Патент USA US2402980

July 2, 194.6.
E. R. BATTLEY ET-AL‘
2,402,980
_RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR STRUCTURE
Filed Jan. 26, 1945
2 Sheets-Sheet 1
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INVENTORS .
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July 2, ‘1946;
2,402,980
E. R. BATTLEY ET AL
RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR‘ CAR STRUCTURE
’ Filed Jan
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Patented July 2, 1946
‘2,402,980
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
2,402,980
RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR STRUCTURE
Edwin E. Battley and George E. McCoy,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Application January 26, 1945, Serial No. 574,791
14 Claims.
(Cl. 62—17)
1
2
The invention relates to railway refrigerator
cars used to transport commodities requiring
refrigeration in transit and especially to such
lation. Furthermore, wet insulation, of course,
cars used for commodities necessitating a tem
ported, which costs money.
perature below thirty-two degrees during trans
portation, such as frozen foods, which require
twelve degrees or less.
The invention is an improvement on Patent
means water held by the insulation and this water
adds to the weight of the car and must be trans
As the brine has a temperature of zero or below
and, therefore, has considerable capacity for heat
absorption, it would be foolish to simply drain
it outside of the car.
It is the primary object of this invention to
No. 2,136,999 of November 15, 1938 (called Top
bunker car), wherein the refrigerant container 10 obtain the advantages of the air and liquid circu
is located adjacent the roof and one of the side
lating system, as de?ned in Patent No. 2,136,999,
walls of the car, and a drip pan is located below
supra, and at the same time, con?ne‘ the corro
the refrigerant container to provide- an air cool
sion to a relatively small number of ?ues and a
ing space therebetween and wherein the air in
relatively small part of the’ partition (drip pan)
said space, being cooled by the refrigerant in the 15 thus materially reducing the maintenance cost
of the refrigerator car, and increasing the length
container, descends through ?ues associated with
of time the refrigerator car remains in service
the side walls of the car and thence into a space
provided below the lading and being warmed by
without removing the ?ues. Maintenance repairs
the lading rises through the lading space to the
also keep the car temporarily out of service.
cooling space where the cycle is repeated. Wet 20
The con?ning of the corrosion is accomplished
ice is used as the refrigerant when transporting
in this invention by allowing the over?ow brine
commodities requiring not less than forty-?ve
from the tank and preferably also the brine from
to ?fty degree temperature, and salt is used with
the drain valve of the tank to contact only a very
the ice to obtain brine when lower temperatures
small part of the partition, and to flow through
are required, the temperature of brine depending 25 only a very few of the vertical side wall ?ues.
upon the amount of salt used—30# salt to 100#
(Such small part of the partition and such few
of ice producing brine at about six degrees tem
?ues will be protected as much as possible against
perature.
corrosion.) Thus the air ?owing over said part
When brine is used as the refrigerant a solid
of the partition and said ?ue is further cooled
30
or imperforate refrigerant container (or tank,
by contact with the brine ?owing over such part
of the partition and through such ?ues.
as it is called) is used to retain the brine in the
container so as to get the full bene?t of its heat
The remaining portion of the partition and the
absorbing capacity. Over?ow holes are provided
remainder of the ?ues will be dry (except for a
in said tank‘ to limit the amount of brine therein
small amount of condensation) and, therefore,
and allow air to circulate over the brine, and a 35 will not corrode. These are called dry ?ues and
drain valve for cleaning the tank of debris and
will be of relatively cheap construction.
for‘ inspection is provided.
It is a well known fact that salt in water accen
As the wet ?ues and wet part of the partition
are subject to corrosion we preferably design the
associated parts of the car so that they are easily
tuates corrosion of metal (particularly steel) in
contact therewith, and experience has shown that 40 removable for inspection, cleaning, re-treating
brine with heavy salt solution (concentration)
and, if necessary, replacement. The removability
causes considerable corrosion of the ?ues in the
of these designedly wet parts decreases the time
walls and of the drip pan of the top‘ bunker car,
and labor necessary to inspect and/or repair the
even though steel fines are galvanized.
car.
