US3417515A - Operating mechanism for a railroad car door - Google Patents

Description

1968 T. MADLAND ET AL 3,417,515

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR A RAILROAD CAR DOOR Filed Sept. 27; 1966 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS. THORVALD MADLAND 8| CORNELIE? BRUCE KENNEDY 4 swam/14M ATTORNEYSv FIGI OPERATING MECHANISM FOR A RAILROAD CAR DOOR Filed Sept. 27. 1966 Dec. 24, 1968 MADLAND ET AL 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.2

I NVENTORS.

THORVALD MADLAND & coRNEulg; BRUCE KENNEDY 4m 5 MM ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,417,515 OPERATING MECHANISM FOR A RAILROAD CAR DOOR Thorvald Madland, Arlington Heights, 111., and Cornelius Bruce Kennedy, Youngstown, Ohio, assignors to The Youngstown Steel Door Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Sept. 27, 1966, Ser. No. 582,430 Claims. (Cl. 49-220) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Disclosed is a leverless operating mechanism for a railway car door of the type adapted to be received in an opening in the side wall of a railway car. The door has vertically extending pipes rotatably supported on the door with crank means on either end of the pipes attached to engage support means on the car to support the door for lateral movement into and out of the door opening. Locking means are providing on the door for securing it in the door opening as well as a manual operating means for actuating the pipes and the locking means. The operating means includes a sleeve means supported on the door for movement transverse to the plane of the door. The sleeve means has an internally threaded cylinder received within it and secured to the door. A shaft is threaded in the cylinder and has a handle mounted thereon for rotation therewith. A connection between the handle and the sleeve means permits relative rotational movement between the handle and the sleeve means and limits relative axial movement therebetween so that they move together transverse to the plane of the door. The sleeve means has a plurality of radially extending arms which are connected to a plurality of levers pivotally supported on the door. The adjacent arms and levers have a cam surface formed on one of them and a cam surface follower on the other of them so that movement of the sleeve means causes a timed pivoting movement of the levers. Some of the levers are interconnected by means of linkages to the pipes and others of the levers are connected with the locking means whereby transverse movement of the sleeve imparts movement to said pipes and said locking means.

This invention relates to an operating mechanism for railway car doors and more particularly to a leverless operating mechanism which is self-locking and which includes an improved mechanism for controlling the sequential operation of the locking bolts and the door.

In a customary plug door, the door is supported on the side of the railway car by pipes and cranks which permit lateral movement of the door into and out of the door opening. The pipes and cranks traditionally have been operated by manual levers connected to the pipes on the exterior surface of the door. The side locking bolts for the door ordinarily have been operated -by a separate rotatable handle. When the levers are actuated in a direction toward the plane of the door, the door is moved laterally into the door opening and the gasket around the periphery of the door is compressed to seal the door opening. When the levers are released and rotated in the direction away from the plane of the door, the pipes and cranks are rotated to withdraw the door laterally from the door opening so that the door may freely slide along the outside of the railway car.

The use of plug doors in railway cars transporting grain or similar lading has given rise to certain problems, particularly with respect to the use of levers as the operating mechanism. For example, when a plug door employing levers to operate the door is used in a car for transporting grain, it has been found that when the car is spotted 'ice - for unloading, there frequently is insuflicient space available to rotate the levers to withdraw the plug door from the door opening. The result has been that the car must be moved from the center of the grain pit to a point where additional space is available to rotate the levers and then respotted over the grain pit. Moreover, once the levers are actuated, the contents of the car exert a force against the face of the door which gives rise to the possibility of a lever flying open and attendant harm to the operator.

The present invention solves the problems of the prior art by providing a leveless operating mechanism for operating both the locking bolts and the pipes of a plug door whereby the lateral withdrawal of the door is at all times under the control of the operator. The present mechanism also provides for the proper timing between the locking mechanisms on the door and the mechanism for withdrawing the door from the door opening. That is, the present invention has devised a mechanism which provides for the unlocking and withdrawal of the door from its opening and its reinsertion and locking by means of cam surfaces, cam slots and bell cranks which act as timing means to assure the proper operation of the door.

