Railroad car sill-articulating device member connection

Ends of two adjacent railroad cars may be joined by an articulating device when a series of such cars comprises a semi-permanent unit. The articulating device includes a male member which is connected to a sill of the first car and a female member connected to a like sill of the second car. Each connecting member has an inner end portion disposed within the respective sill. The structure of the inner end portion allows it to be joined to the sill by a select pattern of welds. These welds join the connecting member to the sill to form a connection therebetween which may withstand the high static and dynamic forces transmitted from the railroad cars to the articulating device during travel of the unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to articulated devices for joining railroad cars 
into semi-permanent units and more particularly to a connection between a 
sill of the railroad car and a member of the articulating device. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Use of standard AAR (Association of American Railroads) couplers to join 
railroad cars is well known. Such couplers are so designed to facilitate 
the connecting or disconnecting of individual railroad cars to allow such 
cars to be assembled into a train and uncoupled for remote loading or 
unloading. The Type-E and Type-F couplers are in common use today. 
In recent times, the railroad industry has found that joining several cars 
into a semi-permanent unit is advantageous. For example, railroad cars 
particularly adapted for piggyback service may be so joined. In this 
arrangement, an articulating device comprises a male member connected to a 
sill of one car body and a female member connected to a sill of an 
adjacent car body. The two members are then joined. The articulating 
device may in turn be carried by a single railroad car truck. 
Articulating devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,216,370; 3,396,673; 
3,646,604 and 3,716,146, for example. A most recent improvement in 
articulating devices is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application 
Ser. No. 047,272 which has now matured into U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,628. In 
all cases these improvements to articulating devices as disclosed therein 
have been directed to structure providing improved joinder of the members. 
No attempt has been made to improve the connection between the respective 
member and the railroad car body sill. The articulating member-railroad 
car body sill connection as known heretofore could be subject to failure 
in operation. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An articulating device for joining railroad cars into a semi-permanent unit 
includes a male and a female connecting member. These two members may be 
selectively assembled by a removable pin. An inner end of each member in 
turn is connected to a sill, which extends outwardly from an end of each 
railroad car body to be so joined. 
The configuration of the sill may vary but in all cases has an open end 
into which an inner end portion of each connecting member may be placed. 
By providing an offset in a top wall and sidewalls of the connecting 
member inner end portion to form stops, the inner end of the connecting 
member may be accurately located within the sill. Outer surfaces of the 
sidewalls of each connecting member fit closely against inner surfaces of 
side members of the sill. End surfaces of the connecting member sidewalls 
are upwardly and outwardly sloped so that the inner end top wall is 
shorter than a corresponding bottom wall of each connecting member. 
Because the sill typically also has an open bottom, an end surface of the 
top wall and the sloped end surfaces of the sidewalls of the connecting 
members may be conveniently joined to the adjacent inner surfaces of the 
sill members by a series of internal welds. The connection between the 
sill and the connecting member inner end portion may be further secured by 
the addition of a plate located under the connecting member bottom wall 
and between the sill side members. An end surface of the connecting member 
bottom wall may then be welded to the plate while side surfaces of the 
plate are welded to the side members of the sill. Additionally, outer 
edges of the sill may be joined to the stops of the connecting member top 
and sidewalls by a series of external welds. 
This railroad car sill-articulating device member connection provides 
several advantages over the connection presently known. 
These internal welds between the end surfaces of the connecting member 
walls and the inner surfaces of the sill members and the plate has a 
rectangular configuration and defines an inclined plane which intersects a 
vertical axis of the articulating device at a point above the device. This 
inclined plane also intersects a longitudinal axis of the sill and the 
articulating device at an acute angle. These welds form a pattern which 
produces a connection which performs effectively under high static and 
dynamic forces occurring during travel of the unit. 
The welds between the end surface of the connecting member bottom wall and 
the plate and between the side surfaces of the plate and the side member 
of the sill define a second plane which is horizontal. The inclined plane 
and the second horizontal plane intersect at the weld between the plate 
and the end surface of the connecting member bottom wall. Together the two 
planes of welds have a wedge-shaped configuration which proves highly 
resistant to vertical bending forces on the connection. The connection 
between the connecting member and the sill is still further enhanced by 
the series of external welds.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
As best understood by viewing FIG. 1, a series of railroad car bodies 10, 
12, 14 are joined into a semi-permanent unit 16 shown in part. It should 
be understood that the unit 16 would typically comprise two or more such 
car bodies. The car 10 is the first or forwardmost car in the unit 16. A 
front end 18 of the car 10 is carried in a conventional manner by a 
railroad car truck 20 and is provided with a standard type coupler 22. 
Projecting outwardly from a rear end 24 of the first car body 10 is a sill 
26 of a conventional configuration. In a like manner, projecting outwardly 
from a front end 28 of the car body 12 is a sill 30. Joined to the sill 26 
is a male member 32 of an articulating device 34 while a female member 36 
of the device 34 is joined to the sill 30 of the car body 12. As shown in 
some detail in FIG. 2, the articulating device 34 is carried by a further 
railroad car truck 38. The railroad car bodies 12 and 14 are joined in a 
similar manner and therefore need not be further described. 
Typically a sill, for example the sill 26, has an inverted box-like 
cross-sectional configuration comprising an upper member 44 joined by 
spaced vertical side members 46 and an open bottom 48. Projecting 
outwardly from along a bottom edge 50 of each sill side member 46 are 
horizontal flanges 52. The sill 26 may be formed without such flanges 52, 
however. It should be understood that the sill 30 attached to the second 
car body 12 may be identical to the sill 26, and therefore, like reference 
numbers are used to identify like structural elements. 