Other more expensive coatings have also been 45
So-called top bunker cars of the general de
tried but still the- metallic ?ues corrode. Cor
rosion, of course, partially eats away the steel
and when the steel ?ue sheet becomes thin in 7
spots, the jolting and constant movement of the
sign disclosed in Bonsall Patent No. 2,136,999,
supra, are built with a series of brine refrigerat
ing tanks near each side Wall of the car (four
tanks on each side in a forty foot car) and a
car in service finishes the job and makes holes 50 further modi?cation of the invention is to place
in the ?ue sheet. Water or brine ?owing down
the overflow holes and the drain valve in the
the ?ue sheet passes through these holes into the
ends of adjacent tanks and put the web part of
insulation below the ?oor of the car and the
the partition (i. e., the part intended to receive
insulation of the side wall of the car. Wet insu
over?ow brine and drain brine) below the space
lation is less e?icient as insulation than dry insu 55 between» such adjacent tanks, and have the wet
2,402,980
3
4
part of the partition, as well as the cool air be
tween the tanks, communicate with a wet ?ue in
the adjacent side wall of the car. Such an ar
rangement materially reduces the number of wet
?ues in the car, thus con?ning the corrosion to
a very few ?ues and reducing initial cost and
times, furthermore, covered with a coating highly
maintenance.
Other objects and advantages of the invention
will appear in the following description thereof;
Referring now to the accompanying drawings
forming part of this application and wherein like
reference characters indicate like parts:
resistant to the corrosive action of the liquid from
the particular refrigerant used. Notwithstanding
such protective measures these ?ue sheets 25 cor
rode much faster than other metal parts of the
car without such protection.
The sheet 25 is, therefore, preferably made in
sections, since it is an object .of the invention to
con?ne the over?ow and/or drain liquid from
each tank to a certain ?ue only, and to accom
plish this object there is shown a pair of vertical
kerfs 29 within the inner faces of an adjacent
pair of posts 28. The vertical edges of each ?ue
sheet 25 are provided with outwardly extending
15 ?anges 30 which‘ ?t within said kerfs 29 and when
the invention is employed.
Figure 2 is a transverse cross sectional view on
the inner sheathing 2| is in place, of course, said
line 2—2 of Figure 3 at one side of a refrigerator
?anges cannot be removed from the kerfs. Con
car through the hatch openings thereof showing
sequently, when any ?ue sheet needs replacing
the wet part of the partition, the over?ow holes,
it may be removed independently of the others
and drain plug from the tank as located under 20 by simply ?rst removing the inner sheathing.
the hatch.
‘
A partition is shown at 35 which‘ is positioned
Figure 3 is a cross sectional view on the line
under the tanks 1 from end to end of the car,
3-3 of Figure 2.
which partition is inclined from substantially the
Figure 4 is a longitudinal cross sectional view
center of the car to and secured to the upper
through a side wall of the car and showing the 25 edge of the inner sheathing 2|. The inner edge
novel arrangement of ?ues therein On line 4—4
of the partition is provided with‘ an upstanding
of Figure 2.
ba?le 36 spaced from the inner side of the tank
Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 of a modi
to provide a passageway 31 therebetween. The
?ed form of the invention.
partition is also spaced below the tanks 1 to pro
Figure 6 is a cross sectional view on the line
vide the space 38 which communicates with the
6—6 of Figure 5.
passageway 31 and upper ends of the ?ues 26,
The invention is adaptable to a refrigerator
thereby providing an air cooling chamber about
car having spaced apart insulated side walls, one
the container or containers. Thus, as the air in
the lading compartment 49 is warmed by the
of which is shown at I ; an insulated roof 2; an
insulated ?oor 3; a foraminous floor 4 above the 35 lading, it passes upwardly over the ba?ie 35 into
?oor 3 providing an air distributing space 6 be
and through the passageways 37-38 and 8-9,
downwardly through the ?ues 25, to the space
tween said foraminous ?oor and ?oor.
