Railroad car construction with belt rail design

[57] ABSTRACT

In a railroad car or the like, the combination of placement of an inside mounted belt rail in a recessed or dished out panel at the approximate juncture of the side wall with the end wall, the comer post being outwardly of the end wall and the side wall, and an upright comer bar interposed between the belt rail and the end wall of the car whereby a plurality of belt rails in recessed panels in the side wall on each side of the car can, therefore, extend most of the length of the car, a plurality of such belt rails also being able to be positioned one above the other on the side walls, the portions of the belt rails at the ends of the car carrying crossmembers which act as reinforcements for the end wall.

Claims, 6 Drawing Figures

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PATENTED NOV 27 1973

3,774,552

SHEET 1 OF 3

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PATENTED NOV 2 7 1973

3,774,552

SHEET 2 CF 3

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PATENTED NOV 2 7 1973

3,774,552

SHEET 3 OF 3

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3,774,552

RAILROAD CAR CONSTRUCTION WITH BELT RAIL DESIGN

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the end wall and side wall construction of the railroad car employing belt rails and, in particular, end wall and side wall construction where belt rails are used in dished out or recessed panels along the sides of the car.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The use of load retaining means, lading strap anchors, belt rails or other load bracing means on the interior sides of a railroad car is well known, as for instance shown in U. S. Pats. Nos. 2,640,442 to Johnsen or 2,892,421 to Adler, and 3,183,855 to Adler, and 3,585,942 to Shaver, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference thereto. It will be seen from these patents that it is common to provide for a crossbar between a pair of belt rails, each belt rail being mounted on a respective side wall such that the crossmember connects one side wall with the other and prevents lading from shifting longitudinally in the car. The belt rails may be spaced apart from one another vertically on a wall so that a plurality of vertically spaced crossbars may be used. In all of these arrangements, however, because of the construction of the end wall and side wall and corner posts and side posts, it has not been possible to locate belt rails on side wall portions adjacent the ends of the car and, therefore, crossmembers could not be located adjacent the ends of the car and it is this that the invention accomplishes.

SUMMARY

It is a general object of this invention to provide for an improved end wall and side wall construction employing a belt rail arrangement. In particular, the invention provides for a combination side wall and end wall construction wherein the belt rail on the side wall is able to extend practically up to the end wall and, therefore, a crossmember carried by the belt rail near the end wall acts as a reinforcement for the end wall. Such an arrangement is accomplished by having the comer post outwardly of the side and end wall to provide for greater storage capacity within the freight vehicle. A further advantage of this invention provides for a corner bar in between the end wall and the belt rail for protection of the end wall should the belt rail be lodged outwardly end-wise of the car as, for instance, when lading shifts longitudinally of the car.

These and other objects will become more readily apparent with reference to the following description, appended claims and attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a railroad freight car;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2—2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3—3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4—4 of FIG 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5—5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is an exploded view ofthe car interior showing the comer post, end wall, side wall and belt rail arrangement.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED

EMBODIMENT

With reference now to the drawings and in particular with reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a freight car 1 having side walls 2 and ends 3· The side 2 is provided with a door 4 and the car is supported on trucks 5 and has a roof 6. At the end of each side of the car is provided hand grab 7 at the comer post 8. Between each comer post on the outsides of the car are located the side posts 9 and the car is further provided with side sill 10 and side sill reinforcement 11. Adjacent the roof on each side of the car is located the side plate 12. The sides of the car are covered with side sheeting 13.

The side sheeting 13 is connected to the side plate 12, as seen in FIG. 2, and the inside end lining 15 of the end wall or bulkhead 14 may be seen. The inside end lining 15 includes the end portion 15a and the side part 15b as, for instance, seen in FIGS. 4 and 5. As seen in FIG. 3, each comer post 8 is provided with a comer post stiffener 16. It is seen that a side end belt rail 17 is mounted on the dished out portion of the side sheeting 13 and the car is further provided with a floor 19 having floor planking 18. As best seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the car is provided with a corrugated end sheet 20 and an upright comer bar 22 located between the side end belt rail 17 and the end portion 15a of the inside end lining 15. As seen in FIG. 5, an end member in the form of an angle member 23 supports the end floor planking of the floor 19. The side mounted belt rails located at the end of the car and on each side wall of the car support or carry crossmembers 24, as shown in FIGS 2-6. The use of cross-members between side walls of the car and spaced at various places along the length of the car is shown, for instance, in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 2,892,421 to Adler.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the side plate 12 is generally a U-shaped member with a depending flange or plate portion 12d and having an upper horizontal portion 12α, an inward vertical portion 12i&gt; and a generally lower horizontal portion 12c connected with the depending portion 12d. The upper horizontal portion 12α of the side plate connects with the roof 6 and the depending portion 12d connects with the outside portion of the comer post 8. The upper part of the side sheeting 13 connects with the side plate and the side sheeting 13 continues to extend downwardly along the side posts 9 and the comer post 8 and has mounted, on the inside of its sheet 25, side end belt rail 17, as seen in FIG. 3, and in FIG. 5 where also is shown a side center belt rail 17' mounted in side sheet 26 of side sheeting 13. FIG. 3 also shows the detailed construction of the side sill 10 and the side sill reinforcement 11. The side sill is an angle plate which has a vertical lateral portion 10α and a horizontal portion 10ft which supports the floor 19. The side sill reinforcement member 11 depends from the horizontal flange portion 10b of the side sill and is channel-shaped, having an upper horizontal flange 11α, a vertical web portion lib and an inwardly directed horizontal bottom flange portion 11c. The lower part of the side sheet 25 of the side sheeting 13 is attached to the upper inside portion of the flange 10α of the side sill 10.

