U.S. patent number 3,772,997 [Application Number 05/220,043] was granted by the patent office on 1973-11-20 for gondola and hopper cars with improved corner wall construction.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Thrall Car Manufacturing Company. Invention is credited to James C. Heap, Lee H. Shils.
United States Patent |
3,772,997 |
Heap , et al. |
November 20, 1973 |
GONDOLA AND HOPPER CARS WITH IMPROVED CORNER WALL CONSTRUCTION
Abstract
Improvement in a railroad gondola or hopper car having metal end
walls and metal side walls of metal plate, comprising horizontal
tubular metal top chords at the outside top edges of the end walls
and side walls, a hollow tubular corner connection having a quarter
circle ring section, at each of the four corners of the car with
one end portion of each connection joined to the end of a side wall
tubular chord and the other end portion of the connection joined to
the end of an end wall tubular chord, said corner connection
between the ends of the chords joined thereto being at least as
large externally in lateral section as the chord ends, and said
chords and corner connection being rectangular in lateral
cross-section.
Inventors: |
Heap; James C. (Munster,
IN), Shils; Lee H. (Flossmoor, IL) |
Assignee: |
Thrall Car Manufacturing
Company (Chicago Heights, IL)
|
Family
ID: |
22821816 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/220,043 |
Filed: |
January 24, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
105/406.1;
296/29; 296/186.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B61D
17/06 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B61D
17/04 (20060101); B61D 17/06 (20060101); B61d
007/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;105/355,406,410,409,404,396 ;296/28M,29 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Forlenza; Gerald M.
Assistant Examiner: Bertsch; Richard A.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. In a railroad gondola or hopper car having metal end walls and
metal side walls of metal plate, the improvement comprising:
horizontal tubular metal top chords at the outside top edges of the
end walls and side walls;
a hollow tubular corner connection, having a quarter circle ring
section, at each of the four corners of the car, with one end
portion of each connection joined to the end of a side wall tubular
chord and the other end portion of the connection joined to the end
of an end wall tubular chord;
the inner vertical face of the corner connection joining each of
the chords in essentially the same plane as the inner vertical
faces of the chords;
said corner connection between the ends of the chords joined
thereto being at least as large externally in lateral section as
the chord ends; and
said chords and corner connection being rectangular in lateral
cross-section.
2. In a railroad gondola or hopper car having metal end walls and
metal side walls of metal plate, the improvement comprising:
horizontal tubular metal top chords at the outside top edges of the
end walls and side walls;
a hollow tubular corner connection, having a quarter circle ring
section, at each of the four corners of the car, with one end
portion of each connection joined to the end of a side wall tubular
chord and the other end portion of the connection joined to the end
of an end wall tubular chord;
the inner vertical face of the corner connection being spaced
inwardly from each of the chord ends a distance substantially equal
to the thickness of the metal side wall and end wall plates;
a curved corner plate contacting and joined to the corner
connection inner face and overlapping and lap welded to the side
wall and end wall plates;
said corner connection between the ends of the chords joined
thereto being at least as large externally in lateral section as
the chord ends; and
said chords and corner connection being rectangular in lateral
cross-section.
Description
This invention relates to railroad cars. More particularly, this
invention relates to railroad gondola and hopper cars, and
particularly to an improvement in the corner construction of such
cars where the car side walls and end walls meet.
Railroad gondola and hopper cars are widely used for hauling
miscellaneous cargo, particularly cargo which does not have to be
protected from the weather such as coal, stone, scrap materials and
various types of equipment and machinery. Although there are
different types of gondola and hopper cars, they all have in common
parallel vertical opposing metal side walls which extend the length
of the car, and vertical metal end walls at each end of the car
which join the side walls. The side walls and end walls of the cars
are generally made of metal plate of about three-sixteenths to
three-eighths inch in thickness. Usually a number of spaced-apart
vertical posts or braces are used to reinforce the side walls and
end walls and to unite the walls to the floor structure. In
addition, it is conventional to position a reinforcing metal chord
member around the top edge of the side walls and the end walls to
provide needed bracing for the plates used in the wall
construction. The chord members now are usually made of metal
tubular sections, although they used to be made primarily of angles
and channel members. The tubular chord members are positioned
horizontally along the outside top edges of the end and side walls.
