US1537282A - Car-door-operatng mechanism - Google Patents

Description

A. E. ZIMMER CAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM File d Sept. 4, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I n uenZ'ov' ALBERTf Z/Mr lf/i H/s ATTORNEY A. E. ZIMMER CAR DOOR OPERATING MECEANISM Filed Sept. 4, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IA'IIIII" k; X In V24 Inventor WITNESSES, vALBERT 5 Z/M/{f/Z ATTORNEY Patented May 12, 1925.

UNITED STATES T PATENT ALBERT n. ZIMMER, or ammo, rumor-s, assrsnos r0 nnrnnrnrsn RAILWAY EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OLE oHIcaso, ILLINOIS, A- ooaroaerlon or innit-tors.

maroon-cameras MECHANISM,

Application filed September To all Til/1.0m it may concern:

ide it known that I, ALnnn'r E. ZIMMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllinois, have invented a' certain new" and useful Improvement in Car'-Door-Op erating lt lechanisms, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact descrip tion, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification. v 'This invention relates to improvements in car door operating mechanisms. 2

An object of my invention is to provide a door mechanism for operating dump doors wherein is employed a bodily movablelatch or look carried by the door and adapted to project or rest upon a winding shaft when the door is in closed position, the movement of the latch over the shaft being accomplished by tension or pull of a flexible con nection in a direct line from the end of the latch to .the shaft in order to eliminate twisting or'binding of the latch during the bodily movement thereof. y It is also an object of my invention to provide a plurality of co-operating sets of teeth on a shaft and latch, respectively, and to dispose one set of'teeth'on either side of the flexible element connecting the shaft and latch whereby-a pull eXertedjon the latch by either the flexible element or the teeth will be in a direct line with the path of movement of the latch.

' A further object of my invention is to mount the latch on the door on anti-friction bearings of sphericalshape, thereby eliininating any tendency of the said antifriction bearings to jam between the latch and the door. j r

The invention furthermore consists in the improvements in the parts and devices and in the novel :oinbinations of the parts and devices herein shown, described and made the subject matter of claim.

in the drawings forining part of this specification, Figure 1 is a vertical, sectional view of .a portion of'a gondola car, the section being taken transversely thereof and illustrating my improved .mechanism in connection therewith, the door bemechanism in corresponding position as shown in full lines. The door is shown in open position in thesame figure by dotted ing in closed position with the operating 4, 1925. serial in. 660,784.

lines. Figure 2 is a plan view of a portion of the car shown in Figure 1 and illustrat- 111g so much of the car as necessary to disclose the operating mechanism. Figure showing more particularly the relation of the parts when said latch is either just leaving or just engaging the shaft, depend,-

ing upon whether the door is being opened.

or being brought to closed'positionr Figure 5. isa vertical sectional view, of a portion of a gondola car showing a modified form of my invention. Figure 6 is a plan view of a portion of the car shown in Figure 5. Figure 7 is an enlarged sectional view of the rear portion of the latch taken on a line corresponding substantially to line 77 ofFlgure 6. enlarged, sectional view of the front portion of the latch taken on line correspond ing substantially to line 88 of Figure 6.

Referring first to the construction shown. in Figs. 1-4 inclusive of the drawings,l0 denotes one of the channel center sills, 11 a central floor plate, 12 a side sill, 13 a portion of a side wall of the car, 14. a

cross-bcarer,' diaphragm or needle-beam of the car, and 15 a pivoted floor door'arranged to be flush with the floor of the car when the door is in closed position. door 15 is pivoted along its inner edge by meansof hinge straps 16 and hinge pins 17 to hinge butts 18- riveted or otherwise se cured to thecenter sill of the car.

Although in the drawings I have illustrated-only one floor door of a car, and only the immediately adjacent portions of the And Figure 8 is an Said car, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that there may boa series of such doors extending lengthwise of the car and a common opera-ting shaft employed therewith. The flexible connections and latches or locks will preferably be used, two for each door, but inasmuch as the operation of all of these mechanisms would besimila-r, I deem it only necessary to illustrate and describe in detail one of them.

