Light weight stowable front wheel seats for hauling large semistacked highway trucks in railroad cars of extraordinary height

• US 5,032,044 A
• Filed: 04/24/1990
• Issued: 07/16/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Southern Pacific Transportation Company
• Original Assignee: Southern Pacific Transportation Company
• Inventors: Dorst, William E.
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Assistant Examiner(s): Slavin, Craig
• Application Number:
  US07/513,777
• Time in Patent Office: 448 Days
• Field of Search: 410/3, 410/4, 410/7, 410/8, 410/9, 410/10, 410/13, 410/18, 410/19, 410/29, 410/56, 410/58, 410/66, 105/370, 105/371, 105/372, 105/375, 211/1.3, 211/94.5, 211/104
• US Class Current: 410/8
• CPC Class Codes: B61D 3/182 specially adapted for heavy vehicles, e.g. public work vehicles, trucks, trailers

Abstract

A railroad car having a flat bed at the lowest possible level and a roof and side panels supported by stanchions at an extraordinary height is provided with cantilevered wheel seats for support of the front wheels of semistacked trucks with each truck backed into position by a forklift with the front end of the truck raised and its rear frame tucked in under the front end of a preceding truck. Side rails secured to the stanchions about one foot from the bed and about six inches in front of the stanchions help guide the trucks into proper position. Each wheel seat is comprised of two cantilevered box beams inserted into box receptacles supported by horizontal side box beams secured to the stanchions. A cross beam secured to the free end of the cantilevered box beams enhance the ability of the cantilevered box beams to support the weight of the truck and provide a place to secure an eye that receives a hook of a tie-down chain in a position directly below the front wheel axle of the truck.

Claims

1. A railroad car for hauling semistacked highway trucks having a front end, a rearwardly extending frame, front wheels, rear wheels and axles, said railroad car having a flat bed at the lowest possible level and a roof supported by stanchions at an extraordinary height, each truck being backed into position by a forklift with the front end of the truck raised and its rearwardly extending frame tucked in under the front end of a preceding truck, comprising cantilevered wheel seats for support of the front wheels of semistacked trucks, each wheel seat being comprised of two cantilevered box beams inserted into box receptacles supported by horizontal box beams secured to said stanchions at a proper height above said flat bed for support of the front end of each truck, a cross beam secured to the free end of the cantilevered box beams to enhance the ability of said cantilevered wheel seat box beams to support the weight of the truck, said box receptacles being open at both ends to allow said cantilevered wheel seat box beams to be inserted all the way through until said cross beam abuts said box receptacles in order to have said wheel seats positioned out of the way of trucks being loaded until a truck is in proper position for its raised front end to be supported by a pair of wheel seats, at which time said cantilevered wheel seat box beams are retracted from said receptacles until said cantilevered and cross wheel seat box beams pass under a raised front wheel of a truck being loaded, and means for securing the end of a tie-down chain to said cross beam in a position directly below the axle of the supported wheel of the truck.

2. A railroad car as defined in claim 1 including guide rails secured to said stanchions about one foot from said bed and at least about six inches in front of said stanchions to assist in guiding said trucks into proper position.

3. A railroad car of extraordinary height from a bed thereof to a roof supported by stanchions along its sides for hauling semistacked highway trucks having a front end, a rearwardly extending frame, front wheels, rear wheels and axles, said trucks each having a front end and a frame without a body extending to the rear thereof, each truck to be loaded being lifted at its front end as it is backed into position where said front wheels are secured on seats protruding from side horizontal box beams supported by said stanchions, with each succeeding truck having said frame extending to the rear tucked under the front end of the preceding truck, comprising

a plurality of wheel seats, each comprised of two cantilevered box beams spaced apart for support of a truck wheel and a cross beam for tying together the cantilevered ends of said box beams,

pairs of transverse box receptacles spaced along said side horizontal box beams for receiving said cantilevered box beams of said wheel seats, one pair of box receptacles for each wheel seat, said box receptacles being open at both ends to permit said cantilevered box beams of said wheel seats to pass through from the inside of said railroad car to the outside to the extent that said cross beam abuts said box receptacles while trucks are being loaded, and to be cantilevered inside said railroad car in pairs, one wheel seat pair on each side of said railroad car to support a wheel of a raised front end of a truck in a semistacked position with its rearwardly extending frame under the front end of a preceding truck,

at least one removable pin passing through aligned holes in said side horizontal box beam, a box receptacle and cantilevered box beam of a wheel seat to secure said wheel seat in a cantilevered position under a front wheel of a semistacked truck, and

means for tying down each front wheel of a semistacked truck to a supporting wheel seat.