At each corner of the car, the horizontal tubular chords meet and
conventionally are joined together by laterally butting the end of
one chord against the side of the other chord and butt welding the
chords together to complete the joint or by mitering the ends of
the chords to 45.degree. angles and welding the ends together.
Although the tubular chords are made of rather large sized members,
such as from 4 to 6 inches in cross-sectional dimension in the form
of a rectangle or a square, the structural corner joints just
described, and the entire corner construction, are not as
structurally strong as desired and often fail during hard use of
the car. In addition, fitting up of the corner joints is difficult
with such construction.
According to the present invention, there is provided an improved
wall corner construction for gondola and hopper cars. The railroad
gondola and hopper cars of this invention are provided with a
curved wall corner arced about a vertical axis. Instead of having a
conventional perpendicular or lateral butt joint at the corner
intersections of the horizontal tubular chords located along the
top edges of the side walls and end walls or a mitered joint, the
corner construction of the subject invention employs a hollow
tubular curved corner connection which is preformed, and advisably
is a metal casting. The tubular corner connection has a quarter
circle rectangular tubular ring section and, advisably, short
straight end portions extending therefrom. One end portion of the
corner connection is joined to the end of a side wall tubular chord
and the other end portion of the corner connection is joined to the
end of an end wall tubular chord. The corner connection between the
ends of the chords joined thereto is at least as large externally
in lateral section as the chord ends so as to facilitate joining
wall plates to the chords and the corner connection. The chords and
corner connection are advisably rectangular in lateral
cross-section. They can also be square in cross-section since a
square is simply a form of rectangle.
The invention will be described further in conjunction with the
attached drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a partial isometric view of the end of a railroad gondola
car having a wall corner construction according to the
invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view partially in section of the corner wall joint
of the gondola car of FIG. 1 and specifically is a sectional view
taken along the line 2--2 of FIG. 3;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a tubular corner connection in the form of a quarter
circle tubular ring section intended to be joined to the ends of
horizontal tubular chords by butt welds;
FIG. 5 is an end elevational view taken along the line 5--5 of FIG.
4;
FIG. 6 is a plan view, partially in section, of a corner connection
having end stubs which telescope into the ends of the chords at the
top edges of the side wall and end wall;
FIG. 7 is an end elevational view taken along the line 7--7 of FIG.
6;
FIG. 8 is a plan view, partially in section, of a wall corner
construction in a gondola car using the corner connection of FIGS.
4 and 5;
FIG. 9 is a plan view, partially in section, of a wall corner
construction employing the corner connection of FIGS. 6 and 7;
and
FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line 10--10 of FIG.
9.
So far as is practical, the same or similar parts or elements which
appear in the different drawings shall be identified by the same
numbers.
With reference to FIG. 1, gondola car 10 has a flat bottom 11,
vertical side walls 12 and 13 and an end wall 14, it being
understood that the end of the car not shown has a similar end wall
construction. Braces 15 support the side walls and braces 16
support the end walls.
Side wall 13 has a horizontal metal hollow tubular chord 17
positioned along but outside its top edge, and side wall 12 has a
similar chord 18 along but outside its top edge. End wall 14 also
has a horizontal tubular metal chord 19 along but outside its top
edge. Walls 12, 13 and 14 are made of metal plate of about
three-sixteenths to three-eighths inch in thickness for normal car
usage. End wall 14, as shown in FIG. 1, has horizontal corrugations
to provide stiffening and added strength so that impact which
develops by shifting of loads in the car can be adequately
resisted. The corrugations however terminate prior to the wall
corner so that a smooth curved or arced connection of the wall can
be made.
The two wall corner constructions 20 shown in the end of the
gondola car of FIG. 1 are identical. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, each
wall corner construction 20 has a tubular corner connection member
21 which has a shape in plan view of a quarter circle tubular ring
with short straight end portions. Outer curved vertical wall 22 of
the corner connection 21 is the same height as inner curved
vertical wall 23. Top 25 and bottom 24 of the corner connection
member 21 are of the same width and are slightly wider in dimension
than the height of the walls 22 and 23 thereby defining a tubular
connection member which is slightly rectangular in shape rather
than square. Chords 17 and 19 have external dimensions essentially
corresponding to the external dimensions of corner connection 21.
