Railway rolling stock – Special car bodies – Freight
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-17
2001-04-24
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railway rolling stock
Special car bodies
Freight
C105S377040, C105S378000, C105S258000, C105S260000, C296S181700, C296S067000, C296S036000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220178
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a freight car comprising of a running carriage, an undercarriage, and a box-shaped container connected to the two and comprised of a framework with end walls, lateral posts, and longitudinal supports connecting the end walls and the lateral posts. The end walls are closed while one or both of the side walls have a closable opening for loading and unloading.
Freight cars are used for transporting goods on rail and must comply with different specifications in order to accommodate the different types of goods to be transported. In principle, it is desired to be able to transport as many different goods as possible with a minimal number of differently designed freight cars. For example, it may be desired to transport within a single type of freight car raw materials such as wood cuttings for producing partical board, wood flooring (parquet) and similar wood products into the processing plant, and, subsequently, after removal of the wood chips to use the same freight car for the finished products, in the disclosed scenario, for example, for the transport of partical board to the customer. In this context it is especially important that loading and unloading can be performed in the shortest possible time and to ensure during transport within the freight cars that sensitive raw products and finished products are not damaged. The basic goal of freight transportation is to shorten the transfer times by employing specially designed freight cars for the different types of goods and by using special loading and unloading devices.
In general, each freight car is substantially comprised of a running carriage with at least two axles, an undercarriage with brake devices and pull and push devices, and a type of container which is either fixedly connected to the undercarriage( by screwing, riveting or welding) or movably, e.g., pivotably, thereto. The undercarriage is the actual main support body for receiving the vertical load, the bumper forces, and the pulling forces as well as vertical and lateral mass forces caused during transport. The construction of the container, on the other hand, is basically dependent on the specifications for the goods to be transported with respect to quantity as well as quality as well as the conditions for loading and unloading. In addition to vessel type containers or funnel-shaped containers, freight cars, in general, have a box-shaped container comprised of a frame work of rolled profiled members that provide a truss system with lateral posts and connecting upper longitudinal supports. The cars may be open in the upward direction or covered or maybe provided with a closable roof structure and may have openings for loading and unloading. Open freight cars allow access to the cargo space from above while cars with a fixed cover and lateral sliding doors or double doors at the end walls, opening the entire cross-section of the box container for loading through the respective ends, are provided.
Especially for the transport of dry bulk materials such as wood chips etc., which are used in the paper industry or for producing wood products such as partical board, it is disadvantageous that for loading or unloading only small openings are provided either by the double doors at the end walls or by lateral sliding doors and that for opening and closing of these doors great forces must be applied against the resistance of the load to be transported.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a freight car of the aforementioned kind that avoids the aforementioned disadvantages and provides for loading and unloading from above or through the side walls, over the entire roof cross-section, or side wall cross-section whereby opening and closing of the loading and/or unloading openings can be performed in a simple manner manually without requiring excessive forces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This object is inventively solved in that the opening extends over the entire side wall area and is closed by two correlated folding doors that open the entire height of the side wall. The folding door covering the entire or a portion of the lower part of the side wall is pivotably connected at the undercarriage and the other folding door covering the entire or a portion of the upper half of the side wall is positioned in the same vertical plane and connected to the upper longitudinal support or the upper portion of the frame work. With respect to the pivot forces to be applied (opening and closing forces) a balanced coupled kinetic mechanism is provided that takes into consideration the weight of car door and compensates substantially the pivot forces. Preferably, the lower folding door has a reduced height relative to the upper folding door and thus also has a reduced weight. A coupling device is provided at least at one of the two ends of the folding doors in a form of a chain arranged in a figure eight and providing a chain drive. It is connected to the pivot shafts of the folding doors by chain gears mounted on the pivot shafts. This allows in a simple manner a quasi automatic opening and closing of the folding doors after release of a securing device whereby the operator, by applying a minimal force onto a lever, can overcome the initial frictional forces of the coupled kinetic mechanism of both door weights. Accordingly, the entire side wall area is available for loading or unloading of the freight car with the goods to be transported since the folding doors are folded in the upward, respectively, downward direction.
Since the folding doors for very long freight cars have a considerable length, in a preferred embodiment of the invention it is suggested to provide centrally at the folding door a center hold. Furthermore, it is advantageous to position the pivot mechanism of the lower folding door below the bottom of the container so that the lateral opening of the container allows direct access to the bottom as a planar loading surface of the container without having any obstructions by hinges, axles (shafts) etc. or other connecting means for connecting the lower folding door to the freight car.
The upper folding door can advantageously be secured by a stop in its open position in a substantially vertical position in order to reduce the initial closing forces.
For transporting sensitive goods, for example, moisture-sensitive wood cuttings or wood products, according to one embodiment of the invention it is suggested to seal the folding doors relative to one another and relative to the bordering parts of the container with sealing elements. Also, a cover for the container is provided, especially in the form of a rigid cover that is embodied as a pivot cover. This allows to hermetically seal the cargo space so as to close it off in a water-tight manner. However, the loading and unloading process can be simply carried out by folding the folding doors and pivoting the cover and can thus be performed in the shortest possible amount of time. In addition, an unloading device in the form of an air bag may be provided which is comprised of an envelope resting on the bottom of the container and inflatable. In the inflated state, the air bag will occupy the volume (cargo space) of the container. Dry bulk materials in this manner can be transported while resting on the deflated envelope and, upon inflating the air bag, can be actively pushed out of the container, especially when according to a preferred embodiment the air bag in the deflated state lies on the bottom of the container and provides a vertical wall which extends substantially over the entire height of the container and is positioned opposite the unloading opening.
For further accelerating the loading and unloading process, it may be suggested to provide both side walls with corresponding folding doors. For very long freight cars, it may be advantageous to divide the side walls, respectively, the folding doors at the center so that a total of four folding doors are provided on one or both side walls. This also widens the range of possibilities for trans
Jules Frantz F.
Morano S. Joseph
Railtrans S.A.
Robert W. Becker & Associates
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