Bridge crane apparatus for opening and closing railcar lids
AssigneeRayHawk Technologies Inc.
InventorsBenjamin Gibb, Thomas Boehm, John Srayko
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bridge-supported tool for opening and closing lids located on top of railcars. The bridge has two sides and a cross member between the sides that moves along the sides, the cross member supports a tool carriage that moves along the cross member, the tool carriage has a tool engagement interface for retaining a selected tool and the interface is vertically moveable, such that the tool is moveable to any selected location in the space defined by the bridge. A controller can be used to direct the positioning of the tool by controlling the movements of the cross member, tool carriage and tool engagement interface.
Claims42
A system for operating a lid of a railcar, the system comprising:
- a bridge frame comprising two parallel spaced-apart side members;
- a cross member between and engaging the side members and selectively moveable therealong in a direction parallel to the side members;
- a tool carriage engaging the cross member and selectively moveable therealong in a direction perpendicular to the side members, the tool carriage comprising a selectively vertically moveable tool engagement interface;
- and
- a tool configured for receipt and retention by the tool engagement interface, the tool configured to engage and operate the lid of the railcar;
- such that the tool can be selectively positioned in any of a plurality of locations relative to the lid of the railcar.
A system for opening and closing a lid of a railcar, the system comprising:
- first and second bridge frames in parallel spaced-apart alignment, each of the first and second bridge frames comprising:
- two parallel spaced-apart side members;
- a cross member between and engaging the side members and selectively moveable therealong in a direction parallel to the side members;
- a tool carriage engaging the cross member and selectively moveable therealong in a direction perpendicular to the side members, the tool carriage comprising a selectively vertically moveable tool engagement interface;
- and
- a tool configured for receipt and retention by the tool engagement interface, the tool configured to engage and operate the lid of the railcar, such that the tool can be selectively positioned in any of a plurality of locations relative to the lid of the railcar;
- the tool on the first bridge frame configured for opening the lid;
- and
- the tool on the second bridge frame configured for closing the lid.
A method for operating a lid of a railcar, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. providing a bridge frame comprising side members, a cross member between and engaging the side members and moveable therealong, a tool carriage engaging the cross member and moveable therealong, the tool carriage comprising a vertically moveable tool engagement interface retaining a tool configured to engage and operate the lid of the railcar, such that the tool can be positioned in any of a plurality of locations relative to the lid of the railcar;
- b. moving the railcar between the side members;
- c. by moving the cross member, the tool carriage and the tool engagement interface, locating the tool adjacent the lid;
- and
- d. manipulating the tool to engage the lid to operate the lid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.