USRE18577E - Poration - Google Patents

Description

G. c. WooDRuFF I Aug. 23, 1932. DROP SIDE CONTAINER CAR R 18577 9 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed April 12. 1929 W m g m, 6

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dummq G. C. WOODRUFF DROP SIDE CONTAINER CAR 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 Aug. 23, 1932.

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Reissued Aug. 23, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT orrica GRAHAM C. WOODBUFF, OF BRONXVILLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE L. O. L. COR

PORATION, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE nnor SIDE CONTAINER can Original No. 1,847,202, dated March 1, 1932, Serial No. 354,636, filed April 12, 1929. Application for reissue filed March 9, 1932. Serial No. 597,850.

The methods generally in use for handling merchandise freight have not been changed in any essential aspect for a number of past prior to the adoption by the railroads of in available extra space, particularly at the larger terminals, the freight must "often be loaded into the car currently as offered, which frequently results in an ill-assorted and badly loaded car because it is not possible to reassort and properly load freight by the old method to the best advantage.

The freight thus loaded into a car is transported to destination where it is taken out placed in the freight house and later on picked up again and taken to the doorway for delivery to the consignees truck. Often, the freight is transferred en route, and intermediate unloading and rehandling being necessary.

The cost of handling. 1. c. 1. merchandise freight averages 120 to 150 per hundred pounds each at origin and at destination or a total of more than 250 per 100 lbs. ofexpense, which the railroad assumes for this necessary service at origin and destination ends.

'The container may be used in two ways; first, for transportation from one shipper to one consignee, this in cases when one shipper alone has enough tonnage to warrant usmg container; second, use of containers by consolidators who substitute themselves for individual shipper or consignee, and by gathering up large number of small shipments, produce a container load very near the maximum, and act as distributors at destination.

The advantages to the shipper are; saving in total trans ortation costs, saving in cost of heavy woo en cases, as packing cases are unnecessary when shipments are made in containers; saving in tare; saving incident to practical elimination of theft, damage or other source of loss; saving resulting in faster, better and more efficient service; and the advantages to the railroad are-development and extension of service, having reference particularly to comparatively short haul traffic, saving of freight house labor at both origin and destination, saving of Way bill expense; getting greater revenue per car mile incident to heavier loading; saving in equipment; saving from elimination of claims for pllferage and loss; saving resulting from decrease in detention of equipment at termlnals; relief of freight house facilities.

REI'S3UED The object of my invention is-to make the container car operation as nearly perfect as possible by dividing the car transversely with partitions thus forming container stalls or compartments and having shelves beside these partitions extending transversely of the car to support containers with orwithout legs, so as to make it possible to run a lift truck onto the car under the container, lift the container from the supporting shelves and remove it to a station platform, truck body or other support. One of the advantages of legs. on a container is that the lift truck may be run under the container from any one of four positions and place the container more satisfactorily, making it a much more'flexible operation, than if the lift truck could go in from one or two positions and to accommodate the legs of the container I provide the supporting shelves with elongated slots or ways extending lengthwise of the shelf, so that the four legs of the container engaged with the slot will act as safety devices to prevent side sway and decrease to a minimum any possibility of the container slipping ofi the 'car. A further object is to provide doors for the ends of the compartment which when in raised position constitute the car side wall; and .with these and other objects in view,.my invention consists of the parts and combination of parts hereinafter pointed out.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved car loaded with containers and a liftmgr truck.

igure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1. Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of one end portion of the car.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Fi ure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 with the, rop side door open and functioning as a ang plank.

igure 6 is an enlarged detail view looking at the end oftthe supportin shelf, which is shown in elevation at the le t and in section at the right, the car partition being in section.

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail top plan of the empty car.

Figure 8 is an enlarged detail sectional view through the car partition, supporting shelf and container,=showing the cooperation of the said shelf and a lock for the container door.

Figure 9 is a vertical section through car and container, showing the coo eration of the supporting shelf and a lock or the container door, this view being at right an les to Figure 8, and showing the drop side oor open.

Figure 10 is a detail top plan of the partition and a portion of the car.

Figure 11 is an end elevation of the shelf support adapted for container legs, the shelf being secured to the car floor and partition.

Figure 12 is a erspective view of a portion of a. car loa ed with containers, and a lift truck on the car under a. container in the act of depositing or removing a container from the car.

