US1513363A - Sheet-metal door - Google Patents

Description

A. S. BARROWS SHEET METAL DOOR Filed 27. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I" flllanwarrawa Oct. 28 1924.

A. s. BARROWS SHEET METAL DOOR Filed Aug. 27, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

fave/Liar flllwzba rrawa ALLAN S. BARROWS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SHEET-METAL noon.

Application filed August 27, 1920. Serial No. 406,310.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLAN S. BARROWS, a citizen of United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois. have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sheet-Metal Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in sheet metal doors.

One object of the invention is to provide a metal door of relatively light weight and great strength especially adapted to resist sagging, doubling, bending or edge indentation, the door being especially adapted for railway box cars.

Another object of the invention is to provide a metal door which, when closed, is not only theft and weather proof but is at the same time so constructed as to provide for ventilation as for instance when the door is used on box cars in transporting fruit, vegetables, and the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide an especially efiicient and novel form of fastening means for a plurality of plies of sheet metal where it is desired to obtain a flush construction, the fastening means being formed without weakening of the metal and being well adapted to resist deterioration from corrosion or other causes, at the joints.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sheet metal door embodying my improvements, the door being shown as especially constructed for employment as a side door on a box car. Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view corresponding substantially to the line 22 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical detail sectional view corresponding substantially to the line 33 of Figure 1, intermediate parts being broken away in order to better accommodate the View onv the sheet. In this figure, various details of the car construction adjacent the door are illustrated. Figure 4 is a detail sectional View corresponding substantially to the line M of Figure 3. Figure 5 is a detail sectional view upon an enlarged scale and corresponding substantially to the line 55. of Figure 1. Figure 6 is a detail sectional View illustrating the usual former practice of riveting or securing together a plurality oi? plies of overlapped sheet metal;

In saiddrawing, the threshold of a side I door opening of a car is indicated at 10, the lintel at 11, the side plate at 12, and the upper supporting track at 13. The improved door is indicated generally by the reference A, the same being described in detail hereinafter. In the particular embodiment shown, the door is adapted to be supported from its top edge by means of a pair of roller carrying brackets 14-14, each of which carries an upper roller 15 adapted to travel on the track 13 and a lower roller 16 normally spaced from the under side of the track 13 but adapted to engage therewith to limit the upward movement of the door. The lower edge of the door is prevented from swinging outwardly from the side or the car by any suitable means such as a plurality of brackets 17 spaced longitudinally along the car side.

The improved door A, as shown, comprises, broadly, three sheet metal panel sections B, B, and B and four bracing and reinforcing marginal strips at the top, bottom and sides indicated respectively at C, C, C and C In carrying out my invention, the three panels, each of which is of generally rectangular form, have their adjacent horizontally extending edges overlapped as indicated at 1818 in Figure 1, the overlapped portions being riveted or spot welded or otherwise rigidly secured together. Each of the panels is also preferably provided with a plurality of horizontally extending strengthening corrugations or indentations 19-19 of a pecul iar form, as hereinafter described. The

door as an entirety is provided with what may be termed edge corrugations consisting of an upper horizontal corrugation 20, two side corrugations 2121, and a bottom horizontally extending corrugation 22. It will be noted that each of said corrugations 20, 21 and 22, while located adjacent the periphery or extreme edges of the (1001' are nevertheless slightly spaced therefrom so' as to leave fiat marginal portions 23 on all four This produces mar 'nal portions for the sides. As will be noted from an inspection of Figures 1, 2 and 3, all of the corrugations 19 to 22 inclusive extend outwardly from the general main or inner plane or face of the door so that the door may lie closely against the side of the car and will not present any projections or obstructions to pre ventsliding of the door back and forth.

