US1501228A - Car-door-locking device - Google Patents

Description

July 15 1924. I w. J. MARTIN CAR DOOR LOCKING DEVICE Filed July 18 1922 1 l 1 1 1 1 .J 9w

Patented July 15, 1924.

barren states I iserzzs PATENT GFFHQE.

WILLIAld J. MARTIN, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

CAR-DOOR-LOCKING DEVICE.

Application filed July 18, 1922. Serial No. 575,860.

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAM J. HARTIN, a citizen of'the United States, residing in Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Car-Door-Locking Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a lock for car owners in which electricity is used for controlling the operation of the lock.

The objects of this invention are to produce a lock of this character which will securely fasten the door in its closed position when required and also permit of the ready release of the same by the use of an electric current which is not readily available, excepting by those authorized to ope ate the lock, which is comparatively simple in construction and capable of being readily installed on cars now of usual construction and which is so organized that it permits of leaving the door unobstructed throughout the full width thereof when the lock is notin use and also enables part of the locking mechanism to serve as an indicator when the door has been closed without being locked and thus aid in detecting attempts to gain illicit entrance to the car.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a car body having its door equipped with my improved locking device. Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on line 22, Fig. 1. Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal section, on ansenlarged scale,taken on line 83, Fig. 2, showing the parts in the position which they occupy when the door is locked. Figure 4 is a similar View, showing the position of the parts which they occupy when the door is unlocked. Figure 5 and dare horizontal sections taken on the correspondingly numbered lines in Fig. 3. Figure 7 .is a fragmentary vertical section. taken on line 7-7, Fig. 1.

Similar characters of reference refer to like parts throughout the several views.

Although this invention is applicable to car bodies of various constructions, that shown in the drawings is of a common and well known type andv comprises a body having a bottom 10, a top 11, a side wall 12 provided with a door opening 1 3, and a door 14 mounted on the outer side of the wall so as to be capable of sliding horizontally across the door opening for closing the same or on one side of this door opening for opening the same. This door may be mounted in any suitable manner, for instance, by means of a hanger 15 secured to the top of the door and running upon a suitable guide rail mounted on the adjacent part of the wall, while its lower end is confinedagainst lateral displacement by means of guide lugs 16. The forward movement of'the door is arrested when the same is in a position in which it extends across the door opening by means of a stop 17 arranged on the outer side of thewall and adapted to be engaged by. the front edge of the door, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The details of construction of the door locking device embodying my invention may be varied, but in the particular organization shown in the drawings, as an example of one embodiment of my invention, the same is constructed as follows:

18 represents an enclosing casing which preferably takes the place of the lower part of the door stop 17 of which a portion has been omitted for this purpose. This casing may be of any suitable construction, for instance cast iron, and secured to the adjacent part of the car wall in any suitable manner, for instance by means of bolts 50, as shown in Figs. 5 and 7. Within this casing, near the lower end thereof, is arranged a vertically movable locking member having preferably the form of a circular disk 19, which is secured to the lower end of a vertically movable core 20 arranged within an electro-magnet coil 21 mounted within the upper part of the casing. Upon energizing the coil 21 by passing an electric current through the same, the core 20 will be raised together with the locking disk or head 19 mounted thereon and upon breaking the. circuit, so as to de-energize the coil, the core together with the locking head 19 thereof will drop by gravity into its operative position. The downward movement of the locking head 19 is limited by engagement with a stop 22 arranged within the lowerpart of the casing and preferably constructed in the form of a socket. that wall of the lock casing, which faces the front edge of the door 14., the same is provided with a latch opening 28, which is adapted to receive a latch 24 mounted on the door and adapted to interlock with the locking head 19 holding the door in its closed position. This latch, in its preferred form, is constructed in the form of a flat plate which is provided at its front end with an opening 25 preferably of circular form which is adapted to receive the look ing head 19. Upon closing the door preparatory to locking the same, the locking head 19 is in an elevated position and the latch 24 enters the casing through the latch opening 23 and carries its locking opening 25 into the line with the socket 22 between the time the front end of the door engages with the top 17 and casing 18. When the parts reach this position the locking head 19 is permitted to drop into engagement with the locking opening 25 in the latch and into engagement with the stop socket 22 thereby preventing the withdrawal of the latch and the opening of the door, while the parts are in this position.

In order to permit of opening the door the solenoid magnet is energized by passing a current through the coil 21 whereby the locking head 1-9 is lifted out of engagement from the stop 22 and the opening 25 in the latch, thereby releasing the latter and enabling the door to be moved backwardly into its opened position.

