Abstract:
The invention relates to a railway vehicle including a body defining a wall in which an access passage is embodied, at least one closing sliding door, a sealing joint carried by the door and applicable to the wall when said door in a closed position. Said wall includes a panel provided with a generally cylindrical envelop and a seat which is protruded with respect to said panel and defines a bearing surface for supporting the joint only when the door is in the closed position, wherein said bearing surface of a supporting element extends along a profile substantially identical to the joint profile and said joint profile extends transversely with respect to the door displacement direction.

Description:
The present invention relates to a railroad vehicle, of the type having a body delimiting a wall in which an access passage is formed; at least one sliding closing door, slidable in a direction of movement parallel to the wall between a position in which the passage is closed and a position in which the door is retracted along the wall away from the passage; and a sealing joint which is carried by a supporting element belonging to either the wall or the door and can be pressed, when the door is in the closed position, against a joint bearing element formed by the other of the wall and the door to provide a seal, this bearing element including a panel having a generally cylindrical shell. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Passenger trains, particularly those for urban and suburban travel, are provided with sliding doors for closing the access passages leading to the inside of the trains. At present, a door of this type has a leaf which moves away from the passage, or two leaves which are placed side by side when in the closed position in front of the passage and which move away from each other towards their retracted position with one on each side of the passage. 
   To ensure sealing against wind, for example, as well as rain or pressure waves, the doors are provided with a sealing joint on their periphery. This sealing joint is pressed onto the outer surface of the flat wall of the vehicle at the edge of the passage when the door is in the closed position 
   When the door moves in a rectilinear way parallel to the flat wall of the vehicle, the joint remains in contact with this wall and rubs against it. The joint therefore rapidly deteriorates and the surface of the wall is degraded by the friction of the joint. 
   Some doors are mounted to be movable along the wall of the vehicle with a complex non-rectilinear movement which enables the door, when it is opened, to be initially moved away from the wall in order to detach the joint and then to be simply moved along the wall. 
   The means required to provide this movement of the door are relatively complicated and costly. 
   There are also known inflatable joints which expand when the door is in the closed position to bear on the wall, and which retract to move away from the wall when the door is to be opened. These joints are costly and must be formed from a flexible material which has poor vandal-resistance. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   An object of the invention is to propose a railroad vehicle having doors provided with sealing joints which have a limited production cost while having a considerable service life. 
   The invention provides a railroad vehicle of the aforementioned type, characterized in that the support element includes a seat projecting from the panel, this seat forming a bearing surface for the bearing of the joint only when the door is in the closed position, this bearing surface of the support element extending along a profile substantially identical to that of the joint, and the profile of the joint extending transversely to the direction of movement of the door. 
   In specific embodiments, the railroad vehicle has one or more of the following characteristics, which are present separately or jointly in all technically feasible combinations: 
   the support element is the wall and the joint is carried by the door; 
   the seat delimits a frame forming a door frame which is applied and fixed to the wall panel; 
   the seat is formed by a bulge in the wall of the body; 
   the joint has a generally polygonal outer profile, and none of the edges of the polygon formed by the joint extends parallel to the direction of movement; 
   the bearing surface has a perpendicular facing towards the outside of the passage; 
   the seat is edged, on the side corresponding to the central part of the door, with a gutter for draining runoff water which is transverse with respect to the direction of movement; 
   the door can only be moved with a translational movement with respect to the wall, this movement being generally parallel to the plane of the panel; 
   when the door is outside its closed position, the joint is separated from the main panel of the support element; 
   the body has a step on a lower edge of the passage, and the door is designed so that it covers the step when in the closed position. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be more clearly understood with the aid of the following description which is provided solely by way of example and which refers to the drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a partial side elevation of a railroad vehicle according to the invention with the door closed; 
       FIG. 2  is a view identical to that of  FIG. 1  with the door open; 
       FIG. 3  is a section through the vehicle of  FIG. 1 , taken along the line III-III when the door is closed; 
       FIGS. 4 ,  5  and  6  are sectional views on a larger scale of a detail of the interface between the door and the wall of the vehicle, taken along the lines IV-IV, V-V and VI-VI in  FIG. 1 ; and 
       FIG. 7  is a sectional view of the vehicle of  FIG. 2 , taken along the line VII-VII when the door is open. 
