US1971179A - Railway car - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 21, 1934. .G. G. G lLPlN 1,971,179

RAI LWAY CAR Filed Nov. 9, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 G. G. GILPIN RAILWAY CAR Aug. 21, 1934.

Filed Nov. 9, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ///////l. Will/(I,

llllllll Patented Aug. 21 1934 UNITED STATES;

mi iLwAroz'i'it Garth G. Gilpin, Riverside, Illgas'sig'nor to" Union Metal Products Company, Chicago, Ill.,.a corporation of Delaware Application November 9, 1931, SerialNo. 573,919

The invention relates to railway cars and the object of the invention is to provide means to increase the vertical inside available height of a railway car for loading automobiles, or simi- :18.1 articles, without lowering the floor of the car, and furthermore, if used with a car having a roof, to increase such available height without lowering the floor or raising the roof of the car.

In loading automobiles, especially the smaller type, they are elevated to an oblique position (as illustrated on the drawings herein) until one end of the auto is adjacent the roof of i the railway car and then another automobile is 5 -placed partially under the first automobile. Ob-

viously the greater the angle of elevation of the first automobile, the further the second automobile may be moved thereunder and the less horizontal space in the railway car will be occupied by the two assembled cars; furthermore,

the greater the vertical inside height of the railway car, the greater may be the angle of elevation of the first mentioned automobile.

The height of the floor of a car is determined g5-i by the height of the center sills or backbone of the car, which in turn is determined by the height of the coupler and its associated shock absorber, which must be maintained so that any car will readily and automatically couple with ?;any other car. This coupler height is a standard with the American Railway Association and is used and has been used for a quarter of a century by all the railroads of the United States and Canada.

5; The roofs of railway cars now in service,

which were designed especially to transport automobiles, have their roofs as high as possible; that is, without infringing upon bridge and tunnel clearances established by the railroads,

' :therefore, it is impracticable to raise the roofs of the car.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows a method of loading automobiles in a railway car equipped with my improved device.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of the car with the automobiles omitted.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section of half of the car illustrating the invention.

1 In the drawings the frame of the car comprises the roof 2, side walls 3 and the floor 4. A typical car structure is shown comprising center sills 6, cover plate 7, side sills 8, center sill stilfeners 9, cross bearers 10, cross bearer 'Iltop and bottom plates 12 and. side post 13.

4 Claims. (01. roasts) 5 In order to maintain. the floor .4 as low 'as possible floor boards are positioned in closeprox imity to the center construction, as shown at 16 in Fig. 3, and also in close proximity to the top of the side sill 8, as shown at 18 in Fig. 3, necessitating the use of floor stringers or nailing strips 20 which'are supported at the cross bearers 10 and body bolsters 21 by angle clips 22.

My invention consists in providing a pair of parallel members 30 extending lengthwise of the car forming channels having treads 32 below the top 34 of the floor and spaced apart the distance (36) between the centers of the wheels of an automobile whereby when an automobile is loaded in a car with the wheels in such channels, as shown in Fig. 1, the vertical distance for loading thereof in the car is increased. lhe effective loading distance is the distance from the bottom or tread 32 of the channel 30 to the underside of the roof 2, the roof framing members 38, or load lifting beam 40, as the case may be. In other words, the effective loading height is increased a distance equal to the depth 42 of the channel.

The channel members 36 are preferably supported by the cross bearers l0 and body bolsters 21 and in order to obtain a greater depth than that equal to the thickness of the flooring, I prefer to depress the upper surfaces (44) of these cross bearers (and body bolsters) adjacent the channel members 30 so that the vertical depth of the channel may be correspondingly increased. This is shown particularly in Fig. 3.

The floor boards 4 extend laterally of the car and are supported by and preferably secured to the supporting strips 20, and as the floor boards have been severed to partially provide the channel, it is necessary to support the adjacent ends of these floor boards, which in the form illustrated, is done by providing the channel with lateral flanges 46 to which the floor boards are bolted (48) or otherwise secured.

In order to provide a flush floor when the car is loaded otherwise than herein described, I' provide a cover 50 which is hinged (52) at one 10.0 edge of the channel and which may be thrown back and laid upon the floor when desired. This cover is preferably provided with a stiffening corrugation 54.

Any convenient means may be used to block the automobile wheels in the channel 30.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and de- 110.

scribed, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a railway car, the combination of a floor, a plurality of cross bearers, and a pair of parallel members extending lengthwise of the car forming channels having treads below the floor and spaced apart the distance between the centers of the wheels of an automobile whereby the vertical distance for loading automobiles in the car is increased, said channel members being supported by said cross bearers which are decreased in vertical depth adjacent said channel members so that the vertical depth of the channel members may be correspondingly increased.

2. In a railway car, the combination of a floor, and a pair of parallel members extending lengthwise of the car forming channels having treads below the floor and spaced apart the distance between the centers of the wheels of an automobile' whereby the vertical distance for loading ,members provided with lateral flanges to support the floor. 4. In a railway car, the combination of a floor,

and a pair of parallel members extending lengthwise of the car forming channels having treads below the floor and spaced apart the distance between the centers of the wheels of an automobile whereby the vertical distance for loading automobiles in the car is increased, and a cover hinged at one edge of said channel which is flush with the top of the floor when closed.

' GARTH G. GILPIN.

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