Railway car body structures and methods of making them using welded honeycomb panels connected in an edge to edge relation

A production method of a railway car body structure having an underframe, two side structural units, and a roof structural unit, comprising the steps of:

• constructing a plurality of blocks, respective blocks being formed by juxtaposing and joining a plurality of plate members by welding said plate members to one another, each of said plate members including two surface materials, a core material and binding materials joined to one another in edge to edge relation by metal-to-metal bonding;
• constructing each of said structural units of said body structure by juxtaposing and joining a plurality of said blocks to one another by welding;
• and
• constructing said body structure by joining said structural units and said underframe of said body structure to one another by welding,
• wherein said two surface materials of each of the blocks includes one surface material on an outdoor side of the structural unit formed by the block, said one surface material having a thickness greater than a thickness of the other of said two surface materials on an indoor side of the structural unit formed by the block.

A railway car body structure comprising:

• a hollow frame including a plurality of side posts each having a .pi.-shaped cross section having two flanges;
• a first block having a body part including inner and outer face members and a core member joined by metal-to-metal brazing and a joint part provided at an end of said body part and comprising a plate member fixed on an outer surface of said inner face member and a further plate member fixed on an inner surface of said outer face member;
• and
• a second block having a body part including inner and outer face members and a core member joined by metal-to-metal brazing and a joint part provided at an end of said body part and comprising one plate member mounted on an outside surface of said inner face member of said second block and another plate member mounted on an inside surface of said outer face member of said second block, and
• wherein ends of said inner and outer face members of said second block are welded to ends of said inner and outer face members of said first block, and end of a flange on one side post of the hollow frame is welded at an inside surface of said inner face member of said first block within an overlapped area of said inner face member and said one plate member, and
• an end of another flange of said one side post of said hollow frame is welded at an inside surface of said inner face member of said second block within an overlapped area of said inner face member and said one plate member.

A railway car body structure comprising:

• a first block having a body part including inner and outer face members and a core member joined by metal-to-metal brazing and a joint part provided at an end of said body part and comprising a plate member connected to said inner face member and another plate member having one end connected to said outer face member and another end longitudinally extending beyond the end of said one plate member;
• a second block having a body part including inner and outer face members and a core member joined by metal-to-metal brazing and a joint part provided at an end of said body part and comprising a plate member connected to said inner face member and another plate member having an end structurally connected to said outer face member of said second block and a second end longitudinally extended beyond an end of said one plate member of said second block;
• wherein said end of said another plate member in said joint part of said second block is welded to said end of said other plate member in said joint part of said first block;
• and
• wherein a U-shaped hollow frame member is provided inside said inner face member of said first and second blocks, with respective ends of the frame member being connected to said one plate member of said first and second blocks.

A railway car body structure comprising:

• an underframe;
• two side units each having an upper end and a lower end connected by welding to a different side end of said underframe and having a sandwich structure including two face plates and a core member joined by metal-to-metal brazing;
• a roof unit forming a compartment with said underframe and two side units and having a sandwich structure including two face plates and a core member joined by metal-to-metal brazing;
• a pair of frieze boards respectively disposed between and welded to said upper end of said side units and a side end of said roof unit to form an upper corner between the side units and the roof units, said frieze boards being fashioned of extruded shaped material, and
• wherein at least one of said units includes a plurality of plate member juxtaposed to one another in edge to edge relation and jointed to one another by welding at respective binding materials thereof.

A panel unit for a railway car body structure, the panel unit comprising:

• a first panel member including two face members, a core member sandwiched between said two face members and a first joint part sandwiched between said two face members at an edge of said first panel member, said two face members, core member and first joint part being joined to one another by metal-to-metal brazing, said first joint part comprising a first plate portion fixed on an inner surface of one of said face members at an end of said one face member and a second plate portion fixed on an inner surface of the other of said face members at an end of said other face member;
• and
• a second panel member including two face members, a core member sandwiched between said two face members and a second joint part sandwiched between said two face members at an edge of said second panel member, said two face members, core member and second joint part of said second panel member being joined to one other by metal-to-metal brazing, said second joint part of said second panel member comprising a first plate portion fixed on an inner surface of one of said associated face members at an end thereof and a second plate portion fixed to an inner surface of the other of said associated face members at an end thereof, and
• wherein said ends of said two face members of said second panel member fixed to said plate portions of said second joint part, and said plate portions of said second joint part are welded to respective said ends of said two face members of said first panel member fixed to said plate portions of said first joint part, said plate portions of said first joint part.