Floor Assemblies for Insulated Railway Boxcars

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/570,114 filed on Mar. 26, 2024 and entitled “Floor Assemblies for Insulated Railway Boxcars.” The complete disclosure of the above application is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.

The present invention relates to floor assemblies for railway cars, and in particular to floor assemblies for insulated railway boxcars.

Floor assemblies for insulated railway boxcars generally are costly to manufacture and repair, have limited usable lifespans and weight capacities (such as the amount of forklift load that the floor assemblies can withstand), and have a higher profile that decreases the overall internal volume of the insulated railway box cars. What is desired, therefore, are floor assemblies for insulated railway boxcars that are cheaper to manufacture, have increased longevity, have a decreased need for maintenance repairs, are able to withstand increased loads, and/or that increase the overall internal volume allowable for goods.

As an answer to at least some of the needs explained above, floor assemblies are disclosed hereinbelow and defined in the claims that form a part of the disclosure.

In one embodiment of the floor assemblies disclosed herein, the floor assemblies include floor channels that can be filled with insulation from the top down via apertures in the floor plates. Additionally, the longitudinal stringers of the railway boxcar may include end cap L-angles for insulation. Moreover, an air gap between the floor sheet and the longitudinal stringers provides for added insulation. Furthermore, lower profile I-beams and/or lower insulation sheets are used over the wheels to provide for better insulation.

The foregoing and other objectives and features of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Referring to, an insulated rail caris shown having a cargo-carrying enclosuresupported by an undercarriageand a plurality of wheeled truckswith wheelsthat facilitate the movement of the insulated rail car along a rail track. The undercarriage includes a center sill (not shown) extending longitudinally along the length of the rail car, opposed end sills and opposed side sills (not shown), body bolsters (not shown), cross bearers (seein), and cross ties (not shown) that together provide the necessary underlying structural support for cargo carrying enclosure. The cargo carrying enclosure has an outer enclosuredefining an outwardly facing exterior surfaceexposed to an ambient environment and an inner enclosuredefining an inwardly directed interior surfaceagainst which cargo can bear and which is exposed to an interior environment. The insulated rail car may include one or more additional components as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 9,174,656 and/or U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0065152. The complete disclosures of the above patent and patent application publication are incorporated by reference for all purposes.

Referring to, inner enclosureincludes a floor assembly, interior side walls, interior end walls, and a lower roof member (not shown). Floor assemblyincludes floor plates, floor support, longitudinal stringers, end caps, floor sheet, floor anchors, insulation sheets, and insulation. Floor platesare planar panels having one or more spaced apertures. The apertures may be used to inject insulation(e.g., polyurethane foam) into the floor assembly, such as from the top of the floor plates. In some examples, the floor assembly may include one or more floor plates without apertures. The floor plates may be made of any suitable materials, such as metal (e.g., steel) or composite materials.

Floor supportincludes a plurality of structural membersattached together to provide support for floor plates. In the example shown in, structural membersare L-shaped having a planar stem portionand a planar arm portionthat is formed with (or attached to) and perpendicular to the planar stem portion. The stem portion includes opposed transverse end portions,and the arm portion includes opposed transverse end portions,. End portionof stem portionis formed with (or attached to) end portionof arm portion. Stem portionincludes one or more spaced notches or openingsthat can receive insulationinjected through aperturesof floor plates. End portionof arm portioncontacts and supports floor plates. In some examples, one or more stem portionsof the plurality of structural members may be without notches or openings.

Structural membersare supported by longitudinal stringerssuch that the structural members are disposed between floor platesand the longitudinal stringers. In the example shown in, the longitudinal stringers are in the form of I-beams. Each of the longitudinal stringers includes opposed longitudinal end portions,. The longitudinal stringers may have different heights. For example, longitudinal stringersthat are shorter relative to the other longitudinal stringers may be used to provide sufficient allowance for wheels.

End capsprovide additional insulation and include first and second end caps. The first end cap is attached or welded to longitudinal end portionof the longitudinal stringers, while the second end cap is attached or welded to longitudinal end portionof the longitudinal stringers. Each of the first and second end caps includes a proximal end cap memberand at least one distal end cap memberattached or welded to the proximal end cap member. In the example shown in, the proximal and distal end cap members are L-shaped. Additionally, each of the first and second end caps includes a single proximal end cap member that spans, for example, all longitudinal end portions of the longitudinal stringers on one side (or that are adjacent to one of two end walls) and two spaced distal end cap members. Each of the distal end cap members is less than half the length of the proximal end cap member such that a gapis defined between the distal end cap members. The distal end cap members may be adjusted prior to being attached to or welded to the proximal end cap member based on the height of the longitudinal end portions of the longitudinal stringers. In other examples, the proximal end cap may span less than all the longitudinal end portions of the longitudinal stringers on one side, there may be two or more proximal end caps, and/or there may be a single distal end cap that spans all the longitudinal end portions on one side (or that are adjacent to one of two end walls).

Referring to, floor sheetare positioned below longitudinal stringers. Specifically, end portionsof the floor sheet are attached to bottom surfacesof upper flangesof cross bearersof underframe. Each of cross bearersincludes parallel upper and lower flanges,and a webthat connects the upper and lower flanges and that is perpendicular to the upper and lower flanges. Upper flangeincludes bottom surfacethat is adjacent to weband an upper surfacethat is spaced from the web relative to the bottom surface. With the floor sheet attached to bottom surface, the floor sheet and the longitudinal stringers define a thermal break spacefor insulation therebetween. In the example shown in, spacer barsalso are disposed between the floor sheet and the longitudinal stringers to maintain and/or support the thermal break space. Additionally, insulation sheetsmay be attached to floor sheetover wheels.

Referring to, floor anchorssecure the floor assembly to opposed side assemblies. As best shown in, side assembliesinclude side wallsand side flangeattached to the side walls. In the example shown in, floor anchorsinclude an anchor base, a base flange, a sheet, a cover, and a closure piece. Anchor baseis elongate and hollow and includes an interior compartment. Floor platesincludes openings or cutoutson its opposed longitudinal ends,to receive a portion of the anchor base. Additionally, structural membersbelow openingsare shorter than (or relative to) adjacent structural membersthat are not below those openings to define gapsfor the anchor base that correspond with openingsof floor plates.

The anchor base is attached or welded to base flange, which is attached or welded to side flangeof side assembly. Sheetis received in the interior compartment and coversits on a lipof the anchor base and covers the interior compartment. The cover includes aperturesto facilitate installation and removal. Closure pieceattaches the particular floor panel to upper flangeof the anchor base (e.g., via welding). In the example shown, closure pieceis generally C-shaped to surround the upper flange along its three sides. Thus, the floor assemblies are secured to the underframe, the floor anchors are secured to the side assemblies, and the underframe is secured to the side assemblies.

The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.