US2888884A - Hopper door operating mechanism - Google Patents

Description

June 1959 I w. E. FRITZ HOPPER DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 13, 1956 IINVENTOR. Wllgamfif7i%, BY 7 M 1959 June w. E. FRITZ HOPPER DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 13, 1956 INVENTOR.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 13, 1956 June 2, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 13, 1956 INVENTQR.

Unitd Staes s HQPPER DOOR OPERATiNG MECHANISM William E. Fritz, Hinsdale, 111., assignor to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application July 13, 1956, Serial No. 597,701

4 Claims. (Cl. 105-250) This invention relates to mechanisms for operating hop-- per doors of railway ballast cars. It constitutes an improvement over Dorey application Serial No. 525,962, filed August 2, 1955, and over Fritz and Willard application Serial No. 596,499, filedluly 9, 1956, both assigned to the assignee of this application.

Among the objects of this invention are: To provide for positively moving a hopper door of a railway ballast car to any position between open and closed position; to employ for this purpose a strut pivoted at one end to the door and at its other end toan arm extending from a hub arranged in such manner that the force holding the door closed is not transmitted to the strut from the hub through the pivotal connection to the arm; to provide complementary seating faces on the strut and arm for transmitting compressive stress therebetween; and to limit the movement of the strut and arm to an over center toggle locked position by a shoulder on the arm engaging the strut.

Other objects of this invention will, in part, be obvious and in part appear hereinafter.

This invention is disclosed in the embodiment-thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and it comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts that will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

For a more complete understanding of the nature and scope of this invention reference can be had to the following detailed description, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of .a hoppersection of a railway ballasting car having the. improved door operating mechanism of this invention appliedrthereto;

Figure 2 is a vertical end .view of-the structure shown in Figure 1 as viewed from'left to right and showing the worm and "gear housing partly broken away;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken generally along the line 3-3 of Figure 1 with one door being shown closed and the other: door being shown fully open;

Figure 4 is a view, similar to Figure 3,. butcshowing the doors in different operative positions between the full open and full closedpositions; and

Figure 5 is a-pla-n view of the arm and strut which are employed to operate a door.

In the drawings, indicates the center sill and 11 one of the side walls of the car and interposed therebetween is a hopper including sloping upper floors sections 12 and 13, respectively, leading downwardly from the center sill 10 and the car sidewall 11 and which in cooperation with end sloping floors 14 constitute a foursided hoppersection. The end floors 14 connect with lower transversely extending beam members or baflie plates 15. The sloping iioors 12 and 13 are reenforced at their lower ends by angle beam members 16 and secured thereto are hinge butts 17 which in turn carry hinge pins 18 for pivotally supporting oppositely disposed swinging doors 19. As shown in Figure 2, the doors 19 are arranged to define a V-shaped hopper in closed position.

2,888,884 Patented .i'nne 2, 1959 The swinging end of each door 19 is flanged at- 20-a nd these flanges are arrangedto abut a vertical wall section 21 of a diverting member that is shown generally at 22.

The'diverting member 22 is preferably located centrally above the rail on which the car runs and it includes walls 23 which slope downwardly and outwardly from the vertical wall section-21to directthe ballast away from the rail.

The doors 19 are opened and closed throughthe medi-' um of rotatable shafts 24 which are located rearwardly of the doors and in the path of opening movement thereof.

The shafts 24 are rotatably mountedin the transverse beam members or baflie members 15 by means'of a suitable bearing 26 at one end of each shaft 24 and at the opposite end of each shaft is mounted a Worm and gear housing 27. Each housing 27 encloses an operating gear.28,

Figure 2, and a cooperating worm gear 29. The worm gears 29 are operated by suitable cross shafts one :of which is. indicated at 31 in Figure 2. The cross shafts are provided with suitable operating heads. 32 for receiving an operating bar to turn the respective worm gear and rotate the respectiveshaft 24.

The operating mechanism interconnectingthe shafts 24 and the doors. 19 are shown more clearly in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. It will be noted that. each .mechanism includes a hub 33 which is non-rotatably mounted on the respective shafts 24 and that each: hub 33 has a radially extending arm 34 formed integrally therewith. Preferably the hub 33 and arm 34 comprise a single casting.

Pivoted at 35 'by a pin at the outer end of the arm 34 is one end of a strut 36 the other end of which is pivoted by a trunnion at 37 to a hinge beam member 38 on the under side of the respective door 19; It will be. understood that two such mechanisms are provided for each door 19 as illustrated in Figure 1.

With a view to holding the door 19 in the closed position without applying any stress to the pivot pin 35, the outer end of the arm 34 is provided with a cylindricalconcave seating surface 4-1-that is :arranged to be engaged by a complementary correspondingly shaped seating surface 42 around the periphery of a head 43 that is formed integrallywith .thestrut 36. Theicenter of curvature of the seating surface 41 is coincident with. the .pivot'35. Thus, whenthe door 19 is in theclosed position, a :substantial portion of the concave :seating surface 41 faces the door and the force required to hold it closed is transmitted directly from. the-arm 34, through the concave seating surface 41 to the correspondinglyshapedend or head 43 of the strut 36 and is transmitted as acompressive force therethrough to the door 19.

In order to limit the movement of thepivot 35. to the over center toggle position shown in Figure 3 along a line 44 interconnecting it and the axis of rotation of the shaft 24 and slightly beyond a line 45 interconnecting the pivot 37 and the axis of rotation of the shaft-24, a shoulder 46 is formed at'the outer end of the arm34 at the outer end of the concave seating surface 41- and it is arranged to engage a necked down portion 47 of the strut 36 when the door 19 is fully closed. This engagement prevents further movement of the pivot 35 and is arranged to permit such movement past the line 45 where it is in theover center toggle locked position.

