US3216373A

US3216373A - Bridge plate counterbalance device

Info

Publication number: US3216373A
Application number: US330761A
Authority: US
Inventors: Arthur M Boone
Original assignee: Pullman Inc
Current assignee: Pullman Standard Inc; Pullman Inc
Priority date: 1963-12-16
Filing date: 1963-12-16
Publication date: 1965-11-09
Anticipated expiration: 1982-11-09

Description

Nov. 9, 1965 A. M. BOONE 3,216,373

BRIDGE PLATE COUNTERBALANCE DEVICE Filed Dec. 16, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 49 i la [in //6 /324 \j-.[

. I" an "r" I /2 .j "470 v 22 2/ la 23 INVENTOR.

ARTHUR M BOO/V5 Nov. 9, 1965 A. M. BOONE BRIDGE PLATE COUNTERBALANCE DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 16, 1963 INVENTOR. QARTHUR M BOO/W5 Nov. 9, 1965 A. M. BOONE BRIDGE .PLATE COUNTERBALANCE DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed D90. 16, 1963 INVENTOR.

Nov. 9, 1965 oo 3,216,373

BRIDGE PLATE COUNTERBALANCE DEVICE Filed Dec. 16, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. A RTHU/P M. BOO/V5 United States Patent Office 3,216,373 Patented Nov. 9, 1965 3,216,373 BRIDGE PLATE COUNTERBALANCE DEVICE Arthur M. Boone, Michigan City, Ind, assignor to Pullman Incorporated, Chicago, 131., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 16, 1963, Ser. No. 330,761 4 Claims. (Cl. 105-458) This invention relates to a new and improved bridge plate assembly for railway vehicles of the piggyback type. More specifically, the present invention relates to a new and improved bridge plate assembly having a simplified but efiicient counter-balancing device associated therewith, in order to minimize the elfort required to move the bridge plate from a horizontally disposed or operative position to a substantially vertical or transit position or vice versa.

The popularity of piggyback type hauling has been ever increasing due to the improved car structures and associated shock dissipating means which serve to protect the piggyback lading through transit. The individual railway cars employed in piggyback lading operations are provided with bridge plates to assist in the rapid loading and unloading of the various forms of lading by permitting the same to be driven or pulled to the particular car occupied during transit.

Shock dissipating devices have resulted in the couplers of the associated cars to be extended up to several feet from the end of the car in order to accommodate the more popular types of shock dissipating means. Accordingly, the bridge plates on such cars must be increased in total length in order to span the increased distance between adjacent cars having extended couplers in coupled relationship. As a result, the increased length of the bridge plate generally requires the central section thereof to be increased in vertical depth to resist the anticipated increase in shear forces. Normally, this requires bridge plates to be heavier and bulkier than predecessor types and therefore requires considerable effort to move the same between the operative and inoperative positions. As a result, what was once a one man job in storing or lowering bridge plates oftentimes now requires the effort of two men.

Loading and unloading of trailers is presently a one man operation since the development of the pull-up types of fifth wheel stands and tractors to cooperate with the same. Obviously, it would be highly desirable it suitable means could be provided to enable bridge plates to be raised and lowered by one man without fear of overexertion or injury thereby to maintain the loading and unloading operation a one man job, with the expected reflections in the overall cost of piggyback hauling.

The present invention is directed to a simplified and economical answer to the problem set out above. A counterbalance device is provided for ready attachment to existing bridge plate designs as Well as being easily applied to new models of integrated transportation types of specialty cars having extended bridge plates. The present invention serves to materially reduce the effort required to move the extended bridge plates between the inoperative and operative positions and permits easy operation by the efforts of one man.

Broadly speaking, counterbalances have been used in a wide variety of applications ranging from double hung windows, draw bridges and the like to primitive types of lever means to assist in withdrawing water from lakes and rivers. In the railroad intustry, counterbalance devices have been provided on platforms of passenger cars and the like, such devices usually acting on a spring means in torsion. In the freight transportation end of the industry, the special sill struture required to accommodate the shock dissipating means, eliminates any possibility of using most of the known prior art types. Other types are automatically eliminated for other reasons such as inefliciency, or in the great bulk of the cases, the complex and expensive construction required.

