Railroad car and door mechanism therefor

摘要

A hopper car discharge outflow is controlled by closure members, at least one of which is movable. The doors are hingeless, being mounted on four bar linkages, such that the distal edge of the doors sweeps predominantly horizontally while the proximal edge of the door moves predominantly upwardly. The doors move through noncircular arcs, such that the size of the vertically projected door opening is abnormally large compared to the clearance heights of the door. The doors are driven by a longitudinal shaft that is mounted within the center sill. It drives a set of single input, double output bell cranks that drive adjacent pairs of doors, and that employs an over-center toggle to hold the doors in the closed position when the car is laded. The actuators may be mounted in shelters midway along the car, and may be offset from the centersill. The actuators may be mounted predominantly vertically such that gravity may obviate the need for a secondary lock. The doors of a transverse car need not all be of the same size. The over center may include a manual release having a fulcrum with a progressive decrease in mechanical advantage.

主权项

1. A railroad hopper car comprising:
a body for carrying particulate matter lading, said body being mounted upon railroad car trucks for rolling motion along railroad tracks in a longitudinal direction, and having draft sills at either end thereof to permit said railroad hopper car to be connected to other railroad car bodies; said body including a first hopper, said first hopper having a discharge through which the lading may be disgorged under the influence of gravity, said discharge having an horizontal length in the longitudinal direction when seen in a vertical projection on to an horizontal plane; said discharge being governed by a door mechanism, said door mechanism including a transverse door, said transverse door including a door panel, said door panel being mounted on linkages to move on a non-circular arc path in the longitudinal direction during motion between a first position defining a closed position, and a second position defining an open position; said discharge having a periphery for engagement by said door panel, said periphery having a clearance distance from Top of Rail when said hopper car is on level tangent track; and said horizontal length being greater than three times said clearance distance.