The present invention contemplates a railway car door adapted to be received in an opening in the side Wall of a railway car. It has vertically extending pipes rotatably supported on the door and crank means on either end of each of the pipes adapted to support the door for lateral movement into and out of the opening in the railway car. Support means on the car cooperate with the crank means and operating means carried by the door are operable to rotate the pipes and the crank means. The operating means include a hollow internally threaded member secured on the door with the longitudinal axis of the member being transverse to the plane of the door. A shaft extends into and is in threaded engagement with the internally threaded member. A handle is secured to the shaft and a yoke having one of its ends attached to the handle is adapted to slide over the hollow internally threaded member. The yoke has radially extending arms with cam surfaces formed thereon adapted to cooperate with linkage means to rotate the pipes which impart lateral movement to the railway car 'door. The yoke also includes cam surfaces which cooperate with linkage means to actuate the side locking bolts in the proper sequence.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of the plug door in closed position in a railway car.

FIG. 2 is a view taken along section 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along section 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a section taken along section 44 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a section taken along section 55 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 illustrates an alternate design of the mechanism for rotating the pipes.

Illustrated in FIG. 1 is a side wall 10 of a conventional railway car having a door opening 11 formed therein. A laterally movable plug door 12 is adapted to be received in the door opening 11. The door 12 is also adapted to move along the side 10 of the railway car.

A track 13 supports the door 12 for its movement along the railway car side 10. Rollers 14 which are maintained in brackets 15 move on the track 13. The brackets 15 have protruding pins 16 which are rotatably mounted in cranks 17 secured to one end of pipes 18. The other end of the pipes 18 have cranks 27 which support rollers received behind a top retainer 30.

The cranks 17 and 27 are mounted perpendicular to the plane of the door when it is closed. This position of the cranks 17 results in a minimum amount of initial transverse movement of the door 12 relative to the car 10.

The pipes 18 are secured to the door 12 by brackets 20 which allow the pipes 18 to rotate relative to the door.

o The rotation of the cranks 18 are controlled by the connecting rods 32. The rods 32 are connected to the pipes 18 by arms 33 and are operated by means 34 which will be more fully described with reference to FIG. 4.

Side locking bolts 36 are provided to lock the door 12 by sliding into keeper recesses 42 in the door opening 11. The bottom locking bolt 40 has the same function. The locking bolts 36 and 40 are adapted to slide along the plane of the door 12 and enter the keeper recesses when the door is in a locked position. The bottom locking bolt 40 is connected directly to a central operating mechanism 48, whereas the side locking bolts 36 are connected with the operating mechanism 48 by means of bell cranks 50 and 51 pivoted n the door 12. The bell cranks 51 are connected to an operating bar 53 which is directly operated by the operating means 48.

FIG. 2 is a sectional taken along 2-2 of FIG. 1. It illustrates a cross-sectional view of that portion of mechanism 48 which controls the locking bolts 36 and 40. The

bottom locking bolt 40 is pivotably secured to a pin 56.

A second pin 57 on the bracket 55 acts as a pivot means for a cam follower 58 which has two legs 59 and 60 rigidly secured at an angle to each other. The leg 59 supports a cam roller 59a.

The roller 59a: of the cam follower 58 engages a cam surface 63 on a yoke 61 which may move in a direction transverse to the door 12. The cam follower 58 follows the cam surface 63 during its movement. The yoke 61 comprising a sleeve 67 and radially extending arms 62 connected to a handle 65 by interlocking flanges 66 whereby the handle 65 may rotate relative to sleeve 67. An externally threaded shaft 69 is also secured to the handle 65.

A hollow internally threaded member 72 is secured to the door 12 and has its longitudinal axis transverse to the plane of the door 12. It cooperates with the threaded shaft 69 to actuate the door 12.

As the handle 65 is rotated counterclockwise (as shown by the dotted portions of FIG. 2) the threaded shaft 69 moves away from the door 12. As it moves, the yoke 61 and its cam surfaces 63 actuate the cam follower 58 which pivots about the pin 57 thus moving the bottom lock bolt in an upward direction. The cam surface, cam follower and bar above the threaded shaft 69 act in exactly the same manner as that just described.