Figure 13 is a view similar to Figure 12 showing the lift truck leaving the car after having deposited the container on the supporting shelves, the drop door functioning as.

a ang plank.

or the purposes of illustrating my'invention I have shown acar 14 of the gondola type divided into compartments 15 by means of the transverse partitions 16, which are provided with container guides 17, which center the containers 18 in the compartments 15 as they are being loaded and also hold the containers from shifting while en route. These containers are provided with a door or. doors 19 of approved type and construction, provided with approved locking bolts 20, 21, whichare connected at their inner ends to a bar 22, keyed to a spindle 23 to which is also rigidly secured the operating handle 24. The outer end of the bolt.20, when in locked position roject-s through'the top of the door into the eeper 25 in the top of the door frame, while the outer, end of bolt 21, in locked position, projects through the bottom stile of the door into a keeper formed in the threshold 26 of the door frame, and is provided with a recess 27 into which one end of the dog 28 is adapted to lock to hold the bolt 21 against 0 eration as will be hereinafter described. let it be understood that I do not in this application claim the container locking device by the underframe, although not necessarily.

At the ends of each shelf '29 I pivotally mount a container retainer lug or hook 31, which when in the operative position showing in Figures 4, 6, hold the container from slipping endwise off the sup orting shelf 29. This dog is provided wit an arm 32 to which is loosely secured the operating link 33. A link latch housing 34 is secured to the end of the support 29 and is provided with a recess 35 to receive the link 33. \Vithin the housing 34 is an inclined slide way 36 provided on which a latch 37 is slidably mounted and provided with an operating handle 38 which moves in the elongated slot 39 in the housing. When the retaining lug 31 and link 33 are in the position shown in Figure 6 the latch 37 has been moved to lock the link 33 in that position and also lock the lug 31 in its locked position, whereby the retaining lug 31 is held against movement. To release the lug 31 for the purpose of removing a container, the latch 37 is moved to the left whereupon the link 33 is free to swing or be n this connection moved outward and rotate the retaining lug 31 on the pivot 40 to the position shown in Figure 5.

The drop sides or doors 41 are positioned ateach end of thecompartment 15 and are secured to the car by means of the hinges 42 of any approved type. An extension 43 is hinged at 44 to the top edge of the d ors 41 which, when the doors are open, as shown in Figure'9 functions as a runway for a truck to travel onto the door 41, and thence into the compartment 15. While the doors 41 are in elevated or locked position across the end of the compartment 15 the runway 43 is folded back against the inner face of the door 41 as shown in Figure 4, the door 41 being locked in its closed position. by means of hooks 45 pivoted at 46 to the bulkhead or partition 16, the hook end embracing the upper edge of the door, and in order to prevent these hooks 45 from jolting out ofoperative position I provide a safety catch 47, pivoted at 48 to the bulkhead 16 with its forward end abutting the rear end of the hook 45 above its pivot 46. The doors 41, and runway 43 are provided with suitable bracing angle irons to assist in supporting a load -'the shelf 49, I prefer to make these shelves 4 49 of such height, that when the container 18 rests on them the legs 51 will be free from contact with the floor of the'car. With the legs 51 in position in'the slots 50 and the weight on the shelves 4 9 I find it makes a much better load on the car, and the four legs engaging with the slots will act as safety devices, to prevent side sway of the container and decrease to a minimum any possibility of the container getting off the car.

While I have shown the door 19 of the con-.

I tainers against the bulkheads and next to fore the drop side doors, I prefer that all doors face forward in the direction 7 the car is moving, therebygiving absolute protection against pilfering while the containers are on the car.

i As an additional safety againstpilfering v I provide the locking dog 28 heretofore referred to, which, when the container is resting on a latform 'canno't be,operated, but which couFd be operated when the container is supported inthe shelves 29 and 19. Thereprovide a rod keyed to the d 28 and secured to the other end of the ro a locking dog 53, which when the container is supported onthe shelves, comesin contact with the upper face of the shelf, as shown in Figure 9, and so long as it is in that position the dog 28 cannot be operated. As

stated this locking feature forms the subject matter of another application filed by me.

Inusing my invention mixed conslgnments can be handled from point of OIlglIl to numerous destinations on a container basis,

rather than box car basis; that'is'to say, load 7 I in one container car six or seven containers,

with consignments to separate points so that the container car, when ready to run, would have each container for a different designation, loaded with 5,000 up to 10,000 lbs. This would mean that the-car would stop at first destination the" container removed, and if there was an empty or loaded container available, it would be loaded on the car. It will also be obvious that by my invention containerscould be left out at the desired stations in the middle of the night with no necessity for the station being open, as they {would be locked so long as they rest on the station platform and the contents fully as safe as would freight in the station warehouse itself. is should mean in actual operation the saving of a very considerable number of box cars, both as to investment, maintenance,

' operation over the load, yard switching and what is more important, the savin of station house track space, which is o ten at a great premium and impossible to increase, except at a prohibitive expense at the larger terminals.

