US2559760A - Hopper car door frame - Google Patents

Description

July 10, 1951 Q G. B. DOREY HOPPER CAR DOOR FRAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 17, 1948 July 10, 1951 G. B. DOREY HOPPER CAR DOOR FRAME Fil ed Aug. 17, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 10, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE HOPPER CAR DOOR FRAME George.B.. Dorey, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application August 17, 1948, SerialNo. 44,672

Claims.

My invention. relates toan improved hopper car door frame and is by way of an improvement on the T-shaped frame disclosed in the A. Campbell United States Patent No. 1,912,620 of June 6, 1933.

My invention resides in an improvement on the T-shaped rolled section employed for the sides and bottom members of a stirrup like structure used to form three sides of a four sided frame. It is a particular object ofmy invention to provide aspeeial T frame section which will be reinforced adjacent the outer marginal edge of the frame and be of a form suitable for bending into ing. a. wedge shaped wall extending around the sides and bottom of theframe.

For further comprehension of my invention, reference may be had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a. longitudinal. elevational view of a part of the side of a hopper car showing as much of the car as necessary to. show a frame and its associated door.

Fig. 2.is an elevationalv frontal view of the door and frame shown in. Fig. 1 as viewedfrom right to left.

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan. view taken through the frame and door and on a line corresponding substantially to a line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken through the lower portion of the frame and door as taken on a line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken through the T frame section and showing the manner in which the recessed portion of theseotion receives a die block to govern the alinement of the frame during the bending operation.

Fig. 6 is a frontal elevational. view of a frame embodying my improved T frame section.

Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of the frame shown in Fig. 6 as viewed from right to left.

In said drawings my improved frame is shown as applied to a W type of hopper car including a longitudinally sloping floor l 0 and inner and outer side walls at II and I2 respectively, the latter 2. sloping inwardly downwardly, and an upper sloping floor l3, said respective walls [9, H, I2 and I3 having their edge portions defining the mar.- gins of an opening.

Positioned in the opening to overlie the side walls and the bottom floor and underlie the upper sloping floor is the frame A and hinged thereto is the door B.

Theframe A includes atopmember l4 preferably formed of an angle bent to shape and having hinge butts l5l5 welded or otherwise secured thereto, whereby the door B is mounted by means of pivots I6.

The lower part of the frame is of stirrup like form bent to shape to conform to the shape of the hopper and includes inner and outer legs;

welded to the, top member Hi.

The stirrup forms three. sides of the opening with inner and outer legs as at I! and I8 and a.

bottom section I9, extending between said legs I! and. IS.

The T-shaped member which is preferably formed of a rolled sectionincludes a wide flange section 28 and a centrally disposed outstanding stem 2|. Adjacent the outer margin of they frame my improved frame is formed with a bulb portion 22 which is preferably of triangular shape with surfaces 23 and 24 inclined relatively to each other to present a wedge shaped protuberance with the outer surface 23 inclined steeply relatively to the main body of the flange section 20.

The surface 23 of the bulb in combination with surfaces 25 of flange 26 and 25 of the stem 2i form the contour of a pocket 2? for the reception of a forming die block as indicated at 28.

The door B is of the usual pan shape with flat body portion 29 and upturned flanges 39, 3|, 32 and 33, the latter being inclined outwardly to be substantially parallel to the outer surface 24 of the bulb. The inner surfaces of side flanges 3i and 32 of the door by reason of the wedge shaped formation of the T frame are permitted to lie in close proximity to the apex of the bulb as formed by surfaces 23 and 24, when the door is in closed position. It will be understood that the tapering construction of the frame flanges act as guides to center the door and consequently' close fits between the door flanges and frame may be tolerated for the purpose of obtaining a tightly fitting door.

The door when in closed position isarranged to abut the edges of the frame and it is therefore essential that a smooth and level surface be obtained on the frame throughout its bearing contact with the door.

The aim of my improvement is to obtain even bearing throughout the length of contact with the door. It will be noted, that owing to the sloping nature of the hopper outer side walls, there is an undesirable twist in the outer leg of the stirrup as indicated at 34 and in the absence of the construction embodied in my improvement for retaining the outer edge of the frame in fixed relation to the die there is a tendency for the heavy stem construction of the T bar to control the direction of draw of the material, which has the effect of distorting the flanges of the frame, resulting in a warped and uneven bearing surface where contact with the door is made.

