Railroad hopper car with ballast distributing blades and remote control system
AssigneeHerzog Contracting Corp.
InventorIvan Eugene Bounds
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A ballast distributing railroad car has a number of ballast hoppers, each with a selectively operable hopper discharge control member which is operable to selectively drop material from the respective hopper either inside of or outside of the rails of a railroad track. The railroad car also has a pair of ballast distributing blades pivotally attached beneath it, either between the hopper discharge control members or one at either end of the car, with the blades being mirror images of each other. Each blade and each hopper discharge control member can be selectively operated via an independent hydraulic actuator. A remote control radio transmitter and car mounted receiver provide for remote, individual and selective control of hopper discharge control members and blades on a car.
Claims26
A ballast distributing railroad hopper car including:
- (a) a pair of hoppers and associated hopper discharge control members, said discharge control members being selectively operable to distribute ballast from the respective hopper on the inside or the outside of a particular rail;
- (b) a pair of ballast distributing blades, each said blade being selectively movable between an upper, non-operative position and a lower, operative position;
- (c) a pair of blade operating means, each of which is associated with a respective one of said blades for selectively moving the respective blade between said operative and said non-operative positions;
- (d) a pair of hopper discharge control member operating means, each of which is associated with a respective one of said hopper discharge control members for selectively moving the respective hopper discharge control member between a center, non-discharge position and either of a side discharge position or a center discharge position;
- (e) a receiver on said car connected to the door and blade operating means on that car, said receiver being responsive to coded control signals to selectively, independently and individually control positions of each of said hopper discharge control members and said blades;
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- (f) a mobile remote transmitter selectively operable to transmit said coded control signals to cause said receiver to control the connected discharge control member operating means and blade operating means.
On a train including a plurality of railroad cars, each car including a plurality of hopper discharge openings, each with a hopper discharge control member, and at least one ballast distributing blade attached beneath the car, said blade being movable between a non-operative position and an operative position, a control system for controlling each of said hopper discharge control members and each of said blades, said control system comprising:
- (a) hopper discharge control member operating means associated with each said hopper discharge control member for selectively moving the respective hopper discharge control member between a center, non-discharge position and either of a side discharge position or a center discharge position;
- (b) blade operating means associated with said blade for selectively moving said blade between said operative and said non-operative positions;
- (c) a receiver on each car connected to each hopper discharge control member and blade operating means on that car, said receiver being responsive to coded control signals to selectively, independently and individually control positions of said hopper discharge control members and said blade, each said receiver being adapted to respond to a different coded address signal;
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- (d) a mobile remote transmitter selectively operable to transmit any one of said coded address signals and said coded control signals to cause a selected one of said receivers to control the connected hopper discharge control member and blade operating means.
A method of selectively, independently and individually controlling a plurality of hopper discharge control members and one or more ballast distributing blades on a railroad hopper car, each said hopper discharge control member being selectively movable between a center, non-discharge position and either of a side discharge position or a center discharge position and each said blade being movable between an operative and a non-operative position, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) attaching a reversible power source to each said hopper discharge control member and each said blade;
- (b) connecting a receiver to all of said power sources to selectively, independently and individually control the switching and direction of each of said power sources in response to uniquely encoded control signals;
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- (c) transmitting said encoded control signals to said receiver from a mobile remote transmitter.
In a railroad hopper car equipped for operation on a pair of railroad rails, said car including at least two material containing hoppers with one of said hoppers positioned toward one end of said car and the other of said hoppers being positioned toward the opposite end of said car, each hopper including a hopper discharge control member for selectively dropping material in the hoppers between said rails or outside of said rails, the improvement comprising:
- (a) a pair of V shaped material distributing blades attached beneath said railroad car, each said blade being of a width which simultaneously encompasses both rails of a railroad track, with each said blade being selectively movable between a lowered, operative position in which the blade is positioned to push material dropped from said car off of said rails and a raised, non-operative position, both of said blades being located between said hopper discharge control members toward a center of said car and with said blades being oriented with the center portions of their respective V's pointing away from each other;
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- (b) a pair of blade operating means for respectively, selectively moving said blades between said operative and said non-operative positions such that one of said blades can be properly positioned to distribute the material dropped from a first of said hopper discharge control members while material dropped from the other of said hopper discharge control members is sprinkle dumped on the material so distributed regardless of the direction of travel of said car.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.