As more clearly appears from Figures 2 and 3, each of the corrugations 19 to 22 inclusive is of unusual form, the same presenting flat topped ridges as indicated at 24 and, intermediate the ridges producing flat valleys 25. The ridges and valleys are connected by flat or straight divergent sides 2626. The ordinary practice, heretofore, in corrugating sheet metal articles has been to make the ridges and valleys curved or rounded, the changes in the curvature from the valley to the ridges, which are of course reversed, occurring in the sides of the corrugations. Actual tests have demonstrated that corrugations of the type shown herein, that is, a construction providing flat ridges and flat valleys connected by flat sides, possesses greater strength than corrugations of the old form heretofore described for the reason that the moment of inertia of a section of the metal corresponding to one ridge and one valley on opposite sides of the neutral axis is greater with the flat ridge and valley type of corrugation than in the case of the curved ridges and valleys of former practice. The increase of strength, assuming the same weight of metal and same overall dimension from the top flat ridge to the outside of the corresponding valley, is approximately 14% to 17%, this increased strength being particularly edectiv'e against thrusts perpendicular to the flat tops or valleys of the corrugations. Said type of corrugations are also extremely eficient against collapse from forces applied in directions more or less parallel to the general plane of the door and transverse of the corrugat-ions.

In order to make the margins of the door of sufficient strength to resist indentation to which box car doors are particularly subject due to the use of crowbars and other instruments employed to pry the doors back and forth, ll make each of the marginal portions of a multiple of thicknesses or plies of sheet metal. This is accomplished by having each I of the reinforcing strips C, C and C doubled back on itself as indicated at 27--27, the doubled-back portions 27 fitting over the corresponding fiat marginal portions of the sheet metal comprising the main portion of the door indicated at 28.-28 in Figure 1.

door which are of triple thickness and without excessively increasing the weight of the door, the metal being utilized and concen trated at those portions only where necessary. In the case of the reinforcing strip C shown most clearly in Figure 2, the outer vertical edge thereof indicated at 29 and the corresponding outer edge 30 of the main portion of the door are lapped and bent to hook shape and preferably spot welded, this formation being more particularly for the purpose of providing a weather seal at the er edge of the door when the door is in closed position, it being understood that the hook shaped edge of the door will engage under a correspondingly formed hookshaped flange on the outer side of the car Wall.

Each of the reinforcing strips C, C, C and C is extended over the adjacent edge corrugations 2022, 21-21 and is riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to the main portions of the panels. With this construction, it is evident that each reinforcing strip forms, in conjunction with its corresponding edge corrugation, a tube-like arrangement which is exceedingly strong and well adapted to resist bending, crushing or tor sion,.the entire arrangement being exceed ingly light. In the case of the side reinforcing strips C and C the portions thereof where the same overlap the horizontal corrugations 19 may be bent downwardly into the corrugations as indicated at 31 in Figure 2. In the case of said edge reinforcing strips G and C it will be noted that the same perform another function in that they prevent the corners or edges of packagelading from becoming lodged in the vertical corrugations of the door and thus interfering with movement of the door from closed to open position. In connection with the tube-like formation above described, it will be seen that the vertical edge corrugations 2121 are additionally reinforced by the horizontal corrugations 19 which are merged at their ends with the edge corrugations as clearly indicated in Figure 1.

in the cam of box cars used for transporting vegetables, fruit and other perishable goods, particularly such box cars as are used on southern railroads, it is generally necessary to provide means for ventilation at the side doors of the car. So far as I am aware, no sheet metal or other metal door for boxcars has ever made provision for such ventilation, the common practice requiring the use of wood doors which have section's thereof cut out and replaced by a screen of heavy mesh. in order to adapt my door for use on cars requiring ventilation and at the same tim not interfere with or militate against the ordinary usage of the door, I provide 'a series of ventilating openings as indicated at V in Fi ure 3. lFhese openings or vents V are preferably made on the under or lower sides of the out- Wardly extended corrugations of rthe door so as to prevent rain snow or sleet entering therethrough. In actual practice, the vents will be formed by slitting the sheet metal so as to provide small tongues or tangs, the latter being bent downwardly as indicated at 32, the downwardly bent tangs acting as weather shields for the vents. As will be obvious to those skilled in the art, the number, location and form of the vents V may vary greatly. In Figures 7, 8 and 9, I have shown three different forms of the rents, those in Figure 7 comprising a plurality of substantially semi-circular openings 33, those in Figure 8 comprising a plurality of relatively short slots 34 and in Figure 9 comprising comparatively elongated slots 35. In each instance I prefer to employ a downwardly and outwardly bent tongue or tang as indicated at 32 in Figure 3 and heretofore described. In Figure 1 only a few of the vents of the form indicated at 33 in Figure 7 are shown but 'as will be understood by those skilled in the art, the number and location of the vents may be greatly varied as heretofore indicated.

