US3130687A - Hopper discharge outlet closure assembly - Google Patents

Description

J. T. SMITH 3,130,687

' HOPPER DISCHARGE OUTLET CLOSUREASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 2, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 28, 1964 v ji'ZZ/7l for: Javzes 7. 5772:1122

April 28, 1964 J. T. SMITH HOPPER DISCHARGE OUTLET CLOSURE ASSEMBLY w w rm w Q 4 m wk 2 R m m n J w 7 a 5 W W m% R 6 \MN 5 I ll ll 9 UF 1 1 I 1 I III u n 2 w\ W\ w\\\ ww b \N \N \N \N m f m N\ N\ m April 28, 1964 J. T. SMITH 3,130,687

HOPPER DISCHARGE OUTLET CLOSURE ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 2, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 [72 dIZ for fazvzes .7" 5772!??? April 28, 1964 J. T. SMITH 3,130,687

HOPPER DISCHARGE OUTLET CLOSURE ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 2, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Z5 f4) m I,r: -E-LlJ J H l- H 1 W1 I l 1 1 J01 -'{'j0 IAIIII IIIIIIIIIII II ||l J. T. SMITH 3,130,687

HOPPER DISCHARGE onus: CLOSURE ASSEMBLY I s Sheets-Sheet 5 \IIIIII IIIIIIJ llllllll IL-L LI II II II F I I I II I IL. IFII l I I l I II I I I l I l l I II II I I II .I I I I I l April 28, 1964 Filed Feb. 2, 1956 -II r I I II I l l l I I l I I I I l I I I I III United States Patent 3,136,687 HOPPER DISCHARGE OUTLET CLQSURE ASSEMBLY James T. Smith, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Jay R. Sheesley, Winnetka, Ill. Filed Feb. 2, 1956, Ser. No. 563,083 4 Claims. (Cl. 105-282) This invention relates to improvements in hopper discharge for a covered hopper car, the term hopper discharge referring to the gate or door construction, and which construction could otherwise be expressed as a hopper discharging unit.

A covered hopper car is a railway car intended to accommodate granular and powdered ladings. Therefore, a hopper discharge is necessary which provides a seal which is effective to prevent entry of moisture into the hopper through the discharge. In certain types of ladings, such as cement, it is obvious that the lading must be kept completely dry.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simplified construction, comprising three main elements, the hopper chute, the door plate and a door supporting frame, in which the latter comprises a welded structure made up principally from standard shapes, such as channels. The hopper chute and door plate are castings, and according to my invention, the construction has been simplified in such a manner that they both rest on the supporting frame, the upper surface of certain of the frame elements providing the Ways upon which the door plate slides.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hopper discharge which is characterized by the use of relatively few parts and requires a minimum number of machined surfaces.

A further object is to provide a hopper discharge construction which provides an effective seal without the use of vertically movable sealing elements or surfaces.

Still another object is to provide a hopper discharge of such construction that a double seal is provided on all four sides of the door plate.

A further object is to provide, in a hopper discharge, a rack and pinion arrangement which is so located as to minimize binding or cocking of the door plate.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an improved lock and seal for a hopper discharge.

Other objects, features and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds.

With reference now to the drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a preferred embodiment of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; but in which certain parts have been broken away for purposes of clarity;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the lock and seal;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section, looking forwardly, taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section, looking inwardly taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 6 is a section taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 4 showing the rack and pinion;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the rear portion of the device;

FIG. 8 is a vertical section taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is a plan View of the door plate;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged vertical section thereof taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the supporting frame disassociated from the other parts.

With reference now to FIGS. 1-7, the hopper discharge comprises three main elements, the hopper chute 3,130,687 Patented Apr. 28, 1964 12, a supporting frame 13, and a door plate 14. The hopper chute and the door plate are each integral members, preferably in the form of castings.

The frame, as shown in FIG. 11, comprises a rectangular structure formed of longitudinal members 15 and 16, and back and front cross members across channels 17 and 18, all of which may be standard shapes, such as channels. The frame also includes an interniediately located cross bar 19 which is of a special shape, as shown in FIG. 5, so that the diagonal surface presented thereby forms, roughly speaking, a continuation of the corresponding surface of the hopper chute 12. Due to its special shape, the cross bar 19 is preferably in the form of a casting. The elements 15 to 19 are suitably welded to each other to provide a rigid frame construction.

The hopper chute 12 is in the form of a rectangular frame, which receives the lower end of the hopper 26. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, neither the chute 12 nor the hopper 26 are symmetrical with respect to a longitudinal axis. This is for the reason that two hopper discharges are provided, one on each side of the center sill of the railroad car. Consequently, the inner side of each hopper discharge, which is the left side as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 7, is provided with a substantially vertical wall rather than the sloping wall which is provided at the opposite side. Thus, any hopper discharge will be a right hand or left hand discharge, the embodiment shown being a right hand discharge.

