Abstract:
A rail car door opening sealing mechanism for use on rail cars having a main door and an auxiliary door which come together in an aligned abutting relationship to close the door opening. The door opening sealing mechanism has compressible elongated tubular gaskets of resilient composition installed on the remote vertical edges of the main and auxiliary doors and a tubular gasket of similar material installed on the converging edge of one of the doors which gaskets are compressed when the doors are closed. Brush seals are positioned above and below the door opening to provide weather resistant seals when the main and auxiliary doors are closed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     Railroad box cars are built with large side openings each of which is closed by a pair of horizontally sliding doors. The doors of such a pair of doors are conventionally referred to as a main door and an auxiliary door. This arrangement of sliding doors does not provide complete protection against leakage around the peripheries of the doors caused by rain, snow, wind and other weather conditions. Attempts to prevent leakage around these doors have included the provision of overlapping main and auxiliary doors equipped with tubular gaskets installed around all edges of the main door and around three of the four edges of the auxiliary door. An example of such a construction can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,951.  
         [0002]     Other door sealing arrangements have been provided on a sliding door which has pivotal mounts so that the sliding door can be tightened towards the rail box car door opening in a manner that seals positioned at the top, bottom and sides of the sliding door are compressed. An example of this construction can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,761.  
         [0003]     In other attempts to control leakage, plug doors have been provided with compressible gaskets around the perimeter of the door. An example of such a construction can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,558.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     This invention is directed to a sealing arrangement for sliding railroad car doors which can be installed on newly constructed railcar doors and can be adapted to existing sliding railcar doors.  
         [0005]     An object of this invention is a sealing arrangement for sliding railroad car doors which is less expensive than providing gaskets around most of the side edges of a pair of sliding doors or providing gasketed plug doors.  
         [0006]     Another object of this invention is a sealing arrangement for sliding railroad car doors which does not require a mechanism to move the doors inwardly and outwardly relative to the railcar door opening for sealing and unsealing of the doors.  
         [0007]     An additional object of this invention is a sealing arrangement for sliding railroad car doors which uses commercially available tubular compression seals.  
         [0008]     Yet another object of this invention is a sealing arrangement for sliding railcar doors which uses conventional plastic sealing brushes.  
         [0009]     A further object of this invention is a sealing arrangement for sliding railcar doors which is adaptable for top hung sliding doors.  
         [0010]     Other object of the invention will be found in the following specification, claims and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]     The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the following drawings wherein:  
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a side elevational view of a pair of top hung sliding doors of a railroad car incorporating the novel aspects of this invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a partial horizontal cross-sectional view of the railcar and doors of  FIG. 1  with portions broken away for clarity of illustration;  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is an enlarged, partial view of the top portion of the door sealing arrangement of this invention with parts omitted and others shown in cross-section for clarity of illustration;  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the lower portion of the door sealing arrangement of this invention with some parts omitted for clarity of illustration;  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is an enlarged partial view of the auxiliary door with its main door engaging vertical seal in its uncompressed condition;  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the auxiliary door with its remote edge vertical seal shown in its sealing condition; and  
         [0018]      FIG. 7  is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the sealing gasket carried by the auxiliary door and compressed in sealing engagement with the main door. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  of the drawings shows a portion of a railroad car  11  having a side wall  13  equipped with a door opening  15  ( FIG. 2 ) bounded by door posts  17 . A main door  19  and an auxiliary door  21  are slidably mounted on the side wall  13  of the car to provide access to and to close the door opening  15 . The abutting relationship and sealing of the doors is shown in  FIG. 2  of the drawings.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  of the drawings shows a sliding arrangement for the main door  19  which is identical to the arrangement for the auxiliary door  21  which is not shown for clarity of illustration. The railroad car  11  includes a car top side plate  23  to which is attached a channel beam  25 . A support plate  27  mounts a top door roller track box  29  to the channel beam  25 . The track box  29  is formed with a top wall  31  which attaches to the support plate  27 . The roller track box  29  includes side walls  33 , each of which have inturned flanges  35 . A trough  37  is attached to the channel beam  25  near the lower edge thereof and extends over the door opening  15 .  
         [0021]     A top frame  41  is attached to the main door  19 . This top frame is of irregular shape and includes a horizontally extending top portion  43  formed integrally with a vertical portion  45  and a lower horizontal portion  47 . An upstanding leg  49  is supported on the lower horizontal portion  47  of the top frame  41  in a position in which it is spaced from and parallel to the vertical portion  45  of the top frame  41 . A door safety retainer  51  is formed with a vertical portion  53  positioned against the vertical portion  45  of the top frame  41 . The safety retainer also includes an outwardly extending finger  55  which extends into the door roller track box  29  between the inturned flanges  35 .  