A liquid refrigerant container 1 is positioned
6, thence upwardly through the foraminous floor
below the roof and spaced slightly therefrom and
4 to the lading compartment 40, when the cycle
the adjacent side wall to form an air circulating 40 is repeated.
Figure 1 is a cross sectional view through one
side of a refrigerator car of the type with which
space 8-9 therebetween, Since our invention is
designed particularly for use with water ice or
brine as the refrigerating medium, these con
To assure the liquid or brine from the contain
er being con?ned to a certain area or portion of
the air cooling chamber 4| (8—9—3l-38), there
tainers are of the solid type, provided only with
is shown a pair of spaced vertical walls 42 which
the ?lling opening l0, over?ow openings I l—l2 45 extend from the partition 35 to adjacent the roof
and drain opening I3, provided with a removable
2 (see Figures 2 and 3) (or at least to above the
stopper M.
The hatch opening is provided with ‘
escape holes Il—-I2) and transversely of the car
from the baiile 36 to the car side wall (See Figure
2), said walls 42 being cut out to ?t about the
the usual locking and supporting mechanism, not
shown. There is provided a row of refrigerant 50 tank 1. The spacing of the Walls 42 is substan
containers 1, longitudinally spaced, on each side
tially the width of the Wet ?ue 43, as shown in
Figure 4., and consequently the space between the
of the car, as is indicated in Figure 3, and, of
said walls 42 communicates only with said wet
course, there is a hatch opening through the roof
?ue and prevents any moisture th'erein from get
for each container, the containers being posi
tioned so that the ?lling openings register with
ting into any of the dry ?ues 26. The over?ow
the adjacent hatch openings.
holes H—l2, drain l3 or other apertures for
escape of liquid from the container are located
The side walls I of the car are constructed
substantially as shown in Figure 4, wherein I6 is
in the portion of the tank between said walls
42, thus effectively con?ning any over?ow or
the outer sheathing ;_ I"! are the vertical outer side
posts to which the sheathing is secured; I8 is the 60 drain to the area of said partition between said
insulating material and I9 are the spaced Z
vertical walls and to said wet ?ue 43.
shaped vertical inner posts which are generally
As before inferred the portion 45 of the parti
staggered
relation to the outer posts I1, pref
tion 35 between the walls is preferably provided
erably occurring in a plane midway therebetween
with a waterproof and corrosion resisting lining
and which overlap wooden inner nailing posts 20 65 46 which’ is made easily removable from the re
mainder so that it may readily be replaced when
to which the inner sheathing 2!, preferably of
plywood, is removably secured.
necessary. (See Figure 3.) Inasmuch as the
remainder of the partition is not subject to mois
A metallic sheet 25, paneled substantially as
ture it may be made of any cheap and light ma
shown in Figure 4 to provide vertical ?ues 26,
is interposed between the posts l9-2ll and the 70 terial, such as plywood.
inner sheathing 2| and is secured to said nailing
To protect the inner sheathing 2|, adjacent the
Wet flue 43, from the corrosive action of such
posts 20. This sheet 25 is, of course, galvanized
liquid, it will be noted that there is provided a
for the purpose of resisting the corrosive action
?ue lining 50 which likewise is of a material
of brine or other liquid solutions draining there
highly resistant to corrosive action of the brine
through from the containers 1. They are some
a plug 15, which, of course, is also provided with
2,402,930
(55
and this fine lining 50 may be welded atits ver
tical edges to the sides of the sheet forming the
‘flue '43 and extends from immediately under the
edge of the partition, as shown in‘ Figure 2,‘ to
adjacent the car floor to thus provide a complete
enclosure of material highly resistant to cor
rosion for the passage ofxthe brine out of the
chamber to the lower part of ‘the car. Preferably
the lower margin 5| of this ?ue lining v5i? is bent
inwardly, or angularly, below the inner sheathing
v6:
spaced below said container forming an air cool
‘ing chamber 'therebetween, said container hav
ing apertures to provide for the escape of liquid
from said container, a plurality of vertically dis
posed removable flues associated with said wall
communicating with said air cooling chamber,
and means to con?neliquid from said container
within a portion only of said air cooling chamber
and conduct it into certain of said ?ues only,
said certain flues being removable independently
‘2| to form a, ‘.ba?ie or shield extending below the
of the other ?ues.