The hopper chute is secured to the frame 13, the hopper chute having depending flanges 20 at its inner, outer, and rear sides. These flanges are welded to the upper surfaces of the members 15, 16 and 17, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. These upper surfaces, interiorly of the flanges 20, provide ways 22, or shoulders on which the door plate 14 rests for sliding movement.

The hopper chute 12 is also provided with lips 21 around all four sides which overlie and cooperate with the upper surface of the door plate 14 to provide a seal, referred to herein as the inner seal 24. A slight clearance between the parts 21 and 14 is, of course, necessary to permit free sliding movement of the door plate upon its ways, the clearance being small enough so as not to affect appreciably the effectiveness of the seal.

The door plate 14 is provided with flanges 23 around three of its sides, as shown in FIGS. 4, 7 and 9, which rest on the ways 22. The cooperation of elements 22 and 23 forms a seal referred to herein as the outer seal 25. When the door is in its closed position, it will be seen that the inner and outer seals 24 and 25 are separated from each other by a space or chamber 27.

The double seal thus provided around three of the sides has been found to be effective in preventing such comingling of lading with foreign matter, such as moisture and dust, as would interfere with smooth sliding movement of the door plate 14 upon its ways 22. More particularly, the outer seal 25 keeps moisture and foreign matter out of the chamber 27 and the inner seal 24 keeps the lading out of the chamber 27. Thus, in the case of cement, for instance, there will be no opportunity for the lading to collect on the ways 22 and set up at that point.

A double seal is also provided for the fourth or front side of the hopper chute 12. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the front side of the hopper chute is provided with a forwardly extendinghorizontal flange 30, and with forwardly extending vertical flanges 31 and 32. The front edge of thedoor plate, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 is provided with sealing ribs 33 and 34, both of which cooperate with the horizontal flange 30 to provide an outer seal 35, as shown in FIG. 5. In other words, the flanges 30, 31 and 32 provide a recess or opening 36, as shown in FIG. 2, which receives the sealing ribs 33 and 34, the

Q1) door plate 14 being broken away in FIG. 5 to better show the nature of the recess 36.

The use of separate sealing ribs 33 and 34 which are separated by a channel 37 is believed to contribute material to the sealing effect. Any foreign matter which goes beyond the first sealing rib 34 will become entrapped in the channel 37. As observed in FIG. the Width of the sealing rib 34 is slightly less than the width of the sealing rib 33 so that any water collecting in the channel 37 may drain out.

It will also be observed in FIGS. 5 and 10 that the door plate 14 is provided with a diagonally disposed portion 38, rearwardly of the sealing rib 33, which cooperates with the similarly inclined surface of the hopper chute 12 to provide a relatively narrow passageway which also provides a sealing effect.

Means are provided for slidably moving the door plate 14 on its ways 22 in such a manner as to avoid binding and cocking.

The door plate is provided with journals 4% preferably at its front end, which accommodate a horizontally disposed transversely extending shaft 41, having secured thereto two pinions 42. The shaft is also provided with a handle socket 43 by means of which rotation may be imparted to the shaft 41. The pinions 42 cooperate with two horizontally disposed longitudinally extending open tooth racks 44, preferably made of cast steel, the racks 44 having integral lugs 45 by means of which they can be welded to the channels and 16, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 11. The racks 44 are located at the front end of the channels 15 and 16. Thus, they are laterally displaced from the hopper chute 12 with the result that the rack teeth will not be clogged by the lading, incident to discharge. Furthermore, the fact that the racks are open tooth racks eliminates the possibility of any accumulation of any dust or dirt which would tend to clog the teeth. Thus, there will be no such accumulation as would tend to interfere with the free sliding motion of the door. In this connection also, the rack 44 and the pinions 42 may be made to fairly large tooth clearances to provide easy operation.

Tooth clearance is a source of cocking, but by locating the toothed elements 42-44 beyond the confines of the door plate, rather than within the same, I have found that the extent of cocking can be cut down very substantially.

As shown in FIG. 7, the left pinion 42 is secured to the shaft 41 by a pin 46, whereas the right pinion 42 and the handle socket 43 are secured to the shaft by welds. Thus, both pinions are positively driven with the result that cocking is avoided.

Means are provided to lock the door plate 14 in its closed position. As shown in FIGS. 1-3 and ll, two pivots 50 are carried by brackets 50a which, in turn, are suitably welded to channel 16, which is the outer longitudinal frame member in the right hand hopper shown. A hinged blocking member 51 is mounted on the pivots so that it may be swung up over the rack, as shown in FIG. 3, into a position in which it engages a lug 52 (not shown in FIG. 3) which projects from the journal 40. Thus, forward movement of the door plate 14 is blocked.

