Claims
- 1. A carrier plate assembly for use in a slackless drawbar assembly, said slackless drawbar assembly being designed to connect together, in a substantially semi-permanent fashion, adjacently disposed ends of a pair of railway cars, said carrier plate assembly comprising:
- (a) a carrier plate member having a top surface and a bottom surface;
- (b) a crushable support member having a bottom surface engageable with at least a portion of said top surface of said carrier plate member;
- (c) an aperture formed through said crushable support member; and
- (d) an anchoring means engageable with said carrier plate member and extending through said aperture formed in said crushable support member for securing a locking wedge member to said carrier plate member in such slackless drawbar assembly, said anchoring means including at least a threaded portion for receiving a nut thereon or for threadedly engaging a threaded aperture formed in said locking wedge member to enable tightening of said locking wedge member to said carrier plate.
- 2. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said anchoring means attaches said carrier plate member to said locking wedge member and removes all slack present in said slackless drawbar system assembly.
- 3. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 2 wherein said threaded portion of said anchoring means extends above a top surface of said crushable support member.
- 4. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 3 wherein said threaded portion of said anchoring means extends through an aperture in said locking wedge member.
- 5. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said carrier plate assembly further includes a pair of radially opposed shaft support members disposed on said top surface of said carrier plate member supporting a respective shaft member carried by a male connection member.
- 6. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 5 wherein said pair of shaft support members include a vertically extending aperture therethrough for receiving a bolt therein to secure said shaft support members and said respective shaft member to said carrier plate member.
- 7. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said carrier plate assembly further includes a means for securing said carrier plate assembly to a flange portion of a center sill.
- 8. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 7 wherein said means for securing said carrier plate assembly to such flange portion of such center sill is a predetermined plurality of bolts.
- 9. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 2 wherein said crushable support member includes tubing which is capable of maintaining said locking wedge member at a certain height with respect to said carrier plate member during installation of said locking wedge member, said carrier plate member and said slackless drawbar assembly into a center sill.
- 10. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 9 wherein said crushable support member is capable of being crushed when said locking wedge member is tightened in place.
- 11. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 9 wherein said crushable support member includes tubing which is capable of maintaining said locking wedge member at a certain height with respect to said carrier plate member during installation of said locking wedge member, said carrier plate member and said slackless drawbar assembly into a center sill.
- 12. A carrier plate assembly as recited in claim 9 wherein said tubing includes a horizontally extending semi-circular member having a hole therein for enabling at least a portion of said anchoring means to extend therethrough.
- 13. A carrier plate assembly for use in retrofitting a slackless drawbar assembly into a center sill of a railway freight car equipped to use a standard coupler, said slackless drawbar assembly being designed to connect together, in a substantially semi-permanent fashion, adjacently disposed ends of a pair of railway cars, said carrier plate assembly comprising:
- (a) a carrier plate member having a top surface and a bottom surface;
- (b) a crushable support member having a bottom surface engageable with at least a portion of said top surface of said carrier plate member;
- (c) an aperture formed through said crushable support member;
- (d) an anchoring means engageable with said carrier plate member and extending through said aperture formed in said crushable support member for securing a locking wedge member to said carrier plate member in such slackless drawbar assembly, said anchoring means including at least a threaded portion for at least one of receiving a nut thereon and for threadedly engaging a threaded aperture formed in said locking wedge member to enable tightening of said locking wedge member to said carrier plate member;
- (e) a filler block member engageable with a rear draft stop secured to such center sill; and
- (f) a pair of radially opposed shaft support members disposed on said top surface of said carrier plate member to support a pair of shaft members carried by a male connection member of said slackless drawbar assembly.
- 14. A carrier plate assembly for use in retrofitting a slackless drawbar assembly into a center sill of a railway freight car equipped to use a standard coupler as recited in claim 13, wherein said filler block member is a fabricated member.
- 15. A carrier plate assembly for use in retrofitting a slackless drawbar assembly into a center sill of a railway freight car equipped to use a standard coupler, said slackless drawbar assembly being designed to connect together, in a substantially semi-permanent fashion, adjacently disposed ends of a pair of railway cars, said carrier plate assembly comprising:
- (a) a carrier plate member having a top surface and a bottom surface;
- (b) a crushable support member having a bottom surface engageable with at least a portion of said top surface of said carrier plate member;
- (c) an aperture formed through said crushable support member;
- (d) an anchoring means engageable with said carrier plate member and extending through said aperture formed in said crushable support member for securing a locking wedge member to said carrier plate member in such slackless drawbar assembly, said anchoring means including at least a threaded portion for a t least one of receiving a nut thereon and for threadedly engaging a threaded aperture formed in said locking wedge member to enable tightening of said lokcing wedge member to said carrier plate member;
- (e) a filler block member engageable with a rear draft stop secured to such center still; and
- (f) A pair of radially opposed shaft support members disposed on said top surface of said carrier plate member to support a pair of shaft members carried by a male connection member of said slackless drawbar assembly.
- 16. A carrier plate assembly for use in retrofitting a slackless drawbar assembly into a center sill of a railway freight car equipped to use a standard coupler as recited in claim 13, wherein said carrier plate member is formed as a channel member.
- 17. A carrier plate assembly for use in retrofitting a slackless drawbar assembly into a center sill of a railway freight car equipped to use a standard coupler as recited in claim 13, wherein said filler block member is carried by a separate carrier plate member.
- 18. A carrier plate assembly for use in retrofitting a slackless drawbar assembly into a center sill of a railway freight car equipped to use a standard coupler as recited in claim 17, wherein said separate carrier plate member is a steel plate.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This patent application is closely related to our co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/049,553, now allowed entitled "A Locking Wedge Assembly For A Slackless Drawbar Assembly" and to our co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/049,519, now allowed as U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,679 issued on Nov. 9, 1999, entitled "A Method For Installing A Locking Wedge And Carrier Plate Assembly", both of which are being filed concurrently herewith. Each of these patent applications is assigned to the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, the assignee of the present invention, and their teachings are incorporated into the present document by reference thereto.
US Referenced Citations (3)