Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
SPECIFICA~ION
The losses from railway Preight cars such as box cars
and from highway trailer or trailers carried on flat cars,
are a large factor in ~he cost of shipment by rail. These
losses particularly occur when the cars àre in the yard
or on a siding awaiting transfer to an unloading station
or to another destination, even though locks and seals are
provided for the doors and the seals are not intentionally
bxoken except when the car is s~anding along an unloading
dock. The locks and seals are readily accessible from the
ground both with sliding doors and plug types of doors, both
of which doors are in commong use at the present day. Even
though the locks for these doors are sturdy their accessi-
bility from the ground requires little ingenuity and energy
to release the locks with the result that the freight
yards must be continuously policed and even then the loss
due to pilferage is substantial.
The anti-pilferage device for box cars or other lading
carrying vehicles, such as txailers on the road or carried
on flat cars ! iS positioned so that it cannot be released
from the ground even with a pole or other instrument and can
only be released by a man standing on the loading dock
and even then cannot be pried or otherwise moved to a
release position except by an authoriæed person knowing
how to release the lock.
The anti-pil~erage device supplements ~he usual door
locks and is toward the top of the door where it is
inaccessible except from a loading dock and is entirely
enclosed from the bottom and is only open a~ the ~op to
accommodate acce!ss to a release member for the lock which
cams the lock to a release position and thereby accommodates
33
release of the lock and opening of the door.
An object of the present invention is to provide a
simple and improved means for protect:ing lading carrying
vehicles from pilferage.
A further object is to provide a simplified form of
protective device for box car doors which cannot be released
from the ground while the car is standing in the yard ox on
a siding and is only accessible for release from an elevated
platform such as a loading dock.
An advantage of the invention is that the anti-
pilferage device is adaptable to various types of box car
doors and i~s moving parts are concealed so tha~ the lock
cannot be released by a pole and the like and can only be
released from the top of the lock by a man on the loading dock
knowing the operation of the lock.
Another advantage of the invention is that the device
is at the top of the door of either the sliding or plug type
and then is only accessible for release from an elevated
loading dock and cannot be released from the bottom of the
device or the sides thereof.
Still another advantage is that the device is of a
simplified form with a minimwn number moving parts and is
adapted to both sliding and plug type doors.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention
will be readily apparent from the following description of
a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with
the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifica-
tions may be effected without departmen~ from the spirit
and scope of the novel concepts of the following disclosure.
~ ~3~13
ON THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a railway box
car showing the door closing the doorway to the car and
diagrammatically showing the anti-pilferage device construc
ted in accordance with the principles of the present
invention mounted on the door ancl a door post defining one
margin of the doorway.
Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken sub-
stantially along line II~II of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the anti-
pilferage device shown in Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along
line IV-IV of Figure 3.
Figure 5 is a sectional view taken alony the latch
and keeper and showing the latch passing over the keeper
as the door is moved to its open position.
Figure 6 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating the
device of the invention applied to a plug type door.
Figure 7 is a view in side elevation of the device
shown in Figure 6.
Figure 8 is a sectional view taken substantially along
line VIII-VIII of Figure 7.
Figure 9 is a fragmentary sectional view diagramma-
tically showing the door in its closed position and showing
the anti-pilferage device constructed in accordance with
the principles of the present invention in its locked
position.
Figure 10 is a view in side elevation illustrating
a modified form oE anti~pilferage device adapted for a plug
type door which may be constructed in accordance with the
principles of the present invention.
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3:~13
Figure 11 is a fragmentary sectional view taken sub
stantially along line XI-XI of Figure 10; and
Figure 12 is a fragmentary sectional view taken sub-
stantially along line XII-XII of Figure 10.
In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the
drawings, I have shown in Figure 1 a railway box car door 10
slidably mounted to move along an opening 11 to close said
opening. The box car and slidable door are conventional and
the door is locked in its closed position by conventional
locking means generally indicatecL by reference numeral 13,
diagrammatically shown herein, and not described or shown
in detail since freight car door locks may be of various
conventional forms. I have also shown a door post 14 and
an anti-pilferage device 15 constructed in accordance with
the principles of the present invention mounted on the door
and door post adjacent the top of the door in a position that
cannot be reached from the ground and can only be reached
when the car is along a loading dock for loading or un-
loading.
In Figure 2, I have shown a horizontal sectional view
taken through the anti-pilferage device and have shown the
anti-pilferage device as including a keeper 16 mounted on the
door post and enclosed in a housing 17 which may be mounted
on the door post, and extend outwardly therefrom along the
car in a direction away from the door opening. The keeper
is shown in dot~ed in Figures 3 and 5 as enclosed in the
housing 17 extending along and outwardly of the door post
a distance sufficient to accommodate a latch 19 to move
into a closed position upon sliding movement of the door
to its closed position and engage the keeper to lock the
door in its closed position in addition to the lock 13
or the bottom of the door.