In carrying out my invention, I employ 'an operating shaft 19 which extends parare to the free edge of the. door (or edges of the pivoted doors if more than one is used) and which is located beyond the path of movement of the free edge of the door, so that the shaft or any parts on the latter do not interfere with the movements of the door. Said shaft 1.9 is also located in a plane somewhat below the plane of the door with which it is associated. In a car such as indicated in the drawings, the shaft 19 ,is mounted in suitable bearings 20 ap plied to the cross beam 14 of the car, the shaft passing tl'irough such cross beams.

Mounted on each pivoted door 15 (there preferably being two sets for eachdoor) is a casing or housing A, located onthe underside of the door near the free edge thereof, said casing A being preferably formed of a plurality of sections, upper section 21 and lower section 22. The casing is open at its outer end and preferably also its inner end. The'u-pper section 21 is formed with a plurality of parallelly disposed corrugations 23-23 extending lengthwise of the door and constituting raceways within which an upper set of loosely mounted anti-friction balls 24- are adapted to have rolling movement. The outer edge of the upper section is formed with a downwardly extending flange 25 opera-ting tostiffen the outer edge of the section and also acting as a retainer for the anti-friction bearings. The lower section 2 is also formed with a" plurality of corrugations 2626 extending lengthwise of r the door and forming racewa-ys for a lower set of loosely mounted ball bearings 27. Said upper and lower sets of ballbearings constitute supports for a movable latch or lOClC B extending within the casing A.

Said latch is formed on its upper surface with 'ra-ceways 28 and on its under surface with raceways 29, in alignment with the aforesaid raceways 23 and 26, re spectively. The race-ways on the latch and easing, respectively, may be of any suitable form but the preferred form is to make the same of arcuate cross-section of a slight ly larger radius than the radius of the ball bearings, such a shape serving to centralize the latch member in the casing and causing it to travel in a straight line. In order to limit the forward movement of the lower set of ball hearings in the casing, a bolt or pin 30 is disposed in the path thereof. Said latch B, at its outer end is bifurcated, thus forming two separated arms 31'31, both of said arms have the under faces thereof formed with serrations or teeth 31, the teeth on the respective arms being in alignment longitudinally of the car. At an appreciable distance from the outer end of the latch, there is formed'a transversely extending wall 32 which is perforated centrally of the latch for the reception of an adjustable eye-bolt 33,. Said eyebolt 33-is adapted to have the corresponding end of a flexible connection 3e adjustably attached thereto.

On the shaft 19 is preferably provided a winding drum (1 to which the opposite end of the flexible connection 34 is secured in a plane at one side of the latch. There will be one of said drums for each latch or look. B. Said drum 0 is provided with a helical groove 35 within which the flexible connection 34; is wound and guided in the usual manner, from a point to one side of the latch to aposition in alignment with the latch. At the end of said drum, and in alignment with the aforesaid toothed sections 31 31, the sides of the grooves are extended upwardly and at the top thereof present widened surfaces 36, each formed with a series of pinion teeth 37 adapted to register with the teeth 31 on the said arms 31-31 of the latch l3. flexible connection 34. is adapted to extend between the toothed sections 36 and in alignment with the latch B, thereby assuring thatthe center of the chain or other flexible connection will pass from the drum to the latch directly in line with the longitudinal center or axis of the latch B. The object of this is to place a direct pull or tension on the end of the latch B in alignment with its path of movement as the latch begins to engage: and rides up on the teeth 37 of the drumas shown in Fig. 4. By this construction, I avoid the possibility of. pulling the latch to one side or exerting an eccentric pull thereon which would cause the latch to engage the side walls 38-438 of the lower housing section 22 and render it more difficult to move the parts to closed or locked position.

In Figs. 5 to 8 inclusive, I have illustrated av modified form of the operating mechanism showing a construction wherein only two ball bearings are used for each latch. In said drawings, denotes the crossbeam, 111 the side sill of the car, 112 the door. 113 the winding shaft, 11% the housing, 115 the movable latch; 116 the ball bearings, 11'? the winding drum and 118 the flexible connec tion between the drum and the latch. in said construction, the latch is also bifurcated at the outer end thereof. forming arms 119-11 h the under surfaces of which are toothed as indicated at 120. the space intermediate said toothed arms being coi'nparativcly narrow in order to obtain width for said teeth 120 without unduly increasing the width of the latch. A flat, elongated link 121 is utilized for the terminal link of the flexible connection. the said link being pi:- otally mounted between the arms as indicated at 122 and also adapted to bear on the under surface 123 of the lat-ch during the lifting movement of the door. thereby constituting an extension of the said latch.

