Railroad hopper car door assembly

An apparatus for controlling discharge of material from a bottom dump railroad hopper car having an underframe defining a longitudinal axis for the hopper car, a hopper mounted on said underframe for holding material therewithin, said hopper defining a plurality of longitudinally spaced discharge openings through which material is discharged from said hopper, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of longitudinally mounted discharge door assemblies, each longitudinally mounted discharge door assembly being arranged in cooperative relationship relative to a discharge opening on said hopper to control flow of material from said hopper, and wherein said discharge door assembly comprises a pair of longitudinally mounted, divergently opening discharge doors carried on said hopper on opposite lateral sides of said longitudinal axis for pivotal movement relative to a discharge opening on said hopper car between open and closed positions, with each discharge door being arranged for movement about an axis disposed adjacent and extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of said underframe such that said discharge doors are pushed into their closed position and pulled toward their open positions;
• and
• a door operating mechanism including a positively operated driver carried on said hopper car for simultaneously operating both discharge doors of at least one of said discharge door assemblies independently of at least one other discharge door assembly on the hopper car.

A railroad hopper car comprising:

• an underframe defining a longitudinally axis for said railroad hopper car;
• a walled enclosure carried by said underframe and wherein particulate material is transported and held, said walled enclosure defining a plurality of longitudinally spaced discharge openings extending along a bottom of the walled enclosure, with angularly extending slope sheets extending upwardly from said discharge openings to define spaces extending transversely across the longitudinal axis and opening to opposite lateral sides of the car;
• a plurality of longitudinally mounted discharge door assemblies arranged in combination with said walled enclosure and in relation relative to said discharge openings to control the discharge of material from the car as a function of the position of the door assembly between open and closed, with each discharge door assembly including a pair of discharge doors arranged on opposite lateral sides of the longitudinal axis of said railroad hopper car, and wherein each discharge door is mounted to the underframe for movement about a pivot axis disposed adjacent and extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the hopper car such that said discharge doors are pushed into their closed position and pulled toward their open positions;
• a door operating mechanism including a positively operated driver carried on said hopper car for simultaneously operating both discharge doors of at least one of said discharge door assemblies independently of at least one other discharge door assembly on the hopper car.