System for single draft weighing of cars coupled in motion

A method for weighing railroad cars coupled in motion during loading of the railroad cars, wherein each of the railroad cars has a front truck and a rear truck, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a first scale and a second scale located forward of said first scale;
• (b) moving said railroad cars over said first and second scales;
• (c) performing a plurality of discrete weighings during loading of a railroad car under consideration, each of said discrete weighings including the step of totaling the weights on said first and second scales and adding to the totaled weights on the first and second scales a preload compensating amount to compensate for the weight of material that will continue to be loaded into the railroad car under consideration after a signal to terminate the loading has been given;
• (d) while the rear truck of the railroad car under consideration is on said first scale, weighing on said second scale the front truck of the railroad car under consideration and the rear truck of the just preceding railroad car;
• (e) totaling the weights on the first and second scales;
• and
• (f) subtracting the stored weight of the rear truck of the just preceding railroad car to obtain the full draft weight of the railroad car under consideration.

A system for weighing railroad cars coupled in motion, which railroad cars each have a front truck and a rear truck, which comprises:

• a first scale and a second scale located forward of said first scale;
• means for providing a signal corresponding to the weight on said first scale;
• means for providing a signal corresponding to the weight on said second scale;
• means for storing said rear truck weight signals;
• means for totaling (a) the signal from said first scale and (b) the signal from said second scale corresponding to the total of the weights of the front truck of the railroad car under consideration and the rear truck of the just preceding railroad car;
• and means for subtracting from said total weight the stored rear truck weight of the just preceding railroad car to obtain the full draft weight of the railroad car under consideration.

A system for weighing railroad cars coupled in motion, which railroad cars each have a front truck and a rear truck, which comprises:

• a first scale;
• a second scale located forward of said first scale;
• means for providing first scale weight signals;
• means for providing second scale weight signals;
• a gross weight counter for counting both said first scale weight signals and said second scale weight signals;
• a current weight storage counter for counting and storing said first scale weight signals;
• a previous weight counter for storing previous first scale weight signals from said current weight storage counter;
• means for feeding to said gross weight counter, while a railroad car under consideration is on said first and second scales and the rear truck of a just-preceding railroad car is also on the second scale, first scale weight signals and second scale weight signals;
• means for feeding to said current weight storage counter first scale weight signals;
• means for simultaneously decrementing the counts from said gross weight counter and said previous weight counter;
• means for inhibiting said decrementing means in response to a borrow signal from said previous weight counter;
• means for displaying the counts remaining in said gross weight counter;
• and means for shifting the counts from the current weight storage counter to the previous weight counter subsequent to receipt of said borrow signal.

A system for weighing railroad cars coupled in motion and during loading thereof, which railroad cars each have a front truck and a rear truck, which comprises:

• a first scale and a second scale located forward of said first scale;
• a loading chute;
• means for controlling the output of said loading chute;
• means for providing a signal corresponding to the weight on said first scale;
• means for providing a signal corresponding to the weight on said second scale;
• means for storing said first scale weight signal corresponding to the rear truck weight of the just preceding railroad car;
• means for totaling (a) the present signal from said first scale, and (b) the present signal from said second scale corresponding to the total of the weights of the front truck of the railroad car under consideration and the rear truck of the just preceding railroad car;
• means for subtracting from said total weight the stored first scale weight corresponding to the rear truck weight of the just preceding railroad car to obtain the full draft weight of the railroad car under consideration;
• and means for signaling said chute control means for terminating the loading when the weight reaches a predetermined amount.