Slide gate assembly

In a material container for bulk material having a container body, a bottom discharge passage member having an open end for material discharge therethrough along an axis of discharge and a closure assembly for said discharge passage member, said closure assembly comprising:

• a slidegate shaped to underlay and close off said discharge passage member, said slide gate having an upper side and an under side;
• a slidegate support housing surrounding said discharge passage member having a cross section having an inwardly directed portion, a middle portion generally parallel to the axis of discharge, and an outwardly directed portion, the edge of said inwardly directed portion abutting said discharge passage member forming a continuous inverted U-shaped chamber between said discharge passage member and said housing;
• said inverted U-shaped chamber having an upper base portion and two downwardly extending legs, one of said legs being deflected inward toward the other of said legs;
• said housing having an elongated aperture in said middle portion, said aperture having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis, said longitudinal axis lying in the plane of said end of said discharge passage member and said transverse axis parallel to said axis of discharge, through which said slidegate is slideably disposed;
• a plurality of elongated cam bars movably supported by said housing, said bars being rotatable between a position engaging the underside surface of said slidegate pressing said slidegate against said discharge passage member and a position disengaging said slidegate from said discharge passage member allowing said slidegate to be withdrawn from said open end;
• a plurality of cam stops attached to said cam bars, said cam stops having two eccentric lobes to limit rotation of said cam bars between said engaged position and said disengaged position;
• a continuous closed flexible seal body retained in said chamber surrounding said discharge passage member, said body having a generally rectangular cross section having an upper side, an inner side, an outer side and a lower side;
• and
• a yieldable portion of said body forming a projecting lip extending downward and toward the interior of said discharge passage member from the intersection of said inner side and said lower side of said rectangular cross section, said body having yieldable ribs in said lower side engagable with said slide gate when said cam bars are in said engaged position.