Railway car integral hopper structure

For a hopper vehicle having a generally vertically disposed hopper including a hopper chute, a hopper chute construction including

• longitudinally spaced, downwardly and inwardly extending hopper chute slope sheets,
• vertical partition sheets connected to said spaced hopper chute slope sheets,
• transversely spaced, downwardly and inwardly extending hopper chute side sheets connected to said slope sheets, and
• transversely spaced side walls connected to and extending upwardly from said side sheets and connected to opposite sides of said slope sheets and said partition sheets, the improvement comprising:
• each of said slope sheets including transversely spaced corner plate portions and an intermediate portion connected with said corner plate portions,
• said corner plate portions extending angularly upwardly and outwardly relative to said intermediate portion and being integrally formed therewith and thereby providing said slope sheets with a continuous channel surface, and
• means connecting said corner plate portions to said side sheets, said corner plate portions forming generally planar surfaces extending between said intermediate portion and said side sheets to promote the flow of lading through the hopper chute.