US2631436A - Car icing system - Google Patents

Description

March 17, 195.3

Filed DSC. 14, 1948 C. K. FAYE ET AL CAR ICING SYSTEM 4 Sheets-Sheet l TJ Z1 EIIIIEI DIECI DDD JCI

March 17, 1953 Filed Dec. 14. 1948 C. K. FAYE ET AL CAR ICING SYSTEM 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 BMM March 17, 1953 wc. K. FAYE ET AL CAR ICING SYSTEM Filed Deo. 14, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 yo j 1 /NVf/VTORS CHARLES /CFAYE /RA C. BALDW/N i i ffm-r ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 17, 1953 UNITED STATES UAR ICING SYSTEM Charles K. Faye, San Francisco, and Ira C. Baldwin, Portola, Cali-f., assignors to The Western Pacific Railroad. Company,

San Francisco,

Calif., a corporation of California Applicationr December 14, 1948, Serial No. 65,172`v 8 Claims.

Still another object of the invention isv thel provision ofv an.V improvedmeans for breaking up. large cakes` of ice into smaller pieces.

Qur-invention possesses other objects andl features of value,` some of which, with lthe foregoing, will beset forth inthe following description of: our invention. Itis to be understood that we.V do not limit ourselves to the showing made by the said. description, and the drawings, asY

we may adopt variant forms of our invention withinthe scope of the appended claims. Y

InlfthedrawingaFigure 1 isa vertical sectional View of af principal portionof our apparatus, including the breaker rotor, part of the conveyor systenr. and driving motor. The plane of section` is indicated bythe line I-I- of Fig-ure 3. Figure 2 is a planview ofthe motor and driving connections.` Figure 3; is a vertical sectional view taken inY the plane indicated' by the line 3.-.-3 of Figurel. Figuresi and 5 are respectively side and end; elevations. ofthe4 breaker rotor. Figure Gis a vertical sectional view through the structure taken in the planey indicated. by the line 6 6 of Figure 9. Figure '7 is a bottom view of the chute end. Figure 8; is a cross. sectional viewtaken in the plane4 indicated by the line 8.-8. of- Figure- 6. Figure 91 isa plan View, partly diagram showing the apparatus with reference-tov two refrigerator cars in position for the. icing of one end of each. lFigure 10. is a. cross sectional view of the delivery chute, taken -in the. plane indicated by the line iii--l of Figurev 6.y Figure 11- is a. plan View of the icing system in accordance with the inventionv showin-g the layout of the stationary ice troughv iitted with an endless conveyor adjacent to. a1 plurality of refrigerator cars on the railway tracks therealong, adapted tobe selectively supplied` with the crushed icemoving along the trough.

A heavy4 percentageof freight moved by rail isv carried in refrigerator cars which are cooled by'ice: With the increase in volume of such shipments, and the rising cost of al1l labor, the problem of. icing theA cars yhas become a serious: one. While our invention does not. wholly dispensel with` human effort, manual labor in handling roofs of.` the cars. awaiting icing.

the apparatus is reduced to a minimum andi a small operating crew can service an entire train of refrigerator cars in a traction of the time` formerly required by a much larger crew Wokingy under older methods. The saving of time the icingr of the cars by our system is one of its chief advantages; and. this saving is re"- fiected in many betterments-speeding up of shipments, lessening of spoiiage, preservation of quality o cargo,- lessenedY labor costs and others..

In terms of broad inclusion, the system of'our invention comprises a supporting framework arranged along a railroad track where a train of refrigerator cars may stop. An ice breaker rotor is located in the upper part of the frame for breaking up large cakes of ice which 'are carried tothe rotor from a conveniently located storage by a suitable conveyor.

The cracked ice falls into a long trough supported on the framework and extending along the track but high enough to be Well above the One reach oi an endless chain is arranged in the trough with drag blades to move the broken ice along with the chain.

At suitable intervals. corresponding to the length oi the cars, loading stations are provided.

At thesek points the bottom of the conveyor trough is provided with gate means for .dropping the ice into a distributor .chute down whch, the ieeflows to a selected ice hatch in thecar roof.. The distributor chu-te is adjustable both as to length and angular position,. and when ythe adjacent ends of two cars are spotted opposite theY loading, station,V each of the four'h-atche's in the'adjacent endso thecarsis readily reached by the. chute. Ther same condition exists at the next load-ing stat-ion, Aat which the ends of two adjacent cars lie within easy range of the `disl tributor chute at that station.