       FIGS. 8 and 9  are similar views as  FIG. 4  of a detail of a railroad according to second and third embodiments. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1  shows part of a car  10  of a passenger train. This car forms a railroad vehicle having a body  12  delimiting accommodation for passengers. 
   As is known, the body is generally tubular and has two opposing side walls  14 , a roof  15  and a base  16 . 
   A floor  17  is provided in the body for the use of the passengers. 
   In the example in question, the wall  14  comprises a panel  18  having a generally cylindrical shell; in other words, the panel is formed by the movement of a generatrix along a closed contour corresponding to the cross section of the body. 
   Passages  20  for access to the inside of the body are formed in the side walls  14  at regular intervals. These passages open over most of the height of the body. In the lower part of each passage, a step or set of steps  21  is formed, allowing a passenger to reach the floor  17  of the car from a platform extending at a lower level. 
   A door  22  is provided to close each passage  20  and to cover the step  21 . In the example in question, the door  22  has two leaves  22 A,  22 B which are symmetrical to each other about a vertical axis. They can be moved between a closed position in which the two leaves are placed side by side along a vertical edge and in which they extend in front of the passage  20 , and a retracted position in which each leaf  22 A,  22 B extends along the wall  14  away from the passage  20  and from the step  21 , thus permitting access by passengers. 
   Each leaf can be moved translationally in a rectilinear way parallel to the panel  18  in a direction of movement D shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . This direction of movement is, for example, perpendicular to the vertical axis of symmetry of the leaves  22 A,  22 B. 
   For this purpose, the leaves  22 A,  22 B are carried by upper and lower rails (not shown) which are fixed to the body. The leaves have rolling members housed in these rails. 
   In addition, an operating mechanism, such as a set of actuators, is positioned between the body and the leaves to enable the leaves to be moved along the rails. 
   Each leaf  22 A,  22 B has sealing joints on its periphery. 
   In particular, the leaves have complementary joints  40  on their facing edges, extending in the plane of the leaves and capable of pressing against each other when the door is in its closed position. 
   Additionally, each leaf  22 A,  22 B is provided on its outer longitudinal edge and along its upper and lower edges with an elongate sealing joint  42  carried by the surface of the leaf facing the body. This joint extends along a polygonal profile formed in the example in question by three successive segments  44 ,  46 ,  48  delimiting between them angles of more than 90°. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 3 ,  4 ,  5  and  6 , the joint  42  is carried by a re-entrant flange  49  formed around the edge of each leaf. 
   This flange is turned towards the panel  18  but is kept away from it. 
   The joint  42  is fixed so that it is spaced apart from the panel  18  in all circumstances by a non-zero interval I shown in  FIG. 7 . 
   The profile of the joint  42  is defined in such a way that the joints always extend transversely to the direction of movement D of the door. 
   In particular, since the door  22  and the passage  20  are polygonal, the sides of the polygon carrying a joint are positioned in such a way that they do not extend parallel to the direction of movement D. The door and the passage can be of any shape, provided that the contact surface between the joint  42  and the bearing surfaces  58 ,  60 ,  62  of the joint are transverse to the direction D. 
   For the purposes of the present application, the term “transverse” or “transversely” is interpreted as meaning “not parallel to the direction D”. 
   Thus, the longitudinal segment  46  of the joint extends over the height of each leaf  22 A,  22 B perpendicularly to the direction of movement D. 
   The upper segment  44  lies at an angle of about twenty degrees to the direction D, so that the height of the leaves in the vicinity of the joint  40  is greater than that of the leaf in the vicinity of the segment  46  of the joint. 
