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US 2003/0192452 A1Published application
Railway car outlet gate assembly
AssigneeAero Transportation Products, Inc.
InventorAnthony L. Lucas
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AssigneeAero Transportation Products, Inc.
InventorAnthony L. Lucas
Estimating the term…
An outlet gate assembly has upper and lower gate assemblies with independent drive mechanisms to open and close the gates. The drive mechanisms may be rack and pinion drives. The racks for the lower gate do not enter the gate cavity. The outlet gate assembly can be used for vacuum, gravity or pneumatic sled discharge. The vacuum openings are offset from the center plane of the discharge area to allow free flow of lading. The lower gate assembly includes surfaces that cover and protect the lowermost horizontal surfaces of the assembly when the lower gate assembly is closed. Thus, no separate mud plate is needed. The outlet gate assembly includes seals made of an ultra high molecular weight polymer.
An outlet gate assembly adapted to be mounted on a hopper-type container, said assembly comprising:
An outlet gate assembly adapted to be mounted on a hopper-type container, said assembly comprising:
An outlet gate assembly adapted to be mounted on a hopper-type container, said assembly comprising:
An outlet gate assembly adapted to be mounted on a hopper-type container, said assembly comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to outlet gate assemblies for railway hopper cars of the type allowing gravity, vacuum and pneumatic sled discharge of the bulk lading.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the accompanying drawings, like reference numbers have been used for like parts, and:
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an outlet gate assembly incorporating the features of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross-section of the outlet gate assembly of FIG. 1, taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1, shown with both the upper and lower gate assemblies in a closed position;
Embodiments of outlet gate assemblies incorporating features of the present invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings where like reference numbers have been used for like parts. As shown in FIG. 1, the first illustrated outlet gate assembly 10 includes a rectangular frame 12 that includes a discharge chute 14. Vacuum nozzle assemblies 16 are mounted on the frame 12 for vacuum discharge of lading from the discharge chute 14.
The frame 12 of the outlet gate assembly 10 may be bolted to a discharge opening at the bottom of a hopper-type railway car (not shown) to control the discharge of lading from the car. The outlet gate assembly 10 may also be bolted to other types of transportable containers, for example, over-the-road hopper-type trailers pulled by tractor trucks.
As shown in FIGS. 1-2 and 9-10, the outlet gate assembly includes a rectangular upper door or gate 18 that is mounted at the top of the frame 12. As shown in FIG. 9, when the upper gate 18 is opened, the upper gate 18 defines an upper discharge opening 19. The upper gate 18 is movable between a closed position shown in FIG. 2 where it completely closes the upper discharge opening 19 and the open position shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 where the upper gate 18 is moved to the front side of the frame 12 to uncover the upper discharge opening 19.