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33~a~3
The keeper is protected from access by pilfers by the
housing 17. Said housing extends along the bottom o~ the
keeper and forms a mounting therefor as shown in F.igures
3 and 5 and also extends upwardly along the keeper and along
the end and across ~he top of a latch 19, to prevent access
to the latch by the fingexs or by a ~ar or other tool, and
accommodates free movement of the latch to the open and close
positions as shown in Figures 2 and 3, 4 and 5.
The latch 19 is transversely pivoted eccen~ric of its
longitudinal center and toward the rear end of the latch
on a transverse pivot pin 20 mounted at its oPposite ends
in inner and outer parallel plates 21 and 22 respectively
of a latch housing 23. The inner of said plates is welded
or otherwise secured to the outer surface of the door 10,
diagrammatically shown in Figure 1 as being a conventional
sliding type of door~ The latch projects beyond the end of
the door toward the door post 14 and as moved to i~s
closed position is cammed to drop into the latched position
shown in Figure 3.
Seal tabs 41 and 42 project outwardly of the adjacent
ends of the housings 17 and 23, respectively and are aper
tured to receive the conventional freight door seal
(not shown~.
The latch 19 extends a substantial distance from
the pivot pin 20 into the housing 17 for the keeper 16 and
has an advance inclined strike surface 25 inclined down-
wardly from the advance and thereof and terminating at its
lower end into an upwardly inclined surface 26, leading
to a vertical latching surface 27 adapted to have latching
engagement with the keeper 16 as ~he door 18 is closed.
--5~
3~
The keeper 16 extends outwardly of the door post 14
within the housing 17 and has a peaked top 24 engageable with
the strike surface 25 of the latch 19 during closing move-
ment of the door to raise the latch and accommodate the
latch to drop into the latched position shown in Figure 3.
The housing 23 for the latch includes the inner plate
21 welded or otherwise secured to the door. Said inner
plate 21 is shown as bent outwardly to extend over the latch
when in its latched and unlatched positions and ~hen down-
wardly along the latch to the plate 22 in alignment there-
with. The downwardly extending portion stops short of the
end of the plate 22 but the plate 21 extends to the end of
said plate 22 to enable the pivot 21 to be mounted at
its ends, with the latch 19 therebetween.
The housing 23 also has a portion 29 extending across
the bottom of the latch to close the bottom of the housing
and prevent tampering o ~he latch from beneath. The bottom
portion 29 of the housing extends to the plate 21lto which
it is welded or otherwise secured, to comple~ely house the
latch except for an open portion between said plates 21 and
22 at the rear end portion of ~he plate 22, to accommodate
a release member 30 to project above the plate 22. An
end portion 28 of the plate 22 extends inwardly to the
plate 21 to which it may be welded or otherwise secured.
The release member 30 is pivoted between the plates
21 and 22 on a pivot pin 31 spaced rearwardly of the pivot
pin 20 and above said pivot pin. A counterweight 33 is
mounted on the upper end of the release member 30 and
extends above the plates 21 and 22 to affor access to
the release member 30 by the thumb or other finger o*
the hand.
~3~33
The ~ounterweight 33 at the upper end of the release
member 30 is within the outer margin of the plate 22 (figure
2) and has a plain face 35 engageable with the top of the
plate 22 when the latch is in its latched position, and
forming a stop for said release member, in a direction shown
in Figure 3 as being a counterclockwise direction.
The counterweight 33 also extends to an inclined
surface 36 of the latch 19 inclined downwardly from the top
o said latch toward the rear end thereof. The inclined
surface 36 terminates into a step 37, which in turn termi-
nates into a lower step 39 having a rounded camming surface
40 at its rear end.
It should further be understood that the rear end
portion of the latch has a bottom surface 42 inclined in
an upward direction from a position in alignment with the
pivot pin 20 to provide clearance between the lat~h and the
inwardly projecking portion 39 of the plate 22, to prevent
dirt which may lodge between the plates 21 and 22 from
interfering with the opening and closing movement of the
latch.
The latch ana keeper are, therefore, fully protected
and release can only be attained by engaging the counter-
weighted portion 33 of the release member 30 by the thumb or
other finger and moving said release member in the direction,
which in Figure 3 may~be a clockwise direction.
It should further ~e noted from Figure 5 that when the
door is moved in the direction of the arrow, the trailing
inclined portion 26 of the strike 25 will move upwardly
along the traili.ng portion of the peak 24 of the k~eper
to disengage the latch 19 from the keeper. The counter-
weight 33 will t:hen move the release member 30 out of
~3~
engagement with the step 39, to release the latch and
the release member 30 and counterweight 33 are so located
as to be inaccessible from the ground or from the bottom
of the latch and can only be moved to cam the latch to its
released positi.on by a person on a loading platform and then
reaching upwardly a substantial distance to effect intention-
al release of the latch.
It should further be understood that the latch 19
is freely pivoted on the pin 20 and the release member is
freely pivoted on the pin 31 to assure that the latch may
be released by pushing the release member 30 to the
right and camming the lever arm 41 of said release
member to engage the step 39 and hold the latch in its
released position to accommodate opening of the door.
