US3365250A - Center plate assembly - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 23, 1968 w. G. BANKES CENTER PLATE ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 6, 1965 Q ow INVENTOR Tim wwwwwm HF iv I \nj lw l l lHh im l Q h J -V\ Ill-.. T! gum: 1W -NM Q r Wi'Ziz aizz 5,34; fi'eg BY MM, 6%, w; wan

ATTORNEY? Jan. 23, 1968 w. G. BANKES CENTER PLATE AS SEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 6, 1965 INVENTOR ATTORNEY$ 3,365,250 CENTER PLATE A%EMELY William G. Banlres, Nescopeclt, Pa, assignor to Berwick Forge and Fabricating Corp, Berwiclr, Pin, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed st. 6, B65, Ser. No. 493,516 8 Claims. Cl. 308-136) AESTFACT 0F THE DISCFLGSUEE A center plate for supporting a railroad car on a truck wherein an I-shaped stress-distributing network of elements both above and below the mounting plate is provided. The network includes parallel reinforcement bars extendirn along the underneath surface of said mount ing plate and an elongated tie member extending perpendicular to said bars on the top surface and along the center of the plate. Said bars and said tie member are preferably channel-shaped for improved strength-toweight ratio of the device. In one embodiment, the tie member is provided with an extension to allow attachment of the spring which controls the sliding center sill in a cushioned underfra-me.

The present invention relates to railroad car underframe construction and, more particularly, to an improved construction of a center plate assembly for a railroad car cushioned underframe.

Until just recently, railroad rolling stock, including box cars and passenger cars, were designated to carry relatively small loads compared to the super loads that are carried today in the modern oversize cars. Thus, the underframes of these early cars and, particulary the center plate assembly that receives the king pin of the support ng truck were not stressed to the degree that can be expected in todays cars. Accordingly, while in the past, the center plate assembly could be and was usually forged or cast in a single piece that included the mounting plate and the bowl-shaped bearing plate for economy, the advent of the super cars with the much larger loads to be carried necessitated a change in the basic design of the center plate from a totally cast or forged structure to a welded structure utilizing a rolled steel mounting plate to give the increased strength required.

Heretofore, as far as I am aware, it has been the general practice in this field to provide little or no reinforcement of the mounting plate in these welded center plate assemblies; the mounting plate being no more than a thick steel plate to which the bearing plate is welded. For example, previously, in the modern cushion underframe, with which this invention is concerned, the only reinforcement that has been proposed comprises no more than vertical guides placed along the center line of the assembly for receiving the king pin; the sliding center sill in this case straddling the reinforcement structure.

While these prior art welded center plate assemblies have proven to be generally satisfactory for their intended purpose, the oversized mounting plates that have been utilized tend to make the center plate assembly weigh much more than is necessary. This is to say that due to the fact that little or no reinforcement is used, an oversize and thus overweight mounting plate of very large cross section must be relied on for strength. This overweightness of the center plate assembly can, in certain cases, amount to several hundred pounds, which represents a substantial reduction in the amount of payload that can be carried, not to mention the loss of economy due to the increased initial cost of the center plate assembly resulting from the higher cost of oversize rolled steel plates. Further, the reliance on a single member i States Patent 0 for strength at this critical part in the under-frame construction has been found to be undesirable since a defect in that part will most likely cause failure of the underframe as a result of there beingno other substantial reinforcement members to suport and provide the strength for the defective member.

Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide an improved reinforced center plate assembly of welded construction having increased strength and rigidity so as to be capable of sustaining heavy loads while overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art cited above.

It is a related object of the present invention to provide a center plate assembly with improved strength-toweight ratio by eliminating deadweight from the structure.

The center plate construction according to the present invention is particularly adapted for use in a cushioned underframe having a sliding center sill and a transverse bolster through which the sliding sill passes. Specifically, the inventive structure is embodied in a steel mounting plate that is adapted to be riveted or bolted to the under side of the bolster across the opening for the sliding sill so as to provide an enclosure for said sliding sill in the usual manner. According to one important feature of the invention, the bearing plate, which serves to receive the king pin of the truck and to frictionally engage the fifth wheel of the truck, is preferably cast or otherwise forged so as to have a hub portion that is adapted to extend within an enlarged central opening in the mounting plate for improved strength and rigidity of the assembly; the bearing plate having shoulders that are welded to said mounting plate for this purpose and for the purpose of supporting the bearing plate in its position on the mounting plate.

