GB2104021A

GB2104021A - Sliding walls of vehicles or containers, in particular railway freight wagons

Info

Publication number: GB2104021A
Application number: GB08219567A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Klaus-Dieter Giese; Gunter Asche; Gerhard Kuppe; Walter Schmidt
Original assignee: Linke Hofmann Busch GmbH
Current assignee: Alstom Transport Deutschland GmbH
Priority date: 1981-08-13
Filing date: 1982-07-06
Publication date: 1983-03-02
Also published as: NL8202036A; ES8303992A1; DE3132002A1; ES511752A0; DE3132002C2; ATA148482A; SE441432B; SE8204651L; SE8204651D0; CH655469B; FR2511327B1; NL188277C; BE893014A; GB2104021B; DD207883A1; AT373558B; NL188277B; FR2511327A1

Abstract

Guide rails 4, 5 for sliding wall sections 1, 1 are arranged in mirror- symmetrical positions on a shaft 3 which is rotatable to cause the rail 4 to engage rollers 2 of the wall section and move the latter into a sliding displacement plane with the rail 4 then taking up the position originally occupied by the rail 5. The rail 4 is thus aligned with longitudinally adjacent rails 5 to enable the sliding wall section to move in front of wall sections still in their closed positions. Cams 6 mounted on the shaft 3 engage the associated wall section when the latter is being moved into its closed position and serve to lift and retain the closed wall section with its rollers clear of the rail 4. A claw secured to the wall section may be arranged automatically to engage an aperture in the rail 4 so as to prevent longitudinal movement of the wall section in its closed position. A torsion spring may act on the rotatable shaft 3 to reduce the effort required to overcome the weight of the wall section. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Vehicles or containers, in particular railway freight wagons This invention relates to vehicles or containers and in particular to covered railway freight wagons such as a wagon having side walls which each comprise at least two relatively movable sections having respective associated longitudinal guide arrangements and being arranged in a common plane in the closed position but being pivotable into a sliding plane, which is in front of (outside) the common plane and parallel to the latter, and which wall sections are constrained to be slidably displaceable by means of rollers running on rails in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle or container in this sliding plane. Movement of the wall sections between the two planes is achieved by means of a rotatable shaft carrying support rails for the wall sections.

Freight wagons of this kind are disclosed in German Offenlegungschrift 21 57258. However it has become apparent that the rotation of the shaft requires a large force in order to move the wall section between the two planes because the overall weight of the wall section has to be lifted.

Moreover, it has become apparent that when the wall section is in its closed position, as a result of the weight of the wall section and the vertical mechanical loads, for example occurring at rail joints, the bearings of the rollers or the rollers themselves are stressed in such manner that the bearings open out or the rollers develop flat portions. In the event of buffer thrust, the rollers tend to rise from the rail and depending upon the intensity of the thrust and the movement of the freight wagon, can fall to one side of the rail, whereby efficient functioning of the side wall is precluded. A similar problem occurs if the freight is displaced and presses against the wall. In fact, here the wall section is lifted off the rail and is laterally urged outwards because it is held in an upper guide.

It is an aim of the invention to provide improvements such that when the side wall section is closed the rollers are unloaded.

According to this invention there is provided a vehicle or container having two opposite side walls each comprising at least two relatively movable wall sections having respective associated, longitudinal guide arrangements enabling movement of the wall sections between a closed-position plane and a sliding displacement plane in which latter one of the wall sections can move longitudinally relative to another of the wall sections still in the closed-position plane, each longitudinal guide arrangement comprising a rotatable shaft having two rails projecting radially from the shaft in mirror-symmetrical fashion on respective sides, of the vertical longitudinal centre plane through the shaft, the shafts for each side wall being aligned so that a wall section when in the sliding displacement plane can run by means of rollers secured to the wall section on the rails of the guide arrangements, the shaft of the guide arrangement associated with the sliding wall section having been rotated so that the associated rails rotate from said mirror-symmetrical position to a sliding displacement position in which an inner of the rails has engaged the rollers of the wall section and has taken up the position occupied, when the wall section is in its closedposition plane, by the outer rail so that said inner rail is then aligned with the outer rail of an adjacent wall section to allow the sliding wall section to run on said adjacent outer rail, cams being provided on each of the shafts so that, when the shaft rotates from its sliding displacement position to its mirror-symmetrical position, the cams engage under the associated wall section and lift the wall section so that its rollers are clear of the inner rail when the wall section is in its closed-position plane.

Preferably each of the inner rails has an aperture and a claw is provided on the associated wall section, the claw being arranged to engage the aperture when the wall section is in its closedposition plane and to disengage the aperture when the wall section is in its sliding displacement plane.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a side view of a railway freight wagon embodying this invention; Fig. 2 is a cross-section on line Il-Il of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-section corresponding to Fig. 2 with the wagon having an opened side wall; Fig. 4 is a cross-section on line IV--IV of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a cross-section corresponding to Fig. 4 with the wagon having an opened side wall; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view, on a larger scale, of a section Y of the wagon as indicated in Fig. 1.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, side walls of a covered freight wagon each comprise two movable wall sections 1 , which in the closed position, lie in a common plane and by means of an actuating device, are alternatively movable into a sliding displacement plane which is arranged in front of (outside) the common plane and parallel to the latter. The wall sections are displaceable longitudinally in this sliding displacement plane.

