WO1999014091A1

WO1999014091A1 - Closed freight car with movable roof especially for transporting of motor vehicles

Info

Publication number: WO1999014091A1
Application number: PCT/YU1998/000010
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lazar MAC^¿KOVIC; Nikola BRKLJAC^¿
Original assignee: D.D.'bratstvo'-Subotica
Priority date: 1997-09-16
Filing date: 1998-04-06
Publication date: 1999-03-25
Also published as: YU37997A; RS49537B

Abstract

Closed freight car with movable roof especially for transporting of motor vehicles, comprising two subunits, solves the basic problem of obtaining a freight car design providing space for at least two international loading profiles thus allowing for the transporting of standard automobiles, of new generation automobiles with higher contours and/or their combination, while preventing the longitudinal and lateral movement of the roof in its horizontal plane. In the cells (5', 5''') there are inserted telescopically guided legs (10) of the roof (1). On the outside part of the cell (5''') of the post (5) there is mounted a swinging supporting member (11) biased by a spring (16) and by a bolt (14), said bolt (14) being articulated by means of a lever (15) to the post (5). Inside the cell (5') of the post (5), between the wall of the post (5) and the leg (10) there are positioned resilient supports (9), and on the leg (10) on the same level on both side thereof there are positioned two widenings (10', 10'').

Description

CLOSED FREIGHT CAR WITH MOVABLE ROOF ESPECIALLY FOR TRANSPORTING OF MOTOR VEHICLES

TECHNICAL FIELD

Generally, present invention relates to railway traffic and transportation, especially to structural features and components of railway vehicle bodies, such as movable roofs, and to railway vehicle equipment such as tarpaulin covers for open wagons and the like. This invention relates also to open railway freight cars adapted for transportation of specific loads such as automobiles and otber motor vehicles.

Present invention obtained the following symbols of the International Patent Classification: B 61 D 1 7/1 2, B 61 D 39/00 i B 61 D 3/1 8.

TECHNICAL PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED

Technical problem to be solved by present invention is designing a closed railway freight car, especially for transporting of automobiles and other motor vehicles, said freight car having two load platforms, one of them vertically adustable/displaceable, two sidewalls fixed to the chasis thereof and a vertically movable roof, including a telescopic mechanism for vertical moving, lifting and holding thereof in at least two travelling and one loading/unloading position, a vartical part of said roof overlapping, both in a standard travelling position and in a higher travelling postion, fixed side walls of said freight car, thus making it universal, i.e. providing a space for at least two international (UIC) loading profiles (for example UIC 505-1 standard and UIC 505-1 Anex 4), providing for transportation of standard automobiles, of new generation higher-profiled automobiles and/or combinations thereof.

Besides, the inventive freight car structure must comply with the strict safety regulations of the International Railroad Union (UIC), as defined by international standard UIC 505, permiting the usage thereof with two travelling positions of said freight car roof, no longintutinal or lateral movement of the roof in a horizontal plane thereof being permitted, a smooth vertical movement and a sufficient overlapping of car's side walls being provided for, as well as sealing of car interior against adverse atmospheric conditions and the prevention of unauthorised ingress therein.

PRESENT STATE OF ART

There is known a number of closed freight cars with movable roof for faciliating the loading of vehicles. On a freight car of italian BRAMBLES Sri, Milano, IT, half of the roof thereof can be tilted around a lateral axis. On the same freight car a half of the upper load platform can be lowered to the lower load platform to facilitate the loading of vehicles on the upper platform. The main drawback thereof is difficult handling of vehicles during loading and unloading, though the handling of movable parts of said freight car is relatively easy.

Finland's railway vehicle producer OY TRANSTECH LTD., Oulu, FI, makes a closed car having a roof a longitudinal side thereof being pivotably joined to a car's side wall, the opposite side thereof being tiltable by means of a separate mechanism. Any lifting of the roof provides a full-length longitudinal opening between said roof and the corersponding side wall.

Another of closed freight cars is diclosed in the YU patent application P- 234/92, filed by german firm ARS Altmann, Niederdorf, DE, under the title "A closed railway wagon or container", comprising a load platform with a number of posts fixed along the longitudinal sides thereof. Said posts being provided with vertical guides with flanges extending parallel to the car's longitudinal axis, said flanges providing joints with the car's side walls, lower parts thereof being fixed to said posts, the upper ones being movable within said guides, but fixed to the car's roof, so that they are moving therewith. The lower and the upper parts of said side walls are generally in a common vertical plane, regardless of roof's position. Lifting the roof causes a break between the upper and the lower parts of the side walls. In tis way there is provided a good ventilating of the car interior and a lot of daylight. Extra openings provided between the load platform and the lower parts of side walls are covered by sliding plates and are opened when lifting the roof as said plates are connected thereto by means of appropriate bars.