The present counterbalancing device provides a number of advantages in the form of reduced costs of construction, generally attributable to the overall minimization of working parts, and is exceedingly simple to install on existing cars as well as those currently being manufactured. The placement of the counterbalancing device of the present invention is such that it will not interfere with the cushioned travel of sliding sills, or the uncoupling mechanisms associated therewith. In addition, maximum eiiiciency will be obtainable to minimize the total effort required to move the bridge plate and associated locking mechanisms from a substantially vertical position to a substantially horizontal position. The relatively few working parts of the counterbalance device are disposed out of the path of travel of the lading as it passes from one car to the other car over the bridge plate during loading and unloading operations, without such placement impairing the efiicient and smooth operation of the device. Numerous other benefits and advantages will become apparent upon a consideration of the more prominent objects achieved and a full description of the present invention.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a bridge plate assembly having a new and improved counterbalance device thereon.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a bridge plate assembly in a piggyback lading car having a counterbalance device to greatly reduce the effort required to move the bridge plate assembly into and out of service.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a simplified counterbalance device for bridge plate assemblies on railway vehicles of the piggyback lading type, which counterbalance device is easily installed, highly efiicient and of an economical and lightweight design.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a new and improved counterbalance device of simplified design particularly adapted for use with bridge plates on piggyback type railway vehicles and which assists in moving the bridge plate between operative and inoperative positions.

Further and fuller objects will become readily apparent when reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like parts.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of an end portion of a car having a bridge plate locked in the upright position and illustrating the counterbalance device of the present invention in the extended position;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged front elevational View of the bridge plate and end portion of the car of FIG. 1 with the counterbalance device of the present invention in the extended position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken generally along the lines 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan View of a fragmentary end portion of the railway car and bridge plate illustrating the transverse location of the counterbalance device of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view showing the bridge plate and counterbalance device of the present invention in solid lines when the bridge plate is in the operative position with phantom lines indicating the position assumed when the bridge plate is in the inoperative or transit position.

Referring now to FIG. 1, reference character 10 indicates a railway car having an end portion 11 which terminates in the usual end sill 12. A stationary center sill 13 is provided centrally of the car having a sliding sill 14 telescopically received therein in a well known manner.

A bridge plate assembly is indicated at 15 being shown fragmentarily having an open web end portion 16 with center plates 17 in the central region of the bridge plate 15. A pair of

hinge assemblies

18 and 19 are attached to a trim piece 20 covering the raw ends of the open webbing 16 for joining the bridge plate to the car 10 for pivoting movement relative thereto; The counterbalance device of the present invention is indicated generally by the reference character 27 and generally includes a guide member 28 extending between the hinge assembly 19, and a fixed guide means, indicated generally at 29, carried by the end sill 12 of the car 10. The specific details of the counterbalance device of the present invention will be given hereinafter in connection with FIGS. 2-4.

The hinge assembly 18 includes a pair of

hinge plates

21 and 22 attached to the end trim piece 20 carried by the bridge plate 15. The

hinge plates

21 and 22 are in spaced relationship and receive a co-operating fixed hinge bracket 23 therebetween for joining therewith through the use of suitable hinge pin means which will be specifically described hereinafter. The hinge assembly 19 is also provided with a pair of spaced

hinge plates

24 and 25 which are in overlapping engagement with opposite sides of a fixed hinge bracket 26.

Plates

24 and 25 are of increased depth with respect to

plates

21 and 22 for reasons to become apparent.

Referring now to FIGS. 2-4, the construction of the counterbalance device and the means for attaching the same to the bridge plate assembly 15 and railway car 10 will be described. The guide member 28 is formed of a generally cylindrical tubular member 30 having a disklike collar 33 of greater diameter capping off the upper end thereof, to provide a shoulder for abutment by one end of a spring 44. A rectangular bar member 31 has one end received in a rectangular opening in the central portion of the collar 33 and welded thereto. The tubular member 30 may be joined to the collar 33 in a similar fashion.

The upper end of the bar member 31 is provided with a suitable transverse aperture 34 aligned with co-operating apertures in the enlarged

hinge plates

24 and 25 with suitable means such as the connecting pin 35 joining the plates and bar member 34 for pivoting movement therebetween. The pin 35 may be equipped with

cotter pins

36 and 37 in suitable transverse holes at opposite ends to maintain the guide member 28 joined to the bridge plate 15 by retaining the pin 35 in operative association with the

hinge plates

24 and 25 and bar member 31.

The guide means 29 is formed by a backing plate 40 with

side reinforcing plates

58 and 59 joined to an angularly disposed bottom portion 41, the latter being provided with a central aperture 39 slidably receiving the lower end of the guide member 38. A lower collar member 42 is joined on the tubular member 30 and limits the upward travel of the guide member 28 keeping the spring under slight compression at its fully extended position. The backing plate 40 and

side reinforcing plates

58 and 59 are attached to the end sill 12 through the interposition of a spacer member 43 which is joined to the end sill by means of bolts, riveting or the like.

The compression spring 44 surrounds the guide member 28 being bottomed on its upper end of the enlarged disklike collar 33, with the opposite end in abutting engagement with the angularly disposed portion 41 of the bracket 40. As relative movement occurs between the guide member 28 and the guide means 29, the spring is compressed and extended, storing and releasing energy to assist in movement of the bridge plate 15 in a manner to be more completely described in connection with FIG. 5, when a full description of the operation of the counterbalance device is given.

