US3521575A - Side plate construction for railcar - Google Patents

Description

July 21, 1970, E. w. HANNAH 3,521,575

SIDE PLATE CONSTRUCTION FQR RAILCAR I Filed No v. 29, 19 7 I -E FIB2 36 Heme 427- A .J[.../ 4Za- 46a- 00. 4 40.

INVENTOR. ELWOOD w.. HANNAH e. z. 77 90 J ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3 521 575 SIDE PLATE CONSTRUCTION FOR RAILCAR Elwood W. Hannah, Portland, 0reg., assignor to FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 686,398 Int. Cl. B61d 17/08 US. Cl. 105-409 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The upper sideplate of a railway boxcar is formed of two coextensive members, an upright plate and an inwardly turned substantially C-shaped channel welded to the plate. These two members are secured to the Wall posts and cooperatively form a continuous, integral box section, between the end walls of the car, with an inwardly extending horizontal roof support flange.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention pertains to the general field of railway equipment, and more particularly to the sidewall construction of boxcars in the area where the sideplate and side posts are interconnected at the intersection of the sidewalls and the roof.

Railway boxcars have in the past employed side plates having Z-bars or variations thereof secured to the upper end portions of the wall posts. Besides forming a load carrying member because the posts are supported by and secured to the side sills, the sideplate and post structure forms an interconnection of the sidewalls and the roof.

In the doorway area the conventional Z-bar is usually reinforced with the addition of another plate or angle member so as to form a box section over the doorway to lend strength to the unsupported part of the sideplate where the posts are omitted. Some boxcars may have doorway openings totaling nearly half the area of the sidewall. Because the sideplate is a load carrying member, various attempts at strengthening the sideplate without appreciably adding to its complexity or increasing its vertical dimensions are found in prior art patents. However, the elevation of the sideplate and its vertical dimension is somewhat limited because of standard overall height regulations. It should also be noted that some special purpose boxcars require a taller than normal door. In present sideplate constructions, the maximum available vertical space for the door will not accommodate the taller doors, and the sideplate cannot be altered for the taller doors.

With the advent of welded instead of riveted cars, it is important that the sideplate, side posts and sheathing assembly can be welded from one side, or at least be capable of having the major portion of the welds made from one side of the assembly. A further consideration is the desirability of minimizing the number of steps required in forming the parts prior to their assembly, notably the upper ends of the side posts which in many present sidewall constructions require that the Z-posts be formed with an offset to form a flush juncture with the sideplate under the sheathing. A related problem is the elimination of spacer members which are sometimes required due to the fact that stock Z-sections for the sideplate and posts do not form flush junctures because the posts are narrower than the sideplate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The sideplate and side post structure of the present invention includes a sideplate assembly formed of only two members extending between the end walls of the cars and forming a continuous welded box section. Only one 3,521,575 Patented July 21, 1970 of the members is formed, as by braking, the other member being a flat, thick beam plate disposed on edge. The formed member is generally C-shaped and has a horizontal leg, welded to and projecting outward from the beam plate, that corresponds to the flange to flange dimension of a Z-section side post so that the side posts do not require the usual offset to form a flush outer junction beneath the wall sheathing where the posts and side plate assembly meet. The thus formed sideplate is substantially less complex but stronger and more rigid than the known Z-section sideplates. After the two sideplate members are welded together, the assembly of side posts, sideplate and sheathing can be welded from one side of the wall, thus eliminating turnover jigs and facilitating rapid, economical construction. A special feature of the sideplate is that it accommodates taller than usual doors while providing an exceptionally strong horizontal stress member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary exploded perspective of a known type of sideplate and side post construction for a railway boxcar.

FIG. 2 is a typical vertical section of the FIG. 1 structure in assembled relation.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary exploded perspective of the sideplate and side post construction of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a typical section of the FIG. 3 structure in assembled relation.

DESCRIPTION OF TYPICAL PRIOR ART AND THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a prior art sideplate and side post assembly 20 which is more or less typical of the relatively complex arrangements heretofore necessary in the construction of a railway boxcar. The assembly 20 includes a stock rolled-steel Zsection bar 24 having its central web 26 horizontal, its inner flange 28 extending vertically upward, and its outer flange 30 extending downward for supporting the upper edge portion of the wall sheathing 32. The longitudinal edge portion 34 of a roof 36'laps over and is secured to the flange 28 by rivets 38 or similar fasteners.