The

Said link is also adapted to extend between the toothed sections 124-424: disposed at the end of the drum in alignment with the teeth 120 of the latch 115. An adjustment for the length of the flexible connection is provided on the drum where a socket 125 is formed tlirough whichthe shank of an; adjustable -12 l12 -t is also disposed at right angles to the longitudinal axis. of the shaft and the guidewayon the drum 18 adapted to extend helically intermediate said sections as indicated at 128. As the guideway of the drum extendsfrom a position adjacent the side of the latch toa position centrally thereof, the dian' eter thereof gradually reducesthereby providing a differential lifting action which enables the exertionof the greatest leverage on the shaft towards the end of the closing operation of the door or'at'the commencement of the opening operation."

In saidconstructionillustrated in Figs..7 and 8, the ball bearings are adapted to move inraceways of arcuate form and the verticalside walls 12 9'129 ofthe casing 114 act as guides to restrictfth'e movement of the latch to a direction at rigl'it angles flto the longitudinal axisiof the shaft. 7 VVhile I have shown two different combinations of balls, one employing two and the other four, it will be evldent that any number may be used, as for instance. two balls at one end ofthe latch and one ball at the other end thereof thereby providing a three point support. 7 V p The operation as follows: assuming the parts in the positionafs indicated by dotted lines. the operator will rotate the shaft 19 in a countor-clockwise direction by any suitable means, thus winding the flexible connection 34 on the drum C. The door is thereby gradually lifted untilthe "curved end 39 of the latch B passes the shaft, the latch being forced inwardly of the door because of the flexible connection occupyinga position between the shaft and the end of thelatch. The toothed portions 37-37 of the drum then engage'the teeth on the latch as shown in Fig. 4 and the latch. is pulled out over the shaft so that the flexible connection is relieved of all load and the load from the door is transferredthrough the latch directly to the-shaft, thus eliminating all tendency to rotate'the'shaft when the load is on the door. As the latchmoves outwardly overthe shaft, the respective upper and lower ball bearing sets move in unison therewith assuming the position shown in Fig. 1. Now assuming the parts in locked position as shown in Fig. 1, in order to drop the ,door, the operator will rotate the shaft 19 in a clockwise direction and the latch will" initially be forced inwardly of the door, riding on the respective upper and lower ballfbearings; which are dis 'ilaced in unison therewith. Suchmoven'ient of'the latch is accomplished by the teeth 3? forcing the said latch inwardly until the condition illus trated in Fig. l is reached where the latch is about to free itself from the shaft. 'As the latch frees itself from the shaft, the load is taken by the flexible connection which causes further unwinding of'the shaft until the condition illustrated by dotted lines in Fig.

1 is reached where the door is su )orted in its fully opened position bythe flexible connections. V p 7 lVhile I have shown and described my invention as applied to a door of conn ositc construction, the same is equally applicable to a door of all metal construction when I may conveniently form the corrugations constituting the raceways for the ball bearings directly in thedoor plate itself and utilize'the saidcorrugations as rigidifying meansfor the door. Furthermore, the door mechanism is applicable to types of car other than that herein shown and described, as for 1nstance, the device may be used with 'a shaft extending"transversely of the car where the doors are hingedwith their axes at right angles to the longitudinal center of the 'car. V

.Although I have shown and described what'I now consider the preferred manrcr ofcarrying out the inventiom'the same is merely illustrative and I OODttHlPlfite all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto. I claim: v j 1. In a door operating mechanism coinprising; awinding shaft; a flexible counec ti on therefrom to the door; a latch for sup porting the door in closed position: and

anti-friction balls for supporting said latch.