According to another aspect of this invention, a reinforcement means is provided that extends generally transversely across said mounting plate on the underneath surface thereof. This reinforcement means is preferably comprised of a parallel pair of cast or otherwise forged channel bars that are welded to the underneath surface of the mounting plate in such a position as to be spaced from and on opposite sides of the bearing plate to strengthen and rigidify the same. Further, a tie member that preferably takes the form of a channel piece, extends generally longitudinally and along the central axis of the mounting plate on the top surface thereof in such a manner that the ends of the channel piece are disposed above at least a portion of said parallel reinforcement bars whereby to tie in the reinforcement means to the centrally located bearing plate and thus form a stressdistributing network over substantially the total area of said mounting plate consisting of elements both above and below said mounting plate. This stress-distributing network gives greatly increased strength and rigidity to the center plate assembly with a minimum amount of weight and expense. Further, since the network actually encompasses the mounting plate with members of great strength and rigidity, said mounting plate can be substantially reduced in thickness over that which would otherwise be necessary and since the network encompasses the mounting plate with reinforcing members, any weakness in the mounting plate itself will be overcome in an advantageous manner.

In another embodiment illustrated, the channel tie member that is welded along the top surface of the mounting plate is provided with an extension to which the return spring for the sliding sill of the underfrarne is adapted to be attached whereby the stresses arising from draft and coupling forces are transmitted to this strengthened and rigidified center plate assembly. This arrangement minimizes the effect of these forces on the underframe and, in particular, eliminates the need for an additional specially reinforced structure for receiving these impact stresses, as in the prior art constructions.

Thus, it is another object of the present invention to provide a center plate assembly having a stress-distributing network that encompasses the mounting plate of the assembly.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a center plate assembly of the character described having a reinforcement means on the underneath surface of the mounting plate and a tie member on the top surface of said mounting plate with the ends of said tie member being disposed above at least a portion of said reinforcement means whereby to form a stress-distributing network over substantially the total area of said mounting plate consisting of elements both above and below said mounting plate.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a center plate assembly having a rolled steel mounting plate with elongated cast iron or otherwise forged reinforcement bars welded to the underneath surface of said mounting plate and a tie member on the top surface to tie in these reinforcement bars in a stressdistributing network.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a center plate assembly for attachment to a bolster of a cushioned underframe of a railroad car wherein the mounting plate is reinforced by a tie member extending above the bearing plate of the center plate assembly and by a pair of parallel reinforcement bars on the underneath surface of the said mounting plate, which tie member and parallel reinforcement bars form a stress-distributing network over substantially the total area of said mounting plate.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a center plate assembly for use in a cushioned underframe having sufiicient strength and rigidity to be capable of mounting the fixed end of the center sill return spring so that a separate stresseceiving member for this purpose is not required.

Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description, wherein I have shown and described only the preferred embodiment of the invention, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by me of carrying out my invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modification in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

Referring now to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top view of a portion of a railway car cushioned underframe with certain parts broken away and certain parts eliminated for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the improved center plate assembly of the invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the center plate assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view in perspective of another embodiment of the center plate assembly of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the attachment of sliding sill return spring.

With reference to the drawings for a more complete understanding of the present invention, there is shown in FIG. 1 a portion of a cushion underframe to which the structure of the present invention may be applied. As usual, the cushioned underframe 10 comprises a plurality of structural steel elements that are welded or riveted together to produce a complete underframe. A number of t ese elements are shown in FIG. 1 to explain the applicability of the embodied invention, and these elements consist of an end sill 11, a bolster 12, and numerous longitudinal floor stringers 13 extending between the various transverse members. In addition, the cushioned underfrarne it) has the usual slidable center sill, generally represented by the reference numeral 15, that serves to slidably mount a conventional coupler C at the free end for connecting the car to other cars in the normal manner.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the center sill 15 takes the form of a pair of opposed, parallel channel members 16, 17 positioned upright for the requisite sliding movements in the longitudinal direction through an opening 18 in the transversely extending bolster 12. The bolster 12 itself is, or may be, of conventional design and in the embodiment shown for illustrative purposes it is made up of a pair of vertical webs 2% extending outwardly from the central opening 18 on both sides of said bolster 12 (note FIG. 1). A top connector piece 21 is welded to the upper edges of the web 2d and extends the full width of the car to side sills 22, 23. Similarly, the bottom edges of the webs 2d are welded to bottom connector plates 24, 2-5 which extend outwardly to the end plates 26, 27, respectively, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Disposed above the inner end of the vertical webs Zll is a suitable tension plate 28 that is welded in place to give strength to the bolster 12 along the top portion thereof and serves to form the upper limit of the opening 18.

