US3834321A - Cushioned rack for containers on flatcars - Google Patents

Abstract

Cushioned container support for supporting containers on flatcars. The support includes a rack for one long container or two shorter containers having bolsters extending across the rack at each end of the rack and intermediate the ends of the rack. Each bolster has twist locks at its opposite ends for locking the container to the car. The twist locks intermediate the ends of the rack are retractable to accommodate a longer container to be supported on the rack and on the end bolsters. The rack and bolsters are supported on elastomeric shear pads bolted to the floor of the car between guides for the rack. The bolsters have parallel depending friction members spaced inwardly of the guide members. The friction members form side beams and a retarding means for the rack and the shear pads are disposed between the friction members. During elongation of the elastomeric shear pads upon heavy impact stresses, the friction members are pulled down and frictionally engage the guides to slow down maximum travel of the bolsters and rack.

Description

Unite States Patent [19] Pratt et al.

[111 3,834,321 1451 Sept. 10,1974

[ CUSHIONED RACK FOR CONTAINERS ON FLATCARS [75] Inventors: Robert A. Pratt, Oak Brook; Keith W. Broling, Olympia Fields; Richard A. Tatina, La Grange, all of ll].

[73] Assignee: Portec, lnc., Oak Brook, Ill.

[22] Filed: Oct. 18, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 407,412

52 11s. c1. 105/366 A, 105/366 D 51 1m. 01 B65j 1/24 [58] Field of Search 105/366 R, 366 A, 366 D,

105/368 T, 368 R; 248/119 R; 280/179 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,354,838 11/1967 Mowatt-Larssen 105/366 D 3,554,134 l/l97l Brown 105/366 D 3,721,199 3/1973 Hassenauer 105/366 A 57 v ABSTRACT Cushioned container support for supporting containers on flatcars. The support includes a rack for one long container or two shorter containers having bolsters extending across the rack at each end of the rack and intermediate the ends of the rack. Each bolster has twist locks at its opposite ends for locking the container to the car. The twist locks intermediate the ends of the rack are retractable to accommodate a longer container to be supported on the rack and on the end bolsters. The rack and bolsters are supported on elastomeric shear pads bolted to the floor of the car between guides for the rack. The bolsters have parallel depending friction members spaced inwardly of the guide members. The friction members form side beams and a retarding means for the rack and the shear pads are disposed between the friction members. During elongation of the elastomeric shear pads upon heavy impact stresses, the friction members are pulled down and frictionally engage the guides to slow down maximum travel of the bolsters and rack.

9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures CUSHIONED RACK FOR CONTAINERS ON FLATCARS FIELD OF THE INVENTION Cushioning container support on flatcars of the type found in Class 105-366.

BACKGROUND, SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES OF INVENTION The Patents to Wille et a1. U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,055; Hammonds U.S. Pat. No. 3,479,969; E. Mowatt- Larssen U.S. Pat. No. 3,354,838 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,969; Clejan U.S. Pat. No. 3,102,646 and Brown U.S.Pat. No. 3,554,134 show container mounting structures on flatcars in which a container or a fifthwheel structure is supported on cushioning members.

The cushioning system of the present invention isan improvement on the disclosures of the foregoing patents in that the containers are locked to the car on spaced bolsters carried on a cushioned rack. The rack is of a length to space the bolsters to support two short containers or one long container. The bolsters are supported on elastomeric shear pads extending between friction members forming beams for the rack. The bolsters are so arranged as to enable the locking of short and long containers to the rack on the car. The friction members extend between parallel guide members secured to the underframe of the car, and the rack with bolsters is bolted to the shear pads on plates. The friction members come into engagement with the guide members upon elongation of the shear pads, caused by impact, slowing down travel of the containers and rack upon impact and damping rebound thereof. The bolsters carry twist locks locking the container to the car. The twist locks on the intermediate bolsters are retractable to accommodate a long container to be supported on single racks on opposite sides of the intermediate bolsters.

The advantages of the present invention are in the provision of a simplified hold-down structure enabling containers'of various lengths to besupported on a rack through bolsters and conventional .twist locks, and the adaptation of the system to a wide variety of flatcars.

A further advantage of the invention is in the simplification of the cushion support making it practical to use twist locks to lock containers to the deck of a car and avoid removal of the center twist locks when coupling conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a flatcar having container locking and cushioning means embodying the principles of the present invention extending along the deck of the car.

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the car shown in FIG. 1 with a pair of adjacent containers shown by broken lines as locked to the car.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along line IIl-III of FIG. 1 and drawn to an enlarged scale; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of a bolster and its cushioning means, with parts broken away and certain other parts shown in longitudinal section.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION In FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, we have diagrammatically shown a portion of a railway fiatcar 10 having a flat deck 1 having a rack 12 mounted thereon for carrying a pair of containers 13 in end-to-end relation with respect to each other. Two racks can be mounted on the same car, depending on the length of the car, each car carrying two 20-foot containers or one forty-foot container.

