Latch for hatch covers for railway hopper cars
AssigneeIllinois Railway Equipment Company
InventorRudolph E. Nadherny
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A latch mechanism mounted on the roof of a hopper car is arranged to hold a pivoted hatch cover in closed position over a trough in the roof of the car and has outer and inner spaced flanges upstanding with respect to the roof with a keeper therebetween having a laterally and downwardly extending configuration at the top for latching engagement with an element of the cover and mounted for translatory and pivotal movement under the control of a lever which is pivotally mounted between the outer flange and keeper and provided with a lock to hold the handle of the lever in its hatch cover closing position.
Claims6
A latch for holding the distal edge of a hatch cover in closed position over a trough in the roof of a hopper car, comprising:
- an outer housing member having upright spaced parallel leg flanges integrally interconnected by a bight portion from which an upstanding outer flange extends, the feet of said leg flanges being adapted to be rigidly secured to the roof of said hopper car;
- an inner housing member rigidly mounted on and between said leg flanges and including an upstanding inner flange in spaced parallel opposed relationship with said outer flange on the side thereof adjacent said hatch cover distal edge;
- a keeper member having an upright plate-like main section interposed between said outer and inner flanges for guided vertical and pivotal movement therebetween, said keeper member having an L-slot within said main section and a hatch cover hold-down arm extending laterally from the top of said main section;
- a latch operating lever having a handle portion, a mounting portion interposed between said outer flange and said plate-like main section and mounted for pivotal movement on said outer and inner flanges, and a detent projecting from said mounting portion into said L-slot;
- and
- a pivot support pin which extends through said L-slot and co-axial apertures in said outer and inner flanges and said lever mounting portion;
- the bottom edge of said plate-like main portion of said keeper being a generally arcuate cam surface which merges upwardly with a vertical side guide edge on said main portion whereby on rotation of said lever from its hatch cover closing position said vertical side guide edge has keeper-guiding engagement with the inner surface of the adjacent one of said leg flanges so as to impart initial vertical movement to said keeper after which said arcuate cam surface has keeper-camming engagement with the inner surface of said adjacent leg flange to impart pivotal movement to said keeper, the engagement between said detent and said L-slot producing said vertical and pivotal movements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.