Railroad hopper car body fittings
AssigneeNational Steel Car Limited
InventorsTomasz Bis, Oliver M. Veit
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A railroad hopper car body includes a set of hopper and hopper discharges. Egress of lading from the discharges is governed by movable doors that swing between a closed position and an open position. The motion is driven by a mechanical transmission that is itself driven by an actuator. Each pair of doors is driven by a single actuator. The actuator is mounted to act through the center sill. A portion, or substantially all, of the actuator may be mounted in a predominantly squat, vertical orientation within the center sill. In alternate embodiments, the transmission output may be bifurcated. The center sill bottom flange may be narrower adjacent to the doors. The mechanism may have a secondary lock. The mechanism may have an auxiliary manual release.
Claims19
A railroad hopper car having a hopper car body carried on railroad car trucks for rolling motion in a longitudinal direction, said railroad hopper car having a center sill, said railroad hopper car comprising:
- a first hopper;
- said first hopper having a bottom discharge;
- said bottom discharge having a movable door mounted to govern egress of lading from said first hopper;
- said movable door being driven by a door actuator;
- said door actuator being located at the center sill;
- at least a portion of said actuator is mounted within said center sill;
- and
- said door actuator being predominantly upstandingly oriented.
A railroad hopper car having a hopper car body supported by railroad car trucks for rolling motion in a longitudinal direction, said railroad hopper car having a center sill, said railroad hopper car comprising:
- a first hopper, said first hopper having a bottom discharge;
- said bottom discharge having a movable door mounted to govern egress of lading from said first hopper;
- an actuator connected to drive said movable door;
- said door actuator being predominantly upstandingly oriented;
- and
- at least part of said door actuator being mounted within said center sill.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.