The rack 12, illustratively shown herein, comprises a pair of connected parallel spaced longitudinally extending beams 14 which may be formed by two pairs of parallel spaced angle irons 15. The horizontal legs of the angle irons 15 may serve as friction motion restraining members in a manner which will hereinafter more clearly appear as this specification proceeds. The angle irons 15 are spaced apart at intervals by spacer plates 16 and are braced between bolsters 17,17 by cross beams 18 and gussets 19 to rigidify the beam structure.

' ate bolsters have conventional twist locks 21 and 22 re spectively projecting upwardly therefrom for coming into locking engagement with a container 13 as the container is placed thereon. The twist locks are locked ioning means, making it adaptable for various types of flatcars with little, if any, modification.

A further advantage of the invention is the provision of a cushioned bolster and rack assembly accommodating cushioning movement of a container relative to the deck of a flatcar and restraining movement of the container upon excessive impact shocks by friction, by elastomeric shear pads pulling the load down towards the deck upon elongation of the shear pads caused by impact and excessive shocks, to bring the friction means into operation.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in into engagement with keeper holes (not shown) in the bottom of the container and hold the container to the bolsters upon turning movement of handles 23 in a manner well known to those skilled in the art so not herein shown or described further. The twist locks 22 on the two intermediate bolsters are preferably retractabletwist locks and may retract beneath the top surfaces of the bolsters upon operation of handles 23, operative to both bring the twist locks into their locked positions and to retract the twist locks below the surfaces of the bolsters, to accommodate a single rack 12 to hold down a forty-foot container. The twist locks 22 are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,286, granted to Robert A. Pratt on June 22, 1971, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The retractable twist locks, therefore, need not herein be shown or described further.

Referring now in particular to FIGS. 3 and 4 showing the support for the rack and bolsters on the flatcar and cushioning the shock loads on the container, the floor of the car may be cut away to receive a support member 25, which may be of any selected form and is herein shown as being in the form of a modified angle having a relatively long horizontal leg. The vertical leg of said angle may be welded or otherwise secured to the frame structure of the car. The horizontal leg of said angle may be substantially flush with the floor of the car and secured at its inner end to a vertical leg of an angle 27 extending upwardly from the frame structure of the car and welded or otherwise secured thereto. The vertical leg of the angle 27 may be an elongated leg and extends along an inner angle or friction member and parallel to an angle 29 extending along the outer friction member 15 and parallel thereto. The angles 27 and 29 form guides for the friction members 55 and rack. They also form retarding and sbubbing means for said rack as said friction members are pulled down by elongation of elastomeric shear pads 30. The elastomeric shear pads may be formed from rubber or one of the well-known substitutes for rubber. The pad itself is known to the art, so need not be described herein except as to its function and operation.

The shear pads 30 extend longitudinally of the car and are at opposite ends of each bolster 17. Eight shear pads support and cushion each rack. Each shear pad and its mounting is of the same construction and operate in the same manner, so one shear pad only need herein be shown and described in detail. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each shear pad 30 has a generally rectangular base and top surface and the side and end walls thereof uniformly diverge from a rectangular base plate 31 molded into the base of said shear pad. The top surface of the shear pad is also rectangular and has a top plate 32 molded thereinto. The plates 31 and 32 extend for the length of the shear pad and form a mounting means for the rack to the shear pad and for the shear pad to the railway car. The plate 31 has a plurality of depending studs 33 welded or otherwise secured thereto and extending through the horizontal leg of the frame member and bolted thereto as by nuts 35. The plate 32 also has studs 36 welded or otherwise secured thereto and extending upwardly therefrom through a spacer l6 outwardly of the bolster l7 and is bolted to said spacer as by nuts 37.

The bolsters 17 at the end of the car are shown in FIG. 1 as spaced inwardly of the shear pads to position the shear pads outwardly of the end bolsters. This arrangement is carried out with each bolster to structurally balance the beams 15 and reduce the stresses on said beams.

The vertical legs of the angles 27 and 29 form guides for the vertical legs of the beams or angles 15 and being closely adjacent the vertical legs of said angles, guide and thereby cooperate with the shear pads with a force proportional to the shear'stresses of the shear pads and increasing with an increase in shear stress of the elastomeric members. Said shear pads also dampen rebound of the rack and container carried thereon.

Where a second rack is placed on the same car, as fragmentarily shown in FIG. 1, the spacing of the second rack from the rack just described must be sufficient to accommodate full travel of the rack and container thereon, with sufficient spacing to provide a margin of safety.

The shear pads 30 and friction members 15 thus may cushion longitudinal travel of the rack and containers thereon, both in forward directions caused by impact and in return directions, and guide the containers for movement in a rectilinear path in cooperation with the guides 27 and 29 as they damp longitudinal, lateral and vertical movement of the rack and containers, and thus avoid damage to the containers and their contents, and make it safer and more practical to carry containers on the deck of a tlatcar.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a cushioning arrangement for containers on flatcars and in combination with a flatcar having a deck,

parallel spaced bolsters extending across the deck,

means supporting said bolsters for movement together, a twist lock at each end of each bolster for holding a container to the car,

cushioning means for said bolsters and supporting means and the container locked thereto including parallel spaced friction guide members extending longitudinally of the car,

guide means for said supporting means and friction guide members extending along the deck of the car,

said friction guide members forming guide means for said bolsters in cooperation with said cushioning means and guide members and coming into operation as the impact forces increase to cushion and restrict longitudinal movement of the bolsters and to damp rebound thereof.