To proceed with the specific description of the center plate assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention, reference is made specifically to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings wherein is disclosed a center plate assembly 39 that includes a mounting plate 31, preferably of rolled steel, and a bearing plate 32 that is welded to the undernearth surface of said mounting plate 31.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention and as best illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4, the central bearing plate 32 is a cast or otherwise forged element with an upwardly extending central portion forming a hub 33 that has a central aperture 345 for receiving the king pin of the supporting truck (not shown). The central portion of the mounting plate 31 is advantageously cut away to form an opening 35 through which the hub 33 extends; a peripheral shoulder 36 providing the central support for the hub 33 on the underneath surface of the mounting plate 31. In practice, a welded joint is provided between the hub portion 33 and the inner face of the aperture 35 which is of particular advantage in insuring that the bearing plate 32 is securely fastened to the underneath surface of the mounting plate 31. Also, it is clear that since the aperture 34 is thus made coplanar with the mounting plate 31, the stresses caused by the king pin of the supporting truck acting in response to draft and coupling forces are desirably concentrated along the plane of the mounting plate 31 for dissipation at rivets 37 that serve to mount the center plate assembly 30 to the bolster 12.

Of course, the prevalent stresses that are present in the center plate assembly are caused by the vertical shear forces resulting from the weight of the car being concentrated at the bearing plate 32. According to the present invention in contrast to the prior art structures of which I am aware, these stresses are not concentrated almost entirely in the central region of the mounting plate 31 but are advantageously distributed over a substantially larger area of said mounting plate 31.

For this purpose of distributing the shear stresses to the portions of the mounting plate 321 remote from the central bearing plate 32, there is provided a channelshaped tie member 40 extending along the top surface of the mounting plate 31 generally along the center line of the railroad car (note FIG. 1). The channel tie member 4i includes a pair of vertical legs 41 with a connecting cross-web 4-2, said vertical legs 41 being welded to the top surface of the mounting plate and the cross-web having a centrally located aperture 43 for receiving the king pin of the supporting truck. Thus, it can be seen that the mounting plate 31 is rigidified along its central axis and since said mounting plate 31 overlies the bearing plate 32 the same is effective to tie in the critical stress-receiving areas of said mounting plate 31 around the bearing plate 32 with the remote portions along said central axis.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, there is provided on the underneath surface of the mounting plate 31 a pair of elongated reinforcement bar members 45 that extend transversely of the central axis of the mounting plate 31 and underlie the ends of the central tie member 40 to form in combination with said tie member 40 a stressdistributing network shaped in the form of an I that is effective to extend the vertical shear forces previously described over substantially the total unriveted area (see FIG. 3) of said mounting plate 31. This is true since the bar members 45 are separate from the bearing plate 32 and are disposed adjacent the outer edges of the mounting plate 31 where the ends of the channel member 40 overlie the same. With this arrangement it is thus apparent that the stresses on the bearing plate 32 are thus effectiveiy distributed and the advantages of separate reinforcing members for the mounting plate 31 can be fully realized.

With this arrangement of parts, it has been found that the strength of the center plate assembly is greatly enhanced in proportion to that which might be expected. This has been found to be a result of the fact that the cast reinforcement bars 45 are capable of resisting the great shear and compressive forces in concert with each other since the tie member 49 effectively couples them with the stress-receiving bearing plate 32, as can be seen in FIG. 3. And because of this improved interaction of elements, the over-all weight of the structure that is required in a given case is substantially reduced thereby iving the improved strength to weight ratio that is desirable.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, the bar members 45 are preferably of hollow construction for an additional saving of weight in accordance with the present invention. Each bar member 45 is closed at its ends by outwardly sloping walls 46 (see FIG. 2) that extend from the crossweb of the bar member 45 to the plane of the underneath surface of the mounting plate 31 so that a strong welded joint can be effected around the full periphery of each of the bar members 45.