Drawback of the above freight car is its being limited to just one of the UIC loading profiles for the transportation of vehicles. Regardless of the manner of lifting the roof (by tilting it around a longitudinal or lateral axis or by vertical movement thereof) all foregoing technical solutions offer just one position of the roof providing complete closing of above mentioned freight cars.

There are freight cars of the abovementioned type having upper parts of side walls movable together with the roof relative to the lower parts of said side walls in a telescopic maner, so that in any position of the roof said upper parts are overlapping the lower ones. In one such fraight car, as disclosed in US No. 1 ,893,543, lower parts of the side walls are fixed to the outer sides of posts and are extening from the load platform up to the roof's height. The upper parts of side walls are movable together with the roof relative to the lower parts of said side walls in a telescopic maner, so that in any position of the roof said upper parts are overlapping the lower ones. The roof and the upper parts of the side walls are connected to vertical bars each one thereof being articulated to a lever pivotably mounted on a horizontal axle, said bars providing for the rising and lowering of the roof. As the outer dimensions of such a freight cars are preset, the width of the inner, load space is significantly reduced due to the telescopig mounting of the roof, this being the main drawback of this technical solution.

Such a freight car (obtained through the modification of existing two-level freight cars for transporting of automobiles) is produced in large numbers at the D.D. "Bratstvo" railway wagon works in Subotica, Yugoslavia. This freight car has two loading platforms, latice side walls, folding-over end doors for loading and unloading of vehicles and movable roof (pivotable around a longitudinal axis). Converting an existing open automobile car into a closed one had the primary aim of protecting the loaded vehicles against unauthorized access into the freight car's inner, the protection against atmospheric effects being only partial, this being the main drawback thereof.

The principal drawback of all such freight cars known to the aplicant, and cited above as the present state of art, is that the structures thereof provide a loading volume of a preset, unchangeable height when the freight cars are ready for departure. This volume is defined by a lower load platform, side walls and roof, said roof, according to the present state of art, having on a loaded, ready to depart freight car just one position. Because of this limited loading volume height, all known freight cars of this type used at present on the European standard gage (1435 mm) railroads are suitable for the two-level transportation of classical automobiles only, this being their principal drawback. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

The present invention comprises α vertically mobable roof with at least eight legs telescopically insertable in box-section posts attached to both side walls of the freight car, the bottom ends of said posts being fixed to the outer longitudinal supporting members of the lower load platform, and the heigth of said posts being sufficient to permit lifting of the roof to a position alowing loading/unloading of vehicles. Inside the box-section posts ther are mounted resilient supports which by means of a special mechanism secure the roof in two traveling positions against longitudinal and lateral movements in a horizontal plane.

Said posts preferably comprise several cells each made of box-sections which in addition to providing telescopic guidance of the roof's legs also serve for installing of spindles or other elements suitable for lifting or lowering the upper load platform.

According to present invention vertical supporting of the roof in its higher traveling position is attained by means of rotary supporting members within each of the posts for the telescopical guiding of the roof, said members being brought to their working positions automatically by bringing the upper loading platform to a position, or level, for the loading of vehicles of greater height. If the upper loading platform is brought to a lower traveling position, suitable for transporting of classical automobiles, rotary supporting members are being rotated and the roof is brought to a lower traveling position.

Further, according to present invention, a vertical part of the roof is overlapping the upper part of the side wall sufficiently to provide a complete protection in both traveling positions of the interior of the freight car and the load therein against the atmospheric effects and against unauthorized access into said freight car interior. Both end doors are locked from the inside and the personel exit through a side door which upon being shut locks the roof in any of its two traveling positions, as appropriate.

Some of the obvious advantages of present invention are the following: - its unique structure allows a two-level transportation not only of classical automobiles (freight car profile UIC 505-1 standard), but also of higher-profiled vehicle: minibuses, vans, field vehicles and the like (the higher freight car profile UIC 505-1 Appendix 4);

- novelty and simplicity of the mechanism for vertical guiding and lifting of the roof and for holding thereof in at least two traveling positions and in a position for loading/unloading;

- ease of handling and of attaining both traveling position and a sufficient height providing for unobstructed loading/unloading of vehicles;

- safe traveling with prevented roof movement in a horizontal plane, either longitudinal or lateral; - simple design and easy maintenace of mechanism for guiding and lifting the roof;