For the purpose of permitting the latch to pass through the latch opening and into the casing in the event that these parts are slightly disarranged, the lower edge of the latch opening is beveled or rounded, as shown in Fig. 8 whereby the latch will be lifted and guided in the casing, and the parts are permitted to interlock in the event of any inaccurate fit or wear on the parts.

Means are provided which will automatically hold the locking head 19 in its elevated inoperative position while the latch is withdrawn from the casing, but which will be moved out of the path of the latch and enable the same to be engaged by the locking head19 when the door is moved into its full closed position. The preferred means for this purpose consists of a detent 27 preferably of L-shaped form which is pivoted on the casingunderneath the locking socket 22 by means of a horizontal transverse pin 28 so that this detent can swing in a vertical plane into and out of a position across the locking socket 22. This detent is provided below its pivot with a weight 29 which tends constantly to swing the detent upwardly and forwardly into its operative position. lVhen the latch 24 is in its forward operative position within the casing and engaged by the locking head 19, the detent is pushed backwardly and downwardly into its inoperative position in which it engages with the underside of the latch and its weight 29 is elevated. Upon raising the locking head 19 and withdrawing the latch 24 from the path of the locking head, the weight 29 operates to swing the detent 27 upwardly and forwardly so that its nose 30 projects over the locking seat 22 and below the locking head 19, so that upon subsequently tie-energizing the coil of the magnet, the locking head 19 will drop and rest upon the upper side of the detent nose 30, as shown in Fig. 4. When the parts are in this position the car door will be automatically locked upon pushing the door into its closed position and passing its latch into the casing. During this operation the front end of the latch first engages with the detent nose and pushes the detent backwardly and downwardly out of the path of the locking head 19, thereby releasing the latter and permitting the same to drop on to the latch and into the locking opening 25 therein, the instant the latch has been moved forwardly sufficiently to bring its locking opening into register with the locking head 19. During such backward and downward movement of the detent, its weight 29 is raised ready to again move the detent into its operative position underneath the locking head upon the next withdrawal of the latch from the casing. The upper front corner of the latch is preferably beveled or rounded so as to prevent the same from striking the lower front corner of the locking head but instead guiding the same underneath the underside thereof, preparatory to pushing the detent out of the way and permitting the locking head to engage therewith. It is desirable to leave the door opening of the car wall unobstructed throughout the full width thereof in order to enable its maximum capacity to be utilized.

In order, therefore, to prevent the latch from projecting or crossing any part of the door opening when the door is fully opened, this latch is pivoted by means of an upright pivot pin 31 to a bracket 32 on the door. The latch is permitted to swing outwardly into a position at right angles to the door by providing the adjacent edge portion of the same with a notch 33 into which the latch may swing, so that it is flush with the front edge of the door and projecting laterally outwardly therefrom, as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 2'and 5. The inward swing motion of the latch is limited when the same reaches the position in which the same projects forwardly from the edge of the door, the means for this purpose consisting of a stop heel 34: arranged on the rear part of the latch and engaging with a stop shoulder 35 on the adjacent part of the bracket 32, as shown in Fig. 5.

In addition to permitting this latch to fully clear the door opening and thereby prevent interference with the movement of the freight into and out of the car, as well as damage to the car, this laterally projecting position of the latch on the door serves the additional purpose of a signal to indicate to the authorized car operators and freight handlers that the latch is not in its proper position for engagement with the locking mechanism in the casing. If therefore the door should be closed with the latch projecting laterally therefrom, as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 5, the attention of the car operators will be directed to the same and thus avoid the sending away of a car in an unlocked position, which otherwise would expose the same to theft if the lock should have been left in this position either accidentally or purposely.

The terminals 36 and 37 of the electromagnet coil 21 are preferably so wound that the same can only be energized by an alternating current which is available at the terminals or in stations of the railroad, thereby preventing the look from being operated by persons who might attach the terminals of a direct generator, such as might be derived from an ordinary battery. This will prevent the operation of the lock by unauthorized persons, inasmuch as it would be ditficult for persons attempting to rob the car to equip themselves with the proper electrical apparatus to operate the car by means of an alternating current of the cycles now in general use, such as the twenty-five cycle and the sixty cycle alternating currents.