The outer end of the blocking member 51 is provided with a pair of openings 53 which register with the openings 54 between the teeth of the open toothed rack 44. A length of sealing wire or sealing strap 55 may be looped through openings 53 and 54 and sealed by a lead collar 56 in the usual manner to indicate that the door has not been unblocked and lading removed.

In most instances, it is necessary to provide the locking device only on the outer one of the two channels 15 and 16, this being the more accessible of the two. However, the lugs 52 are cast into the door plate 14 in both places, so as to adopt the door plate for use with either a right hand or left hand hopper discharge. As

it shown in FIGS. 5 and 11, however, the pivots 50 and the hinged blocking mem er 51 are also applied to the channel 15.

To summarize the operation, which has been described in detail in connection with the description of the various parts and sub-assemblies, when the door plate 14 is in its closed position, as shown in the figures, a double seal, comprising a continuous inner seal 24 surrounds all four sides of the door plate. A continuous outer seal 25 surrounds three of the sides, and the fourth or front side, is provided with an outer seal 35. Thus, all four sides of the door plate are provided with a double seal.

To open the hopper discharge the sealing wire 55 is first cut, and the blocking member 51 is swung around to clear the lug 52, thereby blocking the door plate 14. Then a suitable handle or bar is inserted into the handle socket 4-3 and rotated. This causes the door to move forwardly, the flanges 23 sliding on the ways 22 until the door plate 14 is completely clear of the hopper chute 12.

A groove 57 is formed in the cross member w, and similarly shaped clips 56 are welded to the flanges of the channels 15 and 16 in order to provide means to which a discharge conduit may be removably secured.

In order to distinguish between the various seals, the outer seal 25 may be referred to as a weight actuated seal since the parts are urged into sealing engagement by the weight of the lading. The inner seal 24, and the outer seal 35 may be referred to as clearance type seals since the sealing action depends not upon any positive pressure engagement of the parts, but rather on the dimensions of the clearance or passageway between the parts, which is desirably maintained as small as possible, say, of the order of 64 Of an inch.

The present invention provides a hopper discharge of greatly simplified construction since there are only three principal elements, the hopper chute 12, the supporting frame 13 and the door plate 14, with the result that the entire structure may be assembled with ease and at low cost. Furthermore, the supporting frame 14 is made up, for the most part, of standard shapes, such as channels, as contrasted with various prior art devices which, due to irregularity of shape, call either for the use of castings or of relatively expensive fabricated parts. The only surfaces which require machining are certain of the cooperating surfaces of the various seals 24, 25, and 35. As a result, the present invention calls for a minimum number of machined surfaces and movable parts, which feature contributes to ease of manufacture and long service life under the extremely severe operating conditions usually encountered.

Another feature of the present invention is that the frame 14 provides continuous ways 22 which support the door in either open or closed position, with the result that no portion of the door weight is taken up by the rack and pinion. Furthermore, the ways 22 comprise the upper surfaces of standard rolled shapes, such as channels, and hence require no machining.

Additionally, it can be pointed out that a simplified type of construction is obtained by having the pinions carried by the door plate 14 and the rack by the frame 13, which is the opposite of the usual type of construction. Nevertheless, the parts are so arranged that the direction of shaft rotation required to open or close the door plate is the same as that of the usual type of construction. As previously pointed out, the present arrangement materially reduces cocking and binding due to the location of the toothed elements 42 and 44.

Although only a preferred embodiment of my invention has been shown and described herein, it will be understood that various modifications and changes may be made in the construction shown without departing from the spirit of my invention as pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A hopper door assembly comprising a hopper chute providing a discharge opening, a door supporting frame and a door plate slidably mounted between said hopper chute and said frame, said frame including two longitudinally disposed members, the upper surfaces of which form ways upon which said door plate is slidably mounted, and including a rear cross member at one end upon which the rear edge of said door plate rests when said door plate is in closed position, the cooperation of said ways and the upper surface of said rear cross member with the edges of said door plate providing a weight actuated seal between said door and said supporting frame along three of the four sides of said door plate, said hopper chute being provided with a lip portion on all four sides thereof which extends into proximity with the upper surface of said door plate to provide a clearance type seal between said hopper chute and said door plate around all four sides of said door plates, and additional sealing means of the clearance type between said chute and said door plate and located forwardly of the corresponding lip portion, whereby a double seal is provided on all four sides of said door plate.

