Claims:
I claim
1. An elongated tubular load supporting post for a railway freight car:
2. Claim 1, modified in that drain openings extend through the floor portion of said mount and underlie the open end of the peripheral wall of a post accommodated by said mount.
3. An elongated tubular load supporting post for a railway freight car:
4. Claim 3, modified in that said maze member being shallow, of rectangular shape and having its corner portions cut away to define airflow passages therethrough.
5. Claim 3, modified in that related pairs of inwardly projecting baffles within said member and extending across each of said corners to define a restricted airflow passage from each of the corners toward the middle portion thereof, thereby to direct the flow of air past the ventilating port in the floor mount to induce an aspirating effect through the central passageway of the nozzle.
6. Claim 3, modified in that drain openings in the floor portion of said mount and underlying the end of the peripheral wall of said post, and related pairs of inwardly projecting baffles within said member and extending across each of said corners to define a restricted airflow passage from each of said corners toward the middle portion thereof, thereby to direct the flow of air through each of the cut away corner portions.
Description:
This invention relates to the general subject of removal post braces and mounts for a railroad boxcar, to prevent the lateral shifting of cargo lodged within said car. In this general field of reference, this improvement relates generally to the subject matter involved in U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,142, entitled Bracing For Railroad Boxcars, which patent issued to me on Sept. 19, 1967.
As is disclosed in said U.S. Pat., a boxcar, and particularly special cars for shipping plywood, as manufactured in the Pacific Northwest, has to be ventilated to equalize the temperature within the boxcar to that of the ambient exterior temperature, particularly during the summer months.
Boxcars cannot be limited in their use to specialized loads and thus they must also be adaptable for general cargo and general cargo may have said bracing posts removed to provide a continuous sweep through the interior of the car, or said posts must be located in different patterns than for a specialized cargo. To this end, it is essential that the mounts for the lower ends of the braces be provided with a cover and also be provided with means through which comminuted refuse or liquid drainage may be discharged through the floor of the boxcar so that the mounts will not become jammed with foreign material.
I have discovered that a post and mount therefor, may be supported pendently in apertures in a car floor so that the upper face of the car floor is relatively level and smooth so that wheeled transfer vehicles may move readily thereover. To this end I provide a maze type of aspirating device that may be secured to the undersurface of a post mount so that induced currents of air developed in transit may be directed through the maze during passage of boxcar provided with said type of posts and mounts, and which air currents generate aspirating high velocity currents which withdraw air from the bores of tubular posts used for bracing cargo.
Because boxcars may be joined in a train so that either end is forward, it is essential that said induced currents be generated independently of the direction in which a car faces in transit.
Also, because the mounts for posts depend below the upper surface of the floor, it is essential that said induced currents tend to dislodge and remove accumulations in the wells in the mounts whether they are in use, or otherwise.
The details of my invention and the mode of operation thereof are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a plan view looking downwardly into a post mount with a post shown in section, to illustrate how the well of said post overlie drainage holes to prevent large pieces of foreign material to overlie said holes, and to clog them;
FIG. 2 is an elevation with portions being shown in section to disclose details of construction and the operative relationship of the parts of a post mount and the lower end of a post mount supported therein;
FIG. 3 is a transverse section through a maze underlying the bottom of a mount being taken on the line 3-3 in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a foreshortened view of an elongated tubular load supporting post with the upper portion shown broken away to disclose the details of the construction of its upper end;
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but on a larger scale, illustrating the manner in which induced currents, collected and directed by the underlying maze can produce an aspirating effect within the bore of a tubular load supporting post, as well as to the drains in the mount for the lower end of such post. The primary drafts induced by stream flow of a train in motion are shown with arrows smoothly curved and induced drafts are shown by arrows with wavy stems and shafts; and
FIG. 6 is a transverse section taken on the line 6-6 in FIG. 5 illustrating the manner in which induced currents of air are directed across or adjacent the mouth of the central passageway of an upstanding nozzle in the mount, and communicate with the bore of a related tubular load supporting post and under the drain openings to remove material therefrom.
A ventilating tubular bracing end mount therefrom embodying my invention, comprises a plurality of elongated tubular load support posts 1, each having a bore 1a therein, leading from its lower end 1b to the under surface of a closing partition 1c adjacent the upper end of said post. Adjacent the lower end is an aperture partition 1dwhich permits air to flow downwardly through the bore of said post by the mechanism hereinafter described. Laterally at spaced modules, are ventilating ports 2, leading from the bore 1a of the post to the exterior surface therefrom. This permits air to flow from the cargo space in the boxcar above the floor 3 of the boxcar to the under surface of said floor, as is illustrated by arrows in FIG. 5.
The lower open end 1b of each post is provided with a flanged cup-shaped floor mount 4. Each mount has a peripheral wall 5, having a lateral flange 5b formed at its upper end or mouth. The well preferably has a divergent bounding wall so that it is slightly larger at the top than at the floor portion 6. An integral nozzle 7 stands upright from the floor portion axially of the floor mount with its outer surface spaced laterally from the inner surface of the floor mount. This defines an annular space 8 for accommodating the lower end of a lower end 1b of a post with substantial room to spare. This is desirable so that any condensation that might tend to collect in a floor mount will be permitted to flow through the floor portions and thus be wasted.
Attention is directed to FIG. 5 to illustrate that the width of each drain opening is substantially wider than the thickness of a wall of the post lodged therein.
The nozzle 7 is provided with a central passageway 10, communicating with the bore 1a of the post accommodated therein. Beneath the floor portion of the mount is a maze member 11, which is flat and relatively shallow with respect to the height of the floor mount. The bottom portion 12 is substantially imperforate as is illustrated in FIG. 5, except at the four corners 12a of said member 11. Said corners are preferably cut away as at 13, to permit the stream flow of air generated by the travel of the boxcar to be blown into said cut away portions on the upstream side (the right-hand side of the drawing) and be directed inwardly by related pairs of flanges 14, with their inner ends 15 spaced apart a lesser distance than the sides of the related cut away portion 13. This produces high velocity - low pressure air at the point of greatest velocity which is directed under the central passageway 10 to draw air from the bore of a post carried by said mount downwardly and exteriorally of the railway boxcar. The high velocity-low pressure jets at the upstream side and a similar jet at the downstream side, induce low pressures under the drain holes and thus tend to cause moisture to flow downwardly toward the inner faces of the peripheral walls of the floor mount and to be wasted as well as any other condensation or comminuted solids that might tend to collect within the peripheral wall of the mount. The high velocity jets thus formed and directed, tend to remove the air from within the posts and to remove moisture and debris from the car generally and to prevent it from collecting in said mounts.
The functions and results produced by the tubular bracing members and the mounts therefor provide stability of cargo carried in a railway boxcar and will not be described in detail. Reference is had to my issued U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,142, for a statement of operation and function, as well as the relationship of said bracing posts with respect to the cargo, statically and dynamically in transit.
The upper end of the nozzle lies at approximately the same plane as that of the upper surface of the flange 5b so that an uncovered mount can be plugged satisfactorily to be traversed by wheel supported vehicles. If a cover is placed thereover, it is slightly lower so that a plane cover can be set thereover without danger of tipping.