- present invention provides a freight car having at least two profiles according to UIC regulations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Present invention is described in detail by an exemplary enbodiment as shown in appended drawings, wherein

Fig. 1 is a schematic sideview of an inventive closed freight car with a movable roof, showing the tri position thereof, the lefthand part in said figure being the lower traveling position, the middle part being the higher traveling position and the righthand part being the loading/unloading position,

Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the freight car presented in Fig. 1 along the a-a and b-b lines, showing car's profile in both traveling positions, Fig. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the freight car along the c-c line in

Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view along the A-A line of the side wall of a half of said freight car, i.e. one subunit thereof,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged presentation of the mechanism for guiding the roof and the upper load platform shown in fig 4,

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view along the B-B line in Fig. 5 of the mechanism for guiding the roof, the roof being in its lower travel postition,

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view along the B-B line in Fig. 5 of the mechanism for guiding the roof, the roof being in its higher travel postition, and Fig. 8 is α vertical sectional view along the C-C line in Fig. 5 of a post for guiding of the roof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A closed freight car with movable roof, especially for transportation of automobiles, according to present invention (Figs. 1 , 2 and 3), comprises two subunits joined together (undetachable during the use thereof). It further comprises a movable roof 1 and at least one, in the present case two, load platforms, namelly the lower load platform 2 and the upper load platform 3, two side walls 4, posts 5 and 6 and end doors 7. In its lower position 1 , the roof 1 is in contact with the upper load platform 3. The roof 1 is raised to its loading/unloadin position 1 " by means of a known mehanism comprising ropes and pulleys, while the blocking of the roof in a required position is attained by a mechanism according to present invention, consisting of posts 5 for guiding the roof and the upper load platform and posts 6 for guiding the roof (Figs. 4 through 8). There is number of said posts 5 and 6 fastend to the side walls 4, four posts to a side wall of each of the both subunits of said freight car. Those posts, fastened to both side walls 4, are also fixed to the outer longitudinal beams of the lower load platform. Posts are made box section-like with one or more cells which aside from telescopic guiding of roof 1 by means of legs 8 and 10 could be used for mounting of spindles and/or other element suitable for lifting and/or lowering the upper load platform 3. There are eight legs 8 on each side of the freight car, i.e. a total of 16 legs per a freight car.

Single-cell posts, containg a leg 8 each, are positioned at the ends of the freight car adjacent to the end doors 7. Double-cell posts 6, comprising legs 8 and spindles for lifting of the upper load platform 3, are positioned at the inner ends of the freight car subunits. Between the abovementioned posts 6 there are equidistantly positioned two posts 5 (Fig. 4).

Of said two posts 5, the righthand post 5 contains legs 8 and 10, leg 10 having resilient supports. The lefthand post 5, which represents the basic novelty of this invention, comprises three cells (5', 5", 5"'). In the righthand part of the post 5, the cell 5'", there is installed a mechanism for guiding and locking of the roof 1 in position 1 and V shown in Fig. 1 . In the lefthand part of the post 5, the cell 5', there are members for guiding the roof and for preventing the movement thereof in α horizontal plane during the traveling. In the middle part of the post 5, the cell 5", there are members of a mechanism for lifting the upper load platform 3.

Mechanism for guiding and locking of the roof 1 , installed within the cell 5'" of the post 5 (Figs, 6 and 7) consists of the post 5, leg 10 od the roof 1 being telescopically guided therewithin. On the upper outer part of the post 5 there is mounted an assembly for locking, i.e. for fixing of the roof 1 in one of two positions: in a lower traveling position (Figs. 1 and 2 a-a) and in a higher traveling position (Figs 1 and 2 b-b). Said assembly comprises a swinging supporting member 1 1 , its lower part being pivotably mounted on an outer part of the post 5. This allows the entering of the upper arm of the supporting member 1 1 into the interior of the post 5. A spring 16 biases supporting member 1 1 with a constant force toward the interior of the post 5. Above the surface of the upper arm of the supporting member 1 1 , which surface iz partly cut-in, there is mounted a movable bolt 14. Sad bolt 14 is attached to the upper arm of a lever 15, the lower arm thereof being pivotably attached to the post 5 above the upper load platform 3.

Under the shoulder 1 7 of the leg 10 (Fig 6) the leg 10 has a widening 13 for engaging a correspondent widening mounted inside the post 5.

The assembly for guiding the roof and for preventing the movement thereof within a horizontal plane during the travel (Fig. 8), mounted within the left part of the post 5 (cell 5') consists of resilient supports 9 and a number od widenings 5a. Resilient supports 9 are positioned between the longer wall of the post 5 and the interior of leg 10, and between the leg 10 and the shorter wall of the post 5 next to cell 5".

