Rail road car with reduced slack
View Patent ↗A rail road car has a rail car body which includes a housing structure. The housing structure has a pair of sidewalls, a roof and at least one deck mounted to the sidewalls. An enclosed lading space is defined by the housing structure and there is at least one door for controlling access to the enclosed space. The rail road car is provided with short travel buff gear and a reduced slack, or slackless, coupler.
1. An articulated railroad car for carrying automobiles, said railroad car having at least three rail road car units supported by railroad car trucks for rolling motion along rail road tracks, at least one of said railroad car units being an internal unit, and at least two of said units being a first end unit and a second end unit, each of said end units having a coupler end at which a releasable coupler is mounted, by which releasable coupler said articulated railroad car can be connected to other rail road cars, all of said railroad car units being joined together at internal substantially slackless connectors, said railroad car units each having a housing structure overspanning at least one deck upon which automobiles may be loaded, and said end units of said railroad car being free of end-of-car-cushioning units, and being free of draft gear that has more than 10 inches of travel.
2. The articulated railroad car of claim 1 wherein said railroad car has an uneven number of said railroad car units.
3. The articulated railroad car of claim 1 wherein said railroad car is a three unit articulated railroad car.
4. The articulated railroad car of claim 3 wherein:
said internal unit of said railroad car has two of said railroad car trucks mounted thereunder, and has respective articulated connections cantilevered longitudinally outboard of each of said trucks; and
each of said end units has a truck of said railroad car trucks mounted thereunder distant from said internal unit, and is connected to said internal unit at a respective one of said articulated connections.
5. The articulated railroad car of claim 4 wherein the respective housing structures of said end units and said internal unit are connected by a bellows through which vehicles may be driven.
6. The articulated railroad car of claim 1 wherein said housing structures are interconnected by bellows.
7. The articulated railroad car of claim 1 wherein said end units have radial arm doors at their coupler ends.
8. The articulated railroad car of claim 7 wherein one of said radial arm doors has a ladder mounted thereto.
9. The articulated railroad car of claim 1 wherein one of said end units has a door mounted at the coupler end thereof, and said door has a first ladder portion mounted thereto, said unit has a second ladder portion mounted thereto, and said first and second ladder portions are co-operable when said door is moved to an open position.
10. The articulated railroad car of claim 1 wherein a movable bridge plate is mounted to a respective one of said cars at one of said coupler ends, and said bridge plate is movable between a length-wise position and a cross-wise position.
11. The articulated railroad car of claim 10 wherein said bridge plate is swingably movable about a pivot connection.