2. The tie-down of claim 1, in which the cushioning means comprise elastomeric cushioning members firmly secured to the deck of the car and to the friction members supporting said bolsters and pulling down on the friction members and bolsters to frictionally restrict movement of the bolsters upon impact with increasing force as the impact forces increase.

3. The tie-down of claim 1, in which the means supporting said bolsters comprise a rack in which said friction members form side beams thereof.

4. The tie-down of claim 3, including intermediate bolsters in which twist locks are carried at opposite ends of the bolsters to engage and hold the container to the bolsters, and in which the twist locks carried by the intermediate bolsters are retractable.

5. In a tie-down and cushioning arrangement for containers and the like,

a flatcar having a deck,

a rack extending along said deck,

a bolster at each end of said rack and a pair of bolsters intermediate the ends of said rack,

a twist lock carried adjacent each end of each bolster for locking a container thereto,

retractable twist locks carried by the intermediate bolsters,

means supporting said bolsters above the deck of the flatcar for cushioning movement therealong upon impact,

parallel guides projecting upwardly of the deck of the car in association with each of said bolsters, parallel spaced beams between said guides and depending from said bolsters and forming friction members in cooperation with said guides, and cushioning members carried between said beams and supporting said rack for cushioned movement longitudinally of the car.

6. The locking and cushioning arrangement of claim 5, wherein eight cushioning members support each rack and the cushioning members are elastomeric shear pads elongating upon impact and bringing said friction members into engagement with said guides upon excessive impact forces to cushion and damp movement of high impact speeds of said rack upon excessive impact forces and damp rebound thereof.

9. The container locking and cushioning arrangement of claim 8, in which the cushioning members are spaced outwardly of the bolsters, and in which the guide members and friction members have horizontal legs coming into frictional engagement with each other as pulled down by the shear pads of said bolsters.

Claims (9)

1. In a cushioning arrangement for containers on flatcars and in combination with a flatcar having a deck, parallel spaced bolsters extending across the deck, means supporting said bolsters for movement together, a twist lock at each end of each bolster for holding a container to the car, cushioning means for said bolsters and supporting means and the container locked thereto including parallel spaced friction guide members extending longitudinally of the car, guide means for said supporting means and friction guide members extending along the deck of the car, said friction guide members forming guide means for said bolsters in cooperation with said cushioning means and guide members and coming into operation as the impact forces increase to cushion and restrict longitudinal movement of the bolsters and to damp rebound thereof.

2. The tie-down of claim 1, in which the cushioning means comprise elastomeric cushioning members firmly secured to the deck of the car and to the friction members supporting said bolsters and pulling down on the friction members and bolsters to frictionally restrict movement of the bolsters upon impact with increasing force as the impact forces increase.

3. The tie-down of claim 1, in which the means supporting said bolsters comprise a rack in which said friction members form side beams thereof.

4. The tie-down of claim 3, including intermediate bolsters in which twist locks are carried at opposite ends of the bolsters to engage and hold the container to the bolsters, and in which the twist locks carried by the intermediate bolsters are retractable.

5. In a tie-down and cushioning arrangement for containers and the like, a flatcar having a deck, a rack extending along said deck, a bolster at each end of said rack and a pair of bolsters intermediate the ends of said rack, a twist lock carried adjacent each end of each bolster for locking a container thereto, retractable twist locks carried by the intermediate bolsters, means supporting said bolsters above the deck of the flatcar for cushioning movement therealong upon impact, parallel guides projecting upwardly of the deck of the car in association with each of said bolsters, parallel spaced beams between said guides and depending from said bolsters and forming friction members in cooperation with said guides, and cushioning members carried between said beams and supporting said rack for cushioned movement longitudinally of the car.

6. The locking and cushioning arrangement of claim 5, wherein eight cushioning members support each rack and the cushioning members are elastomeric shear pads elongating upon impact and bringing said friction members into engagement with said guides upon excessive impact forces to cushion and damp movement of the rack along the car.

7. The locking and cushioning arrangement for containers on flatcars of claim 6, in which the elastomeric shear pads are bolted to the deck of the car and to said rack to form a cushioning support therefor.

8. The container locking and cushioning arrangement of claim 7, in which the guide members extend along opposite sides of said beams forming said friction members and cooperate therewith to be frictionally engaged by said friction members to frictionally restrain high impact speeds of said rack upon excesSive impact forces and damp rebound thereof.

9. The container locking and cushioning arrangement of claim 8, in which the cushioning members are spaced outwardly of the bolsters, and in which the guide members and friction members have horizontal legs coming into frictional engagement with each other as pulled down by the shear pads of said bolsters.

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