In order to prevent malicious persons from tampering with the electrical feature of this locking device and rendering the same inoperative, the terminals 36, 37 of the coil 21 are preferably mounted upon a yield ing arm 38 which is arranged on the inner side of the lower part of the casing and preferably mounted at its upper end thereof by means of a horizontal pivot 39 so that normally this yielding arm will hang by its weight or gravity in a vertical position and against one of the walls of the enclosing casing 18 so that the terminals of the coil are exposed through an opening 40 inthis wall of the casing where the same may be engaged by corresponding terminals of a plug 41 which are connected by conductors arranged within a cable 42 with an electric generator 43 of any suitable character. If a malicious person should pass an instrument through the opening A0 in the casing and attempt to injure the terminals 86, 37, the weighted arm 38 will be deflected inwardly by such instrument together with the coil terminals mounted thereon and thus pre vent injury to these terminals, thereby insuring the retention of the locking mechanism always in operative condition.

This electric locking device for cars is not only very simple in construction, but the same has no parts which are liable to get out of order under the rough usage to which the same is liable to be subjected and by reason of the practical impossibility of operating the same by a current other than an alternating current, which is not readily available and the means for detecting the doors when the same are closed without looking the same, it provides a safe guard against robbing the contents of the car and insures its safe delivery from the consignor to the consignee:

I claim as my invention:

1-. A car door lock comprising a locking member, a latch adapted to be engaged by said locking member, electro-magnetic means for disengaging said locking member from said latch, and detent members which automatically engage with said locking member and hold the same in an inoperative position when the locking head is disengaged from said latch and which is automatic'ally disengaged from said locking member by said la-t'ch upon moving the latter into a position to be engaged by said locking member.

'2. A car door lock comprising a casing adapted to be mounted on a wall of the car and provided with a latch opening, a seat arranged within said casing below said latch opening, a locking head movable vertically toward and from said seat, a solenoid magnet arranged within said casing and having a coil, and a core movable vertically within said coil and connected with said locking head, and a latch adapted to be connected with the door and movable through said latch opening and having a recess adapted to be engaged by said locking head.

3. A car door lock comprising a casing adapted to be mounted on a wall of the car and provided with a latch opening, a seat arranged within said casing below said latch opening, a locking head movable vertically toward and from said seat, a solenoid magnet arranged within said casing and having a coil, and a core movable vertically within said coil and connected with said locking head, a latch adapted to be connected with the door and movable through said latch opening and having a recess adapted to be engaged by said locking head, and a detent device for holding said locking head in an elevated position when the latch is withdrawn from said locking head.

4. A car door lock comprising a casing adapted to be mounted on a wall of the car and provided with a latch opening, a seat arranged within said casing below said latch opening, a locking head movable vertically toward and from said seat, a solenoid magnet arranged within said casing and having a coil, and a core movable vertically within said coil and connected with said locking head, a latch adapted to be connected with the door and movable through said latch opening and having a recess adapted to be &

engaged by said locking head and a detent device for holding said locking head in an elevated position when the latch is withdrawn from said locking head comprising a vertically swinging detent pivoted in the casing below said seat and having a nose adapted to pass over said seat in position to engage with the underside of said locking head and to be engaged by the front end of said latch, and means for holding said detent yieldingly in its operative position.

5. A car door lock comprising a casing adapted to be mounted on a wall of the car and provided with a latch opening, a seat arranged within said casing below said latch opening, a locking head movable vertically toward and from said seat, a solenoid magnetarranged within said casing and hav ing a coil, and a core movable vertically within said coil and connected with said locking head, a latch adapted to be connected with the door and movable through said latch opening and having a recess adapted to be engaged by said locking head, and a detent device forholding saidlocking head in an elevated position when the latch is withdrawn from said locking head compris ing a vertically swinging detent pivoted in the casing below said seat and having a nose adapted to pass over said seat in a position to engage with the underside of said locklng head and to be engaged by the front end of said latch, and means for holding said detent yieldingly in its operative position consisting of a weight arranged on said detent below the pivot thereof.

6. A car door lock comprising a casing adapted to be mounted on a wall of the car, a locking head movably mounted in the easing, a latch, mounted on the car door and adapted to be engaged by said locking head, electro-magnetic means for controlling the position of said locking head, and a yielding support for the terminals of said electro ma netic means mounted on the interior of saic casing.

7. A car door lock comprising a casing adapted to be mounted on a wall of the car, a locking head movably mounted in the casing, a latch mounted on the car door and adapted to be engaged by said locking head, electro-magnetic means for controlling the position of said locking head, a yielding support for the terminals of said electro-magnetic means consisting of a weighted arm pivotally supported at its upper end on the interior of said casing and supporting said terminals in line with an opening in the adjacent wall of said casing.

l VILLIAM J. MARTIN.

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