Motor Operated Hopper Door Mechanism Actuates Latch

Abstract

A locking latch device for securing the door operating lever arrangement in a railway hopper vehicle. Locking hook members are pivotally attached to the door operating pneumatic cylinder and through camming action moved out of locking restraining engagement with the door operating lever when the pneumatic cylinder is operated. A leaf spring lock biasing arrangement mounted on the pneumatic cylinder engages the locking hooks to maintain the locking arrangement in engagement with the door operating lever.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

This invention relates to a locking device for use on the door operating arrangement of a railway hopper vehicle.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Prior art door lever locking arrangements have included a locking member mounted independent of the motive power or pneumatic cylinder power source and the member which is being restrained. Because of the large size of these members and the large number of parts involved, potential tolerance buildups require careful fabricating and assembly of the locking device. Also, because of the jarring and bumping which occurs during movement of a railway hopper car, it is also desirable to bias the locking member about the locked member to insure a uniform and constant locking engagement between these two members.

SUMMARY

The present invention pertains to a locking device used on a railway hopper car to prevent unintentional and undesirable opening of the hopper car doors which could occur during high impact coupling or other jarring due to inertial forces. The present invention includes a pivoted locking hook member attached to the door operating air cylinder and engageable with a door operating lever to prevent operative movement of the lever unless the air cylinder is operated.

In operation the locking device depends pivotally from the air cylinder and engages a door operating lever to prevent movement of the lever. Upon operation of the air cylinder for door opening a camming arrangement between the piston rod of the air cylinder and the locking device causes the locking hook to be removed from the door operating lever during a lost motion movement between the air cyclinder unit and the door operating lever.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hopper door operating lever locking device pivotally attached to the door operating air cylinder and engageable with a door operating lever to lock the lever when the air cylinder is inoperative.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a leaf spring biasing means attached to the pneumatic air cylinder and engageable with the locking device to urge the locking device into locking engagement with the door operating lever.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from reference to the following description, attached drawings and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a railway hopper car which employs the locking device of the present invention at both ends;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the locking device utilized at the right hand end of the hopper car illustrated in FIG. 1 and in the self locked position;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the device illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the invention showing the position of the locking device in the unlocked position;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the locking device shown in a position as the air cylinder is driving a door operating lever to open the hopper discharge doors; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the locking device with portions cut away.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the drawings FIG. 1 illustrates a railway hopper 10 having usual wheeled units 11, a center sill 12, and riding on the rails 13. Hopper doors 14 are pivoted on a longitudinal axis and open downward to discharge lading carried within the hoppers. The discharge doors 14 operate in pairs and each pair is interconnected allowing the inner door of each pair to overlap and support the outer door of the pair. The doors 14 open and close sequentially in response to forces transmitted through the levers 15 and 16 which are interconnected by the longitudinally extending link 17. A pneumatic cylinder 18 located at each end of the hopper car 10 is pivotally connected to the car at 19 and includes a piston rod 20 extending through the free end of the cylinder. The piston rod 20 has a ram element 21 fixedly attached to the external end portion. The ram element 21 as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 is substantially U-shaped, having opposed slot portions 22 and having a first cam portion 23 and a second cam portion 24 interconnected by a dwell portion 25.

The auxiliary lock is designated by the numeral 26 and is pivotally connected by the mounting lugs 27 and the pivot pin 28 to the end plate of the pneumatic cylinder 18. A biasing return spring assembly 29 engages the auxiliary lock 26 and includes a plurality of leaf spring elements 30. The return spring assembly 29 is held in place by a locking clamp 32 which is fastened to the pneumatic cylinder by fastenings 34.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 6, it is noticed that the auxiliary lock includes a pair of spaced locking hook members 35 which are interconnected by the connecting bar 36 which is associated with the camming elements of the ram 21 and the locking elements are also interconnected by the bar member 37 which is also associated with the return spring assembly 29. The spaced locking members 35 include a hook portion designated by the numeral 38 and an angled nose portion 40. Adjacent the pivot of the locking members 35 is a stop portion 41 which contacts the end plate of air cylinder 18 to restrict downward travel of the auxiliary lock unit 26.

A door operating auxiliary drive lever 42 is operatively associated with the pneumatic cylinder and is the receiving element of the air cylinder operating forces. The lever 42 includes a pivot block assembly 43 and and a vertically upwardly spaced ram pin 44 which is positioned in the slot 22 of the ram element 21. The central portion of the auxiliary lever 42 includes a driver rod 45 pivotally attached thereto, and connected at the other end to the lever 15 for transmission of forces to open and close the hopper doors.