A still further possible and practical use of this container method would be the practical elimination of the way freightservice,

which means that a pedler car is unloaded manually by train crew at the smaller stations. Through the'proper complementary trucking arrangements freight could be left at larger stations and trucked to the smaller stations where it would not be good ractice to even stop the train, and many sma ler stations which do not handle enough freight traflic to ay the cost of operating the station could be c osed and at the same time give shippers and receivers at such points improved service, as compared with what they are now getting.

I What I claim is 1. In combination, a freight container car having drop'sides and transverse bulkheads intermediate its ends, hooks secured to the bulkheads and adapted to engage and support said sides in their elevated positions, and means holding said hook in its operative position.

2. In" combination, a freight container car having drop sides, and transverse bulkheads intermediate its endsfhooks secured to the bulkheads and adapted toengage and support said sides in their elevated position, and a safety latch pivoted to the bulkhead and adapted to engage and lock the hook in its operative position. I I

3. In combination, a container car having transverse bulkheads intermediate its ends dividing the car into compartments, container supports arranged adjacent the bulkheads and adapted to. support a container on the car with its bottom above the floor of the car, and container guides secured to the bulkheads above the said supports.

4. In combination, a container'car, transverse. bulkheads secured on the car intermediate' its ends, a container support on two opposite sides of each compartment adapted to support a container with its bottom above the floor of thecar, and means on the end of each support to hold the container against transments adapted to-receive containers, a ,'container support on opposite sides of said compartment adapted to support a container on a car, means on each'of said supports to hold the container against shifting transversely of the car, and guides to guide the con-" tainers in position on each side of the bulktainer supports arranged 1 the end of each attachm ent afiording helds- 1.

6. In combination, a container car, bulkheads arranged transversely of the car intermediate its 'ends and dividing the car into compartments container supports positioned at opposite sides in each compartment, a stop pivotally secured to each end of the container.

support, means to move said stop into operative position, and latch to lock said means against movement to hold the stop in its operative position. Y

7. In comblnation, a container car, con- .tainer su ports arranged in pairs transversely of sai car, movab e stops secured to each end of each sup ort and adapted to be moved "in a position a ove the horlzontal plane of the support to hold a container on said supports against shifting transversely of the car, and means to lock said stop in its operative position.

- 8. In combination, a container car, con-- and exten mg transversely thereof and a slot extending from end to end in said supports adapted to receive the legs of containers placed on said supports. I

9. The combinatlon with a carrier for a multiplicity-of less-than the carrier-capacity contamers of a setpience of parall barrier attachments e ective to sup rt t e individual containers elevated an as to longitudinal movement, and verticallyswingable gravity-influenced hook device; at a utments to prevent lateral-shifting of said corita ners.

- 10. In combination, a container car having sides and transverse bulkheads interme iate its ends, fastening members carried by the bulkheads and adapted to engage and support said sides in their elevated positions, and means for holding said members in operative position. 5

. Y 11. In combination, a container car having dro sides and transverse bulkheads interme iate its ends, fastening members carried by the bulkheads and adapted to engage and support said sides in their elevated position,

' means for holding said members in operative position, and means to en go and hold the container against lateral s ifting movement.

12. In combination, a container car having drop sides, transverse bulkheads secured on the car and forming compartments intermediate its ends, a container support on two opposite sides of each compartment ada ted to'support a container with its bottom vs the floor of the car, means at the end of each support to hold the container against transverse movements relative to the car, and means at the ends of each bulkhead toengage and support the drop sides in elevated position.

eombinatioma container ear, bulkheads transversel of the car inter mediate its ends and divi ing the car into.

compartments container supports positioned at opposite sides ingeach compartment, a stop pivotally-secured to'jeach end of the container support, and a latch to-hold the stop in its operative position. I

14. In combination, a container car, container su ports arranged in pairs transverse- 1y of sai car, and movable stops secured to each end of each'support and adapted to be moved from a position below' to a position above the horizontalplane of the supports to hold a container on said'sup'ports against shifting transversel of the car.

GRAH M O. WOODRUFF.

in pairs on said car restrained

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