The shape of the cam surfaces 63 is significant since it regulates the time at which the locking bolts release. This timing must provide for the locking bolts 36 and 40 to clear the keeper recesses 42 before the withdrawal of the door 12 from the opening.

The shape of the cam surface 63 is an upwardly opening recess having a transverse flat surface 64 at one side of the recess and an upstanding leg 68 at the other side. The cam recess is upwardly opening with its major axis parallel to the door 12 and its closed end in proximity to the sleeve 67. The open end of the oval forms two legs 62a and 62b of different heights which have their inner surfaces extending parallel to the handle 65 and away from the sleeve 67. The legs 62a and 62b form a mouth and slot to receive the cam roller 59a.

The particular shape of the cam surface 63 allows the cam roller 59a to quickly retract locking bolts 36, 40 in order to release the locking bolts before any significant movement of the door 12.

The operation of the side locking bolts 36 is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5. The mechanism for operating the upper side locking bolts comprises bell cranks 51 which cooperate with operating bar 53 in a known manner to retract the bolts. The bell cranks cooperate in a similar fashion with a slot 74 in locking bolt 40 to retract the lower side locking bolts 36.

FIG. 4 is a sectional taken along section 4-4 of FIG. 1 and indicates a sectional view of the mechanism for rotating the pipes 18. The yoke 61 has radially extending arms 80 in which there are formed cam recesses 81 adapted to receive cam rollers 93. The cam rollers 93 are carried by one arm of bell cranks 95. Each bell crank 95 is pivoted about pins 96 on bracket 97. The other arms 98 are connected by pins 99 to connecting rods 32.

The cam recesses 81 extend generally transverse to the sleeve 67 The open end of each recess includes opposed surfaces 82 and 83 at the terminal portions of the generally parallel sides of the recess 81. The surface 82 is radially spaced at a greater distance from the sleeve 67 than the surface BS with the surface 83 forming a greater angle with the sides of the recess 81 than the surface 82.

In operation, only the handle 65 need be rotated to open the door 12. As it is rotated, the shaft 69 is threaded away from the door causing the sleeve 67 with its radially extending arms 62 and to move away from the door 12 in a transverse direction. As the arms 62 move outwardly, the cam rollers 59a are immediately displaced from the recess 63 onto the flat surface 64 thereby unlocking bolts 36 and 40.

Simultaneous with the displacement of the cam rollers 59a the arms 80 are moving away from the door. In the closed position of the door, as shown in FIG. 4, the cam rollers 93 are resting on the surfaces 83 of the arms 80. Initial movement of the arms 80 away from the door causes a separation of the roller 93 from the cam surface 83; however, no pivoting movement is imparted to the bell crank during the initial movement of the arms 80 since the surface 82 on the arm 80 is spaced from the roller 93. The spacing of the surface 82 from the roller 93 constitutes in effect a lost motion device so that as the arm 80 is progressing to a position of engagement between the surface 82 and roller 93, the bolts 36 and 40 are being retracted from the keeper recesses thereby freeing the door for lateral withdrawal from the door opening. As the handle 65 is further rotated, the surface 82 on the arm 80 will engage the roller 93 and cause pivoting of the bell cranks 95 to displace the rods 32 and thereby rotate the pipes 18 causing the lateral withdrawal of the door. It should be noted in this regard that, since the cranks 17 and 27 are substantially perpendicular to the plane of the door when the door is in the closed position, only a minimum amount of lateral movement of the door will occur during the initial rotation of the pipes, thereby assuring that the locking bolts will be fully retracted before any substantial lateral movement of the door.

An alternate embodiment of the yoke is illustrated in FIG. 6 in which the arms 80 are replaced by arms 100 which carry, at their radially outer extremity, pins 101. Each pin is adapted to be received in an arcuate slot 102 formed in one arm 103 of a modified bell crank lever 104. The other arm of the bell crank 104 is connected to the connecting rod 32 in a manner similar to the bell crank 95 of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4. The arcuate configuration of the slot 102 is such that a portion of the slot extends substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the sleeve 67 which carries the arm 100 and the pin 101. The remainder of the slot gradually curves away from the sleeves 67. With this configuration of the slot, initial movement of the sleeve 67 and the arm 100 away from the door 12 causes the pin 101 to traverse the longitudinal portion of the slot 102. In this region of the slot 102, virtually no movement is imparted to the bell crank 104 so that the pipes 18 remain inactive during the initial withdrawal of the bolts 36 and 40 from their respective keepers. As the pins 101 engage the remaining portion of the slots 102, the bell cranks are pivoted and rotation is imparted to pipes 18.