The articulating device 34 is shown in considerable detail in FIGS. 4, 5. 
An outer portion 58 of the female connecting member 36 is formed with an 
opening 60 leading to an inner cavity 62. On a bottom side 64 of the 
female connecting member 36 is a circular boss 66 which fits within a 
centerplate 68 formed as part of a bolster 70 of the car truck 38. 
In an outer end 72 of the male connecting member 32 is a vertical passage 
74. The outer end 58 of the female connecting members 36 contains a pair 
of aligned apertures 76. With the outer end 72 of the male connecting 
member 32 inserted within the inner cavity 62 of the female connecting 
member 36, the two connecting members 32, 36 may be joined by a pin 78 
inserted through the passage 74 and the apertures 76. 
Inner ends 80, 82 of the male and female connecting members 32, 36 are 
similarly constructed, and therefore, like reference numbers are used to 
identify like structural elements. 
An inner end, for example the inner end 80, of the male connecting member 
32 has a hollow rectangular cross-sectional configuration. The inner end 
80 is defined by a top wall 84 and a bottom wall 86 carried between spaced 
sidewalls 88. The sidewalls 88 are so positioned that an outer surface 90 
of each fits snugly against an inner surface 92 of each side member 46 of 
the sills 26, 30. The top wall 84, bottom wall 86 and sidewalls 88 are 
each formed with an offset portion 94 which terminates at peripherally 
aligned stops 96. The stops 96 may be formed on an acute angle to provide 
a respective space 98 between the stops 96 and a respective outer edge 100 
of the sill upper and side members 44, 46. 
The connecting member top wall 84 has a dimension less than that of the 
connecting member bottom wall 86 so that end surfaces 102 of the sidewalls 
88 are upwardly and outwardly sloped at an angle proximating 60 degrees. 
Thus, an end surface 104 of the connecting member top wall 84 is 
longitudinally offset from an end surface 106 of the bottom wall 86. 
If the sills 26, 30 include the flanges 52, the male and female connecting 
members 32, 36 may include flared ribs 108 having end surfaces 110 to abut 
outer edges 111 of the flanges 52. 
A connection 113 between the member inner end portions 80, 82 and the sills 
26, 30 is formed as follows. Because of the open bottom 48 of each sill 
26, 30, the connecting member top wall end surface 104 may be conveniently 
joined to an inner surface 112 of the sill upper member 44 by an upper 
internal weld seam 114. In a like manner, the connecting member sidewall 
end surfaces 102 may be joined to the inner surface 92 of each sill side 
member 46 by sloped internal side weld seams 116. Additionally, the 
connecting member sidewalls 88 may be joined along a bottom edge 118 to 
the sill side members 46 by lower internal side weld seams 120. 
With this welding complete as noted, a plate 122 may be positioned in the 
connecting member bottom wall offset 94 so that an outer edge 124 of the 
plate 122 abuts the connecting member bottom wall stop 96 to form a 
further space 98 therebetween. With the plate 122 so located, the end 
surface 106 of each connecting member bottom wall 86 may be joined to an 
upper surface 126 of the plate 122 by a lower internal weld seam 128. 
These internal weld seams 114, 116, 120 and 128 form a pattern shown by 
the solid lines in FIG. 7. 
Some such sills (not shown) do not have an open bottom such as the open 
bottom 48 but have a full bottom member. If this were the case, the plate 
122 could be omitted. If a plate were used, it could be made full width so 
as to extend beneath the sill flange 52 as well. Where the sill includes a 
bottom member, an access opening in the bottom member is provided to allow 
the internal welding noted. 
The connection 113 between the connecting members 32, 36 and respective 
sills 26, 30 may also include a series of external welds. For example, the 
outer edge 100 of the sill upper member 44 may be joined to the connecting 
member top wall 84 by a top external weld seam 130 formed in the top space 
98 at the top stop 96. Outer edges 100 of the sill side member 46 may be 
joined to the connecting member sidewalls 88 by external side weld seams 
132 formed in the side spaces 98 at the side stops 96. Next, the outer 
edge 124 of the plate 122 may be joined to the connecting member bottom 
wall 86 by an external bottom weld seam 134 placed in the bottom space 98 
at the bottom stop 96. Side edges 136 of the plate 122 then may be joined 
to the side member inner surface 92 along the bottom edges 50 by external 
bottom side weld seams 138. Lastly, the outer edges 111 of the sill 
flanges 52 may be joined to the end surfaces 110 of the connecting member 
flared ribs 108 by lateral weld seams 140. 
These external weld seams 130, 132, 134, 138 and 140 form a pattern shown 
in FIG. 7 by the broken lines. These internal and external weld seam 
patterns, as they join the related structural elements of the sills 26, 30 
and the connecting members 32, 36, insure the structural integrity of the 
connection 113. 
Each connection 113 must endure severe stresses. These stresses are created 
by impact, shear, tension, compression and bending loads which are 
transmitted between the sills 26, 30, the articulating device 34 and the 
truck 38. The loads include a static portion and dynamic portion. The 
static portion is from the dead weight related to ends 24, 28 of each car 
body 10, 12. The dynamic portion occurs during operation of the unit 16 
wherein the connection 113 transmits draft and buffing forces between the 
car bodies 10, 12. Additionally, each connection 113 is twisted by 
out-of-phase rolling movements of the car bodies 10, 12 and the truck 38 
and yawing movements when the unit 16 travels about a curved track section 
or when truck hunting occurs. 
While various modifications may be suggested by those versed in the art, it 
should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope of the patent 
warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come 
within the scope of my contribution to the art.