Railroad hopper car door actuating mechanism

Abstract

An actuating system for operating the doors of a railroad hopper car. The mechanism includes an air cylinder which is coupled to a first lever that is fixed on a shaft. The shaft is coupled to a second shaft through a pair of levers. Supplying air to the cylinder causes the first lever to rotate the shaft which causes the second shaft to rotate. The doors of the hopper are coupled to the two shafts, such that when the shafts rotate, the doors open from the hopper.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 646,938, filed Jan. 25, 2005, and 60 / 652,601, filed Feb. 14, 2005, which applications are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention is directed in general to a device for opening the hopper doors of a railroad car, and, in particular, to a system for automatically opening and closing the hopper doors of a railroad car. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] A common type of railroad freight car in use today is the freight car of the type wherein the load is discharged through hoppers in the underside of the body. Such cars are generally referred to as hopper cars and are used to haul coal, phosphate and other commodities. [0006] After hopper cars are spotted over an unloading pit, the doors of the hoppers are opened, allowing the material within the hopper to be em...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an actuating mechanism which allows the discharge doors of a hopper car to open and close automatically.

[0011] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a simple automatic mechanism for actuating the discharge doors of a hopper car which can quickly empty the contents.

Problems solved by technology

There are several disadvantages to the hopper door operating mechanisms described in some of the aforementioned patents.

One problem is that some of the prior art mechanisms are designed such that each actuating mechanism is connected to doors from two separate hoppers.

Another disadvantage of some of the above described hopper door mechanisms is that the operating mechanisms limit the distance of the door motion, thus limiting the open area of the car's bottom.

This arrangement slows the unloading process and causes additional costs and potential damage to the car due to increased periods in thaw sheds.

However, many of these systems usually require automatic operation of the doors, which requires an operating cylinder and valving.

This method of operation also normally requires the use of expensive air cylinders and valving.

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