respectively provided with depending trunnions 39, 40 respectively at their outer ends journaled in carriages 29, 30 respectively. Similar cranks 43, 44 are mounted on the upper portion of the door and are associated with a corresponding upper track 47 provided with sliding guides 49, 50. Preferably cranks 38 and 44 are interconnected by a shaft 53 and rotate as a unit. Fixed on shaft 53 is a pinion 55 which is in mesh with a worm 57 fixed to the hub 58 of a hand wheel 59 journaled on the door and rotatable about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the door. Wheel 59 lies in a plane parallel to and closely adjacent to the door. By rotation of wheel 59 the operator can apply a large leverage to crank arms 38, 44 to move the rear end of door 31 transversely of the car side. Cranks 37, 43 are free to swing about the vertical axes of the trunnions at their opposite ends irrespective of the movement of crank arms 38, 44.

Assuming the doors to be closed as shown in Figures 1 and 2, wheel 59 is rotated anticlockwise to rotate crank arms 38, 44 anticlockwise about their inner trunnions, thus shifting the door to the position shown in Figure 3, with the rear edge of the door clearing the opposing edge of the door opening in the car side wall. The operator then grasps grab iron 61 and pulls the door to the right, the inner face of the door bearing against rollers 63 having a vertical axis and mounted on the adjacent portion of the car side. As the door is opened, successive parts of the door are thrust outwardly by rollers 63 and crank 37 pivots freely on its trunnions 35, 39 and the door assumes the position shown in Figure 5.

To close the door the operator will take hold of grab iron 65 and pull the door to the left. As the door again reaches the position shown in Figure 5 2. lug 67 on crank 37 extending outboard of its trunnion 39 will engage a projection 69 fixed on the car side and interrupt the movement of carriage 29 along track 25 and cause the arm to swing about its trunnion 39 to move the forward edge of the door inwardly of the opening in the car side. The operator then rotates wheel 59 clockwise, turning crank arm 38 on its trunnion 40 to move the rear edge of the door into the closed position shown in Figure 2. The high ratio between worm 57 and pinion 55 will hold cranks 37, 38, 43, 44 against unintentional reverse rotation to open the door, but a lock and sealing device 71 for wheel 59 will be mounted on the door.

It will be understood that doors 11 and 31 may be opened and closed independently of each other, thus providing for entry of an inspector or Workman to the interior of the car through the small door without opening the main door, and facilitating loading of the car with lift trucks by opening both doors if the maximum width of opening is desirable.

The mechanical advantage developed by the worm and gear mechanism exceeds that obtainable by the usual operating crank shaft arrangement used on similar car doors and its application to the rear edge of the door only and the swinging of the door about the mounting of its forward carriage 29 as a pivot facilitates the cracking of the door joint throughout its length more readily than if both edges of the door were shifted outwardly simultaneous to the car side during the initial action of the operating mechanism. This feature will be of substantial advantage at all times and particularly in freezing weather.

The crank shaft may be secured against shifting, particularly when the doors are closed, by the device 71 detailed in Figures 7 and 8 and comprising a bracket "tatably mounted on {member for rotating the worm upright shaft crank.

73, fixed on the door, and a latch 75 pivoted to the bracket and movable from a projected position, shown in full lines, in which it embraces one of the operating wheel arms. A bar 77 pivoted to one side of the latch may have its swinging end secured to the other side of the latch by an ordinary car seal 79 to prevent accidental disengagement of the latch and to warn against unauthorized tampering with the latch.

' The details of the structure may be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a railway car side door, an operating gear comprising an upright shaft rotatably mounted on the door near one edge thereof and provided with a crank having a trunnion at its outer end paralleling the upright shaft axis, a wheeled carriage journaling the trunnion for mounting the door upon a track, a gear pinion on the upright shaft, a worm engaging "said pinion and rotatable about a fixed axis perpendicular to the door, and manually operative means for rotating said worm, said means being operable in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of the door.

2. In combination with a railway car side door, an operating gear therefor comprising an upright shaft rothe door near one edge thereof and provided with a crank having a trunnion at its outer end paralleling the upright shaft axis, a wheeled carriage journaling the trunnion for mounting the door upon a track, a worm rotatable about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the door, a gear pinion on said upright and a manually operable to shift the door on said shaft in mesh withsaid worm,

3. In a railway refrigerator type car having a side wall with a door opening, a narrow door hinged to one end 'of the opening and having an inwardly inclined swinging edge and provided with a cam and latch for locking the swinging edge of the door to the side wall,

'a'relatively wide door having an inwardly inclined edge overlying the opposite end of the door opening and having an outwardly inclined edge underlying the swinging edge of the narrow door, both doors, when closed, being flush with the side wall, a track alongside the side wall and spaced therefrom, a carriage movable along the track, an upright shaft journaled on the wide door near the second-mentioned end of the door opening, said shaft having a crank with a trunnion at its outer end journaled in the carriage, a manually operable worm mounted on the door near said shaft and geared thereto and normally holding the shaft against rotation but providing means for rotating it manually to swing the corresponding edge of the door away from the wall, a similar crank shaft and carriage assembly at the other end of the door free to pivot on the door and carriage.

4. In combination with a car side wall having a door opening with an outwardly inclined edge at one end, a door receivable within said opening with a correspondingly inwardly inclined edge, a track alongside the car wall and spaced therefrom, front and rear carriages movable along said track near the corresponding ends of the door, upright members journaled on the outer side of the door near its front and rear edges, crank arms on said members, eachhaving an upright trunnion at its outer end journaled on an individual carriage, a manually operable part having a horizontal pivot mounting on said door and having a worm and gear operating connection to the member near the rear edge of the door, and a roller mounted on the side wall near said outwardly inclined edge with its axis vertical and opposing the inner face of the door when the door is moved along said track.

5. A railway car side, door and operating gear combination according to claim 3 in which the crankshaft at the forward end of the door has an arm with a lug extending beyond its trunnion mounting on the front carriage, there being a projection on the car wall adjacent to the track and remote from said edge and adapted to engage said lug, as the front carriage moves toward door closed position, and thereby rotate the crank about its trunnion mounting and move the front end of the door inwardly of the wall opening.

6. A holding structure for securing a railway car sliding door to a car wall provided with an opening and tracks above and below the same and a guide slidable on the upper track and a carriage mounted on the lower track, said structurecomprising an upright shaft journaled on the door with upper and lower crank arms having vertical axis pivots at their outer ends to said guide and carriage respectively, a worm pinion coaxial with the upright shaft, a worm meshed with said pinion with its axis extending substantially normal to the general plane of the door, said worm being journaled on the door, and means for manualy rotating the worm.

7. A holding structure for a railway car door according to claim 6 in which the means for manually rotating the worm comprises a rotatable wheel extending substantially parallel to the general plane of the door and operatively connected to the worm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Wright Nov. 6, 1956

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