Vertical framing members which support the Z-section bar 24 comprise a plurality of Z-section sidewall posts 40 that extend upward from the side sill, not shown, and are in endwise abutting relation with the undersurface of the web 26. The posts 40 include parallel inner and outer legs 42 and 44, respectively, interconnected by an intermediate leg 46. In order for the outer surfaces 48 of the outer legs 44 to :be flush with the outer surface 50 of the Z-bar flange 30, the leg 44 is deformed to offset the flange 44 inwardly as shown at 50. Thus formed, the posts 40 and the Z-bar flange 30 have coplanar outer suraces so that the sheathing 32 lies flat across their juncture. A disadvantage of this construction is that the offsetting operation represents a significant part of the production costs.

It should be noted that the lateral dimension of the deformed area of the posts 40 (FIG. 2) is less than the available space beneath the flange 26. Therefore, the inner vertical surface 52 of each post 40 lies outward of the inner surface 54 of the Z-bar flange 28. These conditions complicate the doorway construction where the posts 40 are omitted, the reason for this is that the doorway opening must be reinforced, such as by a flat bar as shown in phantom outline at 56. The bar 56 extends beyond each end of the door opening and is secured to both the sideplate Z-section bar 24 and to the posts 40.

Therefore, individual intermediate spacers at 58 (FIG. 2) are required to bridge the gap between the posts 40 and the door reinforcement 56. The spacers at 58 and their installation represent another disadvantage of the conventional sideplate and post construction because the spacers obviously involve more cost and labor than if the posts 40 and Z-section bar 24 have coplanar inner surfaces. A further item which is necessary is an additional member, such as an angle bar 60, welded to the bar 56 and to the Z-bar 24 to form a box section over the open doorway area. The doorway area is known to be subject to high stress which frequently fractures the sideplate assembly, and the Z-bar 24 is formed into a box Section to counteract such stress and prolong the life of the sideplate assembly.

It will be apparent from the preceding description of the conv ntional sideplate and post construction shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, that the assembly is not very well adapted to eflicient manufacturing techniques. In fact, the conventional assembly of the general configuration is shown is more compatible with manual fitting and assembly than it is suited to modern production line operations including automatic welding and the use of interfitting parts which do not require offsets, spacers and auxiliary framing members.

The sideplate and post assembly 70 (FIGS. 3 and 4) of the present invention includes a flat beam 72 which is disposed on edge and spans the distance from end wall to end wall of a railway boxcar. In a 60 foot boxcar of 100 tons capacity, the beam 72 may be /2 inch wide and 6 /2 inches high, except at the doorway opening where the lower edge portion of the beam is coped at 73 (FIG. 3) so that its lower edge is coincident with the dotted line at 74 (FIG. 4). While these dimensions are merely examples and can be varied, they are given to point out the fact that the height of the sideplate over the doorway opening in the present instance is significantly less than the corresponding height in the ordinary sideplate construction.

Thus, for boxcars of the same overall height, the dimension X (FIG. 2) from the underside of the roof 36 to the top of the door opening beneath the angle bar 60 is greater than a similar dimension Y, for the FIG. 4 structure, between a roof 36a and the edge of the coped area at 74. The significance of this is that the same height of doorway in railway cars of the same vertical dimensions will require cutting away and reinforcing the lower portion of the conventional sideplate structure shown in FIG. 2 to accommodate a door as high as can be used with the sideplate and post assembly 70, FIG. 4. As next described, this condition is achieved without impairing the strength of the sideplate and post assembly 70.

Coextensive with the beam 72 is a channel member 76 of substantially C-shaped cross section. The channel 76 is formed with a horizontal leg 78 in endwise abutting engagement with the outer surface of the beam 72, a vertical leg 80 which is parallel to said surface, and an upwardly inclined leg 82 which extends over the beam 72 and terminates in a horizontal roof-supporting flange 84 to which the roof 36a is attached by a continuous weld at 85. A continuous fillet weld at 86 secures the flange portion 84 to the beam 72, and a similar continuous weld at 88 secures the leg 78 to the same beam; interconnected in this manner, the beam 72 and channel 76 from a continuous box-section 90 which provides substantial resistance to longitudinal fiexure of the thus formed sideplate assemply.

