Improvements in Means for Controlling the Lowering and Raising of Railway Wagon Doors and the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Nov., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 13th Sept.; 1897-Accepted, 16th Oct.; 1897
Improvements in Means for Controlling the Lowering and Raising
of Railway Wagon Doors and the like.
We, JoN WILLIAM GREEN, of 94 Wellington Street, Gorton, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer and CHARLES HALL of 323, Abbey Hey Lane, Gorton, in
the aforesaid County, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of our invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in means for controlling the lowering
and raising of railway wagon doors, the object being to prevent them banging
when lowered and to assist in raising them when being lifted.
The invention consists essentially in the application to or combination with
each hinge of a railway wagon door or with the door itself, of one or more springs
arranged in such a manner that the door is prevented banging when being
lowered and is assisted into its closed position when being raised.
In carrying out our invention we preferably apply to each hinge of the door
a spring one end of which is connected to a stationary part of the wagon frame
or to a special bracket or another portion of the hinge by an adjusting screw,
by means of which its tension may be regulated, whilst the other end is coupled
either direct to a stud on the movable portion of the hinge or to a link coupled
to the stud. The latter is preferably arranged at some little distance away from
the centre on which the hinge rotates so that as the door is lowered the spring
is stretched, and the door is prevented banging. The tension thus put into
the spring is available as a power to assist in the raising of the door when it is
required to do so. One or more springs, it will be obvious, may be applied to the
door itself instead of to the hinges. In both cases the springs may or may not
be covered by a casing to prevent them being tampered with by unauthorised
persons and also to preserve them from injury.
Instead of applying the springs in the manner indicated a portion of each
hinge might be recessed to admit of a convoluted spring being placed therein.
One end of this spring. would be attached to one portion of the hinge and the
other. end to the other portion so that as the door is lowered the coils of the spring
are tightened, so as to act in a somewhat similar manner to the springs already
referred to. One end of the convoluted spring might also be attached to an
adjusting screw.
By the means described the doors are enabled to last longer whilst the work
of lifting them is considerably lessened.
Dated this 12th day of November 1896.

page_text: Improvements in Means for Controlling the Lowering and Raising
of Railway Wagon Doors and the like.
We, JOHN WILLIAM GREEN, of 94 Wellington Street, Gorton, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, and CHARLES HALL of 323 Abbey Hey Lane Gorton, in
the aforesaid County, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:--
This invention relates to improvements in means for controlling the lowering
and raising of railway wagon doors, the object being to prevent them banging
when lowered and to assist in raising them when being lifted.
The invention consists essentially in the application to or combination with
each minge of a railway wagon door or with the door itself, of one or more springs
arranged in such a manner that the door is prevented banging when being
lowered and is assisted into its closed position when being raised.
The invention will be fully described with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which Figs. 1 and 2 show respectively a plan and side elevation
(partly in section) of one method of carrying out our invention whilst Figs. 3
and 4 and Figs. 5 and 6 show in side and front elevations, respectively, two other
methods of carrying out our invention.
a
In carrying out our invention and referring principally to Figs. 1 and 2 which
show the parts in the positions they assume when the wagon door is shut we pre-
ferably apply to each hinge of the door of a railway wagon or the like a spring A,
one end of which is connected to a stationary part of the wagon frame B, by an
adjustable screw C. In the method shown the screw C, is preferably attached to
special bracket or box-shaped piece D forming another portion of the hinge,
and is provided with a nut c, or nuts, by means of which the tension of the
spring may be regulated as desired. The box-shaped piece D is passed through
the framework of the wagon in the manner shown and is held firmly in position
by bolts d which are passed through ears in the piece I and framework B.
The other end of the spring A is either coupled direct to a pin or stud E on the
movable portion of the hinge F or to a link G, which in turn is coupled to the
stud E. We prefer the latter arrangement as being the best practical method.
The stud or pin E, we may here remark, forms a very important feature of our
invention. It is, as will be seen, passed through or secured in any convenient
manner to the butt or lower portion of the hinge F, at some little distance away
from the centre hinge pin or pins H, on which the hinge rotates. The pin or
pins are passed through the ears D¹ and may be secured in position in any
convenient manner, such as by screws e.
The arrangement described operates as follows:-As the wagon door is lowered
-or in other words, opened--the pin or stud E rotates round the hinge pin H
and in so doing extends the spring A, the greatest extension of the spring taking
place when the door is fully open. The weight of the door, however, acts at its
greatest leverage when the door is about horizontal and the spring exerts its
greatest influence on the door at this time. It therefore assists in retarding
the downward movement of the door in such a way that the latter is prevented
banging against the lower framework or wheels of the wagon. In this way no
damage can result to the door and consequently it lasts much longer in wear than
would otherwise be the case. As the door recedes from the horizontal position
the effective leverage of its weight becomes less and this being so the position of
the pin E with regard to the door is such that the spring A, although increasing

page_text: in tension, as the door approaches its lowest position has a gradually lessening
influence upon the door. Not only does the arrangement described prevent the
door banging but one of its chief features is that it also very effectively assists
the upward motion of the door when it is required to be closed, as will be well
understood on an examination of the drawings. The arrangement is all the more
effective in that it in no way depends upon friction as in other devices previously
patented prior to the date of our invention.
The arrangement shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is exactly similar to that shown in
Figs. 1 and 2 except that the box-shaped piece D, is secured to the front of the
wagon frame in the manner indicated. The arrangement shown in Figs. 5 and 6
is similar to that indicated in Figs. 3 and 4 except that the box-shaped piece is
dispensed with and a bracket J employed instead secured in a suitable way to the
wagon frame in any convenient position. Another point of difference is also
obvious in that link G embraces the butt of the hinge F whilst the stationary
portion of the hinge is secured and arranged as shown.
Although we have only indicated three ways of carrying out our invention it
will be obvious that other arrangements might be adopted without departing
from the spirit of the invention. For instance the springs can be readily arranged
to be in compression instead of in tension whilst in either case they might be
applied direct to the door itself instead of to the hinges. The springs may also
in all cases be covered by a casing to prevent them being tampered with by un-
authorised persons and also to preserve them from injury. The arrangements
described may also be applied to doors other than railway wagon doors.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. The improved means for controlling the lowering and raising of railway
wagon doors and the like characterized by the use of a pin or pins or stud or
studs or the like such as E placed at a slight distance from the centre or centres
upon which the door or hinge rotates and connected or coupled to a spring sub-
stantially in the manner and for the purposes described.
2. The general construction and combination of parts forming our improved
means for controlling the lowering and raising of railway wagon doors and the
like substantially as described and as shown in the accompanying drawings Figs. 1
and 2, Figs. 3 and 4 and Figs. 5 and 6.
Dated this 11th day of September 1897.
WILLIAM H. TAYLOR,
Swan Chambers, 69, Market Street, Manchester,
Agent for the Applicants.