Apparatus for movably spreading material on a railroad embankment

摘要

Two funnel troughs which function as containers are supported on a carriage of a moving railway vehicle. The troughs contain one or more materials which may be combined in a central funnel from which the material is to be spread upon a railroad embankment adjacent railroad tracks along which the vehicle will traverse. The troughs open downwardly into two vibrating feeders. The feeders supply the materials through a funnel to a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is mounted on a turntable and can rotate to either side of the vehicle so that the material can be spread at an adjustable distance from the tracks to either embankment located along the path of travel. The vibrating frequency of the feeders and the speed of the conveyor belt are adjustable according to the speed with which the vehicle is traversing the tracks. The feeders are so designed to permit doorless operation of the troughs for discharging the material. The operations of the apparatus may be controlled from a location remote from the spreading mechanism.