The welds 86 and 88 are formed simultaneously in an initial step which completes the sideplate assembly. The sideplate is later placed in a weling jig where the wall posts, sheathing and sideplate are welded into an integral sidewall from only one side of the welding jig. The roof weld 85 is the last welding operation, performed after the sidewalls are installed on a railcar.

The length of the horizontal leg 78 of the channel 76, plus the thickness of the plate stock from which the channel is formed, is equal to the corresponding dimension of a plurality of Z-section sidewall posts 40a. Therefore, the additive dimensions of parallel flanges 42a and 44a, plus an intermediate web 46a, makes the outer surface 92 (FIG. 4) of each post 40w coplanar with the outer surface 94 of the channel 76 for supporting the wall sheathing 320 without any deformation of the posts as is required in the conventional sideplate and post arrangement shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

A further important feature is that the sideplate and post assembly 70 allows for one-side welding; because the juncture of the posts 40a and the channel 76 are accessible before the sheathing is applied, the sideplate and posts can be welded together in a horizontal Welding jig and completely sheathed from what is eventually the outer surface of the sidewall of the boxcar. In contrast to this capability of Welding the sidewall from only one side, the conventional sideplate and side post assembly 20 (FIG. 2) requires access to both sides, such as by means of a turnover type of welding jig, or separate jigs for each side plus manipulation by a crane to transfer the sidewall between the jigs.

From the foregoing disclosure, it will be seen that the sideplate and post assembly 70 facilitates railcar production by requiring forming for only the channel 76, by providing a sideplate comprising only two members that define a rigid box-section extending from end to end of the car, by the capability of welding the overall assembly from only one side, by eliminating the spacer blocks and reinforcements of conventional constructions, and for other reasons obvious from the disclosure.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent that modification and variation may be made without departing from what is regarded to be the subject matter of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having completed a detailed description of the invention so that those skilled in the art could practice the same, I claim:

1. A sideplate for joining roof and sidewall members of a railway car that serves as a heavy load carrying member, the sidewall members comprising vertical posts and thin sheathing, and the roof including a thin plate, said sideplate comprising a beam extending between the end walls of the car, and an inwardly directed generally C-shaped section coextensive with and welded to said beam, said C-section including a lower horizontal leg in abutting relation with said beam, a vertical leg extending upwardly therefrom, and an inwardly extending leg overlying the top of the beam, said beam and said C-section being of substantially greater thickness than the roof and the side sheathing.

2. The sideplate of claim 1 wherein said beam is a flat elongate plate.

3. The assembly of claim 2 wherein the lower edge is upwardly coped in an area corresponding to a doorway so that the lower edge surface of the beam in the coped area terminates in substantial horizontal alignment with the lower surface of the lower horizontal leg to provide a maximum overhead clearance in the doorway of the railway car.

4. The sideplate of claim 1 wherein said inwardly extending leg inclines upwardly from said vertical leg.

5. The sideplate of claim 3 wherein the inwardly extending leg extends inwardly of said beam a sufficient distance to provide a roof-supporting flange and an inner overlapping joint for a continuous fillet weld.

6. The sideplate of claim 1 wherein the vertical posts of the sidwall are in supporting relation with the lower horizontal leg of said channel, the additive dimensions of said horizontal leg and the thickness of the vertical leg being the same as the inside to outside dimension of the vertical posts so that the outer surface of said posts are coplanar with the outer surface of said vertical leg.

7. In a railway car having vertical sidewall posts between its end walls, a sideplate comprising two coextensive elongate members, said members resting on the vertical posts and supporting the roof from end to end of the railway car, said members being secured together and cooperatively defining a cross-sectional shape including a vertically elongate beam lying inwardly of the vertical posts and a C-shaped channel section, said channel section having a lower horizontal leg with its inner edge welded to said beam, said channel section having a vertical leg and an inwardly and upwardly sloping leg merging with a horizontal flange portion, said flange portion overlying and being welded to said beam, said beam and said C-shaped channel having substantially greater thickness than the roof and side sheathing of the railway car.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said horizontal flange has a terminal edge lying inwardly of the inner surface of said beam.

9. The sideplate of claim 7 wherein the outer vertical surface of said vertical leg is spaced from said inner edge of said horizontal leg a distance equal to the dimension of the vertical posts.

References Cited ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner 20 R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner

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