Railway gondola car incorporating flexible panels of composite sheet material
AssigneeGunderson LLC
InventorsJames D. Pileggi, Ernest G. Wolff
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gondola railway car with a structural frame of metal has panels of lightweight composite tension-bearing sheet material attached to the frame by clamps which grip the margins of the panels. The panels thus are structural components of the car body, while also acting to contain bulk cargo such as coal. The panels may be of aramid fiber cloth coated with a wear-resistant polymeric material, and particles of hard material may be embedded in the polymeric material to enhance resistance to mechanical erosion.
Claims10
A wear-resistant flexible sheet material for carrying primarily tensile loading, comprising:
- (a) a primary layer of flexible textile fabric of fibers having a high tensile strength, said primary layer having a pair of opposite faces and a primary layer thickness;
- (b) a respective thin coating of wear-resistant flexible material covering each face of said primary layer and extending into said primary layer a distance less than half said primary layer thickness, leaving a central portion of said primary layer free from said flexible material;
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- (c) a quantity of particles of hard, wear-resistant material embedded in the respective thin coating of wear-resistant material covering at least a first one of said faces of said primary layer of flexible textile fabric.
A wear-resistant flexible sheet material for carrying primarily tensile loading, comprising:
- (a) a primary layer of flexible textile fabric of fibers having a high tensile strength, said primary layer having a pair of opposite faces;
- (b) a respective thin coating of wear-resistant flexible material covering each face of said primary layer, each said thin coating including an inner portion extending among and adhering to said fibers of said textile fabric, and an outer portion spaced apart from said fibers of said textile fabric by said inner portion;
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- (c) a quantity of particles of hard, wear-resistant material embedded in said outer portion of the respective thin coating of wear-resistant material covering at least a first one of said faces of said primary layer of flexible textile fabric, said inner portion thereof being free of said particles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.