Railroad car identification plate holder

A device for securing an encoded identification tag to an enclosure adapted to be moved from one location to another, the identification tag including a horizontally elongated body having spaced substantially parallel front and back faces, spaced substantially parallel top and bottom edges, and side edges extending obliquely to the front and back faces, such that the tag is substantially trapezoidal in a cross-sectional plane substantially parallel to the edges, said device comprising:

• a base frame member adapted to be secured to said enclosure, said base frame member having a substantially planar main section elongated along a longitudinal axis and adapted to be opposed to the back face of the tag, said base frame member being adapted to lie with said main section in a substantially vertical plane with said longitudinal axis substantially horizontal and having first and second longitudinal ends and top and bottom sides;
• first and second base sections, each of said base sections being connected to said base frame member in proximity to an associated one of said ends and in proximity to said bottom side, and extending outwardly from said main section to thereby support the tag against downward movement, and said base sections being spaced from each other along said longitudinal axis to define a continuous open area between said base sections for unobstructed visual access to a portion of the bottom edge of the tag, said portion substantially corresponding to a majority of the length of the tag;
• a top frame member removably mounted on said base frame member;
• first and second top sections, each of said top sections being connected to said top frame member in proximity to an associated one of said ends of said base frame member and in proximity to said top side, and extending outwardly of said main section to thereby support the tag against upward movement, and said top sections being spaced from each other along said longitudinal axis to define a continuous open area between said top sections for unobstructed visual access to a portion of the top edge of the tag, said portion of the top edge substantially corresponding to a majority of the length of the tag;
• and
• means mounted on said base frame member, proximate said ends of said base frame member, for supporting the tag against movement in the direction of said longitudinal axis and against movement normal to and outwardly of said main section, said means being spaced along said longitudinal axis to define an open area between said means for unobstructed visual access to at least a majority of the front face of the tag.