Optionally, to add additional strength to the mounting plate 31, there is contemplated a pair of stiffener plates 48 that extend parallel to the central channel tie member 4!) and are welded along their lower edge to the top surface of the mounting plate 31. As can be seen in FIG. 3, these stiffener plates 48 in effect connect the ends of the bar members 45 to add further strength to the center plate assembly by extending the stress-distributing network to he portion of the mounting plate 31 located between the bearing plate 32 and the side riveted area of the center plate assembly 39.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, where like reference numerals refer to comparable elements of the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 14, the central channel tie member 49 comprises the pair of vertical legs 41 that are connected by the horizontal crossweb 42 having the king pin-receiving hole 43 therein. Unlike the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4, there is provided an extension, generally represented by the reference numeral 50, that extends out over the edge of the mounting plate 31 for the purpose of providing suitable means to which a return spring 51 of the sliding sill (see FIG. 6) is attached whereby the draft and coupling impact forces can be transmitted to the structurally reinforced center plate assembly 3%) that has been described.

To provide a suitable strengthening of the central channel tie member 40 to receive these increased forces, the vertical legs 41 are extended upwardly forming the extension 50 of the channel tie member 419 and an additional shorter crossweb 52 is supplied. The crosswebs 42, 52 have aligned slots 53, 54, respectively, in which a suitable pin 55 is adapted to be positioned to hold a spring end cap 56 in position between said crosswebs 42, 52 to thus effect the fixed connection of said spring 51 to the underframe 10. As shown in FIG. 6, the traveling end of the spring 51 is or may be conveniently connected to a crosspiece 57 whereupon the cushioned sliding movement indicated by the arrow 58 is possible.

The most pertinent advantage of this embodiment lies in the fact that the drafting and cushioning impact forces are thus distributed directly to the Stressdistributing network of the mounting plate 31 so that they are advantageously dissipated in a desirable manner without additional strengthing of the other portions of the underframe as has heretofore been the practice. in other words, in this embodiment of the invention, the stress-distributing network serves the dual function of minimizing the resulting stresses not only from the engagement of the supporting truck but also from the impacts created on the sliding sill 15 of the cushioned underframe it The structure of the center plate assembly 30 as described and as constructed in accordance with the present invention has proven to be capable of easily withstanding the great stresses which are concentrated in the center plate area of the railroad car underframe through the use of a stress-distributing network consisting of elements both above and below the mounting plate 3}. of the center plate assembly 3%). This strengthening of the center plate assembly 30 has been accomplished in the present invention with the additional advantage of reducing the over-all weight thereof by using the combination of rolled steel and cast or forged elements described. In addition to its increased strength and decreased weight, the combination is capable of being easily and inexpensively fabricated due to the relative simplicity of the design of the mounting plate 31 and the welded stress-distributing network. For example, the mounting plate 31 is designed to be sufficiently workable so that it can be easily given a pair of longitudinal bends along the sides thereof whereby the plate assembly 30 conforms to the configuration of the underside of the bolster 12, which bends, incidentally, give said assembly 39 increased strength along the axis parallel thereto. Then, after the bearing plate 32 and the reinforcement bars 45 have been welded in place on the underside of the mounting plate 31, the tie member 41 is likewise welded in place on the top surface thereof to complete the structure.