As many loading stations as desiredA are vdisposed along the track at such intervals as permit the spotting of a` succession of cars; and eachstation is Supplied with cracked, ice from the.

conveyor trough. When the gate at a given. staf-' tion is closed, the Acracked ice in the. conveyor4 trough passes through that ystation and on to the next station where it may or may notV be dropped into. a` distributor chute according to the setting of the gate means at that point.

It will therefore be understood that withvthre loading stations for example, the spotting of the forward end of the rst oar opposite the first' sta-V tion will simultaneously spot therear end ,oilthe d rst car and the forward end of the secondcar i opposite the second station, and the rear end of the second car and the forward end of the third car opposite the third station. This places each of the first ten loading hatches within range of a distributor chute. After the necessary ice has been dropped through these hatches, the train is advanced to spot the succeeding series of cars, until all have been iced.

A detailed description of our system follows.

Along a straight stretch of railroad track where a train of refrigerator cars may pause, a long framework comprising vertical members 2 and horizontal members 3 is erected. Supported in this framework and lying substantially parallel to the vertical plane of the near rail is a trough having a bottom 4 and vertical sides 5. The trough carries the upper reach of an endless conveyor chain, including the two side chains and the drag blades 8 secured to the chains and extending across the trough.

The chain is of course carried by sprockets at each end, only the driving sprocket 9 at the right of YFigure 1 being shown; since the construction and mounting of the sprocket at the opposite end is obvious. A pair of guides |2 is also preferably provided below the main trough to support and guide the lower reach of the chain; and to ease the entry of the drag blades into the upper trough, the sides are flared outwardly and the bottom angled downwardly at the end near the driving sprockets.

The driving sprocket 9 is fixed on a shaft |3, journaled in bearings |4, secured to frame members; and the shaft is rotated by gears I6, connecting it to shaft journaled in bearings I8 and connected through a gear train in housing |9 with the electric motor 2|. Rotation of the motor 2| is therefore eifective to drive the conveyor chains in the direction indicated by the arrows, moving the drag blades through the trough.

Means including mechanism for breaking up large cakes of ice are provided for supplying a substantially continuous flow of cracked ice into the end of the trough near the incoming drag blades. Journaled in bearings 22, supported on its frame, is a shaft 23, having radial flanges 24 at the ends, and flanges 25 dividing the shaft into three portions as best shown in Figure 4.

Extending between the flanges and welded there` to are four evenly spaced head bars 21 of square cross section, and with the two inner sides lying in planes tangent to the shaft.

Mounted in each head bar and extending out tangentially from the outer leading face thereof are three breaker points, the outer points 28 being longer than the middle points 29. These points are of square cross section in their main body portion, which seats in a shallow transverse groove in the head to prevent twisting of the point. The shank 3| of the point is tapered to t a tapered hole in the head bar; and a nut 32,

threaded on the shank, holds the point securely in its seat. The outer end of the point is tapered and slightly hooked forwardly as shown; and because of the tangential mounting of the points, they tend to draw the ice into the breaker rotor, rather than push it away.

The breaker rotor shaft 23 carries on one end the sprocket 35, connected by chain 36 to the 4 on a shaft 41, journaled on the link 48, which at the other end, is pivoted on the shaft 49, journaled in bearings 5|, mounted on vertical frame members.

Fixed on the shaft 49 is a sprocket 52, connected by chain 53 to the sprocket 46, so that the shaft 49 is rotated in time with the breaker rotor. This is important since the shaft is utilized to operate conveyor means to bring cakes of ice to the breaker rotor. Extending from just below the breaker rotor to a convenient loading point is an elevator trough or chute 54, in the middle of which is the endless chain 56 with spikes 51 at intervals extending into the trough bottom 58 far enough to engage ice cakes placed therein and propel them along to the breaker rotor. The chain runs over sprockets, one of which 59 is fixed on the shaft 49. In Figure 1 of the drawings only the ends of the elevator chute and chain nearest the breaker rotor is shown, the opposite or lower end terminating in a convenient place for loading the elevator from an ice storage room or from a truck.

The bottom of the elevator chute is extended beyond the sprocket 59 in a portion 6|, ending directly below the rotor shaft 23; and a steel plate 62 connects the high edge which is just missed by the swinging points 28, with the bottom E3 of the trough S4, which discharges into the trough 66, having the sloping bottom 51, which in turn discharges into the main conveyor trough 4-5.

