Patent GB-684932-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in cellular laminated wood construction for railway cars
IPC: B61D17/24
Filed: 1951-02-13
Abstract: 684,932. Rail vehicle bodies. PRESSED STEEL CAR CO., Inc. Feb. 13, 1951 [March 25, 1960], No. 3508/51. Class 103 (iv). A vehicle body consists of a homogeneous shell of wood laminated cellular construction, consisting of unitary laminated floor, wall and roof panels and unitary laminated corner members interconnecting said panels and constituting portions of the shell to form a monocoque housing. Body details.-The construction may be applied to a refrigerator van, as shown in the Figures, or a box-car. The body comprises a floor panel 1, a roof panel 4, end panels 2 and side wall panels 3, each of which is provided with a door opening 5. The usual catwalk 6 and icing hatches 7 are provided and the body is connected to the car trucks by bolsters 9, each provided with a draft sill 8. The construction of the end and roof panels is similar to that of the side panels and each of these comprises plywood sheets 18, 19 and 20 glued to vertical spacing strips 21, 22 and horizontal strips 24, 25 preferably arranged in staggered relation and to improve the heat insulation of the body the cells formed between the sheets 18 and 19 are filled with glass wool and the cells between the plates 19 and 20 with reflective aluminium foil which is so arranged as to provide three air spaces within each cell. To strengthen each side wall, the vertical spaces 22 are increased in number by way of the bolsters 9 and the door opening 5 is reinforced in the manner shown in Fig. 15 by a wooden jamb 5a and angle iron members 70, 71 provided with welded circular lugs 70<1>, 71<1>, respectively, which lie in apertures formed in the adjacent plywood wall sheets to ensure adequate stress distribution. The floor panel comprises upper and lower panels 17 and 16, transverse members 15 and longitudinal members 14 which at each end engage closely the inner vertical wall of a bolster 9. This central portion of the floor and the bolsters is pre-tensioned by screwed rods 10 to provide a rigid structure for the transmission of draft and buffing loads. Outboard of the bolsters the spacing of the longitudinal members between the panels 16 and 17 is increased and an overall subsidiary floor 56 is provided. The panels described are rigidly inter-connected by corner-pieces such as that shown at 37 in Fig. 5, each comprising outer, inner and intermediate curved plywood panels glued to spacing members and wooden blocks, each halved in the corner pieces and the adjoining panel. Doors, wagon.-The doors, Fig. 20 (not shown), are constructed in a similar manner to the side panels in that each door comprises inner and outer sheets and an intermediate sheet which sandwich horizontal and vertical spacing members arranged in staggered formation. The peripheral edges of the door carriage wooden sealing strips are protected by metal strips. Bolster construction.-The bolster may be fabricated from metal or wood. The metal type shown in Fig. 22 comprises a box section member formed from transverse front and rear plates, end plates 11, an upper plate 88, and a lower plate reinforced by stiffeners 85, 86. Further reinforcements 89 interconnect the upper and lower plates and the draft sill 8 in way of the screwed rods 10 and the draft sill is further vertically stabilized by the provision of connections to the adjacent end walls of the body. A truck pivot pin journal is shown at 90. The wooden bolster, Figs. 35 to 37 (not shown), comprises a plurality of transversely extending integrally glued timbers and a plywood block glued to the lower floor panel and the bolster timbers are recessed to accommodate the draft sill to which it is bolted.