Patent GB-951095-A (GB)
Title: Railway flat cars
IPC: B61D45/00
Filed: 1961-01-06
Abstract: 951,095. Railway vehicle undercarriages. PULLMAN Inc. Jan. 6, 1961 [June 15, 1960], No. 630/61. Heading B7L. A railway flatcar 10a, Fig. 4, for transporting freight containers or road vehicle trailers carrying freight containers, comprises a deck 15 on which is longitudinally slidable a carriage 80 formed of a pair of I-beam sills 90 braced by cross-ties 92, the carriage being provided with a plurality of conical bracket structures 34 to detachably engage in recesses in the bottoms of freight containers, two pairs of laterally spaced cushioning means 94 being interposed between the carriage and stop members 106 secured to the deck 15, the cushioning means having a travel movement in the range of 20 to 40 inches and the carriage sills each being in three sections 82, 84, 86 joined at the webs by inner and outer plates of splice assemblies 88, as described with reference to Fig. 9 (not shown). The carriage 80 is also provided with a pair of tripod stand assemblies 50 each to detachably secure the usual king-pin on the underside of the forward end of a road vehicle semi-trailer, when the latter is transported on the car 10a. Each stand 50 comprises telescopic struts 60, 61 and 62 pivotally connected at their ends by ball- and-socket assemblies to a king-pin latch device 54 and to cross-ties 110 between the sills. In the inoperative position the stand lies within the depth of the sills 90. The cushioning means 94 may all be hydraulic cushioning devices as described in Specification 951,094 or one pair may be merely return springs for assisting in centralizing the carriage on the car. As shown in Fig. 14, each cushioning device 96 is disposed between two pairs of deck stops 106 and channel-shaped abutment members 100 which receive the stops and are secured through tie plates 157 to the associated I-beam 90 and also to cross-beams 155 between the beams 90. The bottom flanges of the sills are slidable on antifriction pads 186, Fig. 19, each carried by a bearing block 187, self-aligning in a concave seat 189 formed in the base 191 of brackets 14 secured to the deck 15. A hooked arm 192 of the bracket is slotted at 194 to facilitate assembly of the block in its seat. The structures 34 at the ends of the carriage are secured permanently on the top flanges of the sills 90 whilst some of the intermediate structures are connected through lugs 178, Fig. 17, and pins 183 to lugs 179 on plates 180 welded to the sills. This arrangement allows such intermediate brackets to be swung out of the way when necessary to one side or other of the sill, e.g. when long freight containers are to be secured on the carriage. Each bracket 34 has a conical protuberance 36 receivable within an associated cylindrical recess 38 in the base of a freight container. A pin 173 is engageable in a hole 174 in the bracket and holes 175 in the recess wall, to secure the connection, a pivoted spring latch 176 being provided on the wall of the container to retain the pin 173 in position. The chassis of a road vehicle trailer to be supported on the rail car deck and secured thereto by a stand 50 is also provided with brackets 34 to detachably connect with recesses in a container to be carried on the chassis. Containers per se may be lifted by a crane on to the carriage and a trailer carrying a container may be backed on to the deck 15 whereafter its king-pin is engaged by erecting the associated stand 50.