Opposite to the resilient support 9, fixed to the longer wall of the post 5, on the opposite wall of the post 5 there is a widening 5a. On the same level, for the position 1 ' of the roof, on the leg 10 there are attached on opposite sides thereof two widenings 10' and 10", the widening 10' engaging resilient support 9 and the widening 10" engaging the widening 5a.

Mechanism for guiding and supporting the roof of the freight car functions in the following way: vertical supporting of rooff 1 in the higher traveling position 1 ' is defined through swinging supporting members located in posts 5, said members telescopically guiding the leg 10 of the roof 1 and being brought to their working position automatically by bringing the upper load platform 3 in position, i.e. to the level, for loading of automobiles of greater height. When the upper load platform 3 is brought to α lower traveling position 1 (figure 1 ), swinging supporting member 1 1 is moved back and the roof can be brought into the lower traveling position. The vertical part of the roof 1 and the upper part of the side wall 4 are sufficiently overlapped sa as to provide a complete protection of the freight car interior and the load therein against the atmosferic influences (rain, flying snow) and against unauthorized access into the freight car interior in both traveling positions 1 and V.

When the upper load platform 3 is in the lower position (Fig. ό), swinging supporting member 1 1 is disengaged and the roof 1 is supported by its widenings 13 on the leg 10 therof engaging the widenings located within the post 5. When the upper load platform 3 is brought to the higher position V by means of the spindle 12, platform 3 activates locking mechanism by engaging and moving levers 15 thus lifting the bolt 14 and releasing supporting member 1 1 . At that moment spring 16 biases the swinging support 1 1 into the post 5 (during the lowering of the roof) and locks the roof 1 in its higher position as the roof is engaging with its shoulder 1 7 the cut-in part of the swinging support 1 1 (Fig 7). That means that the leg 10 of the roof contacts with its widening 13 for vertical support said swinging supporting member 1 1 and biases it toward the interior of the freight car, the bolt 14 maintaining it in this position. If upper load platform 3 is not moving upward from its position, swinging supporting member remains locked by means of the bolt 14, so that the roof 1 will sink down to its lower traveling position. If, on the other hand, the load platform 3 is moved upwarda so that the roof reaches its higher position V, the load platform 3 will by moving the lever 15 remove the bolt 14, so that the abovedescribed procedure will be repeated.

In the region of the end door 7 and the front part of the roof 1 there is also provided sufficient overlaping thereof to protect the interior of the freight card against meteorologic influences and against unauthorized access in both traveling positions 1 and 1 ' of the roof 1 , such structure on the front part of the roof 1 not interfering with the loading/unloading as the roof is then in its highest position 1 ". Advantageously, the front doors are locked from the inside and the personnel exit through a side door which upon being shut lock the roof in either of its two traveling positions.

Claims

1 . Closed freight car with movable roof especially for transporting of motor vehicles, characterized in that the side walls (4) of said freight car are fastened to vertical posts (5, 6) for the guidance of the legs (8, 10) of the roof (1 ), the posts (6) holding the legs (8) being located at the ends of freight car subunits, the posts (5) holding the legs (10) being located between posts (6) at predetermined intervals, in that the posts (5) are comprising a number of cells (5', 5", 5'") in which there is mounted a mehanism for guiding and locking the roof in positions (1 and V) and an assembly for guiding and preventing movement of the roof in a horizontal plane during the traveling.

2. Closed freight car with movable roof especially for transporting of motor vehicles according to claim 1 , characterized in that the telescopically guided leg (10) of the roof (1 ) is inserted in the cell (5'") od the post (5), in that on the outside of the upper part of the eel (5'") there is mounted a swinging supporting member (1 1 ) biased by a spring (16) and locked in an external position by a bolt (14), said bolt (1 ) being articulated by means of a lever (15) to the post (5) at the level of the working stroke of the upper load platform (3), and in that under the shoulder (1 7) on the leg (10) of the roof (1 ) there is a widening (13) for supporting the roof in its lower position.

3. Closed freight car with movable roof especially for transporting of motor vehicles according to claim 1 , characterized in that there are resilient supports (9) positioned between the longer wall of the post (5) and the interior of leg (10), and between the leg (10) and the shorter wall of the post (5) next to cell (5"), and in that opposite to the resilient support (9), fixed to the longer wall of the post (5), on the opposite wall of the post (5) there is a widening (5a), and in that on the leg (10), on the same level with the resilient supports (9), there are attached on oppposite sides thereof two widenings (10') and (10").