4. A railroad car for hauling semistacked trucks as defined in claim 3 wherein said means for tying down each front wheel of a semistacked truck to a supporting wheel seat is comprised of an eye secured to said cross beam for securing the end of a chain to be wrapped around the axle of the wheel to be tied down.

5. A system for more efficient utilization of the space of a railroad car for hauling highway trucks, said railroad car being completely enclosed by a roof supported by stanchions, walls on the sides secured to said stanchions, and doors on the ends, and having an extraordinary height from a flat bed to said roof for hauling said highway trucks, each with or without a cab on the front end of a frame, and no body on said frame extending to the rear of each truck, horizontal box beams on each side of said railroad car secured to said stanchions, a plurality of front wheel seats for supporting two raised front wheels of each truck at the level of said horizontal box beams, said front wheel seats being sufficiently light to enable a single person to place each seat in proper position as each truck is loaded with its front end raised, wherein the bed of said railroad car is provided as a planar surface throughout at the lowest possible level in order to maximize height inside said railroad car and enable a conventional forklift to be used to raise the front end of each truck and back it into position in said railroad car as said highway trucks are semistacked with their rearwardly extending frame of each truck under the front wheels of a preceding truck, said railroad car having guide rails having a face near said planar bed and in front of said stanchions to assist in guiding the rear wheels of said trucks as they are backed into position, each of said wheel seats being comprised of two parallel cantilevered box beams spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of inflated tires on said front wheels of a truck and oriented with each side thereof at 45°

with respect to a horizontal plane, the center-to-center spacing between box beams of a wheel seat being equal to about 2×

R Sin 45°

, where R is equal to about the average radius of front wheel tires of highway trucks to be hauled so that sides of said wheel seat box beams facing the center of the wheel tire flat against the tire on both sides of a vertical plane passing through the center of the wheel, said box beams of said wheel seat being supported by square box receptacles spaced along said horizontal box beams affixed to the sides of said railroad car, one horizontal box beam on each side throughout the length of the car, and each wheel seat comprises said two cantilevered box beams inserted into two said box receptacles in said horizontal box beam, and further comprises a cross beam which ties together the free ends of said two cantilevered box beams, said box receptacles in said horizontal box beams being open to the outside of said railroad car so that said cantilevered box beams of said wheel seats may be inserted all the way into said box receptacles with said cross beam between said free ends of said cantilevered wheel seat box beams abutting said box receptacles, thereby to allow said front wheel seats to be placed out of the way of trucks being loaded into said railroad car until each truck in succession is in proper position with front wheels raised at predetermined locations, whereupon said cantilevered and cross box beams of each wheel seat that is to support the front end of the truck is pulled back into said railroad car until the cross beams of the wheel seats pass under the front wheel of the truck, and a pin placed through at least one set of aligned holes in said horizontal box beam, box receptacle and cantilevered box beams to secure said wheel seat in place.

6. A system as defined in claim 5 wherein said front wheel seats may be stored in vertically oriented box receptacles secured behind the face of said guide rails, whereby a single person may readily remove a wheel seat from its stowed position and place it into box receptacles in said horizontal box beam with its cantilevered box beams protruding outside the railroad car until a truck is loaded and then pulled back in and secured in its proper position.

7. A system as defined in claim 5 wherein said front wheels of a loaded truck are tied down to their respective cantilevered wheel seats by a chain between an eye on said cross beam and of the wheel seat and the front wheel axle of said truck.