US2234231A - Floor clip - Google Patents

Description

March 11, 194 s. H. CAMPBELL ET AL FLOOR CLIP Original Filed Jan. 31, 1938 FIGS INVENTORS S H CAMPBELL F. PIETZSCH AT 'NEY Patented Mar. 11, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOOR CLIP Sterling H. Campbell and Frank H. Pietzsch, St.

Louis, Mo., assignors to Western Railway Equipment Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri 2 Claims.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 187,778, filed by us January 31, 1938, for Floor clip and method of manufacturing the same.

to secure the floor boards of railway cars to the sills.

A floor clip of the type above referred to is provided with one or more prongs adapted to enter the fioor board to prevent the rotation of the clip around the bolt securing it to the board and its consequent disengagement from the sill. The cross section of these prongs should be small enough not to offer undue resistance to the entry of the prong or prongs into the board under the pressure applied to the under face of the clip by tightening the nut on the bolt. One of the difficulties heretofore encountered in making fioor clips has been that of blanking a long relatively thin prong out of the heavy metal bar forming the body of the clip at a single operation. This is due to the fact that one of the blades of the blanking die must necessarily be of the same contour as the prong and so is liable to crumble under the excessive strain to which it is subjected. This difficulty has recently been accentuated by the practice by car builders of inserting a strip of felt paper between the floor boards and the sills, thus necessitating the use of longer prongs than were heretofore required.

30 Another difiiculty encountered in case the clips are each provided with two prongs, the outer sides of which are coincident with the sides of the clip, results from the variation in the width of the stock above referred to which renders 30 proper centering of the bar difiicult, if not impossible, so that in the completed article the prongs are of difierent lengths.

In making a clip in accordance with our invention, we subject the stock to a preliminary sizing 40 operation so it may be accurately centered to secure uniform sized prongs, such sizing operation also blanking the outer sides of the prongs. We complete the prongs by a second blanking operation which also forms the opposite end of the 45 clip. Both these operations, as well as other necessary operations, are performed by a compound sizing, blanking, punching and bending die, so that after the preliminary operations, necessary only at the end of the bar, each stroke of such 50 compound die results in the formation of a complete clip.

In the accompanying drawing in which the die structure is semi-diagrammatically illustrated, Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating the first pre- 65 liminary operation; Figure 2 is a plan view illus- It relates to floor clips of the type used trating. the. second preliminary operation; Figure 3 is a plan view illustrating a normal operation of the die; Figure 4 is a vertical section through the parts shown in Figure 3; Figure 5 is a vertical section showing the clip in position in a car structure; Figure 6 is a plan view of the clip; and Figure 7 is a perspective view of the clip.

Referring first to Figures 5, 6 and 7, the numeral 8' rep esents one of the floor boards of a railway car supported above a sill 9, between which parts is placed a sheet In of felt paper. Passing down through the board adjacent the edge of the sillis a bolt II which projects through a bolt hole I2 in the body I3 of the clip and is engaged by a nut I4 by means of which the body of the clip is clamped firmly against the lower face of the floor board. The action of the nut also causes the prongs to enter the. floor board. The clip is provided with an offset l6 terminating in a lip H which projects under the flange of the sill.

The movable parts of the die are carried on a reciprocating plunger I8 (Figure 4). These dies include a pair of trimming or sizing dies I9, a punch 20, a blanking die 2|, a body bending die 22 and a pair of prong bending dies 23. Adjacent the dies 23 is an adjustable stop which consists of a bar 24 threaded in an upright 25. The bar is provided with a handle 26 and with p a lock nut 21 by means of which it may be secured 30 in proper adjustment. The trimming dies l9, punch 20 and blanking die 2| cooperate with a lower fixed die 28 and the bending die 22 with a lower bending die 29. The upper bending die 22 may be in fixed relation to the plunger l8 and the lower bending die 29- in fixed relation to die 28 in case all the clips to be formed have the same depth of offset I6. In order, however, that the same dies may be used to form clips having different depths of offset, we prefer to provide for adjustment in the height of dies 22 and 29 relative to the other dies by the use of shims 30 and 3| placed between die 22 and plunger [8 and between die 29 and lower die supporting member 32, respectively.

In making'our clip, the bar of stock A from which the clips are to be formed is inserted between the trimming dies 19 and die 28 so far that the end of the stock extends to about the middle point of the trimming dies (as shown in Figure 1) and the plunger is actuated to perform the first preliminary operation which consists in. trimming or sizing the front end of the bar of stock. It will be understood that the distance between the two trimming dies I9 is slightly less ming dies 19. The plunger is'again actuated to perform the second preliminary operation which i consists inpunching the hole l2 in the stock by means of the punch 20 and removing a portion A of the front end of the barby means of the. forming die 2h? This latter. pperati'on. corn;

pletes the shaping or contouring .of theprongs l5. As the outer sides of these prongs have been formed. by the previous action of the dies 19, die 28 may be extended laterally as far as necessary to provide the required strength to. resist the strain. due to the shearing action. By. forming the prongs by two independent opera-1."

tions, we are enabled to produce prongs of great-v er length than the thickness of the stock from which they. are formed; The stops 33 are se.-.

cured to the laterally'extending portion of die 28 by any suitable means such as pins 34. These stops not only centerthe stock but prevent the spreading of the prongs under the action of die 2|. The portions of the stops 33 which engage with the edgesof the stock are of a height substantially equal to the thickness of the stock and above these portions the stops-are provided with ways 35 .of suflicient width to permit the passage of the untrimmed portions of stock of maximum width.

After the preliminary operations above described, the stock is advancedat each stroke of the plunger until its end contacts the stop 24 as shown in FigureB. This results in the formation of a complete clip for each stroke until the entire bar is used up. The severing of the clip fr'om'the bar by die 2| is not completed'until the offset I6 is sufficiently 'formed. to prevent longitudinal movement of the clip relative to the dies. The prong bending dies 23 have rounded corners 36 to prevent injury to the prongs and the distance between the faces of these dies and theend of die 29 is somewhat less than the thickness of the stock'so that the action of these dies not only bends the prongs at right angles to the body I3 of the-clip but also exerts a squeezing or upsetting action upon them. This action not only appreciably increases the length of thhe prongs but improves their contour.

It will be seen that by our method we are enabled to form a complete clip at each stroke of the die, after the preliminary operation performed only at the end of the stock. Further, we are enabled to produce a clip in whicfi'the prongs are of greater length than the thickness of the stock from which the clip is formed and in which the greatest cross-sectional dimenclaim' as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. 'A vfloor clip comprisinga body portion of uniform thickness provided with a bolt hole and l with a lip offset fromsaid body portion, said body portion being provided with a rotation preventing prong formedintegral with said body portion, said prongs merging at its base directly into the upper and lower surfaces of the clip, the length of said prong above the upper face of the body portion'bein'g greater than the thickness of said portionfthe thickness of said prong in the direction of the length .of the clip being less than the stock from which it is formed.

2. A floor clip comprising a body portion of uniform thickness provided with a bolt hole and with a lip offset from said body portion, said body portion being provided with a pair of rotation preventing prongs formed integral with said body portion and having. their outer sides coincident with the adjacent sides of the clip, said prongs merging at their bases directly into the upper and lower surfaces of the clip, the length of said prongs above the upper face of the body portion being greater than the thickness of said portion, the thicknessof each of said prongs in the direction of the length of the clip being less than the stock from which it is formed.

STERLING H. CANIPBELL. FRANK H. PIETZSCH.

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