The end side sheets 25 at each side end of the car and the inner side sheets 26 between the end side sheets are similarly constructed in that they are all dished out to form a dished out panel except that the end side sheets

3,774,552 have their outer ends cut in the area of the dished out portion to allow the side end belt rail 17 to be adjacent the corner bar 22 and, therefore, adjacent approximately at the very end of the car, that is, at each of the side comers of the car. As seen in all the views except FIG. 1, and particularly in the view in FIG. 6, it is seen that the end side sheet 25 comprises an outer U-shaped portion 25α which surrounds a depressed or dished out flat wall portion 25/ which is recessed in the inside of the side sheeting 25. The outer U-shaped portion 25α consists of a top portion 25b, a bottom portion 25c and one end portion 25d. The dished out wall portion 25i connects with the outer U-shaped portion 25α by means of the transverse wall portion 25e which has a top portion 25/, a bottom portion 25g and an end portion 25/1. With the exception noted above, each inner side sheet 26 includes the inner peripheral raised portion 26α and the depressed or dished out portion 26c connected by the transverse peripheral portion 26b. The belt rails nest themselves in the transverse and recessed portions of these side sheets 25 and 26 and extend horizontally and longitudinally of the car and are vertically spaced from one another on each side wall of the car for holding a plurality of transverse or crossmembers 24 in longitudinal and vertically spaced relation to one another. A cross section of the side posts 9 and the comer posts 8 can best be seen in FIG. 4. The side post is Z-shaped and has a longitudinally extending inner flange 9α and a laterally extending web portion 9b and an outwardly longitudinally extending flange 9c to which the inner end of the hand grab 7 attaches when the side rail is one that is adjacent a comer post 8. The comer post 8 is composed of two members, one being an L-shaped member 8α and the other being more or less a U-shaped member 8d. The L-shaped member is provided with a longitudinal portion 8b that has its inner end attaching with the side sheet part 15b of the end lining 15 and the end side sheet 25. The L-shaped member 8α also is provided with a transverse end portion 8c and both portions 8b and 8c connect with the U-shaped member 8d to form a generally rectangular post cross section. The U-shaped member 8d includes an outer end portion 8e connecting with the portion 8c and an intermediate outer longitudinal portion 8 f connecting with an inner end portion 8g which has attached to its inner part an inner longitudinal portion 8b that attaches to the longitudinal portion 8b. The comer post stiffener 16 is generally U-shaped and is partially nestled within the inner curved portion of the U-shaped member 8d of the comer post 8. The comer post stiffener 16 is generally U-shaped and is provided with an outer longitudinal portion 16α, a lateral portion 16b and an inner longitudinal end portion 16c, the latter two portions lying against portions 8g and 8A of the comer post 8. The other and outer end of each of the grab handles 7 is attached to the longitudinal portion 16α of the comer post stiffener 16.

The end bulkhead 14, consisting of the inside end lining 15 and the corrugated end sheet 20, is best seen in FIGS. 4 and 5. The corrugated end sheet 20 comprises a lower diagonal portion 20α and an upper diagonal portion 20b connecting with an outer vertically extending portion 20c to form the protuberance part of the corrugation with the inner upper vertical portion 20d being a part forming the valley of the corrugation and the inner lower vertical portion 20e and the lower horizontal portion 20/ connecting with it forming the bot4 tom end of the corrugated sheet 20. The upright comer bar 22 is located in each corner of the end lining 15 of the car adjacent and engaging with the end belt rails to prevent them from damaging the end wall due to any lading shifting.

The side end belt rail 17, as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 6, is a double U-shaped member having upper vertical end portion 17α, an upper horizontal portion 17b, a middle horizontal portion 17c, a lower horizontal portion 17d, an upper outer vertical portion 17e, and a lower inner vertical portion 17/. A plurality of apertures 17g is located in the lower inner vertical portion 17/. The side center belt rail 17' is similarly constructed. By such an arrangement, the respective crossmember 24 is hung on and across two such belt rails. The crossmember 24 comprises a Z-shaped flange member 24α to which are attached on each side thereof block bodies 24b and 24c. The Z-shaped flange member 24α carries a hook structure 24d which comprises a hook arm 24e, an upper hook 24/ and an aperture receiving plug 24g. The hook 24/hangs on the upright upper flange 17α of the belt rail 17 while the plug 24g extends into the aperture 17g of the belt rail.

The novel combination and arrangements of parts between the end wall and the side wall provides a suitable environment for a recessed end belt rail which extends to the end of the wall of the car and can carry on it crossmembers which lie adjacent the end wall and, therefore, can act as reinforcement means for the end wall. Also, the adjustment length of the car is increased to the end bulkheads in using crossmembers the full length of the car. The recessed end side sheets provide a good nestling area to receive the end belt rails and the upright comer bar 22 adjacent the end construction of the car. With the comer post outwardly of the end wall and side wall construction of the car, greater storage area is available within the interior of the car and now the comer post being moved out to the side plates and touching the vertical outer flange of the side plates results in better holding and reinforcing of the end walls of the car to which the comer posts are attached.

The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate the invention and the invention is not limited thereto, except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, as those skilled in the art who have the disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.