         [0022]     The door top support rollers  61  are shown most clearly in  FIG. 3  of the drawings where they are supported and ride on the inturned flanges  35  of the roller track box  29 . The rollers are mounted on an axle  63  seated in a hub  65  which is part of a hub support arm  67 . The hub support arm  67  extends downwardly between the upstanding leg  49  and the vertical portion  53  of the safety retainer  51 . A bolted fastener  69  extends through openings (not shown) in a vertical portion  45  of the door top frame  41 , the vertical portion  53  of the safety retainer  51  and the upstanding leg  49  to fasten the hub support arm  67  and its rollers  61  to the top door frame  41 .  
         [0023]     The door bottom guide roller  81  is shown in detail in  FIG. 4  of the drawings. The guide roller  81  rolls on a door track  83  which is supported on a track support bracket  85  attached to the side wall  13  of the railcar. The guide roller  81  guides the door against a threshold  87  which threshold includes an inclined lower surface  89 . The guide roller is located in a protective housing  93  which has a retainer plate  95  downwardly extending on the outer side thereof. A door buffer strip  97  is located inwardly of the door track  83 . The door  13  includes an inwardly turned bottom lip  99 .  
         [0024]     The location and arrangement of the sealing apparatus of this invention is shown most clearly in  FIGS. 1, 2 ,  5 ,  6  and  7  of the drawings. As seen in  FIG. 2  of the drawings, the main door post strip  103  is mounted on a door post  17  adjacent one side of the door opening  15 . The auxiliary door post strip  105  is mounted on the opposite door post  17 . The main door post strip  103  has a gasket engaging finger  107  and the auxiliary door post strip  105  has a gasket engaging finger  109 . The main door  19  has a converging end  111  and the auxiliary door  21  has a converging end  113  as shown most clearly in  FIG. 7  of the drawings. The main door has a remote end  115  and the auxiliary door has a remote end  117  as shown in  FIG. 1 . The converging end  111  of the main door has a gasket engaging flange  119  extending from a vertical door reinforcing channel  121 . At the remote end of the main door  19 , a reversely turned gasket flange  125  engages a D-shaped gasket  127  retained in the gasket flange  125  as shown in  FIG. 2  of the drawings. The gasket  127  may be formed of a resilient composition gasket material.  
         [0025]     The converging end  113  of the auxiliary door  21  is shown in enlarged detail in  FIGS. 5 and 7  of the drawings. The converging end  113  includes an L-shaped flange  131  formed as part of the remote end  113  which has a shorter base leg  133  and a longer stop leg  135 . A metal gasket retainer  137  is attached to the shorter base leg  133  and supports a hollow tubular compressible gasket  139  formed of a resilient composition material. Also located at the converging end of the auxiliary door is a door closing guide  141 .  
         [0026]      FIG. 7  of the drawings shown the sealing compression of the gasket  139  when the main and auxiliary doors are moved towards each other to the door closing position. The gasket engaging flange  119  of the main door  19  engages the gasket  139  compressing it against gasket retainer  137  mounted on the shorter base leg  133  of the L-shaped flange  113  of the auxiliary door  21 . The amount of compression of the gasket is limited by the engagement of the stop leg  135  on the L-shaped flange  131  of the auxiliary door  21  with the vertical door reinforcing channel  121  of main door  19 . The D-shaped gasket  127  at the remote end of the main door  19  is compressed by engagement with the gasket engaging finger  125  of the main door post strip  103  as shown in  FIG. 2 . When the auxiliary door  21  has been moved to its door closing position shown in  FIG. 7  of the drawings, a D-shaped gasket  147  of a resilient composition material held in a reversely turned gasket flange  145  located at the remote end  117  of the auxiliary door is engaged by the gasket engaging finger  109  of the auxiliary door post strip  105  as shown in  FIG. 6  of the drawings.  
         [0027]     The sealing of the top of a door  19  or  21  is most clearly shown in  FIG. 3  of the drawings where a continuous nylon brush  161  is supported by a bracket  163  which is attached to the top horizontal portion  43  of the door top frame  41 . The top horizontal portion  43  fits over the trough  37  above the door and the bristles of the brush  161  engages the side of the channel beam  25  located over the door when either of the doors is moved to its closed position. The same continuous nylon brushes are installed at the tops of the doors  19  and  21 .  
         [0028]     The weatherproofing of the lower portion of a door is shown in detail in  FIG. 4  of the drawings in which a continuous nylon brush  171  is mounted to a bracket  173  attached to the inclined lower surface  89  of the threshold  87 . The brush  171  engages the door immediately above the bottom ledge  99  of a door  19  or  21  when the door is moved to its closed position.  
         [0029]     The provision of seals  127 ,  139  and  147  mounted on the remote and converging vertical ends of the doors  19  and  21  when used with the continuous brush seals  161  and  171  at the tops and bottoms of the doors  19  and  21  establish a weatherproof perimeter around the door opening  15 .