Door construction for hopper trailer
AssigneeDoonan Trailer Corporation
InventorJames H. Bagwell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hopper bed for grain or the like is provided by the present invention. An opening in the hopper bed is closed by a flat plate structure which is mounted on first and second track components disposed on either side of the opening. A flat flange portion is coupled with the structure on each side in longitudinal alignment with a track component. Each flange portion has a plurality of closely spaced aligned openings which are also aligned with two spur gears. The spur gears are rotated to mesh with the gear track presented by the openings in the flange and thereby reciprocate the plate structure to close or open it. This construction precludes the accumulation of most foreign material in the gear track although any which does accumulate is cleaned out by the action of the gear itself moving in the track.
Claims4
In combination with a land vehicle, hopper construction comprising:
- a hopper bed having an opening in its bottom for the discharge of material;
- first and second track components of L-shaped cross-sectional configuration extending longitudinally on opposite sides of said opening with one leg of each component extending away from the opening;
- closure structure for said opening having a transverse dimension greater than the width of the opening so as to extend beneath said track components;
- first and second mounting members of inverted L-shaped cross-sectional configuration disposed in opposed relationship to said track components and extending longitudinally along opposite sides of said closure structure with one leg of each member substantially overlying said one leg of a corresponding track component,
- said mounting members being rigidly coupled with said closure structure and adapted to move relative to said track components;
- generally planar flange structure having a portion substantially overlying said one leg of at least one of said mounting members and another portion projecting from the said one leg of said one mounting portion;
- said flange structure extending substantially along the length of said one member, being rigidly coupled therewith and having a plurality of longitudinally aligned through openings in said other portion;
- and
- a spur gear mounted for rotation with its teeth complementally received by the openings in said flange portion whereby rotation of said gear moves said closure structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.