The tendency of the frame to distortion is further enhanced by the fact that in most constructions the body of the door is not at right angles to the sloping bottom floor and there is therefore an angular bend between the bottom and sides of the frame as indicated at 35.

With my improved construction I am able to control the alinement of the outer edge by reason of the die block engaging with the guiding surface 24 and such deformation as normally takes place due to departure from right angle bends is then confined to the stem and the inner flange of the T bar.

What I claim is:

1. As a new article of manufacture an improved T-shaped rolled section of the character described for incorporation as the stirrup member of a hopper car door frame, said T -shape having a relatively thin flange and an outstanding centrally disposed stem and a marginal reinforcement at the outer edge of the flange, said stirrup member being of U-shape with spaced apart depending legs and a connecting lower beam portion and adapted to be bent to shape in a forming die, said reinforcement being in the form of a concentration of metal providing for increased wall thickness adjacent the front marginal edge of the stirrup, said increased wall thickness being of wedge shape and separated from the outstanding stem by a comparatively thin flange section to provide a recess intermediate the stem and marginal reinforcement for receiving the forming die.

- 2. In a railway car hopper door frame arranged for application to a hopper having a bottom and side walls, said frame having a stirrup portion of T shape disposed with the flange extending flatwise around the bottom and side walls and the stem of the T outstanding from the flange and an upper beam member meeting with and united to the stirrup portion, said stirrup member being i adapted to be bent in a forming die, said top member having hinge butts for pivotally supporting a door for meeting with the edge portions of the stirrup when the door is in closed position; the improvement which consists of forming the outer flange of the T adjacent its contact with the door with a reinforcement in the form of a bulb of triangular form, said triangular shaped bulb formation being separated from the stem by a comparatively thin flange section to provide a recess intermediate the stem and said bulb formation to receive and hold the forming die. 3. In a railway car hopper door frame arranged for application to a hopper having bottom and side walls, said frame having a stirrup portion of T shape disposed with the flange extending flatwise around the bottom and side walls and the stem outstanding from said flange, said stirrup being adapted to be bent to shape in a forming die; and an upper beam member meeting with and united to the stirrup portion, said beam member having hinge butts; a door pivotally mounted on the hinge butts, said door being formed of pan shape with upstanding flanges arranged to embrace the stirrup section of the frame when the door is in closed position; the improvement which consists of forming the flange of the T adjacent the door with a marginal reinforcement in the form of a relatively heavy concentration of metal of greater thickness than the flange overlying the hopper wall plates, said concentration of metal being of triangular formation to provide a wedge shaped flange presenting a wall surface extending at a keen angle to the hopper walls and disposed adjacent the upstanding flanges of the door, said wedge shaped flange having a recess formed therein adjacentvthe outstanding flange to receive and hold the forming die.

4. A closure for a hopper opening of a railway car comprising, in combination, a frame for surrounding said opening including a stirrup member for overlying the bottom and sides of the opening and a top member joining said sides, said stirrup member having a T-shaped. cross section with the stem outstanding and the outer margin of the flange being thickened, said thickened margin having a surface inclined toward said hopper opening and providing an outfiaredguiding surface along the bottom and sides of said frame, and a pan shaped door hinged to said top member and arranged to be guided into tight fitting engagement with the juxtaposed edges of said frame by the guiding action performed by said inclined guiding surface of said thickened margin in cooperation with the side and bottom flanges of said pan shaped door.

5. A closure for a hopper opening of a railway car comprising, in combination, a frame for surrounding said opening including a stirrup member for overlying the bottom and sides of the opening and a top member joining said sides, said stirrup member having a flange portion defining the bottom and sides of said opening and an outstanding stem portion spaced from the outer margin thereof, said outer margin being thickened and having an outflaring wedge shaped wall extending around said bottom and sides, and a pan shaped door hinged to said top member and arranged to be guided into tight fitting engagement with the juxtaposed edges of said frame by the guiding action performed by said wedge shaped wall in cooperation with the side and bottom flanges of said pan shaped door.

GEORGE B. DOREY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Campbell June 13, 1933

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