In order to insure that no large chunks of ice pass the breaker rotor, triangular blades E8 are bolted t0 the trough bottom E3; and extend through the steel plate 62, within but to one side of the sweep of the points 28 and 29. To insure the delivery of the ice cakes to the downsweep" ing breaker points, a weighted hold-down rack 69 is pivoted on the frame with its free end arranged to bear on the ice cakes just in front of the breaker rotor. On the opposite side of the rotor,

' a guard plate fixed to the frame, prevents ice sprocket 31, fixed on shaft 38, which is driven by a worm gear in housing 39 from the shaft 4|,

coupled to the shaft 42 of the motor 43. Engag- Y ing the outer side of one reach of the chain 36 is a sprocket 44, fixed with a smaller sprocket 46 chunks from being thrown out of the trough.

From the above it will be clear that cakes of ice from storage are loaded into the elevatortrough 54, and carried by the chain 56 into the sweeping breaker points 28 and 29 which, with the fixed blades 5B, reduce the cakes to the desired size chunks, forcing them through the short trough 64 into the sloping trough 66, from which they slide into the main conveyor trough to be caught and carried therealong by the drag blades 8.

The frame may be provided with a single loading station and distributor chute to be supplied to the conveyor trough, or it may be extended to include a number of loading stations, each with its distributor chute, and spaced apart a distance corresponding to the length of the cars, so that v a series of cars may be properlyspotted, and all iced without again moving them. For purposes 0f this explanation an extension of the'frame and conveyor trough (to the left of Figure 1) to include three loading stations is'a'ssumed. Fig-v ure 9 illustrates in plan, the apparatus so far explained and including the rst loading station.

Three loading stations are shown fully in Figure 11, with the first station in operating condition.l

with the cross bar 19, journaled at its ends in the bracket. VAlong the upper edge of each side off" The chute is connected by pivot pin 18 through its bottom wall the cima, and extending; Weir beyond its free-end, a split tube 8| is securedrand a bridle 82 pivoted to the tube ends is'connected'to-a cable 83' running over lixed" pulleys im` the frame to a counter Weight 86'.

.In order to give greater range tothe chu-te, it is provided with an extension 81, lying on the outside of the chute and suspended therefrom by hangers 83 extending through the slots Aof the tubes vto small carriages 89- on the inside. A hand-hold 9| `on each side ofthe extension near its. free end provides convenient means for 'manually controlling both the position of the chutea-nd the degree of its extension. The importance of such control is illustrated in Figure 9, Where two adjacent cars 92 and 93' are shown 'spotted opposite the first loading station, 'so that each of theA four ice hatches 94 in the ends 'o'f the cars are readily reached Without moving the cars.

Means are provided for dropping ice from the main conveyor trough into any selected distributor chute in the system. At each loading station and immediately above the flared end of the distributing chute, is a gate 96, framed between angle iron sides 91, which are pivoted at 98 on one yside of the conveyor trough and movable from-itsup.. per position,r 'in which it forms part ofthe iioor of the trough (over which ice may be dragged tothe next loading station) toits lower position, in which it forms with the fixed sides 99 a connectingI trough between the main conveyor trough and the distributing chute. A xed rail: |00 across the gate openingen 'each side gives vsupport. to the conveyor chain and blades When the gate. is open.; and a removable pin |02 in a vertical member ofthe frame under one of the angle iron sidesof' the 'gate holds itin upper or raised position.

Side walls |03 are fixed to the gate at its free end to prevent loss of ice between it and the chute; and this walled section is also useful in preventing loss of salt as it pours from the spout |04, located directly above the free end of the gate. Since a certain quantity of salt is added to each charge of ice loaded into the car hatch, a salt bin |06 is arranged at each loading station above the gate. The bin has a sloping bottom |01 so disposed as to empty into the spout. Slides |08 and |09 at opposite ends of the spout are -pivotally connected to the lever l0 which is piv oted on the bracket arm I2. As one slide opens, the other closes. In the position of the parts shown in Figure 6, the spout has filled with salt, the size of the spout having been calculated tn hold a, desired unit volume. At the proper time, one of the operating crew raises the slide |09, simultaneouslr closing the slide |08, thus releasing a charge of salt, which falls into the walled end of the gate to be swept down the chute and into the ice hatch by the stream of ice.

When the loading of the necessary charge of ice and salt into each of the loading hatches of the lcars 92 and 93 has been completed, the gate is raised and the pin |02 inserted, whereupon the drag blades convey the ice straight through the station and on to the next open gate, where ice and salt are dropped into the distributor chute at that station, and loaded into the waiting hatches. The first chute extension is now pushed back onto the chute, and the wh-ole chute structure raised out of the way where it is held by the counterweight, since the center of gravity of the chute structure is nearer its pivotal mounting in telescoped position and therefore the Weight operates on a shorter lever arm.

aces-sse When 'the series of cars first spotted at the loading stations have been iced, the motors 2|` and |13` are stopped, and the train is moved along the track to spot a succeeding series of cars at the loading stations, whereupon the same cycle of operations is repeated.