In this disclosure, there is shown and described only the preferred embodiment of the invention, but, as aforementioned, it is to be understood that the inevntion is capable of various changes or modifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed by the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A center plate assembly for attachment to a bolster of a railroad car underframe, said assembly being adapted to receive the king pin of the supporting truck comprising a mounting plate having a centrally located opening, a centrally located bearing plate having a central aperture concentric with said opening for receiving said king pin, said bearing plate being fastened to the underneath surface of said mounting plate, a pair of parallel reinforcement bars extending along at least two opposite sides of said bearing plate on the underneath surface of said mounting plate, said reinforcement bars being separate and spaced radially outwardly from said bearing plate, an elongated tie member mounted along the center on the top surface of said mounting plate, said elongated tie member extending perpendicular to said reinforcement bars and above said bearing plate, said elongated tie member being channel-shaped and having a pair of depending legs fixedly attached to said top surface, said pair of legs being symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of said central opening to receive said king pin therebetween, a crossweb bet-ween said legs extending in spaced relationship to said top surface and having an aperture concentric with said opening for receiving said king pin, and the ends of said elongated tie member being disposed above adjacent portions of said reinforcement bars on said opposite sides of said bearing plate, whereby an l-shaped stress-distributing network is formed on said mounting plate consisting of elements both above and below said mounting plate.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said pair of bars are hollow, each bar having a pair of legs engaging said underneath surface and a crossweb in spaced relationship to said underneath surface, each bar being closed at the ends by outwardly sloping end walls that extend from said crossweb to engagement with said underneath surface.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein is further included a pair of parallel non-load bearing stiffener plates extending parallel to said tie member on said top surface, said stitfener plates being spaced from said tie member and disposed above the adjacent ends of said bars so as to form an additional part of said stress-distributing network.

4. A center plate assembly for attachment to a bolster of a railroad car cushioned underframe having a sliding center sill, said assembly being adapted to receive the king pin of the supporting truck and to mount the return spring of said sliding sill, comprising a mounting plate having a centrally located opening, a centrally located bearing plate having a central aperture concentric with said opening for receiving said king pin, said bearing plate being fastened to the underneath surface of said mounting plate, a pair of parallel reinforcement bars extending along at least two opposite sides of said bearing plate on the underneath surface of said mounting plate, said reinforcement bars being separate and spaced radially outwardly from said bearing plate, an elongated tie member mounted along the center on the top surface of said mounting plate, said elongated tie member being disposed above said bearing plate and extending perpendicular to said reinforcement bars, and the end of said elongated tie member being disposed above adjacent portions of said reinforcement bars on said opposite sides of said bearing plate, whereby an I-shaped stress-distributing network is formed on said mounting plate consisting of elements both above and below said mounting plate, said tie member having an extension for strengthening the same at one end, and means on said one end of said tie member for attachment of the fixed end of said spring whereby impact forces rom said sliding sill are transferred to said I-shaped network.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said elongated tie member is channel-shaped and has a pair of depending legs fixedly attached to said top surface, said pair of legs being symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of said central opening to receive said king pin therebetween, a crossweb between said legs extending in spaced relationship to said top surface and having an aperture concentric with said opening for receiving said king pin, and an additional crossweb parallel to said first mentioned crossweb at said one end for further strengthening the same, said attaching means being connected to said crosswebs.

6. A center plate assembly for attachment to a bolster of a railroad car underframe along the longitudinal centerline thereof, said assembly being adapted to receive the king pin of the supporting truck comprising a mounting plate having a centrally located opening, a bearing plate having a central aperture concentric with said opening for receiving said king pin, said bearing plate being fastened to the underneath surface of said mounting plate, first and second parallel reinforcement bar members extending transversely across said mounting plate on the underneath surface thereof, said first and second members being spaced radially outwardly from said bearing plate adjacent the end edges of said mounting plate, and a third reinforcement tie member extending longitudinally the full length of said mounting plate on the top surface thereof substantially along said center line of said underframe, the ends of said third member being disposed above the central portion of said first and second members whereby to form an I-shaped stress-distributing network over substantially the total area of said bearing plate consisting of elements both above and below said mounting plate.

7. The combination of claim 6 wherein said third member includes a channel piece having a pair of depending legs fixedly attached to said top surface, said pair of legs being symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of said central opening to receive said king pin therebetween, and a crossweb between said legs extending in spaced relationship to said top surface, said crossweb having a central aperture adapted to receive said king pin.

8. The combination of claim 7 wherein said first and second members each include a channel bar, each bar having a pair of legs engaging said underneath surface and a crossweb in spaced relationship to said underneath surface, each bar being closed at the ends by outwardly sloping end walls that extend from said crossweb to engagement with said underneath surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 830,807 9/1906 Stevenson -226 1,021,164 3/1912 Rohlfing 105-226 2,078,176 4/1937 Hartwig 308-137 2,161,915 6/1939 Duryea 105-226 2,772,640 12/1956 Nystrom 105-199 2,919,660 1/1960 Fillion 105-226 2,965,045 12/1960 Shafer 105-199 MARTIN P. SCHWADRON, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT A. DUA, Examiner.

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