THE OPERATION

The operation of the auxiliary locking device will be discussed generally in reference to the drawings FIGS. 2, 4 and 5 which disclose a sequential operation of the device from the locked to the unlocked position. Upon actuation or operation of the pneumatic cylinder 18 the piston rod 20 will begin to move to the left and in so doing the first cam portion 23 of the ram element 21 will contact the associated connecting bar 36 and as movement of the ram continues the camming action of the surface 23 will lift the bar 36 and thereby also lift the attached locking members 35 which the bar 36 interconnects. The locking member 35 thereby moves pivotally about the pivot pin 38 in an upward direction. Also, as the ram continues to move to the left as illustrated in the drawings, there is a relative movement between the pin 44 of the drive lever 42 and the slot 22 of the drive ram 21. This lost motion type of movement continues until the right side of slot 22 contacts the pin 44. When this contact has occurred the auxiliary lock 26 will have rotated to the position illustrated in FIG. 4, thus in effect unlocking the pin 44 and allowing movement of the auxiliary lever 42. Contact between the pin 44 and the right side of the slot 22 will continue until the hopper doors are forced into an over center position at which time the weight of the doors and the weight of the lading will force the doors into the completely open position.

As noted in FIG. 4, as the auxiliary lock is rotated in the clockwise direction the leaf spring assembly 29 will supply a biasing force urging the auxiliary lock device 26 vertically downward and thereby overcome the high inertial forces of the lock as it is initially rapidly rotated to insure that the lock unit 26 will return to the substantially horizontal position for re-engagement with the lock pin 44 of the drive lever 42.

FIG. 5 illustrates the position of the locking member after the ram has passed under whereby the hook will return to its initial position which is defined by the relative positioning of the stop portion 41 on the locking elements on the end wall of the air cylinder 18. The stop 41 insures that the connecting bars 36 and 37 do not come in contact with the highly polished piston rod 20 which could cause undesirable abrasion.

On return stroke of the pneumatic cylinder 18 the cutout 22 of the ram 21 will move acorss the pin 44 of the drive lever 42 in a lost motion movement until the pin 44 is constrained by the left rounded end of the cutout 22 at which time pin 44 will move in unison with the ram 21. On this return stroke the pin 44 may be positioned to contact the cammed portion 40 of the spaced locking members 35 or, the cammed surface 24 may be utilized in conjunction with the connecting bar 36 to rotate the locking members 35 about the pivot pin 28 until the lever pin 44 is passed under the hook or nose portion 38 at which time the members will have returned to the locked position illustrated in FIG. 2.

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.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A railway hopper car having pneumatic cylinder means operative upon a door opening lever mechanism for opening and closing of pivoted discharge doors, said hopper car also including:

locking means pivotally attached to said pneumatic cylinder means and operative to prevent movement of said lever mechanism;

said pneumatic cylinder means having a connection with said lever mechanism for opening and closing said discharge doors, and thereby defining at their connecting extremities a lost motion connection means translating motion from the pneumatic cylinder means to the lever mechanism in the same plane and in a linear path;

said pneumatic cylinder means including a linearly reciprocal drive member having a locking means engaging surface and said lost motion connection means having a lost motion connection surface on said reciprocal drive member being spaced vertically from said locking means engaging surface attendant to releasing of the locking means from the lever mechanism during co-acting movement of both surfaces as the reciprocal drive member moves linearly;

a cylinder mounted biasing means operatively engaging said locking means;

said biasing means including a plurality of cantilever leaf spring members rigidly fastened to said pneumatic cylinder means and depending outwardly and downwardly therefrom in restraining engagement with said locking means.

2. A railway hopper vehicle having pivotal discharge doors, a power source for actuating a door operating mechanism, said hopper car also including:

a linearly reciprocal ram drive means adjacent and connected with said power source and having a lever drive portion,

discharge door operating pivoted lockable lever means connected with said ram guide means and including a first lever member operatively associated with said ram drive means and spaced from the lever driving portion of the ram drive means;

lock means having a first lever engaging portion mounted adjacent said ram drive means and vertically spaced from said lever driving portion of the ram drive means and operatively engageable with said first lever member for confining same;

a first cam portion on said ram drive means;

a second cam portion carried by said lock means and engageable by the first cam surface and movable thereby to release the lock means from the first lever;

a cylinder mounted biasing means operatively engaging said locking means;

said biasing means including a plurality of cantilever leaf spring members rigidly fastened to said pneumatic cylinder means and depending outwardly and downwardly therefrom in restraining engagement with said locking means.

3. The invention according to claim 2, and:

said lost motion connection means comprising a slotted portion in the ram drive means surrounding a portion of said lockable lever means;

said first cam means of the ram drive means comprising a pair of inclined and spaced cammed surfaces operatively associated with said lock means;

said second cam means comprising a follower member extending from said lock means and engageable with said inclined cammed surfaces to thereby actuate the lock means during reciprocating linear movement of said ram drive means;

said lock means having a biasing means engaging portion operatively positioned adjacent said biasing means attendant to producing restraining contact between said lock means and the biasing means.

4. The invention according to claim 3, and:

said slotted portion of the ram drive means including a longitudinally and horizontally extending opening in the ram drive means;

said lockable lever means including a lock pin means fixedly attached thereto and positioned within a portion of said opening of the ram drive means to thereby form said lost motion connection coupling the ram drive means and the lockable lever means.