In operation, assuming, that it is desired to move the door 19 from the closed position shown in Figure 3 to the open position, the shaft 24 is rotated by the operating head 32 individual thereto in the direction indicated by the arrow 48. The first movement of the arm 34 in this direction effects a movement of the pivot 35 downwardly past the line 45 joining the pivot 37 and the axis of rotation of the shaft 24 to unlock the toggle. Continued rotation of the shaft 24 in the direction indicated by the arrow 48 causes the door 19 to move toward the open position. Since the arm 34 is directly pivotally connected at 35 to one endof the strut 36 and the other end of the strut 36 is directly pivotally connected at 37 to the door 19, the latter is positively moved to any position between closed and open position, depending upon the extent of movement of the shaft 24. At no time is the door 19 free of control of the shaft 24. This permits the door 19 to be gradually opened for effecting even distribution of the ballast as the car moves along the track as will be understood readily.

When the door 19 is to be moved from the open position shown in Figure 3 to the closed position, the shaft 24 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow 49 in Figure 4. The arm 34 swings in a similar direction and moves the strut 36 endwise to swing the door 19 toward the closed position. Since the strut 36 is at a substantial angle to the plane of the door 19 when it is in the open position and for a substantial portion of its movement toward the closed position, only a slight amount of force is required to swing the door 19 toward the closed position.

When the door 19 is in the fully closed position, as shown in Figure 3, the shoulder 46 engaging the necked down portion 47 of the strut 36 limits the movement of the pivot 35 in the toggle locked position. When the mechanism occupies the position here shown, the head 43 engages the concave seating surface 41 and the force required to hold the door 19 closed then is transmitted directly from the strut 36 to the arm 34 and thence to the hub 33 and the shaft 24. The pivot pin 35 is made sufiiciently loose so that, when the door 19 is in the fully closed position, it is unnecessary to apply any stress to the pivot.

Since certain changes can be made in the foregoing construction and different embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all matter shown in the accompanying drawings and described hereinbefore shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a door hinged to said hopper adjacent the upper side of said opening and swingable downwardly to an open position, a shaft rotatably mounted on said hopper parallel to and below the hinge axis of said door and spaced laterally outwardly from said door in the direction of opening movement of said door, a hub non-rotatably mounted on said shaft having a circular arcuate concave seat facing said door in closed position, and a strut pivoted at one end to said door and at the other end to said hub with said other end being circular and arcuate and convex and engaging said circular arcuate concave seat when said door is closed.

2. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a door hinged to said hopper adjacent the upper side of said opening and swingable downwardly to an open position, a shaft rotatably mounted on said hopper parallel to and below the hinge axis of said door and spaced laterally outwardly from said door in the direction of opening movement of said door, a hub nonrotatably mounted on said shaft having a circular arcuate concave seat facing said door in closed position, and a strut pivoted at one end to said door and at the other end to said hub with said other end being circular and arcuate and convex and engaging said circular arcuate concave seat when said door is closed, the pivotal connection between said strut and hub being provided by a loose fitting pin and the force holding said door closed with the pivotal connections to said strut and the axis of rotation of said shaft lying along a straight line being transmitted directly from said hub to said strut and said pin being free of such force. 7

3. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a door hinged to said hopper adjacent the upper side of said opening and swingable downwardly to an open position, a shaft rotatably mounted on said hopper parallel to and below the hinge axis of said door and spaced laterally outwardly from said door in the direction of opening movement of said door, a hub non-rotatably mounted on said shaft having a circular arcuate concave seat facing said door in closed position, and a strut pivoted at one end to said door and at the other end to said hub with said other end being circular and arcuate and convex and engaging said circular arcuate concave seat when said door is closed the center of curvature of said circular arcuate concave seat and of said circular arcuate convex end of said strut being the axis of the pivotal connection between said hub and said other end of said srut, the pivotal connection between said strut and hub being provided by a loose fitting pin and the force holding said door closed With the pivotal connections to said strut and the axis of rotation of said shaft lying along a straight line being transmitted directly from said hub to said strut and said pin being free of such force.

4. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a door hinged to said hopper adjacent the upper side of said opening and swingable downwardly to an open position, a shaft rotatably mounted on said hopper parallel to and below the hinge axis of said door and spaced laterally outwardly from said door in the direction of opening movement of said door, a hub non-rotatably mounted on said shaft having a circular arcuate concave seat facing said door in closed position, a strut pivoted at one end to said door and at the other end to said hub with said other end being circular and arcuate and convex and engaging said circular arcuate concave seat when said door is closed the center of curvature of said circular arcuate concave seat and of said circular arcuate convex end of said strut being the axis of the pivotal connection between said hub and said other end of said strut, the pivotal connection between said strut and hub being provided by a loose fitting pin and the force holding said door closed with the pivotal connections to said strut and the axis of rotation of said shaft lying along a straight line being transmitted directly from said hub to said strut and said pin being free of such force, the axis of said pivotal connection between said strut and said hub being located beyond said line when said shaft is rotated to the extent necessary to close said door, and stop means preventing further rotation of said shaft in a door closing direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 311,047 Van Wormer Jan. 20, 1885 609,816 Kramer Aug. 30, 1898 644,890 Bellows Mar. 6, 1900 694,715 Bellows Mar. 4, 1902 1,108,769 Lively Aug. 25, 1914 1,290,572 Keithley et a1. Jan. 7, 1919

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