The end of cord 19 is joined by butt weld 26 to one end of corner
connection 21 and the end of chord 17 is joined by butt weld 27 to
the other end of the corner connection. As a result, the inner
vertical face of the corner connection 21 joins each of the chords
in essentially the same plane as the inner vertical faces of the
chords. Side wall 13 is welded to the inner vertical face of chord
17 and end wall 14 is welded at its top edge to chord member 19.
Curved plate 28 is welded at its top edge to corner connection 21
and at its vertical edges to walls 13 and 14 by welds 29 and 30.
The thickness of curved plate 28 may be the same as walls 13 and 14
to thereby provide a smooth wall corner surface; however, they need
not be the same thickness. The bottom of the wall corner
construction can be joined to floor 11 by any suitable means and
such construction is not considered an integral part of the subject
invention since this invention is directed primarily to
improvements in the upper wall corner construction of gondola cars,
and hopper cars.
The wall corner construction described with respect to FIGS. 1 to 3
is very strong and is capable of withstanding much larger forces
than the prior art wall corner construction in which the chords 17
and 19 are simply butt welded together.
FIGS. 4, 5 and 8 illustrate another embodiment of a corner
connection and wall corner construction for a gondola car. Corner
connection 40 is a tubular member having the general shape of a
quarter circle rectangular ring with the ends extending straight
for a short distance. Corner connection 40 has a top 41 and a
bottom 42 of the same size, and an outer curved vertical wall 43
and an inner curved vertical wall 44 each of the same height. The
top 41 and bottom 42 are somewhat wider than the height of walls 43
and 44 so that the corner connection 40 is rectangular in
cross-section. Inner curved vertical wall 44 is considerably
thicker than top 41, bottom 42 and outer curved wall 43. Wall 44 is
of a thickness advisably about equal to the thickness of the
vertical inner walls of chord 17 or 19 as shown in FIG. 1 plus the
thickness of the metal plate used in the side wall 13 or end wall
14. The ends of chords 17 and 19 are placed in abutting
relationship with the ends of corner connection 40 and are butt
welded thereto. The ends of corner connection 40 are bevelled to
facilitate making the necessary butt welds.
FIG. 8 illustrates the joint between an end of chord 19 and corner
connection 40 and it should be understood that a similar joint is
made between the other end of the corner connection and chord 17.
End wall 14 is welded to chord 19. Curved corner plate 45 is then
welded in face-to-face contact with the inner curved vertical wall
44 of corner connection 40 and lap welded over the end of end wall
14. By having inner wall 44 of corner connection 40 project
inwardly equal to the thickness of the metal plate used for side
wall 13 and end wall 14, the curved corner plate 45 can be welded
securely in position in nesting contact with the corner connection,
the side wall and the end wall, it being understood that a similar
joint arrangement joins side wall 13 and chord 17 to corner
connection 40 and corner plate 45.
FIGS. 6, 7, 9 and 10 illustrate another embodiment of the
invention. Corner connection 50 is very similar to corner
connection 40. However, corner connection 50 has a stub 51 at each
end thereof which telescopes into the ends of chords 17 and 19
before the corner connection and chords are welded together. The
stub ends 51 have an external size and shape which correspond to
the internal size and shape of the tubular chords so that a snug
telescoping fit is achieved. Only the stubs project into the chord
ends. Further penetration is stopped by the enlarged body portion
of the corner connection with the bevelled edges which are provided
to aid in making the welds. Inner vertical wall 52 of corner
connection 50 projects inwardly from the outer vertical surface of
stub 51 a distance equal to the thickness of the wall of chord 17
and the thickness of the metal plate constituting side wall 13. The
result is that the inner vertical wall 52 of the corner connection
lines up at its end in alignment with the inner surface of side
wall 13 to provide a more or less continuous backing for curved
corner plate 53 which is welded to corner connection 50 and lap
welded over the ends of the plate forming side wall 13. It should
be understood that a similar joint construction unites corner
connection 50 to end wall chord 19 and end wall 14.
Although the invention has been described with specific reference
to use in a gondola car, it is equally useful in railroad hopper
cars since the upper wall and wall corner construction of such cars
is similar.
The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of
understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be
understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those
skilled in the art.
* * * * *