Pressure discharge railway hopper car

A railway hopper car comprising:

• a car body having a plurality of hoppers, each hopper having a discharge opening at a lower end of the hopper;
• an aerator tub assembly attached to the lower end of at least one hopper and having an opening substantially coextensive with the discharge opening of the hopper;
• a first aerator unit and a second aerator unit associated with the aerator tub assembly each aerator unit having downwardly convergent inclined walls defining an outlet opening at substantially a lower most portion of each aerator unit;
• a discharge conduit with an opening disposed therein to form a fluid communication path between each aerator unit and the discharge pipe associated with each aerator tub assembly, the discharge conduit comprising at least one elongated slot adjacent the outlet opening of each aerator unit;
• the discharge pipe further comprising a generally L-shaped configuration with a longitudinal leg connected to the discharge conduits of each aerator tub assembly;
• a lateral leg extending transversely from the longitudinal centerline to an outlet end laterally outward from the aerator tub assembly;
• and
• a main discharge pipe extending longitudinally along a side of the railway hopper car laterally of the aerator tub assemblies with the L-shaped discharge pipe associated with each of the aerator tub assemblies being connected to the main discharge pipe.

A railway hopper car comprising:

• a car body having a plurality of hoppers, each hopper having a discharge opening at a lower end of the hopper;
• an aerator tub assembly attached to the lower end of at least one hopper and having an opening substantially coextensive with the discharge opening of the hopper;
• a first aerator unit and a second aerator unit associated with the aerator tub assembly, each aerator unit having downwardly convergent inclined walls defining an outlet opening at substantially a lower most portion of each aerator unit;
• a discharge conduit with an opening disposed therein to form a fluid communication path between each aerator unit and the discharge pipe associated with each aerator tub assembly, the discharge conduit comprising at least one elongated slot adjacent the outlet opening of each aerator unit;
• a first pair of adjacent hoppers having a first space between their aeration tub assemblies and a second pair of adjacent hoppers having a second space between their aeration tub assemblies;
• the longitudinal legs of the L-shaped discharge pipe associated with the hoppers of the first pair lead to the first space and the lateral legs of the L-shaped discharge pipe associated with the hoppers of the first pair extend laterally along the first space in side-by-side relation;
• and
• the longitudinal legs of the L-shaped discharge pipe associated with the hoppers of the second pair lead to the second space and the lateral legs of the L-shaped discharge pipe associated with the hoppers of the second pair extend laterally along the second space in side-by-side relation.

A pressure discharge railway hopper car, comprising:

• a car body having a longitudinal centerline and a plurality of hoppers arranged in adjacent relation longitudinally of the car body, each hopper having a discharge opening at a bottom end of the hopper;
• an aerator tub assembly attached to the bottom end of each hopper and having an opening coextensive with the discharge opening of the hopper, each aerator tub assembly having two aerator units having downwardly convergent inclined walls defining two outlet openings, one on each side laterally of the longitudinal centerline, at substantially a lowermost portion of the aerator unit;
• a product discharge conduit leading substantially horizontally and laterally from the outlet of each discharge aerator unit toward the centerline of the car body;
• a generally L-shaped branch discharge pipe associated with each aerator tub assembly, each discharge pipe having a longitudinal leg connected to the product discharge conduits of the two aerator units and a lateral leg extending transversely to the longitudinal centerline to an outlet end laterally outwardly of the aerator tub assembly;
• and
• a main discharge pipe extending longitudinally along a side of the rail car laterally of the aerator tub assemblies, the discharge conduits associated with all of the aerator tub assemblies being connected to the main discharge pipe.

An aerator tub assembly for use with a pressure discharge railway hopper car having a longitudinal centerline and a plurality of hoppers, comprising:

• a plurality of aerator means for aerating the aerating means having downwardly convergent inclined walls defining associated outlet openings at substantially a lowermost portion of the aerator unit;
• at least one outlet opening on either side of the longitudinal centerline;
• a product discharge conduit leading substantially horizontally and laterally from the outlet of each aerator unit toward the longitudinal centerline of the car body;
• a generally L-shaped branch discharge pipe associated with each aerator tub assembly;
• and
• each discharge pipe having a longitudinal leg connected to the product discharge conduits of the two aerator units and a lateral leg extending transversely to the longitudinal centerline to an outlet end laterally outwardly of the aerator tub assembly.