   Similarly, the lower segment  48  of the joint lies at an angle of about ten degrees to the direction D. It is substantially symmetrical with the segment of joint  46  about the direction D. 
   Thus, in the embodiment shown in the figures, each leaf has a generally trapezoid shape with its major base facing the other leaf and its minor base extending toward the outside of the opening. In other embodiments, which are not shown, the leaf (or leaves) can be of any shape, namely semi-elliptical (elliptical), rectangular, etc. 
   The elongate joint has a constant cross section. It is formed by two essentially parallel lips  50 ,  52 . These lips are elastically deformable, thus enabling them to be compressed against a bearing surface. On the periphery of the passage  20 , the bearing surface of the joint.  42  is formed by a seat  54  projecting outward from the panel  18  of the body  14 . 
   The seat  54  forms a frame which borders the passage  20  in the region where the joints  42  are located when the leaves of the door shut off the passage  20 . 
   The seat  54  forms a bearing surface  56  projecting from the panel  18  and extending along a profile corresponding to the profile of the joint  42 , in other words along the whole length of the joint, the bearing surface extending opposite the position of the joint when the door is in the closed position. 
   Thus the bearing surface  56  has three successive segments  58 ,  60 ,  62 , lying at angles of more than 90° to each other, as shown in  FIG. 2 . The bearing surfaces  56  are inclined and have a perpendicular facing the outside of the passage  20 . 
   In the embodiment in question, the seat  54  is formed by a metal section shown in detail in  FIGS. 4 ,  5  and  6 , which forms a door frame delimiting the passage  20 . This frame is applied to the panel  18  and is fixed, for example by means of bolts  66  inserted into a fixing flange  68  of the section. This fixing flange is applied and fixed to the face of the panel  18 . The fixing flange is made in one piece with the bearing surface  56 . In another embodiment, shown in  FIG. 9 , the seat is formed by a bulge in the wall  14  of the body. 
   In the upper segment  58 , the edge of the bearing surface  54  is bordered with a gutter  70  for draining runoff water. Similarly, each leaf  20 A,  20 B is provided in its upper part with a generally horizontal gutter  72  positioned on its inner face and extending below the gutter  70 . The gutter  70  is parallel to the joint  42  and to the bearing surface  56  in the upper part of the leaf, in such a way that the runoff water is drained more easily toward the outside of the doors by the gradients created by the polygonal shape of the upper part. 
   The segment  60  of the bearing surface shown in  FIG. 5  extends in a generally vertical way. 
   The inner bearing surface  62  extends below a tread of the step  21  which is fixed to the fixing flange  68 . 
   Clearly, when the door is in the closed position, the joints  42  are pressed against the bearing surfaces  56  of the seats  54 , thus providing satisfactory sealing around the doors. 
   When the door is opened by the movement of the leaves in the direction D, the joints  42  are immediately detached from the seats  54 , since the joints extend transversely to the direction of movement D of the doors. Thus, when the joints have been detached, they are moved by being carried by the door along the panels  18  without coming into contact with the latter. 
   When the doors are closed, the leaves are brought back into place and the joints  42  do not come into contact with the seats  54  until the final stage of the approach to the closed position. 
   Clearly, the joints are not in contact with the walls  14  when the leaves are moved, and therefore they do not become worn and do not degrade the wall surface. The presence of the projecting seat  54  for the bearing of each joint makes it possible to have a door whose movement is very simple, since it is exclusively translational, with no need for complex movements to bring the joint into contact with the support element. 
   In a variant, shown in  FIG. 8 , the joint is carried not by the sliding door but by the wall  14  of the body, and the seat is formed on the sliding door, in which case the sliding door is closed by a generally cylindrical solid panel having a projecting seat on which the joint bears. 
   Clearly, the joint profile can be of any shape, as long as it is not parallel to the direction of movement. For example, the door and joint can advantageously be circular or elliptical. 
   Finally, in a variant, the door has only one leaf.