Self-resetting snubbing and anchoring device

The combination of a railway freight car of the type having a deck and a side sill with a device for securing cargo thereonto by lengths of lading strapping anchored by a quick-release device having receiving means for holding the lading strapping over the cargo, the quick-release device being a self-resetting device comprising:

• a housing for securement to the side sill of the railway freight car, said housing having an upper aperture therethrough;
• a lading tie anchor assembly, at least a portion of which passes through said housing upper aperture, said lading tie anchor assembly being generally vertically movable between a generally retracted, locked position thereof and a generally extended, unlocked position thereof, said generally retracted position being such that the device has a maximum height approximately equal to that of the side sill;
• snubber means affixed to said lading tie anchor assembly, said lading tie anchor assembly transmitting tension within the lading strapping to said snubber means, said snubber means maintaining tension in the lading strapping;
• vertical movement constraint means for preventing upward passage of said lading tie anchor assembly completely out of said housing;
• locking means for automatically setting said lading tie anchor assembly to said generally retracted, locked position and for releasing said lading tie anchor assembly to said generally extended, unlocked position to reduce tension within the snubber means;
• and
• said locking means includes a rotatably mounted latch having a deflection ledge in momentary operative interengagement with an assembly of the device that drops into said housing by gravitational forces.