In the doors employed on box cars, it is particularly necessary that the inner side thereof be substantially flat and free from any projections which might interfere with the movements of the door. Consequently, where rivets are employed to unite various parts of the door, it is customary to countersink the rivets on the inner side of the door. Heretofore, so far as I am aware, it has always been customary in employing countersink rivets or bolts to unite a number of layers of sheet metal, to counterbore the outer sheet or ply of the metal as indicated at 36 in Figure 6 to accommodate the countersink head 37 of the rivet or other securing element. Obviously, this leaves a thin edge for the outer sheet as indicated at 38 and observation has shown that these scarfed or beveled edges of the sheet metal are especially subject to corrosion or pitting due to the rain or other weather elements seeping into the rivet joint with the ultimate result that the joint becomes insecure and the rivet or bolt does not properly perform its function. To overcome this defect and at the same time maintain a flush fastening arrangement, I employ the construction most clearly illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. In the case of Figure 4 where the two plies of metal 39 and 40 are in direct contact and the other ply 41 spaced therefrom on account of the bracket mounting, I provide an opening 42 in the intermediate ply 40 of appreciably larger diameter than the shank of the bolt 43. The outermost ply 39 is provided initially with an opening 44 corresponding in diameter substantially to the diameter of the shank of the bolt. The metal of the ply 39 immediately surrounding the opening 44 is bent .by which is carried the roller 65.

inwardly as indicated at 45 partially within the opening 42 so as to produce a countersunk recess for the countersink head 46 of the bolt. With this construction, I avoid any thin edge in the ply 39 and on the contrary maintain its full thickness at all points so that the danger from corrosion or pitting is substantially entirely eliminated. The same principle of construction is clearly illustrated in Figure 5 where the three plies of metal are indicated at 139, 140 and 141, all the plies in this instance being in close contact. In this construction, the interme-' diate ply 141 is provided with arelatively large opening 142, the ply 139 with an opening 144, the metal surrounding said last named opening being inwardly bent as indicated at 145, to accommodate a countersink head 146 of the rivet 143 employed in this instance.

In Figure 10 I have shown in section the lower portion of a door of that character wherein the support is obtained at the bot tom as distinguished from support at the top, as shown in Figure 3. In the construction of said Figure 10 the bottom portion of the door is formed by a reinforcing strip G a Z-bar 50, and the main sheet metal of the door 60, the latter being extended outwardly and thence downwardly vertically as indicated at 61. One flange 62 of the Z-bar is secured to the portion 61, the other flange 63 of the Z-bar being riveted to the lower edge of the,strip C This produces a hollow'tube-like structure at the bottom of the door well adapted to accommodate a roller bearing bracket 64 of any desired form and The roller 65 .is extended downwardly through a suitable slot 66 in the web of the Z-bar so that the roller 65 bears upon the lower horizontal track 67. As will be obvious to those skilled in the art, various other changes may be made to obtain the tube-like construction at the bottom of the door to accommodate the supporting rollers and, if desired, the Z-bar or other reinforcing member employed may be utilized as the supporting edge of the door where the rollers are mounted in fixed brackets secured to the sides of the car. As shown in Figure 1 of the drawing I may provide openings 6868 at the bottom corners so that any foreign matter that may get into the covered corrugations, will readily be discharged.

