Freight accommodation on freight carrier – Load lashing retainer or load lashing adjunct – Wraparound
Reexamination Certificate
2003-05-14
2004-09-28
Dayoan, D. Glenn (Department: 3612)
Freight accommodation on freight carrier
Load lashing retainer or load lashing adjunct
Wraparound
C242S401000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06796758
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to center beam rail road cars and to lading securement apparatus for those rail road cars.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Center beam rail road cars, in cross-section, generally have a body having a flat car deck and a center beam web structure running along the longitudinal center-line of, and standing upright from, the deck. The center beam structure is carried on a pair of rail car trucks. The rack, or center beam structure, has a pair of bulkheads at either longitudinal end. The bulkheads extend transversely relative to the rolling direction of the car. The lading supporting structure of the body includes laterally extending deck sheets or bunks mounted above, and spanning the space between, the trucks.
The center beam web structure is typically in the nature of an open frame truss for carrying vertical shear and bending loads. It stands upright from the deck and runs along the longitudinal centerline of the car between the end bulkheads. This kind of webwork structure can be constructed from an array of parallel uprights and appropriate diagonal bracing. Typically, a center sill extends the length of the car, and the posts extend upwardly from the center sill. Most often, a top truss assembly is mounted on top of the vertical web and extends laterally to either side of the centerline of the car. The top truss is part of an upper beam assembly, (that is, the upper or top flange end of the center beam) and is usually manufactured as a wide flange, or wide flange-simulating truss, both to co-operate with the center sill to resist vertical bending, and also to resist transverse bending due to lateral horizontal loading of the car while travelling on a curve. The center beam thus formed is conceptually a deep girder beam whose bottom flange is the center sill, and whose top flange is the top truss (or analogous structure) of the car.
Center beam cars are commonly used to transport packaged bundles of lumber, although other loads such as pipe, steel, engineered wood products, or other goods can also be carried. The space above the decking and below the lateral wings of the top truss on each side of the vertical web of the center beam forms left and right bunks upon which bundles of wood can be loaded. The base of the bunk often includes risers that are mounted to slant inward, and the vertical web of the center beam is generally tapered from bottom to top, such that when the bundles are stacked, the overall stack leans inward toward the longitudinal centerline of the car.
Lading is most typically secured in place using straps or cables. Generally, the straps extend from a winch device mounted at deck level, upward outside the bundles, to a top fitting. The top fitting can be located at one of several intermediate heights for partially loaded cars. Most typically, the cars are fully loaded and the strap terminates at a fitting mounted to the outboard wing of the upper beam assembly. Inasmuch as the upper beam assembly is narrower than the bundles, when the strap is drawn taut by tightening the winch, it binds on the upper outer comer of the topmost bundle and exerts a force inwardly and downwardly, tending thereby to hold the stack in place tight against the center beam web.
Each bundle typically contains a number of pieces of lumber, commonly the nominal 2″×4″, 2″×6″, 2″×8″ or other standard size. The lengths of the bundles vary, typically ranging from 8′ to 24′, in 2′ increments. The most common bundle size is nominally 32 inches deep by 49 inches wide, although 24 inch deep bundles are also used, and 16 inch deep bundles can be used, although these latter are generally less common. A 32 inch nominal bundle may contain stacks of 21 boards, each 1½ inch thick, making 31½ inches, an may include a further 1½ inches of dunnage for a total of 33 inches. The bundles are loaded such that the longitudinal axes of the boards are parallel to the longitudinal, or rolling, axis of the car generally. The bundles are often wrapped in a plastic sheeting to provide some protection from rain and snow, and also to discourage embedment of abrasive materials such as sand, in the boards. The bundles are stacked on the car bunks with the dunnage located between the bundles such that a fork-lift can be used for loading and unloading. For bundles of kiln dried softwood lumber the loading density is typically taken as being in the range of 1600 to 2000 Lbs. per 1000 board-feet.
Existing center beam cars tend to have been made to fall within the car design envelope, or outline, of the American Association of Railroads standard AAR Plate C, and tend to have a flat main deck that runs at the level of the top of the main bolsters at either end of the car. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,575, of Dominguez et al., issued Aug. 28, 1990, a center beam car is shown that falls within the design envelope of plate C, and also has a depressed center deck between the car trucks.
In center beam cars having a top truss with cantilevered truss wings extending transversely outboard from the top chord, the typical method of securing the lading, namely the bundles of lumber, in place is to fasten an array of cables, or webs, to the outboard wings of the top truss, to run the cable or web outboard about the lading, and then to anchor each cable, or web at deck level using a winch device. The winches and cables (or webs) are usually spaced along the car on pitches corresponding to the longitudinal pitch between the various upright posts of the center beam, typically on about 4 ft centers. If the car is not fully laden, the cables, or webs, can typically be hooked to attachment fittings at lower heights on the center beam posts.
In some types of center beam cars, and in some types of bulkhead flat cars that do not have center beams, or center partitions, the cables or webs have one end anchored on one side of the deck, and the web or cable is thrown clear over the lading to the other side of the car, and then a winch on the other side of the car is used to tighten the cable or web in place at the given longitudinal station. In some cases a spacer, or load spreader bracket is placed between the cable and the lading at the outer top comer of the lading where the cable by itself might otherwise dig into the lading when tightened.
The present inventors prefer webs as opposed to cables, such as were formerly more commonly used. The web tend to be made of woven NYLON or polyester, or PVC, and can be obtained, typically in 4 inch wide bands, although other widths are available. Typically the winch device has a spindle with a gear on one end that co-operates with a pawl. The spindle has a central slot through which the web can be wrapped, and then a bar is fed into an eye at the end of the spindle, and the end of the web is spooled up until tight. The pawl discourages the gear from turning in the loosening direction. ¾ drives are also used to tighten the web. The square for the ¾ drive can also be in the spindle, near the eye.
It has been suggested that these webs can withstand significant tensile loads, possibly as much as 20,000 lbs. in tension. The webs tend to be portable, and moderately expensive to replace. As such, they are quite attractive to thieves since a web band of this nature can be put to many household, cottage, or other uses not necessarily intended by the rail car manufacturer or operator. The webs are all the more attractive for unintended purposes if they are particularly long, as is the case when the web is of sufficient length to be passed entirely about the load from one side of the car to the other. Aside from their attractiveness to thieves, the webs may also be susceptible to needless damage during loading and unloading of the railroad cars, and when stowed for an empty return passage.
When the cars are being returned empty, the straps are typically tightened directly between the center beam and the winch, and remain exposed to the weather. Also, in remaini
Coslovi Ilario A.
Jupp Peter N.
Keats David J.
Chenevert Paul
Dayoan D. Glenn
Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP
National Steel Car Limited
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