Molten sulfur tank car assembly
AssigneeGeneral American Transportation Corporation
InventorErling Mowatt-Larssen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
One or a series of wheeled tank cars for carrying a commodity which must be heated for effective handling and which produces noxious gases when heated is provided with a closed vapor recovery system, including valved lines respectively associated with each tank car, for safely venting said gases to a remote recovery sink away from operating personnel as the commodity is heated in the one or more tank cars prior to unloading or during the filling operation. An upper heating coil system is also disclosed for melting away solidified commodity from upper tank fittings prior to operation of said fittings in the unloading or loading operation for reliable flow handling therethrough and operation of their valves.
Claims20
A wheeled tank car for transporting lading which is heated for effective handling and which produces noxious gases when heated comprising a tank for containing said lading, inlet and outlet port means on said tank for correspondingly loading and unloading said lading, means for heating said lading to facilitate handling into or from said tank, a vapor line means in fluid communication with the top of said tank and with a relatively remote vapor recovery sink, and a valve means associated with said vapor line means to selectively open said vapor line means to said tank during filling and heat up of said lading and close said vapor line to said tank during emptying and transport of said lading.
For a tank car system in which a series of wheeled tank cars are removably connected with one another and each tank car includes a lading storage tank having an induction conduit and eduction conduit communicating with said storage tank interior and extending upwardly adjacent opposed ends of said storage tank, each said induction and eduction conduit containing a valved flow path adjacent the top of said respective storage tank and engageable in fluid communication via connector means with the other of such conduits extending upwardly from the adjacent end of the storage tank of an adjoining such tank car such that lading may be consecutively pumped through said series of tank cars through said conduits and connector means and in which each tank car includes a heating coil means disposed along the bottom portion of said storage tank, an improved tank car comprising:
- a heat line, on said storage tank of said tank car including manifold means adjacent said valved flow path of said induction and eduction conduits, communicating between different portions of said tank car's heating coil means and extending substantially along the top of said storage tank.
A method for unloading lading from a wheeled tank car, said lading being of a type which is melted by heating for effective unloading and which produces noxious gases when heated, and said tank car having a storage tank for containing said lading, discharge port means on said storage tank through which said lading is emptied from said storage tank, and heating soil means on said storage tank for passing a heating fluid therethrough to melt said lading to facilitate emptying, comprising the steps of:
- providing a vapor line means in fluid communication with said storage tank and a relatively remote recovery sink,
- passing heating fluid through said heating coil means to melt said lading,
- opening said vapor line means to said storage tank during the melting of said lading such that noxious gases produced during said melting are vented from said storage tank to said recovery sink, and
- closing said vapor line means to said storage tank during the emptying of said lading from said storage tank.
A method for sequentially unloading lading from a series of wheeled tank cars in which each tank car includes a lading storage tank having an induction and eduction conduit communicating with said storage tank interior and engageable in fluid communication via connector means with the other of such conduits on the nearest adjacent storage tank of an adjoining tank car such that lading may be consecutively pumped through said series of tank cars and in which each tank car includes a heating coil means to heat its storage tank lading to facilitate such pumping, comprising the steps of:
- providing a vapor line means in communication with each storage tank of said series of tank cars and with a common relatively remote recovery sink,
- passing heating fluid through said heating coil means of each storage tank to heat its lading,
- opening said vapor line means to each storage tank during the respective heating of its lading such that noxious gases produced during such heating are vented from said respective storage tank to said recovery sink,
- respectively closing said vapor line means to each storage tank after the lading in said respective storage tank reaches a predetermined temperature suitable for pumping, and
- pumping said lading through said series of tank cars after all of said valve line means have been closed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.