The bridge plate 15 is provided with a locking means in dicated generally at 45 and including a locking pin 46 carried on the bridge plate 15 by means of a pair of spaced guide brackets 47 an-d 48. The locking pin 46 is provided with a transverse handle portion 49 to facilitate easy manual movement thereof along the central longitudinal axis between fixed limits, from a locked position to an unlocked position. The lower end of the guide pin 46 is received in a pair of

apertures

52 and 53 formed in fixed locking brackets 50 and 51, with the latter being attached to web portion of the end sill 12 by means of welding or the like. The locked position can only occur when the bridge plate assembly is in the vertical position allowing the guide pin to be slidably received in the

apertures

52 and 53 in the locking brackets 50 and 51 respectively. Other forms of locking means which will not interfere with the counterbalance device 27 are equally suitable. If the locking means for some reason is accidentally unlocked, the lower collar 42 on the guide member 28 will engage the guide means 29 to limit the angular travel of the bridge plate 15 towards the lading on the car to prevent contact therewith, while the spring will resist angular travel in the opposite direction.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, a handle 54 (shown fragmentarily) may be provided along a marginal edge portion of the bridge plate 15 to allow the manual movement thereof between the vertical or transit position and the down or operative position shown in FIG. 4. The construction of the hinge assembly 18 is also evident in FIG. 4, illustrating the

hinge plates

21 and 22 joined to the fixed hinge bracket 23 by means of a hinge pin 55 having a pair of

collar members

56 and 57 welded on opposite ends to prevent lateral displacement of the hinge pin 55. An identical connection is provided for the hinge assembly 19 so description thereof is not deemed necessary.

In operation, the bridge plate 15 will be moved to the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 5. Vehicles may pass from the end portion 11 of the car 10 across the bridge plate 15 to an adjacent railway car in order to allow the rapid loading and unloading of the lading. During the transportation of the lading or the empty car, the bridge plate is in the position shown in phantom lines in FIG. 5 with the locking pin 46 disposed within the locking brackets 50 and 51 in the manner best illustrated in FIG. 2. Upon arrival at the destination, the bridge plate may be lowered by pulling upwardly on the handle 49 to withdraw the locking pin 46, unlocking the bridge plate and allowing it to be subsequently lowered by slight manual effort. With the bridge plate 15 in the transit or upright position, the center of mass is practically in vertical alignment with the hinge pins 55 connecting the bridge plate 15 to the end sill 12. Thus, the

hinge assemblies

18 and 19 will carry substantially all of the weight of the bridge plate 15. As the bridge plate 15 is swung about the

hinge assemblies

18 and 19 toward the extended position, the center of mass will move in a generally arcuate path with the horizontal distance between the pin 35 and the center of mass increasing. Less and less downward weight or force will be distributed on the hinge pins 55 since the greater portion, acting through a lever arm of increasing length will be transferred through the pin 35 to the guide member 28 with the hinge pins on the bridge plate 15 ultimately acting as a fulcrum. This causes the guide member to move relative to the guide means 27 placing the spring 44 in compression due to the action of the collar 33 on one end, and the resistance of the bottom plate 41 on the other end to movement of the spring 44. In the lowered position of the bridge plate 15, shown in solid lines in FIG. 5, the spring 44 is in the fully compressed position, having maximum potential energy available to assist in moving the bridge plate 15 to the upright position.

The value of the potential energy is easily determined by multiplying the spring constant times the squared value of the dilferential distance between its extended and compressed position, with the total product being divided by two, with the qualification that the total deformation remains within the elastic limits of the spring. Accordingly, with changes in weight of bridge plates, a spring having the appropriate constant may be provided to develop maximum potential energy, while permitting the bridge to remain extended (horizontal).

As the bridge is raised to the transit position the distance of the center of mass to the pin 35 decreases in a gradual manner somewhat analogous to the diminution of force exerted by the counterbalance device on the bridge plate. The upward force exerted by the spring 44 is decreasing, however the lever arm between the hinge 55 (measured horizontally) increases reaching a maximum when the bridge plate is at about a 45 angle. This is made possible by connecting the guide member above, and outwardly of the hinge pin 55 when the bridge plate is in a vertical position. As the bridge plate swings to a horizontal position, the spring is loaded with the rear edge of hinge plates abutting the end sill to form a stop, at which time the counterbalance is loaded by compressing the spring 44. The bridge plate may be raised in the manner described above. Thus, only a light lifting force on the handle 54 is required to move the bridge plate 15 upwardly since the spring member 44 will assist in the movement until it arrives at the locking position shown in phantom.

The counterbalance device prevents bridge plates from being dropped due to the resisting action of the spring, and accordingly reduces the damage to the ends thereof. It is obvious that short bridge plates could use the present invention as well as the long bridge plates shown.

