System and method for reconfiguring an autorack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11014582-B2
Application number	US-201816166879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2018
Priority date	Nov 13, 2017
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

A method comprises removing a first deck of a plurality of decks and a second deck of the plurality of decks from an autorack. The method further comprises removing one or more of a plurality of posts of the autorack and coupling a cross-brace assembly to one or more of the plurality of posts, wherein the cross-brace assembly is coupled to the one or more of the plurality of posts at a location above an existing brace bay of the autorack. The method also comprises coupling the second deck of the plurality of decks to the autorack at a location above or below the cross-brace assembly.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
removing a first deck of a plurality of decks from an autorack, wherein the autorack is an existing autorack;
increasing a width between a first post of a plurality of posts and a second post of the plurality of posts, the first post located near a first side of the autorack and the second post located near a second side of the autorack, the second side opposite the first side;
coupling at least one pulley to the autorack;
coupling at least one cable to the at least one pulley;
coupling at least one actuator to the autorack;
coupling a controller to the autorack, wherein the controller is electronically coupled to the at least one actuator; and
coupling the first deck of the plurality of decks to the autorack and the at least one cable;
wherein the at least one actuator is operable to pull the at least one cable to adjust a vertical position of the first deck within the autorack.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one pully is a first pulley, the at least one cable is a first cable, and the at least one actuator is a first actuator, and the method further comprising:
removing a second deck of a plurality of decks from the autorack;
coupling a second pulley to the autorack;
coupling a second cable to the second pulley;
coupling a second actuator to the autorack, wherein the controller is electronically coupled to the second actuator; and
coupling the second deck of the plurality of decks to the autorack and the second cable;
wherein the second actuator is operable to pull the second cable to adjust a vertical position of the second deck within the autorack.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising coupling a fastener to the first deck, wherein the fastener is configured to couple the first deck to the autorack at a desired vertical position.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
coupling a cross-brace assembly to two or more of the plurality of posts of the autorack before the first deck of the plurality of decks is coupled to the autorack, the cross-brace assembly configured to support at least a portion of the first deck of the plurality of decks;
wherein:
the cross-brace assembly is coupled to the two or more of the plurality of posts at a location above an existing brace bay of the autorack; and
the first deck of the plurality of decks is coupled to the autorack at a location above or below the cross-brace assembly.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein coupling the cross-brace assembly to the two or more of the plurality of posts comprises:
coupling at least one brace of the cross-brace assembly to a third post of the plurality of posts; and
coupling the at least one brace of the cross-brace assembly to a fourth post of the plurality of posts.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein coupling the cross-brace assembly to the two or more of the plurality of posts comprises:
coupling a first bolting plate of the cross-brace assembly to a third post of the plurality of posts at a location above the existing brace bay of the autorack;
coupling a second bolting plate of the cross-brace assembly to the third post of the plurality of posts at a location above the first bolting plate;
coupling a third bolting plate of the cross-brace assembly to a fourth post of the plurality of posts at a location above the existing brace bay of the autorack; and
coupling a fourth bolting plate of the cross-brace assembly to the fourth post of the plurality of posts at a location above the third bolting plate.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
coupling a first end of a first brace of the cross-brace assembly to the first bolting plate;
coupling a second end of the first brace to the fourth bolting plate;
coupling a first end of a second brace of the cross-brace assembly to the second bolting plate; and
coupling a second end of the second brace to the third bolting plate.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing one or more of the plurality of posts from the autorack.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing an existing door structure from the autorack; and
coupling a seal-safe radial door structure to at least one end of the autorack.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing a roof section from the autorack;
increasing a height of one or more of the plurality of posts; and
coupling the roof section to the autorack.

Assignees

• Trinity Rail Group Llc

Inventors

• Coston Kyle R
• Turner Gary V
• Higginbotham David W
• Degroot Robert J

Classifications

• B61D3/04 Primary

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

• B61D3/18 Primary

  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

• B60P3/08

  Multilevel-deck construction carrying vehicles · CPC title

• B61D3/005

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