Hatch Cover For A Covered Railroad Car Having Removable Closure and Screen Member

Abstract

A hatch cover for hopper compartment opening with a coaming surrounding the opening. The hatch cover includes a peripheral skirt with a portion of the skirt spaced outwardly of the coaming when the hatch cover is closed to allow air flow from the exterior of the hatch cover to the opening. A frame has a center portion and an annular gasket which seats on the coaming with the center portion over the opening. The center portion of the frame may be a screen or may be solid. An annular ring is attached to the underside of the hatch cover. A press fit attachment is provided between the frame and the annular to permit attachment and removal of the frame from the annular ring. A latch mechanism is provided for the hatch cover. A spring anchor pin is supported on coaming brackets and a latching pin is supported on the hatch cover. A latch mechanism includes a handle having a pair of uprights located at one end of the handle. An outwardly opening slot is formed in each upright with the slots aligned with each other to be removeably engagable and pivot on the hatch cover latching pin. The mechanism also includes a compressibly loaded helical spring connected between the latch handle and the coaming spring anchor.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]Railroad hopper cars carrying bulk particulate material, such as grain, plastic pellets or powered or granular products, are typically unloaded by applying a vacuum conveying line to an outlet gate positioned at the bottom of each car compartment. The primary airflow for the vacuum conveying line is obtained from the exterior of the railroad car. That it, the exhaust air for unloading is not drawn from the car compartment through the particulate matter but is drawn from outside the railroad car. Accordingly, the top of the car compartment must be vented to compensate for the particulate material drawn out the bottom of the compartment. Failure to vent the top of the compartment will reduce the efficiency of the vacuum unloading process and may even risk damage to the car structure. Manufacturers have responded to this problem by providing hatch covers that have filtered vents, however, for some types of materials, for example, materials used or inten...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]To facilitate opening and closing of the hatch cover to change the frame or to load cargo into the compartment, a self adjusting hand operated latch is provided. When the latch is in its latched or locked position, it applies constant pressure to the hatch cover to maintain the gasket in a sealed condition against the hatch coaming regardless of the particular design of the hatch coaming which varies by manufacturer. The hand operated latch also eliminates the need for a hold down arm for the hatch cover.

[0007]The design of the hand operated latch of this invention with its resilient flexible attachment to the coaming instead of a fixed pivotal mounting permits its installation on hatch coamings of various manufacturers. Its resilient flexible attachment to the coaming and its slide-on, slide-off pivot attachment to the hatch cover adjusts for hatch covers and hatch cover mounting hardware of various sizes. The mounting of the latch provides an over-center locking arrangement for the latch mechanism which along with its flexibility and resiliency holds the hatch cover securely in its closed position in spite of wide temperature variations and operating conditions experienced by a covered hopper car during its travels.

Problems solved by technology

Failure to vent the top of the compartment will reduce the efficiency of the vacuum unloading process and may even risk damage to the car structure.

Images