Railroad hopper car with ballast distributing blades and remote control system

Abstract

A ballast distributing railroad car has a number of ballast hoppers, each with a selectively operable hopper discharge control member which is operable to selectively drop material from the respective hopper either inside of or outside of the rails of a railroad track. The railroad car also has a pair of ballast distributing blades pivotally attached beneath it, either between the hopper discharge control members or one at either end of the car, with the blades being mirror images of each other. Each blade and each hopper discharge control member can be selectively operated via an independent hydraulic actuator. A remote control radio transmitter and car mounted receiver provide for remote, individual and selective control of hopper discharge control members and blades on a car.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates to a ballast hopper door and blade control apparatus and method for controlling a plurality of hopper discharge doors and a pair of ballast distributing blades on a railroad ballast car.Railroad ballast has traditionally been discharged and / or spread by specially designed hopper cars called "ballast cars". In such cars, the ballast is discharged through hopper doors positioned beneath the hopper. In the past, when such doors were positioned directly beneath the car, ballast discharged therefrom was spread by hand, a labor intensive task, or by an additional specially equipped railroad car which followed the ballast hopper car.These problems were addressed in U.S. Pat No. 3,654,872 ('872 patent) in which a ballast car has four hoppers, each of which is provided with a bottom-mounted discharge opening with a discharge control member inserted therein. The discharge openings are centered over a rail and each discharge control member is a ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The principal objects of the present invention are: to provide an improved railroad hopper car; to provide such a railroad hopper car with ballast distributing blades and selective hopper discharge control members; to provide such a railroad hopper car with a remote control system for the blades and hopper discharge control members; to provide a variety of alterative blade and hopper discharge arrangements and orientations for such a railroad hopper car; to provide such a railroad hopper car in which both a plurality of hopper discharge control members and the distributing blades are controlled by hydraulic actuators; to provide such a railroad hopper car in which valves for the hydraulic actuators are controlled by solenoids selectively operated by a car-mounted radio receiver; to provide a variety of alternative methods of powering the hydraulic system in such a railroad hopper car; and, to provide such a railroad hopper car design and hydraulic system which is particularly well adapted for its intended purpose.Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, certain embodiments of this invention.The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.

Problems solved by technology

In the past, when such doors were positioned directly beneath the car, ballast discharged therefrom was spread by hand, a labor intensive task, or by an additional specially equipped railroad car which followed the ballast hopper car.

Even with the use of discharge control members for directing ballast to one side or the other of respective rails, nevertheless, after the ballast is dropped, some spreading and redistributing is required.

Thus, the ballast distributing blades must move ballast from between the rails to the outside of the rails in a somewhat inefficient operation.

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