We claim:

1. A railway car door adapted to be received in an opening in the side wall of a railway car comprising:

vertically extending pipes rotatably supported on said door;

crank means on either end of said pipes adapted to engage support means on the car to support said door for lateral movement into and out of the opening in the car;

locking means on the door for securing the door in the door opening;

manual operating means on said door for actuating said pipes and said locking means;

said operating means including a sleeve means supported on said door for movement transverse to the plane of the door;

an internally threaded sleeve means secured to said door; a shaft threaded in said sleeve means; a handle mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith; means rotatably interconnecting said handle with said sleeve means to permit relative rotational movement and limit relative axial movement therebetween;

means interconnecting said sleeve means with said pipes and said locking means whereby transverse movement of said sleeve means imparts controlled sequential movement to said pipes and said locking means throughout the entire opening and closing movement of the door.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said interconnecting means and said sleeve means include mechanical timing means, said timing means including links with slots which are operative to delay actuation of said pipes so that said locking means are actuated before said pipes during the door opening operation.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said sleeve means further includes a plurality of spaced, radially extending arms;

said interconnecting means including a plurality of levers pivotally supported on said door adjacent each of said arms;

each of said adjacent arms and levers having a cam surface formed on one of them and cam following means on the other of them adapted to engage said cam surface whereby movement of said sleeve means causes pivoting movement of said levers;

said interconnecting means further including linkage means interconnecting certain of said levers with said pipes and the other of said levers with said locking means.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said carn surfaces and cam following means on said levers and adjacent arms connected to said pipes have engaging surface portions which when in motion relative to each other are ineffective to cause movement of said pipes during a predetermined range of movement of said sleeve means.

5. The combination of claim 3 wherein said cam surfaces are formed on said arms and said cam follower means are on said levers;

each of said cam surfaces on said arms including a recess adapted to receive the adjacent cam follower means in one position of said member;

each of said cam surfaces further including surfaces adjacent said recesses adapted to engage said cam follower means in other positions of said member.

6. The combination of claim 1 wherein said sleeve means includes a radially outwardly opening recess formed therein;

lever means pivotally supported on said door adjacent said recess;

a portion of said lever means being adapted to be received in said recess in one position of said sleeve means; and

linkage means interconnecting said lever means with said locking means.

7. The combination of claim 1 wherein said sleeve means includes a radially outwardly opening recess formed therein;

lever means pivotally supported on said door and having a portion adapted to be received in said recess in one position of said sleeve means;

the radially outer end of said recess including a tapered cam surface adapted to engage said portion of said lever means in another position of said sleeve means; and

linkage means interconnecting said lever means with said pipes.

8. The combination of claim 1 wherein said sleeve means comprises:

a sleeve having bifurcated arms extending radially outwardly on opposed sides thereof;

lever means pivotally supported on said door and having a portion thereof adapted to be received in the recess defined by the bifurcation in said arms;

one side wall of said recess terminating in a radially outwardly tapered cam surface;

the other side wall of said recess extending radially outwardly beyond said tapered cam surface and terminating in a portion extending inwardly of said recess and spaced from said cam surface whereby said portion of said lever means may engage said cam surface while being spaced from said other side wall of said recess.

9. The combination of claim 1 wherein said means interconnected with each of said pipes includes a lever pivotally supported on said door adjacent said sleeve means;

each of said levers including a cam slot formed therein;

cam follower means on said sleeve means received in said slots;

a portion of each of said slots extending substantially transverse to the plane of said door and substantially parallel to the direction of movement of said sleeve means.

10. The combination of claim 8 wherein said sleeve further includes additional arms extending radially thereof;

said means interconnecting said locking means with said sleeve including levers pivoted on said door adjacent said additional arms;

cam surfaces formed on said additional arms;

a portion of said last mentioned levers being in engagement with said cam surfaces on said additional arms.

KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner.

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