US30426A - Improvement in metallic railroad-cars - Google Patents

Description

No. 30,426. PATENTED OCT. 16, 1860.

J. A. ROEBLING. RAILROAD GAR.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

JOHN A. ROEBLING, or TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN METALLIC RAILROAD-CARS Specification forming part of Letters Patent No; 30,426, dated October 16. [850, v

To all whom; it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN AUGUSTUS ROE- BLING, civil engineer, of Trenton, in the county of Mercer, in the State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Iron Railroad-Cars, of'

which the following is a full and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make a part of this specification, and in which- Figurel represents an elevation of the outside of a portion of ,the body of an iron passenger railroad-car made upon my improved plan. Fig. 2 represents a horizontal section of the same, taken through the lower part of it, showing the curved and plain panels and the space between them on artenlarged scale. Fig. 3 shows the vertical section of the side of a car.

The con struction of rail road-ears in Such manner that they shall be wholly or in great part formed of'iron or other suitable metal has foralong time been consideredas a very desirable end to be attained and various plans have been proposed; but to obtain the requisite strength without too'great increase of weight and at a moderate cost-has proved to be a difficult matter. The more framing of an iron or metallicv car does not accomplish all that is desired, although by itself it may be a great improvement. If wooden panels are inclosed in such a. frame, they add but little to the strength by acting as braces unless they are made of such thickness aste add'materially to the weight. Vood, being exposed to shrinkage, should, for this reason alone, never form an essential part of an iron car. Railroad-cars are constantly subjected to sidestrainsv and blows, and these, especially in cases of accidents, will in a great ineasure have to be resisted by the pan eling,

which, if made of wood, must be very heavy, and even then may, when broken into splint- .s, become a great source of danger to the passengers. A panel of flat sheet metal has been proposed as a substitute for one of'wood, and this has the further advantage of acting, when properly secured, as a brace to the framing, the tensile strength of the sheet resisting the elongation of the diagonals of the frame. Such a panel, adding strength to'thc structure, will in so" far he an advantage. Its

ceiling.

resistance to lateral blows, however, will not be-materially greater than that of a wooden panel, unless its weight is much increased, as

a single flat sheetisnot the'most advantageou s form for resistin gblows directed perpendicularly against it; but ,a. single panel of sheet metal is open to another objection. The great conducting-power of metal would offer but little protection against outside extremes of temperature. Inaddition to this, to form a recess or. cavity for lowering the windowsash would require additional-inside work. A mode of, construction has been proposed, which in part meets these objectionshut is open to another of a serious character. This plan consists in fastening two setsof plates--' oiie'on the inside, the other on theout-side to a heavy metal frame. lain not aware that this plan has, ever been carried out, for its adoptioirinvolvc's. a la rge expenditure of material and labor, which even then. does not give all the advantages required. i

To meet the difficulties above cited, I'have made my inventionnvhieh I will now proceed to describe,.as applied to the construction of -the sides of a railroad-car as well as of its roof.

The frame of'the car consists of uprighisR and longitudinal pieces L, whichmay he of the U I ,L or any other suitable shape ofsection placed at right angles, so as to leave open rectangular spaces to be filled by panels, windows, or ventilators. Between the upright'sand the longitudinal pieces flat sheets 5, of iron, are to be placed, forming flat panels, covering the whole of the sides, with the exception of the window and door openings. Sheets 'lnay be used as long as they can be rolled. This same fiat sheet is to be continued over the ear to form itsinner roof: or Between the window-openings in the sides narrow plates-may be used, running up and down and riveted to the long plates which run lengthwise of the car below the windowopenings. els are to be arranged, so that their concavity is toward the fiatpanel, and their edges extending far enough under the uprights may be secured to them and to the fiat panels by rivets. The relative position of the various parts being such as has been described, it is evident that if punched at proper intervals each single rivet-will atoncc secure the flange,

Between the uprights curved pan of the U-iron, the flat and the curved panel.

At the intersection of the uprights and of the longitudinal pieces asingle rivet will unite them both with the intervening curved and flat panels. In this way all the importantparts of the structure are united in the most economical and most efiectivemanner. The curvature of thepanels may be varied to snit'the' requirements of each particular case. While their vertical edges areso bent as to fit against the flat paneLIprefer to re tain and secure the curve of vthe horizontal edges by introducing corresponding strips of wood inside, to which the curved'sheet is fastened by wood-screws or rivet's. To in -v crease still more the stiffnessof the curved panels and also their resistance,in case of an upsetting or rolling of the car, I further pro- -pose to introduce another horizontal wooden stri I in the center 91; the sheet, and also a ver "'tica *onesecured by wood-screws.

' Where windows and ventilators are to be .made, corresponding openings are to be left in both thefiat and curved panels.

I prefer the employmentof a drop-window with 0hr tains and without shutters. A recess or receptacle is then to be formed within the lower part of' the curved panel by cutting out the wooden strips, so that the sash may slide freely between.

of only half the width as those in the sides,

and; I doublethe number of ribs. The latter may have the cross-section of a IL, or be of any other suitable-shape.

Fig. 3 'shows' how the roof and the side of a.

.car may be united by an angle-iron in a simple and efiective manner. The width'of the curved panels in the roof being reduced, no wooden strips are needed inside, except at the eaves or edgesof the roof, where the intervening space between the flat'and curved sheets :shonld' be closed by aboard. closely fitting in and secured by wood-screws.

By the combination of parts as above described, and which-constitutes my invention, the great end is accomplished of increasing immensely the resistance, spring, and elasticity of the car. Each curved panel in the side's aswell as in the roof formsa spring, and

by its elastic power will greatly diminish the danger of collisions, while its arched form "vastly increases its strengthtcresist the ef: fect of blows. In'case of an upsetting orroll- 'ing down embankments and rocky shapes the curved panels will receive all the blows, and

wilLthus'protect the lives of' the passengers "inside. In addition these important' ad vantages there are those already mentionednamely, the formation OfjhOHQW walls and of ahollow roof filledwith air,- which serves as a non-conductor of heat and cold, the better protection against sparks and fire from the outside, and also the great facility of making receptacles for drop-windows without additional material or work.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'- r The combination of thelongitudinal pieces ribs, or uprights, straps and plates, which constitnte the framework of the sides and roof of a metallic railroad-car with curved and fiat panels in such manner as toleave a partial space between the panels, and thus forming a non-conductingwallandaffording a reeeptacle for windowsashe's when required, while thecurved and fiat panels may be'unite" with any part of the framing with which they come in contact by one single rivet.

JOHN A. RQEBLING.

Witnesses: r

WASH. A. RoEBLINe, CnAnLEsSWAN.

Images