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out my invention but I am aware that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention and all such changes and variations are contemplated as come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture, a door comprised of sheet metal having a plurality of horizontally and outwardly extended corrugations therein, the corrugations presenting downi'ardly and inwardly sloping lower sides, said door being provided with openings through some of said lower sides of the horizontal corrugations, each of said openings being provided with a downwardly projecting wall at its upper outer edge, said walled openings being formed by slitting and bending the metal outwardly to the exposed side of the door, the outwardly bent wall portions of the metal serving as weather shields for the openings.

2. As an article of manufacture, a door comprised of sheet metal having a plurality of horizontally extending corrugations therein. forming alternately arranged ridges and valleys, the outwardly disposed faces of said ridges being flat, and the upper and lower sides of each of said ridges that connect said ridges and valleys being inclined in opposite directions so as to diverge-away from said outwardly disposed face, said door being provided with a plurality of downwardly directed ventilating openings in the downwardly sloping under sides of some of said ridges.

3. As an article of manufacture, a sheet metal door having integrally formed therein a plurality of horizontally extending corrugations, each of said corrugations having flat ridges and diverging fiat upper and lower sides, the door having fiat valleys intermediate the corrugations and said door also having a continuous corrugation extending vertically along the front and rear edges and extending horizontally along the bottom edge. said continuous corrugation being outwardly beyond said first mentioned corrugations and bounding the latter.

4. As an article of manufacture, door adapted to serve as a side door for box cars, said door having the main portion thereof comprised of sheet metal having integrally formed corrugations therein, each of said corrugations having a flat ridge and diverg ing flat side walls, said door also having a continuous marginal corrugation extending along the front. rear and bottom edges outwardly beyond said first mentioned corruga tions and bounding the latter; and reinforcing sheet metal strips around the edges of the door. said strips and metal sheets comprising the main portion of the door having the one doubled over the other to formmarginal portions composed of a multiple of thicknesses of sheet metal.

5. A sheet metal article of manufacture having portions thereof formed of a plurality of plies of sheet metal, and means for uniting the plies including: a fastening element extending through the plies, said element having a shank and a countersink head at one end thereof, the ply of sheet metal directly cooperable with said head having an opening for said shank with the metal surrounding said opening inwardly bent to thereby provide a countersunk recess for said head, the adjacent ply of sheet metal having an alined opening of greater diameter than the first named opening to accommodate said inwardly bent portions of said first named ply and the shank of the fastening element.

6. A sheet metal article of manufacture, such as a door, having portions thereof comprised of three plies of sheet metal arranged in parallel relation, two at least of said plies being in. contact, the outermost two plies of sheet metal having openings formed therein approximating the diameter of the shank of the fastening element and the intermediate ply of sheet metal having an alined larger opening, the outer ply in contact with the intermediate ply having the metal surrounding its opening bent inwardly partially Within said opening of the. intermediate ply to provide a countersunk recess Without thinning of the metal for the countersink head of a fastening element; and a fastening element having a countersink head exmnded through said openings to retain the three plies of sheet metal in assembled relation.

7. As an article of manufacture, a sheet metal door adapted for box cars, said door having the main portion thereof comprised of a single thickness of sheet metal and reinforcing strips around the edges of the main portion, said reinforcing strips and the sheet metal of the main part of the door being bent one over the other to form threeply marginal portions for the door, the inner side of the door presenting a substantially flat surface; and a plurality countersunk rivets for uniting the three ply portions of the door, the heads of the rivets being on the inner side of the door, the innermost plies of the door secured said rivets having openings to accommo the shanks of the rivets and the metal surrounding said openings inwardly bent to provide countersunk recesses, the intermediate plies having openings of larger diameter than the shanks of the rivets to pan tially accommodate saidinwardly bent portions.

in witness that I claim the foregoing have hereunto subscribed my name this l n day of Aug. 1920.

ALLAN S. BARRQ'l V Witness 2 0mm Gamma.

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