US 10,214,224 B2Granted

Rail road hopper car

AssigneeNational Steel Car Limited

InventorsJames W. Forbes, Mohamed A. Khattab, Tomasz Bis, William R. Davis

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A hopper car discharge section may be wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. Outflow is controlled by movable closure members. The hopper car has a plurality of hoppers of which two hoppers share a common ridge assembly. The ridge assembly forms a common mating and fit up location for the upper margins of the slope sheets of two lengthwise adjacent hoppers. The ridge assembly includes an horizontal center section and two end plates that angle upwardly outboard toward the top chords of the side walls. The ridge assembly stands proud of the upper margin of the respective adjacent slope sheets. A gusset is mounted between the adjacent slope sheets below the ridge plate such that the slope sheets and gusset form a reinforcement tube running across the car, the end plates forming the stems of a vertical T-section attached to the side wall and overlapping the top chord.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A railroad hopper car having:

a first hopper, said first hopper being a bottom dumping hopper;
a center sill, said center sill passing through a lower region of said first hopper;
said first hopper having a bifurcated discharge having a left hand portion and a right hand portion;
a first door, said first door being movable to govern egress of lading from said left hand portion;
and
a second door, said second door being movable to govern egress of lading from said right hand portion;
said first and second doors having a respective upper and lower margins;
a beam running across said car, said beam having a web and a flange, said beam being mounted to said lower margins of said first and second doors as a backing beam, said first and second doors being constrained by said beam to move through the same motion on opening and closing;
said beam passing underneath said center sill;
said doors being driven by a common actuator and transmission;
and
said center sill has a bottom flange and said bottom flange has a narrow portion between said first and second doors, and a wider portion away therefrom;
said bottom flange has an accommodation therein, and said actuator is mounted in said accommodation.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/005,408Filed 25 Jan 2016 · continuation
Priority: 8 Sep 2006
Published: US 2016/0137210 A119 May 2016
Granted: 26 Feb 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

B61D 7/02
Hopper cars: with discharge openings in the bottoms
B61D 7/04
With discharge openings in the bottoms: the openings being above axle level during discharge
B61D 7/22
Closure elements for discharge openings: sealing means thereof
B61D 7/28
Opening or closing means: hydraulic or pneumatic

Family

Application11/530,334Parent of this division · filed 8 Sep 2006
Application12/698,509Parent of this division · filed 2 Feb 2010
US 7,703,397 B2Parent of this division · filed 27 Apr 2010
Application12/854,245Parent of this division · filed 11 Aug 2010
Application13/285,621Parent of this division · filed 31 Oct 2011
US 8,047,140 B2Parent of this division · filed 1 Nov 2011
US 8,065,964 B2Parent of this division · filed 29 Nov 2011
Application14/105,857Parent of this continuation · filed 13 Dec 2013
US 8,622,004 B2Parent of this division · filed 7 Jan 2014
US 2016/0137210 A1Pre-grant publication · published 19 May 2016
US 9,272,717 B2Parent of this continuation
Application14/105,857Parent of this division
US 2008/0066642 A1Published application
US 2010/0132587 A1Published application
US 2010/0319570 A1Published application
US 2012/0042804 A1Published application
US 2012/0199041 A2Published application
US 2014/0331892 A1Published application
US 10,214,224 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.