foram'inous ‘floor 4 (see Figure 2) to prevent
liquid dripping down the wetiiue from splashing
4. In a refrigerator car having a roof provided
with a hatch; a liquid refrigerant container ad
jacent the roof and provided with a ?lling open
ing registering with said hatch; a partition
through the foraminous floor 4 and on the bot
tom of the lading, thus the vplyrv'cod partition 45 ,
and inner sheathing :2l are entirely protected
‘from any moisture, thereby lengtl'iening the aver
age life of such material, saving costly tie-‘ups for maintenance, repairs, etc.
‘
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-. .
"
partially enclosing said container forming an air
cooling chamber about said container, spaced
walls dividing said chamber into a plurality of
portions, said container provided with apertures
In ‘Figure 5 we have shown a modification 20 located between .said walls'to provide for the '
escape of ' liquid from said container, whereby
wherein the walls so are located at or near the
adjacent ends of a pair of tanks 1, and the over
?ow holes iii and drain valves 52 are located in
the end walls of said tanks or adjacent thereto.
liquid from said container is con?ned to the por
tion between-said walls.
‘
75. In a refrigerator car having a roof provided
Th'us the-over?ow and/or drain from the tanks _, é with a hatch, an insulated wall provided with 1
is con?ned to the area of the partition 63 which
is under the space between the tanks and between
the walls 66.
Consequently, it will be apparent
that one wet area of the partition 63 draining into
one Wet ?ue 43 will be all that is required for ‘
each pair of tanks, whereas in the modi?cation
previously described, there would be provided
such‘ an area and ?ue for each tank.
The plug It for the drain opening i3 is pro
vided with a chain or other convenient means
of raising same from the opening when desired
to drain the tank or for other purposes.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the pre
ferred form of the invention, though it is to be
understood that the invention is not limited to
the exact details of construction shown and de
scribed, as it is obvious that various modi?cations
a plurality of fines associated therewith, a liquid
container adjacent the roof and provided with a
?lling opening registering with said hatch; .a
partition partially enclosing said container form
ing an air cooling chamber about said container,
spaced walls dividing said chamber into" a plu
rality of portions, said container provided with
apertures located between said walls to provide
for the escape of liquid from said container,
whereby liquid from said container is con?ned to
the portions between said walls, said last men
tioned portion communicating with certain of
said flues only.
i
6. The structure substantially as set forth in
claim 4 wherein said apertures are located in the
portion of the tank below the hatch for con
venient access thereto.
7
'7. In a refrigerator car having a roof provided
thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur
to persons skilled in the art.
with hatches, a pair of liquid refrigerant con
45 tainers adjacent thereof and provided with ?lling
We claim:
1. In a refrigerator car having an insulated
openings registering with said hatches respec
Wall and a roof, a liquid refrigerant container
tively, a partition partially enclosing said con
adjacent said roof and said wall, a partition
tainers forming an air cooling chamber about
spaced below said container forming an air cool
said containers, spaced walls dividing said cham
ing chamber therebetween, said container having 50 ber into a plurality of portions, one of said por
apertures to provide for the escape of liquid from
said container, a plurality of vertically disposed
flues associated with said wall communicating
tions overlapping the ends of adjacent containers,
apertures located in the end portions of adjacent
containers between said walls to provide for the
with said air cooling chamber, and means to con
escape of liquid from said containers, whereby
?ne liquid from said container within a portion 55 liquid from said containers is con?ned to the
portion between said walls.
only of said air cooling chamber and conduct it
into certain of said ?ues only.
