Autorack railroad car having convertible deck structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10377392-B2
Application number	US-201615209436-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2016
Priority date	Jul 13, 2016
Publication date	Aug 13, 2019
Grant date	Aug 13, 2019

Abstract

An autorack railroad car has decks that are movably reconfigurable between tri-level and bi-level configurations. They are also movable to permit greater vertical clearance room for loading the main deck. The decks may be constrained to a single degree of freedom of motion, namely in the vertical direction, by guides that run along the vertical side posts of the car. The decks may include a passive counterbalance transmission linking the mid-level and upper level decks, such that the decks counterbalance each other when the decks are moved between the various positions. There is a separate, independent drive provided to move the decks. The drive may include scissor jacks. More than one scissor jack may share a common drive axis and shafting arrangement. The drive is operable from a trackside accessible drive distribution point. A secondary lock system is provided to prevent the decks from moving inopportunely.

First claim

We claim:

1. An autorack railroad car, comprising:
a first height-adjustable deck and a second height-adjustable deck;
said second height-adjustable deck overlying said first height-adjustable deck;
an height adjustment drive transmission having
a first array of threaded output shafts mounted to drive motion of the first height-adjustable deck; and
a second array of threaded output shafts mounted to drive motion of the second height-adjustable deck;

said transmission has a track level accessible input;
said track level input includes first and second input ports, said first input port being mounted on one side of the autorack railroad car, and said second input port being mounted on a second, opposite, side of the autorack railroad car, each of the input ports being accessible for operation by trackside personnel; and
each of said ports being independently operable to drive said transmission.

2. The autorack railroad car of claim 1 wherein said first and second input ports are linked by shafting to a common gearbox, said gearbox having an output connected to drive said first and second arrays of output shafts, and said gearbox has an output torque limiter.

3. The autorack railroad car of claim 1 wherein ones of said output shafts of said first array are mounted in series with corresponding ones of said output shafts of said second array, whereby the first and second decks are driven at the same time.

4. The autorack railroad car of claim 1 wherein said threaded output shafts of said first array are of opposite hand to said threaded output shafts of said second array.

5. The autorack railroad car of claim 1 further comprising a deck counterbalance apparatus, said counterbalance apparatus being mounted to react the weight of the height-adjustable decks, and the deck height adjustment transmission being free of deck weight static loading.

6. The autorack railroad car of claim 5 wherein said counterbalance apparatus links said first height-adjustable deck to said second height-adjustable deck, the weight of said first height-adjustable deck being opposed to the weight of said second height-adjustable deck, whereby said decks counterbalance each other.

7. The autorack railroad car of claim 6 wherein said counterbalance apparatus includes a set of chains, said set of chains including at least first, second, third, and fourth chains, each of said chains having first and second ends; each of said chains passing over a respective idler; and said first end of each chain being mounted to said first height-adjustable deck and said second end of each chain being mounted to said second height-adjustable deck.

8. The autorack railroad car of claim 1 wherein said drive transmission includes an array of riser shafts mounted to drive said first array of threaded output shafts.

9. The autorack railroad car of claim 8 wherein each riser shaft of said array of riser shafts is mounted to drive a corresponding one of said first output shafts and one of said second output shafts, said input shaft and said output shaft being of opposite hand, and said respective ones of said riser shafts, said first output shafts, and said second output shafts are mounted in series.

10. The autorack railroad car of claim 1 wherein said transmission has at least one distribution shaft running along said car, said distribution shaft having an array of off-takes spaced apart along said car to drive members of said first and second arrays of output shafting.

11. The autorack railroad car of claim 1 , comprising:
a main deck;
said first height-adjustable deck and said second height-adjustable deck overlying said main deck;
said main deck being a depressed-center deck;
an array of posts mounted along left and right hand sides of, and standing upwardly of, said main deck;
said first height-adjustable deck and said second height-adjustable deck being supported by said posts; and
said first and second height-adjustable decks being counterbalanced against each other.

12. The autorack railroad car of claim 11 wherein said first and second height-adjustable decks are constrained to a single degree of freedom of motion, that degree of freedom being up-and-down translation.

13. The autorack railroad car of claim 1 wherein one of said first and second height adjustable decks is a roller-mounted deck.

14. The autorack railroad car of claim 13 wherein said roller-mounted deck has a decking array extending cross-wise between first and second lengthwise extending margins, there being deck carriages spaced along said lengthwise extending margins, said carriages having rollers mounted thereto.

15. The autorack railroad car of claim 14 wherein said carriage has a lengthwise motion inhibitor as well as at least one roller-mounted to inhibit cross-wise motion of said first and second height adjustable decks.

16. The autorack railroad car of claim 14 having first and second lengthwise extending side beams running along said first and second margins, each of said first and second side beams having a first leg underlying said decking array, and a second leg defining a vertical leg extending away from said first leg to form an angle.

17. The autorack railroad car of claim 16 wherein said deck carriages are mounted to said vertical leg.

18. The autorack railroad car of claim 16 wherein said decking array has a raised central crown, and a vertical height rise measured from said margins thereof to said crown; and said vertical leg has a greater vertical extent than said vertical height rise.

19. An autorack railroad car, comprising:
a first height-adjustable deck and a second height-adjustable deck;
said second height-adjustable deck overlying said first height-adjustable deck;
an height adjustment drive transmission having
a first array of threaded output shafts mounted to drive motion of the first height-adjustable deck; and
a second array of threaded output shafts mounted to drive motion of the second height-adjustable deck; and

said threaded output shafts of said first array are of opposite hand to said threaded output shafts of said second array.

20. The autorack railroad car of claim 19 wherein said transmission has a track level accessible input.

21. The autorack railroad car of claim 19 wherein:
said output shafts of said first array are mounted in series with corresponding ones of said output shafts of said second array, whereby the first and second decks are driven at the same time;
there is a deck counterbalance apparatus mounted to react the weight of the height-adjustable decks, and the deck height adjustment transmission being free of deck weight static loading; and
said counterbalance apparatus links said first height-adjustable deck to said second height-adjustable deck, the weight of said first height-adjustable deck being opposed to the weight of said second height-adjustable deck, whereby said decks counterbalance each other.

22. The autorack railroad car of claim 21 wherein said counterbalance apparatus includes a set of chains, said set of chains including at least first, second, third, and fourth chains, each of said chains having first and second ends; each of said chains passing over a respective idler; and said first end of each chain being mounted to said first height-adjustable deck and said second end of each chain being mounted to said second height-adjustable deck.

23. The autorack railroad car of claim 19 wherein said drive transmission includes an arra

Assignees

• Nat Steel Car Ltd

Inventors

• Bis Tomasz
• Forbes James Wilfred

Classifications

• B61D3/04 Primary

  with movable floors, e.g. rotatable or floors which can be raised or lowered · CPC title

• B60P3/08

  Multilevel-deck construction carrying vehicles · CPC title

• B61D3/18

  for vehicles {(vehicles adapted to carry other vehicles, in general, B60P3/06)} · CPC title

• B61D3/02

  with multiple deck arrangements (for carrying vehicles B61D3/18) · CPC title

• B61D3/005

  convertible (B61D3/04, B61D3/06, B61D15/04 take precedence) · CPC title