Cam actuated railway hopper car door operating mechanism

In a railway car having a hopper and a hingedly mounted discharge door for movement between a closed and an open position relative to a discharge opening for the hopper, a door operating mechanism comprising:

• an operating rod supported on said car selectively reciprocable between open and closed positions, movable generally transversely to the bottom edge of said hopper,
• said rod having an end in the vicinity of the bottom edge of said hopper,
• support means extending perpendicularly generally downward from the bottom edge of said hopper and adjacent to said discharge opening having a pair of spaced generally parallel stop members, said end of said operating rod being reciprocable along a path passing generally midway between said stop members and generally perpendicular to the plane of said stop members,
• a latch catch rigidly affixed to the bottom of said discharge door,
• latch means supported by said support means and pivotally connected to the end of said rod for reciprocating movement in conjunction therewith, said latch means including a pair of pivotally interconnected hook-shaped members, each hook-shaped member including a latch keeper at its outer end and an arm extending from the keeper and engageable by one of said stop members whereby said hook-shaped members are rotated in opposite directions relative to the end of said operating rod between latch catch engaging and disengaging positions in response to the reciprocating movement of said operating rod, and
• each hook-shaped member having a latch lobe engageable by a portion of said latch catch whereby said latch keepers are urged toward each other to a latch catch grasping and engaging position about the latch catch in response to said discharge door being moved from an open toward a closed position,
• said latch means being disposed between said stop members such that said latch catch is drawn in between said stop members after engagement by said latch keepers in response to said operating rod moving into a closed position.

For a railway hopper car having a hopper with a bottom discharge opening and a door pivotally mounted on said car for movement between a closed position covering said discharge opening and an open position away from said opening, an improved door operating mechanism comprising:

• latching means mounted on said hopper adapted to engage and retain associated latch catch means mounted on said door, thereby maintaining said door in a closed position,
• said latching means including a pair of pivotally interconnected hook members supported on said hopper moveable between a locked position wherein said hook members engage each other and the associated latch catch means in grasping relation thereby retaining the latch catch means and an unlocked position wherein the latch catch means is disengaged,
• reciprocating means pivotally connected to said hook members for moving said hook members between locked and unlocked positions,
• said hook members each including an arm appending laterally therefrom, and
• said latching means further including a pair of stop members mounted on said hopper, each stop member being adapted to respectively engage one of said hook members and said arms as said hook members are moved between locked and unlocked positions thereby causing said hook members to pivot in opposite directions relative to said reciprocating means to lock and open the hook members.

For a railway hopper car having a hopper with a bottom discharge opening and a door pivotally mounted on said car for movement between a closed position covering said discharge opening and an open position away from said opening, an improved door operating mechanism comprising:

• latch catch means mounted on the door, latching means mounted on said hopper adapted to engage and retain latch catch means for securing said door in the closed position,
• said latching means including hook means supported on said hopper and being graspingly engageable in claw like manner with the catch means and retaining said catch means in an engaging door locked position, said hook means having arm means laterally appending therefrom,
• said latching means further including stop means supported on said hopper, said stop means being adapted to engage said hook means and appending arm means, and
• reciprocating operating means pivotally attached to said hook means for moving said hook means between the latch catch means engaging door locked position and a latch catch means disengaging door unlocked position, said arm means engaging said stop means as said hook means are moved toward a latch catch means disengaging position thereby pivoting said hook means relative to said reciprocating means.