2. In a door operating mechanism, the con'ibination with a pivoted door and a shaft rotatably mounted adjacent the free edge of thedoor; of a housing'carried by the door; a bodily movable latchinounted in the housing; anti-frictionballs interposed between the latch and the housing, and arranged to provide bearings for said latch in various directions; and a flexible connection from the shaft to the latch.

3. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door and a shaft rotat ably mounted adjacent the free edge of the doorg of a housing carried by the door; a

latch adapted to have reciprocatory motion in the housing and movable to a position over the shaft to maintain the door in closed position; anti-friction ball bearings loosely mounted in the housing and interposed between the latch and the housing; means for restricting the bodily movement of the ball bearings to. the path of movement of the latch; and a flexible connection from the shaft to the latch.

4. A door operating mechanism comprising: a winding shaft rotatably mounted adjacent the free edge of the door; a housing carried by the door presenting upper and lower raceways of arcuate shape; a latch in the housing, for supporting the door, said latch having raceways of arcuate shape disposed in alignment with the raceways on the housings; ball bearings disposed in the respective raceways of the latch and housing; and a flexible connection between the latch and the shaft.

5. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a pivoted door and a shaft rotatably mounted adjacent the free edge of the door; of a housing carried by the door, said housing comprising upper and lower members, each of said members having a plurality of parallel corrugations formed therein; a latch carried by the said housing and movable to a position over the shaft to support the door in closed position, said latch having raceways on the upper and lower faces thereof disposed in alignment with the said corrugations in the housing members; anti-friction members of spherical form interposed between the latch and the respective upper and lower faces of the housing and movable in the said raceways and corrugations, said bearings forming points of contact between the latch and the housing; and aflexible connection having one end thereof connected to the shaft and the other end connected to the latch.

6. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a pivoted door, a shaft rotatably mounted adjacent the free end thereof and a flexible connection; of a latch slidably mounted on the door and having one cndof the flexible connection secured thereto; a drum mounted on the shaft and hadng the adjacent end of the flexible conncction attached thereto, said drum having portions of varying diameter, the portion of the largest diameter being at the side of the latch and the portion of smallcst diameter in the plane thereof; and teeth formed on the latch and drum, respcclively, adapted to have co-operating engagement to move'the latch relatively to the shaft.

7. As an article of manufacture, a latch mechanism for car doors including; a housing having upper and lower bearing surfaces; a bodily movable latch adapted to have reciprocatory movement in the housing; ball bearings interposed between said latch and said respective upper and lower bearing surfaces on the housing; and means for limiting sidewise bodily movement of the ball bearings.

8. In a door operating mechanism com-- prising a winding shaft; a flexible connection therefrom to the door; a latch for supporting the door in closed position; and anti-friction balls for supporting said latch and providing bearings for said latch in various directions.

9. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a pivoted door and a winding shaft; of ahousing on said door; a latch slidably mounted for longitudinal movement in said housing; anti-friction balls for supporting said latch in said housing; a flexible connection attached at one end to the shaft and at the other end to the latch, the groove in the sheave wheel oper-- ating to guide the flexible connection from an offside position relatively to the latch to a position in line therewith, whereby the di-* rection of pull on the latch by the flexible connection toward engaging position will be in the same direction as the path of movement of the latch.

V 10. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a pivoted door and a winding shaft; of a housing on said door; a latch slidably mounted for longitudinal movement in said housing; anti-friction balls for supporting said latch in said housing, there being raceways in the walls of said housing and said latchto support said balls for movement; a flexible connection attached at one end to the shaft and at the other end to the latch, the groove in the sheave wheel operating to guide the flexible connection from an offside posit-ion relatively to the latch to a position in line therewith, whereby the direction of pull on the latch by the flexible connection toward engaging position will be in the same direction as the path of movement of the latch.

11. In a door operating mechanisu'i, the combination with a pivoted door, a shaft rotatably mounted adjacent the free end thereof and a flexible connection; of a latch slidably mounted on'thc door and having one end of the flexible connection secured thereto; a drum mounted on the shaft and having the adjacent cud of the 'il(\ll')l( conncction attached thereto, said drum having portions of varying diameter.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 31st day of August, 1923.

. ALBERT E. ZIh IMER. lVitnessos FRANCES SAVAGE, HAnninr'rn M. DmMnn,

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