An Improvement in the Sliding Doors of Railway Covered Goods Wagons.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 7th June, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 9th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 11th Apr., 1896
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in the Sliding Doors of Railway Covered Goods
Wagons.
We, EDWARD JACOB HILL, of 11, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.
Engineer, and PERCY WHEELER, of Oldbury, near Birmingham, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to closing and securing the sliding doors of railway covered
goods wagons, which as now made project. from the side face of the wagon when
in the closed position and do not consequently make such a tight closure as is
desirable.
.
The invention has for its object to enable the door when closed to be received
within the doorway, flush with the side of the wagon so as to make a perfectly tight
closure and yet to allow it when opened to be slid along the outer side of the wagon.
in the same way that such doors now slide.
For this purpose the door is hung by brackets carrying rollers running on an
overhead rail mounted in the usual position on the cant rail of the wagon so as to
enable the door to slide clear of the side of the wagon, as usual, but the brackets
instead of being bolted rigidly to the door are connected at their lower ends only
by loose hinge or loop joints to the door at about the middle of its height so as to
admit of the door being swung bodily inwards a sufficient distance from the normal
pendent position beneath the rail to enable it to be fitted into a rebated seat in the
The door
doorway, in which position the door is flush with the side of the wagon.
is secured in the closed position by three bolts coupled to crank pins on a disc
mounted on the inner side of the door and carried by a spindle passing through the
door and provided with a lever handle or adapted to be turned by a detachable key
or spanner, the three bolts being shot simultaneously by the partial rotation of the
disc and being respectively received in sockets in the stiles or pillars of the door-
way and in the lintel or cantrail above. The simultaneous retraction of the bolts
by the partial rotation of the disc in the reverse direction allows the door to swing
by its own weight or be drawn outwards a sufficient distance to enable it to slide
clear of the side of the wagon.
Dated this 7th dow of Lune 1895
A. M. & W M. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in the Sliding Doors of Railway Covered Goods
Wagons.
We, EDWARD JACOB HILL of 11, Victoria Street, Westminster, S. W.
Engineer, and PERCY WHEELER of Oldbury, near Birmingham, Engineer, 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 closing and securing the sliding doors of railway covered

page_text: goods wagons which doors as now fitted project from the side face of the wagon
when in the closed position and merely come opposite to the doorway so that they
do not make such a tight closure as is desirable:
The invention has for its object to enable the door to be sunk or received within
the doorway and to be closed against a rebate therein so as to make a perfectly
tight closure and yet to allow the door when opened to be slid along in front of
the outer side of the wagon in the same way that such doors now slide.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings
forming part of this Specification wherein
Figure. 1 is a front elevation of the door in the closed position.
Figure 2 is a transverse section through the doorway, shewing the door in the
completely closed position.
Figure 3 is a similar section shewing the door in the normal position of
suspension.
The same letters of reference denote like parts in all the figures.
For the purpose of this invention the door A is hung by brackets B in which are
journalled rollers running on an overhead rail C mounted in the usual position on
the cant rail of the wagon body so as to enable the door to slide clear of the side
of the wagon as usual, but the brackets B instead of being bolted rigidly to the
door are connected thereto at their lower ends only by loose hinge or loop joints D
situated at about the middle of the height of the door so as to admit of the door
being swung bodily inwards a sufficient distance from the normal pendent position
beneath the rail C to enable the door to be received in a rebated seat E in the
doorway so that the door is then flush with the side of the wagon. The hanger
brackets B pass through bridge staples B₁ at the top of the door which whilst
serving to maintain the verticality of the hanging brackets during the sliding
movement of the door do not prevent the movement of the upper part of the door
inwards from the vertical plane of the rail C in closing it. The door is secured in
the closed position by three bolts F working in guides in the frame of the door and
coupled to crank pins fon, a disc G on the inner side of the door mounted on a
spindle passing through the door and provided with a lever handle H at the outside
secured by a quadrant and padlock or adapted to be turned by a detachable key
or spanner, the three bolts F being shot sinultaneously by the partial rotation of
the disc G and being respectively received in sockets in the stiles or pillars of the
doorway and in the lintel or cant rail above. The simultaneous retraction of the.
bolts by the partial rotation of the disc G in the reverse direction allows the door
to swing out by its own weight or to be drawn outwards a sufficient distance to
enable it to be slid along clear of the side of the wagon.
As the disc must necessarily be mounted low enough to bring the handle within
reach of a person standing on the ground the side bolts come so near the bottom of
the door that a fourth bolt to secure the door at bottom is unnecessary.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
:―
1. Suspending the sliding doors of railway wagons by hanging brackets carrying
rollers running on an overhead rail and connected at their lower ends to the door
at or about the middle of its height, by hinge joints so as to permit the bodily
displacement of the door inwards from the normal plane of suspension and its
reception within the doorway as specified.
2. A sliding door of a railway wagon suspended by bangers running on an
overhead rail, the hangers being hinged to the door at about the middle of its
height, so as to permit of the bodily displacement of the door from the normal
plane of suspension as described, the hangers being also connected to the upper
part of the door in such manner as to prevent swinging of the door in its own
plane during its sliding motion as specified.
1.3. A sliding door of a railway wagon suspended as and for the purpose herein

page_text: described and having multiple bolts adapted to be projected from the side and top
edges of the door by a rotatable crank disc common to all the bolts as specified.
Dated this 7th day of March 1896.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.