It will become immediately obvious to those skilled in the art that certain modifications and variations of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A railway car having an end sill portion, a bridge plate, hinge means fixed on said end sill and mounting said bridge plate for angular movement between a substantially vertical transit position and a generally horizontal loading position extending outwardly from said end sill, a counterbalance device for assisting in manual movement of said bridge plate from said horizontal loading position to said vertical transit position, said counterbalance device including a guide member, means pivotably attaching one end of said guide member to said bridge plate located at a point outwardly of and eccentric with respect to said hinge means, guide means mounted on said end sill portion outwardly thereof and below said hinge means and slidably receiving said guide member for reci rocating movement in a generally vertical direction, a helical spring surrounding said guide member, said spring having one end thereof movable with said guide member and the other end thereof bottomed on said guide means so as to be compressed upon angular movement from said vertical transit position to said horizontal loading position whereby the total force generated by said spring will increase as said bridge plate is moved from said substantially vertical transit position to said substantially horizontal loading position.

2. The railway car of claim 1 wherein a collar is provided on the lower end of said guide member to limit the upward travel thereof through said guide means and so that said bridge plate is restrained against angular turning inwardly of said end sill when in said vertical transit position.

3. In a railway car having a longitudinally movable sill extending therefrom and a stationary center sill telescopically receiving said movable sill, a bridge plate assembly, hinge means mounting said bridge plate assembly on said end sill for angular movement between a generally vertical transit position and a generally horizontal loading position and extending outwardly from said end sill, a counterbalance device having a guiding portion mounted beneath an end sill portion of said car closely adjacent said stationary sill, a guide member received in said guide portion for reciprocating movement outwardly of an end sill portion of said car, said guide member having one end thereof pivotally attached to said bridge plate eccentric with respect to the axis of said hinge means, first and second collars on said guide member, one of said collars being on one side of said guiding portion with the other collar on the opposite side of said guiding portion, a helical spring means disposed about said guide member having one end abutting one of said collars with the other end being in abutment with said guiding portion, said spring having a spring constant value with respect to the Weight and length of said bridge plate to permit said bridge plate to remain in a horizontal position when moved thereto While exerting suflicient upward force on said bridge plate to assist in movement thereof to a vertical position and which force is of gradually diminishing value as said bridge plate approaches said vertical transit position.

4. The railway car of claim 3 wherein the one of said collars not engaged by said spring serves to limit the angular movement of said bridge plate in the direction urged by said spring.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 933,070 9/09 Gleason 114201 1,089,367 3/14 Schroyer -434 2,200,219 5/40 Reid 2134 2,632,573 3/53 Meyer 213-4 3,063,386 11/62 Price 105458 FOREIGN PATENTS 645,237 10/50 Great Britain.

692,147 5/53 Great Britain.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

LEO QUACKENBUSH, MILTON BUCHLER,

Examiners.

Claims

1. A RAILWAY CAR HAVING AN END SILL PORTION, A BRIDGE PLATE, HINGE MEANS FIXED ON SAID END SILL AND MOUNTING SAID BRIDGE PLATE FOR ANGULAR MOVEMENT BETWEEN A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL TRANSIT POSITION AND A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL LOADING POSITION EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM SAID END SILL, A COUNTERBALANCE DEVICE FOR ASSISTING IN MANUAL MOVEMENT OF SAID BRIDGE PLATE FROM SAID HORIZONTAL LOADING POSITION TO SAID VERTICAL TRANSIT POSITION, SAID COUNTERBALANCE DEVICE INCLUDING A GUIDE MEMBER, MEANS PIVOTABLY ATTACHING ONE END OF SAID GUIDE MEMBER TO SAID BRIDGE PLATE LOCATED AT A POINT OUTWARDLY OF AND ECCENTRIC WITH RESPECT TO SAID HINGED MEANS, GUIDE MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID END SILL PORTION OUTWARDLY THEREOF AND BELOW AND HINGE MEANS AND SLIDABLY RECEIVING SAID GUIDE MEMBER FOR RECIPROCATING MOVEMENT IN A GENERALLY VERTICAL DIRECTION, A HELICAL SPRING SURROUNDING SAID GUIDE MEMBER, SAID SPRING HAVING ONE END THEREOF MOVABLE WITH SAID GUIDE MEMBER AND THE OTHER END THEREOF BOTTOMED ON SAID GUIDE MEANS SO AS TO BE COMPRESSED UPON ANGULAR MOVEMENT FROM SAID VERTICAL TRANSIT POSITION TO SAID HORIZONTAL LOADING POSITION WHEREBY THE TOTAL FORCE GENERATED KBY SAID SPRING WILL INCREASE AS SAID BRIDGE PLATE IS MOVED FROM SAID SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL TRANSIT POSITION TO SAID SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL LOADING POSITION.