Flat-surfaced floor structure for boxcars

A floor plate assembly for a railway freight car, comprising:

• (a) a floor plate;
• (b) a plurality of apart-spaced parallel floor plate support assemblies each welded to said floor plate and including:
• (i) a channel-shaped structural member having a pair of parallel side walls and a base, each of said side walls having an outer margin, said outer margins being welded to said floor plate;
• and
• (ii) a reinforcing bar welded to said base between said side walls and having an outer margin located closely adjacent to said floor plate.

A floor plate assembly for a railway freight car, comprising:

• (a) a floor plate;
• (b) a floor plate support assembly including:
• (i) a channel-shaped structural member having a pair of parallel side walls and a base, each of said side walls having an outer margin, said outer margins being welded to said floor plate;
• and
• (ii) a reinforcing bar welded to said base between said side walls in an upright orientation and having a margin located closely adjacent to said floor plate;
• and
• (c) at least one additional said floor plate support assembly with said outer margins of said side walls of said channel-shaped structural member thereof welded to said floor plate in a similar orientation.

A floor plate assembly for a railway freight car, comprising:

• (a) a floor plate;
• (b) a floor plate support assembly including:
• (i) a channel-shaped structural member having a pair of parallel side walls and a base, each of said side walls having an outer margin, said outer margins being welded to said floor plate;
• and
• (ii) a reinforcing bar welded to said base between said side walls in an upright orientation and having a margin located closely adjacent to said floor plate;
• and
• (c) a doubler plate welded to said base in opposition to said floor plate.

An improved railway freight car, comprising:

• a pair of wheeled trucks;
• a pair of body bolsters each supported by a respective one of said trucks;
• a pair of side sills supported by said pair of body bolsters;
• a center sill, supported by said pair of body bolsters;
• a set of cross bearers extending between said side sills and interconnected with said center sill and said side sills;
• and
• a set of stringers supported by said cross bearers and extending longitudinally of said car;
• wherein the improvement comprises:
• (a) a floor structure having a flat upper surface and comprising a plurality of elongate structural members arranged parallel with each other and supported on said stringers, each of said elongate structural members having:
• (i) a base;
• (ii) a pair of side walls, both said base and at least one of said side walls having a first thickness and each said side wall having a planar margin spaced apart from said base;
• and
• (iii) a reinforcing bar welded to said base between said side walls in an upright orientation and extending substantially parallel to said side walls, said reinforcing bar having a thickness at least 1.5 times as great as said first thickness, and said reinforcing bar having an outer margin extending parallel with said planar margins and located approximately as far as said planar margins from said base;
• and
• (b) a floor plate welded to and supported by said elongate structural members.

A method of producing a boxcar floor structure, comprising:

• (a) providing a plurality of similar elongate channel members each having a base and a pair of side walls extending upwardly from said base, said base and said side walls all having a first thickness and said side walls having planar margins spaced apart from said base and parallel with each other;
• (b) welding a reinforcing bar that is thicker than said first thickness to said base of each said channel member between said side walls in an upright orientation so that said reinforcing bar extends longitudinally of said elongate channel member and parallel with said side walls and so that an outer margin of said reinforcing bar is located approximately coplanar with said planar margins of said side walls;
• and
• (c) thereafter welding said planar margins of each of said channel members to one face of a floor plate, with said channel members spaced apart from one another, without welding said reinforcing bar to said floor plate.

A floor plate assembly for a railway freight car, comprising:

• (a) a floor plate support assembly including:
• (i) an elongate channel member formed of metal having a first thickness and having a relatively wide base and a pair of parallel side walls having coplanar margins;
• and
• (ii) a reinforcing bar having a thickness at least 1.5 times as great as said first thickness, welded to said base in an upright orientation and extending along said channel member between and parallel with said side walls thereof, said reinforcing bar having an outer margin extending parallel with said coplanar margins and located no further than said coplanar margins from said base;
• and
• (b) a floor plate welded to said floor plate support assembly.