8. In a refrigerator car having a roof provided
2. In a refrigerator car having an insulated
with hatches, an insulated wall provided with a
wall, a roof, and a floor, a liquid refrigerant con
plurality of vertically disposed lines associated
tainer adjacent said roof and said Wall, a parti 60 therewith, a pair of liquid refrigerant containers
tion spaced below said container forming an air
adjacent the roof and provided with ?lling open
ings registering with said hatches respectively, a
cooling chamber therebetween, said container
having apertures to provide for the escape of
partition partially enclosing said containers
liquid from said container, a foraminous lading
forming an air cooling chamber about said con
65
supporting means spaced from said ?oor provid
tainers communicating with said ?ues; spaced‘
ing an air distributing space; a plurality of verti
walls dividing said chamber into a plurality of
cally disposed lines associated with said wall com
portions, one of said portions overlapping the
municating with said air cooling chamber and
ends of adjacent containers, apertures located in
said air distributing space, and means to con?ne
the end portions of adjacent containers between
liquid from said container within a portion only 70 said walls to provide for the escape of liquid from
of said air cooling chamber and conduct it into
said containers, whereby liquid‘from said con-v
certain of said ?ues only.
tainers is con?ned to the portion between said
3. In a refrigerator car having an insulated
walls, said last named portion communicatim:
wall, and a roof, a lquid refrigerant container
with certain of said ?ues only.
adjacent said roof and said wall, a partition 75
9. In a refrigerator car having an insulated.
72,402, 980
wall provided with a plurality of vertically dis
posed ?ues associated therewith, a liquid refrig
erant container adjacent the upper part of said
wall, means to direct liquid from said container
into certain of said ?ues, and a ?ue lining secured
disposed to form a b'a?‘le or shield to prevent liquid
splashing through said foraminous ?oor.
12. A partition for partially enclosing a liquid
refrigerant container of a railway refrigerator
car, said partition having means to con?ne liquid
to said certain ?ues to confine the corrosive action
of said liquid to said certain ?ues.
from said container to a certain area of said
partition, and a waterproof and corrosion re
sisting lining for said certain area, said lining
being ‘removable.
13. A partition for partially enclosing a liquid
viding a vertical ?ue, associated with said wall, 10
refrigerant container of a railway refrigerator
a liquid refrigerant container adjacent the upper
car, said partition having means to con?ne liquid
part of said wall, means to direct liquid from said
container into said vertical ?ue; a metallic flue
from said container to a oertain'area of said par
lining spanning said panel and secured to said
tition, and a waterproof and corrosion resisting
sheet to close said ?ue, whereby to con?ne the
lining for said certain area, said lining being re
corrosive action of said liquid to said ?ue.
movably associated with said means. '
.
10. In a refrigerator car having an insulated
wall, a metallic sheet formed with a panel pro
11. In a refrigerator car having an insulated
'wall, a liquid refrigerant container adjacent the
14. In a refrigerator car having a roof, at liquid
refrigerant container adjacent the roof; a parti
tion partially enclosing said container forming
upper part of said wall, a foraminous false ?oor
. arranged to provide an air distributing space
20 an air cooling chamber about said container,
spaced walls dividing said chamber into a plu
'therebelow, a metallic sheet formed with a panel
providing a vertical ?ue associated with said wall
rality of portions, said container provided with
and arranged to conduct air and liquid from ad
apertures located between said walls to provide
jacent said container to said space; a metallic
for the escape of liquid from said container,
?ue lining spanning said panel and secured to
whereby liquid from said container is con?ned
said sheet to close said ?ue and confine the
to'the portion between said walls.
corrosive action of said liquid to said ?ue, the
EDWIN R. BA'I'I‘LEY.
lower margin of said ?ue lining being angularly
GEORGE E. MCCOY.