It should further be understood that after the door is
opened if the release member 30 should come out of released
engagement with the latch, the latch may be closed upon
camming of the latch by the strike surface25 of the latch
and peaked surface 24 of the keeper to its closed position.
Referring now in particular to Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9
and the application of my anti-pilferage device to plug type
freight car doors of the centex crank ~ype in which the door
is supported for movement toward the door post and when in
alignment with the door opening is cranked inwardly along
~5 the door opening to a position substantially flush with the
side of the car and into engagement with an outer wall
43 of the post facing outwardly and terminatiny at its inner
end into an end wall 44 ~acing the door opening. This
cnstruction is diagrammatically shown in Figure 6 and it
should be understood that each end of the door is recessed
in the post in the same manner, as the door is cranked
3 ~ 3
inwardly into its closed position, ater it has been
moved into alignment with the door opening~
In Figure 7, a latch 45 is shown as pivoted between
the parallel slide plates of a housing 46, like the housing
23, on a pivot pin 47 mounted at its ends in said side plates
as in the form of the invention illustrated in Figures 1
through 5. Since the housing 46 is like the housing 23 in
need not herein be shown or described further.
The latch 45 has a tapered nose 48 converging to a
rounded end and ;s moved into the latched position shown in
Figure 9, as the door is moved inwardly and the underside
of said nose moves along an inclined advance side 51 of the
keeper 50, as shown in Figure 8. As the latch moves to
the peak of the keeper during movement of the door in the
direction of the arrow to a closed position as shown in Fig-
ure 6, the latch will drop along the inside of the keeper
into a recess 52 of said Xeeper and lock the door from
opening. It may be seen from Figures 6, 7 and 8 that the
keeper recess 52 and the portion above the latch as it is
in its locked position are all enclosed in a housing 53 to
prevent the release of the latch from the keeper by hand.
A release member 54 like the release member 30 is
pivoted between the side plates of the housing 46 on a pivot
pin 55, mounted at its ends in the parallel side plates of
said housing 46.
The release member 54 is like the release member 30
shown in Figure 5 and operates on ~he same pxinciples so
need not be desc:ribed except ~o point out that said release
member is moved to the righk to cam the latch into the re-
lease position cshown b~ broken lines in Figure 7.
3~
It should here be understood tha~ the anti-
pilferage device of Figures 6~ 7, 8 and 9 may be adapted for
use on all types of plug type doors including center crank
plug doors and double swinging types of plug doors and that
S this anti pilferage device should not he construed as limited
to one particular type of plug door.
In Figures 10, 11 and 1?, I have shown still another
modified form in which my invention may be embodied.
In the embodiment shown in these figures, the latch lever
and keeperare enclosed in individual housings for a greater
portion of length of said members and are inaccessible ex-
cept by engagement from the top of the housing for the latch
lever by engaging the exposed portion of the counter-
weighted portion of a release member 59. In this form of
the invention as illustrated in Figures 10, 11 and 12, a
latch lever 60 is eccentrically pivoted between plates 61
and 62 o~ a housing 63 on a transverse pivot pin 65 disposed
adjacent the rear end of said latch lever. The latch lever
has a right angled strike surface 66 engaging an inclined
surface 67 of a peaked keeper 69 extending in a direction
parallel to the door post and door opening.
As the door is moved to a closed position, the
strike surace 66 of the latch will come into engagement
with the inclined surface 67 o the keeper. This will cam
the latch over the keeper to drop into the position shown
by solid lines in Figure 12 with a recassed portion of
the latch on opposite sides of the keeper.
-10
1 @33
The re].ease member 59 is p.ivoted between the side
plates of the housing 63 on a pivot pin 71, like the release
members 30 and 54, is provided to release the latch from
above the latch housing 63 as in the forms of antl-
pilferage devices illustrated in Figures 1 througll 9.
It may be seen from the foregoing that the anti-
pilferage device of the present invention may readily be
adapted to various types of box car and trailer doors and is
enclosed to prevent opening of the latch by hand except by
operation of the release membex therefor, which is at ~uch
an elevation and is spaced inwardly of its housing 50 that
it cannot ordi~arily be reached by hand or by a bar or pole
or other tool~
While the latch and keeper structure may be of
various forms, it should be understood that an important
part of the invention in addition to placing the anti-
pilferage device at an elevation that it is inaccessible
to pilferers and is enclosed so even poles or tools cannot
release the release member due to the enclosing of all
parts of the latch and keeper, and that the anti-pilferage
device can thus only be operated to release the latch from
above at an elevation that can only be reached from a
loading dock.
In khe present disclosure the anti-pilferage device
is located at least seven feet above the floor or bottom of
the box car door and cooperates with the conventional. locks
disposed adjacent the bottom of the door. It prevents
opening of the door even though the bottom latches be in
release positions.
Tabs 73 and 74 have registering aper~ured portions for
a conventional seal, are shown in Figures 10 and 11 as
31~
extending outwardly of the outer side of the latch and
keeper housings.
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