'We claim:

l. A car icing system comprising al stationary frame to one side of the right-of-way on which the carsv may move, an ice crushing mechanism on said frame, a trough for receiving the crushed icefrom said mechanism extending along the side of and in parallel to said right-of-way, means' for moving the crushed ice along said trough, a distributor 'chute having its inlet end adjacent to said trough and its outlet end in direct discharging relation to the loading 4hatches of refri'gerating cars on said right-of-Way, and means comprising. a part of thev trough bottom for selectively diverting the crushed ice moving along said trough to the inlet end of said distributor chute.

2. A car icing system comprising a stationary frame to one side of the right-of-way on which the cars may move, an ice crushing mechanism on said frame, a trough for receiving the crushed ice from said mechanism extending along the side o'f said right-ofeway, an endless conveyor movable in said trough for advancing the crushed ice therealong, a movable distributor chute having its inlet end mounted below said trough and its outlet .endl in discharging relation tothe loading hatches of a plurality of refrigerating cars on said right-of-Way, and means forming a part ofthe trough bottom for selectively diverting the crushed ice moving alongv said trough into the inlet end of said distributor chute- 3`. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein the last-mentioned means comprises a cover for an opening in the trough bottom which is tilted to act as an auxiliary chute from the trough bottom to the inlet of the distributor chute.

4. A car icing system comprising a stationary frame having a plurality of icing stations, said frame disposed on a Side of the right-of-way on which a plurality of cars may be positioned for icing, said icing stations being longitudinally spaced along said frame in correspondence to the length of the cars being iced and the corresponding displacement between the sets of ice loading hatches in said cars, an ice crushing mechanism at one end of said frame, a platform for receiving the crushed ice from said mechanism extending along the side of said right-of-Way, conveyor means for moving the crushed ice along said platform from said end, a distributor chute at each one of said icing stations having its inlet end mounted below said platform and its outlet end in discharging relation to the loading hatches of refrigerating cars on said right-of-way, and means at longitudinally displaced points of said platform and corresponding to the displacement between said icing stations for diverting the crushed ice moving along said platform into the respective inlet ends of said distributor chutes at said icing stations.

5. A car icing system comprising a stationary frame having a plurality of icing stations, said frame disposed on a side of the right-of-Way on which a plurality of cars may loe positioned for icing, said icing stations being longitudinally spaced along said frame in correspondence to the length of the cars being iced and the corresponding displacement between the sets of ice loading hatches in said cars, an ice crushing mechanism at one end of said frame, a trough for receiving the crushed ice from said mechanism extending along the side of said right-of-way, a conveyor for moving the crushed ice along said platform from said end, a movable distributor chute at each one of said icing stations having its inlet end mounted below said trough and its outlet end in discharging relation to the loading hatches of refrigerating cars on said right-ofway, and a movable gate bottom at longitudinally displaced points of said trough and corresponding to the displacement between said icing stations for selectively diverting` the crushed ice moving along said trough into the respective inlet ends of said distributor chutes at said icing stations.

6. An apparatus as set forth in claim wherein each chute is rockable at its inlet end and is extensible so that the ice discharged thereinto by said movable gate bottom may be discharged selectively into the hatches of a plurality of cars positioned on a plurality of tracks of said rightof-Way with said hatches in proximity to the respective icing station.

7. A car icing system comprising a stationary frame having a plurality of icing stations, said frame disposed on a side of the right-of-way on which a plurality of cars may be positioned for icing, said icing stations being longitudinally spaced along said frame in correspondence to the length of the cars being iced and the corresponding displacement between the sets of ice loading hatches in said cars, an ice crushing mechanism at one end of said frame, a trough for receiving the crushed ice from said mechanism extending along the side of said right-of-way, an endless conveyor for advancing the crushed ice along said trough from said end, a movable distributor chute at each one of said icing stations having its inlet end oscillatably mounted about a vertical axis below said trough at one side thereof and its outlet end in discharging relation to the unloading hatches of refrigerating cars on said right-ofway, and a pivoted gate bottom at longitudinally displaced points of said trough and corresponding to the displacement between said icing stations pivotally mounted on the opposite side of said trough around an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis thereof for diverting the crushed ice moving along said platform into the respective inlet ends of said distributor chutes at said icing stations.

8. An apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein a salt bin is provided in said frame above the inlet end of each distributor chute and said salt bin having a control gate for transferring salt from said bin to said chute therebelow.

CHARLES K. FAYE. IRA C.' BALDWIN'.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS McLain et al Mar. 6, 1951

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