Multi-unit railroad freight car for carrying cargo containers
AssigneeGunderson LLC
InventorsDavid W. Smith, Gregory J. Saxton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multi-unit railroad freight car and a container-carrying bridge unit for such a car. The bridge unit extends between and is carried on the adjacent body bolsters of both of a pair of drawbar-connected well units designed for carrying stacked cargo containers. The bridge unit includes a center sill, a transverse bolster at each end of the center sill, and container-supporting arms extending from the bolsters and above the body bolsters of the adjacent container well units to support a cargo container.
Claims22
A multi-unit railroad freight car, comprising:
- (a) a plurality of container well units, each including a container well and a body end structure extending longitudinally away from said well, two of said container well units being coupled with each other;
- and
- (b) a bridge unit adapted for carrying intermodal cargo containers and extending between said two of said container well units, said bridge unit including a longitudinal sill and at least one transverse bolster fixedly interconnected with said longitudinal sill, said bridge unit being interconnected with said body end structure of each of said container well units.
A multi-unit railroad freight car, comprising:
- (a) a plurality of container well units, each including a container well and a pair of body bolsters, two of said container well units being coupled with each other;
- (b) a plurality of trucks, each of two separate respective ones of said trucks supporting a respective one of said body bolsters of a respective one of said two container well units;
- and
- (c) a bridge unit adapted for carrying intermodal cargo containers and extending between said two of said container well units, said bridge unit including a longitudinal sill and at least one transverse bolster fixedly interconnected with said longitudinal sill, said bridge unit having a pair of opposite ends, and each of said opposite ends of said bridge unit being interconnected with and carried on a respective one of said body bolsters supported by said trucks.
A container-supporting bridge unit for a multi-unit railroad freight car, comprising:
- (a) a longitudinal sill having a pair of opposite sill ends;
- (b) a pair of transverse bolsters fixedly interconnected with said longitudinal sill;
- (c) a pair of container support arms mounted on and extending outward from each said transverse bolster and beyond a nearer one of said opposite sill ends;
- and
- (d) a respective connector adapted to connect each of said sill ends to a respective car body of a respective one of a pair of adjacent coupled units of said multi-unit railroad freight car with each of said sill ends located above the respective car body.
A bridge unit for supporting a container between container wells defined by car bodies of coupled longitudinally adjacent container well units of a multi-unit railroad freight car, comprising:
- a container-supporting structure having a longitudinal structural support member defining a pair of opposite ends thereof, a transverse structural support member interconnected therewith, a container support member interconnected with at least one of said structural support members and extending horizontally away from and longitudinally beyond a nearer one of said opposite ends of said longitudinal structural support member, and bearings adapted for supporting each of said opposite ends of said container supporting structure atop a respective one of said car bodies of said coupled longitudinally adjacent container well units.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.