Each wall section 1 has (in known manner) a plurality of rollers 2 which are supported on a rotatable shaft 3 mounted on the freight wagon.

Each wall section 1 is assigned a similar shaft 3 and the shafts 3 of adjoining wall sections 1 are in alignment. In order to guide the roller 2, the shaft 3 has, as a radial projection, an inwardly directed (relative to the wagon) rail 4 which has a specific inclination to the vertical longitudinal central plane through the shaft 3. In a similar relationship to, on the other side of, the longitudinal central plane as the rail 4, a further rail 5 (on which the adjoining, transversely moved wall section can run) is secured to, and projects radially from, the shaft 3.

By means of the tilted and mirror-symmetrical arrangement of the rails 4, 5, in association with a limited angle of rotation of the shaft 3, it is arranged that when the shaft 3 is rotated the rail 4 of this shaft comes into alignment with the rail 5 of the shaft for the ajoining wall section. Between the two rails 4 and 5, on each shaft 3, there are arranged cams 6 which during the rotation of the shaft 3, in order to return the wall section 1 from the sliding displacement plane into the closed position plane, engage underneath outwardly projecting cross-pieces or angle pieces 7 which are secured to the wall section 1. In this way the cams 6 lift the wall section 1 off the rail 4 and retain it in this position. Thus the rollers 2 and their bearings are completely relieved of the weight of the wall section in the closed position.

On the wall section 1, in the region of each roller 2, there is arranged a claw 8 whose opening 9 corresponds to the inclination of the rail 4 when the wall section 1 is in the sliding displacement plane and whose pinch bar 10 engages the rail head 11 with some free movement, so that when the shaft 3 is rotated the wall section can be displaced into the sliding displacement plane on the rail 4 without constraint. When the wall section 1 is moved back from the sliding displacement plane into the closed-position plane, the claw 8 engages into an appropriate aperture 12 in the rail 4 as the latter rotates with lifting of the wall section 1 by means of the cam 6 underneath the rail head and thus longitudinal movement of the wall section is precluded even in the event of large buffer thrusts.

As can be gathered from the description given above, when the wall section 1 is moved transversely between the closed-position plane and the sliding displacement plane the rail 4 is moved on a circular arc which is bisected by the vertical longitudinal central plane through the shaft 3, so that the total weight of the wall section 1 must be lifted until the longitudinal central plane has been reached. In order to reduce the effort required for this purpose the ends of the shaft 3 are arranged to engage with a flat spring 13 normally disposed in a vertical plane whose free end is clamped in a fixed mounting 14. Thus the spring acts as an energy store in that the flat spring 1 3 is twisted with rotation of the shaft 3 from its "closed" position. When the shaft 3 is manually rotated by means of an actuating lever arrangement the lifting operation (until the rail 4 reaches the position of the vertical longitudinal central plane) is supported to an extent by the torsional force exerted by flat spring 1 3 which is subsequently twisted the other way due to the weight of the wall section 1 descending to its closed position.

Claims

1. A vehicle or container having two opposite side walls each comprising at least two relatively movable wall sections having respective associated, longitudinal guide arrangements enabling movement of the wall sections between a closed-position plane and a sliding displacement plane in which latter one of the wall sections can move longitudinally relative to another of the wall sections still in the closed-position plane, each longitudinal guide arrangement comprising a rotatable shaft having two rails projecting radially from the shaft in mirror-symmetrical fashion on respective sides of, the vertical longitudinal centre plane through the shaft, the shafts for each side wall being aligned so that a wall section when in the sliding displacement plane can run by means of rollers secured to the wall section on the rails of the guide arrangements, the shaft of the guide arrangement associated with the sliding wall section having been rotated so that the associated rails rotate from said mirror-symmetrical position to a sliding displacement position in which an inner of the rails has engaged the rollers of the wall section and has taken up the position occupied, when the wall section is in its closedposition plane, by the outer rail so that said inner rail is then aligned with the outer rail of an adjacent wall section to allow the sliding wall section to run on said adjacent outer rail, cams being provided on each of the shafts so that, when the shaft rotates from its sliding displacement position to its mirror-symmetrical position, the cams engage under the associated wall section and lift the wall section so that its rollers are clear of the inner rail when the wall section is in its closed-position plane.

2. A vehicle or container according to claim 1 wherein each of the inner rails has an aperture and a claw is provided on the associated wall section, the claw being arranged to engage the aperture when the wall section is in its closed position plane and to disengage the aperture when the wall section is in its sliding displacement plane.

3. A vehicle or container according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein resilient biassing means are arranged to urge each of the wall sections to the highest position reached during said movement between the closed-position plane and the sliding displacement plane.

4. A vehicle or container according to claim 3 wherein said resilient biassing means comprises a flat spring one end of which is engaged by an associated one of the shafts during rotation of the latter so that said flat spring is subject to torsion when said wall section is not in said highest position.

5. A vehicle or container substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.