2. A hopper door assembly comprising a hopper chute defining a discharge opening, a frame secured to said hopper chute, a door plate slidably mounted on said frame beneath said discharge opening, said door plate, said frame, and said hopper chute cooperating to provide an annular chamber surrounding the four sides of said discharge opening, said frame and said door plate having portions cooperating with each other to provide a weight actuated outer seal around three sides of said discharge opening, and said hopper chute and said door plate cooperating to provide an inner clearance type seal around the four sides of said opening, and means providing a clearance type outer seal between an extended portion of said door plate and a portion of said frame along the fourth side of said opening, said last-mentioned outer seal providing means being of over-all dimensions sufiicient to permit sliding movement of said door plate therethrough, whereby said outer seals seal said annular chamber from the exterior of the hopper discharge structure, and whereby said inner seal seals said chamber from the interior of said hopper chute.

3. A hopper door assembly comprising a hopper chute defining a discharge opening, a frame structure surrounding said hopper chute and extending downward beneath said discharge opening, a door plate slidably mounted on said frame structure beneath said discharge opening, said hopper chute and said frame structure cooperating with each other to provide an annular recess surrounding said discharge opening, said door plate, when in closed position, cooperating with said annular recess to form a completely enclosed annular chamber, means providing an outer seal separating said annular chamber from the exterior of said hopper discharge structure, and means providing an inner seal separating said annular chamber from the interior of said hopper chute, said outer seal comprising a Weight actuated seal along three sides of said annular chamber and a plurality of clearance type seals along the fourth side, and said inner seal comprising a clearance type seal along all four sides of said annular chamber.

4. A hopper discharge comprising a hopper chute providing a discharge opening, a door supporting frame therefor, a door plate slidably mounted on said frame and beneath said hopper chute and cooperating with said hopper chute to form a seal, an open tooth rack on said supporting frame, a shaft rotatably mounted on said door plate, a pinion secured to said shaft above said rack and meshing therewith whereby rotation of said shaft will cause operation of said door plate, and a blocking member hingedly mounted on said frame and movable between a blocking position in which it rests on said rack to block movement of said door out of closed position and an unblocking position, said blocking member including a plate portion having an opening therein which registers with one of the openings between the teeth of said open tooth rack so that a sealing strap can be passed through said aligned openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 265,804 Herberg et a1 Oct. 10, 1881 310,930 Benson Jan. 20, 1885 1,122,918 Hart et al. Dec. 29, 1914 1,403,166 Johnson Jan. 10, 1922 1,608,303 Crumb Nov. 23, 1926 1,701,971 Chesson Feb. 12, 1929 2,043,615 Hankins June 9, 1936 2,043,616 Hankins June 9, 1936 2,051,985 Cartzdafner Aug. 25, 1936 2,145,173 Hankins Ian. 24, 1939 2,179,887 Giatz Nov. 14, 1939 2,250,524 Dietrichson July 29, 1941 2,386,702 McBride Oct. 9, 1945 2,670,108 Skogstad et a1. Feb. 23, 1954 2,750,074 Dorey June 12, 1956 2,791,973 Dorey May 14, 1957 2,859,707 Dorey Nov. 11, 1958

Claims (1)

1. A HOPPER DOOR ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A HOPPER CHUTE PROVIDING A DISCHARGE OPENING, A DOOR SUPPORTING FRAME AND A DOOR PLATE SLIDABLY MOUNTED BETWEEN SAID HOPPER CHUTE AND SAID FRAME, SAID FRAME INCLUDING TWO LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED MEMBERS, THE UPPER SURFACES OF WHICH FORM WAYS UPON WHICH SAID DOOR PLATE IS SLIDABLY MOUNTED, AND INCLUDING A REAR CROSS MEMBER AT ONE END UPON WHICH THE REAR EDGE OF SAID DOOR PLATE RESTS WHEN SAID DOOR PLATE IS IN CLOSED POSITION, THE COOPERATION OF SAID WAYS AND THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID REAR CROSS MEMBER WITH THE EDGES OF SAID DOOR PLATE PROVIDING A WEIGHT ACTUATED SEAL BETWEEN SAID DOOR AND SAID SUPPORTING FRAME ALONG THREE OF THE FOUR SIDES OF SAID DOOR PLATE, SAID HOPPER CHUTE BEING PROVIDED WITH A LIP PORTION ON ALL FOUR SIDES THEREOF WHICH EXTENDS INTO PROXIMITY WITH THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID DOOR PLATE TO PROVIDE A CLEARANCE TYPE SEAL BETWEEN SAID HOPPER CHUTE AND SAID DOOR PLATE AROUND ALL FOUR SIDES OF SAID DOOR PLATES, AND ADDITIONAL SEALING MEANS OF THE CLEARANCE TYPE BETWEEN SAID CHUTE AND SAID DOOR PLATE AND LOCATED FORWARDLY OF THE CORRESPONDING LIP PORTION, WHEREBY A DOUBLE SEAL IS PROVIDED ON ALL FOUR SIDES OF SAID DOOR PLATE.

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