Running-board for cars.

Application filed November 9,1912. Serial No. 730,333.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known- that I, Ira S. Downing, a citizen of the United States, residing at' Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and 5 State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RunningBoards for Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to running boards 10 for the tops of freight cars and the like, and has for its primary objects; the provision of. a running board presenting an antislipping surface of a superior character; the provision of a running board which will normally 15 keep itself free of ice and snow; and the* provision of a running board which will require little attention or repair, which can be cheaply constructed, and which has little tendency to cause deterioration in the roof 20 beneath it. Certain embodiments of the invention are' illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein—

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a freight car with my improved running board ap25 plied thereto; Fig, 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the footing plate or sheet employed; Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the saddles employed; Fig. 4 is a section at the top of the car, showing the saddle, in 30 side elevation; Fig. 5 is a section on the line V—V of Fig. 4·; Fig. 6 is a section through a modified form of saddle, and Fig. 7 is a section through the saddle employed where two sections of the running board are joined ³⁵ together end-to-end.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the car body; 2 is the car roof; 3 is one of the roof carlines (Fig. 4) to which the running board is secured as hereinafter explained; 4 is the 40 footing plate or sheet of the running board and 6 are metal side strips to which the edges of the plate 4 are secured; and 7 are saddles lying beneath the. plate. 4 and secured at their ends to the side strips 5 and 6.

⁴⁵ The footing plate 4 is of expanded metal, and preferably has its edges 8 and 9 turned down and left solid as indicated in Fig. 2. The sheets 4 are preferably used in lengths of about ten feet, and the solid edges 8 and ⁵⁰ 9 permit of a more secure attachment to the side strips 5 and 6 than would be. the case if the sheet were expanded clear to its edges. The attachment between the downturned edges 8 and 9 and the side strips 5 and 6 is ⁵⁵ preferably secured by means of rivets. The expanded metal’ gives a very desirable foot ing, as expanded metal is so twisted in its formation as to present a network of relatively sharp corners, thus giving a first class antislipping surface. Furthermore the θρ slight amount of give incident to expanded metal serves to make the footing more secure, thus differentiating from the ordinary metal footings such as gratings and the like, wherein the hard and yielding quality of the 65 metal tends to cause unsteadiness and slipping, particularly in wet weather.

Spaced apart about twenty inches are the transverse saddles 7 shown in detail in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, such saddles being formed on 70 their lower sides to fit the top of the car, and upon their upper sides engage and support the sheets 4. These saddles are preferably malleable castings of the cross section indicated in Fig. 5, the upper flange of the 75 saddle being secured to the expanded metal sheet 4 by means of the bolts 10, and the end flanges (Fig. 4) being secured to the side strips δ and 6 by means of the bolts 11. The central portion of the saddle is recessed as so indicated at 12, and in this recess fits the head of the securing bolt 13, such securing bolt extending down through the carline 3 as indicated in Fig. 4. Any other suitable fastening means might obviously be substi- 85 tuted in place of the securing means 10, 11, and 13. It will be seen that by securing the side edges 8 and 9. of the expanded metal sheet 4 to the strips 5 and 6, and by securing the sheet to the saddles by means of the so bolts 10, each rectangular section of expanded metal bounded by the strips and the saddles is maintained against sagging, so that a lighter grade of sheet metal may be employed than if the metal had to depend 95 upon sits own stiffness to prevent it from sagging.

As indicated in Fig. 4, the lower edges of the side strips 5 And 6 lie above the top of the car roof 2, thus providing a space to 100 permit the passage of any water or snow which otherwise might 'collect beneath the expanded metal footing 4. This arrangement not only prevents the filling up of the space beneath the sheet 4 with snow, and the 105 consequent spoiling of the footing when this becomes a solid mass, but also tends to prevent deterioration in the roof beneath the running board due to the holding of moisture. , 110

In Fig. 6 is illustrated another form, pf saddle 7 , such saddle in this instance being

1,085,186 made in the form of a channel. This channel is secured at its ends to the side strips 5 and 6 by means of bolts as in the other type of saddle, but is secured to the footing sheet 5 4 in a different manner. The saddle is provided with a plurality of upstanding lugs 14 adapted to project through the spaces in the footing, and these projections are subsequently bent over so as to clamp the sheet 4 10 to the saddle.

Fig. 7 illustrates the construction employed where one section of the running board is secured to another, the number of sections necessary in order to form the’com15 plete running board depending of course ° upon the length of the car. The means employed for connecting the two sections is a malleable casting 15 in the form of an inverted Y. The end edges of the footing sheets 4 ²⁰ are turned down as indicated in Fig. 6 and held in place by means of the angles 16 clamped in position by means of the bolts 17.