US3296980A

US3296980A - Railway hopper car closure latching and sealing means

Info

Publication number: US3296980A
Application number: US304445A
Authority: US
Inventors: William E Fritz
Original assignee: Union Tank Car Co
Current assignee: Union Tank Car Co
Priority date: 1963-08-26
Filing date: 1963-08-26
Publication date: 1967-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 1984-01-10
Also published as: US3420501A; US3322469A

Description

RLWAY BUFFER CAB CLOSURE LATGHING AND SEALING MEANS Filed Aug. R6, 3.963 C6 Sheets-5heet l INVENTOR.

Jim. my WW?? MEANS RAILWAY HOPPER CAR CLOSURE LATCHING AND SEALING Filed Aug.

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RAILWAY HOPPER CAR CLOSURE LATCHING AND SEALING MEANS Filed Aug. 2e, 1965 l5 Sheets-5heet :5

NVENTR.

United States Patent 3,296,980 RAILWAY HOPPER CAR CLOSURE LATCHING AND SEALING MEANS William E. Fritz, Hinsdale, Ill., assgnor to Union Tank Car Compa-ny, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Aug. 26, 1963, Ser. No. 304,445 Claims. (Cl. 10S-248) This invention relates to closures for railroad cars, and more particularly to sealing arrangements for hopper car discharge outlets.

Since railroad hopper cars are not subject to constant observation, it sometimes happens that a material discharge valve becomes inadvertently opened in transit, thus causing unintentional discharge of material. This invention prevents unintentional discharge of material from railroad vehicles by providing an arrangement in which a single car seal connects the operating handle of a discharge outlet cover plate and the operating shaft of a valve for closing the outlet port; thus if either the valve or the cover plate has been opened, the evidence is readily apparent by observation of the car seal.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide improved means for controlling the discharge of materials from a railroad car.

Another object is to provide an improved railroad hopper car.

Another object is to provide an improved railroad vehicle sealing arrangement.

Another object is to provide means for preventing unintentional gravity discharge from a railroad hopper car.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawing, specification and claims, and the scope of the invention will be pointed out in the claims.

Briefly stated, according to one aspect of this invention, the discharge outlet of a railroad car is closed by a valve and sealed by a cover plate; the operating handle for the cover plate has means dimensioned to receive the valve shaft, and the receiving means and shaft have aligned holes therein so that a single car seal can interlock the valve and cover plate.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of `a railroad hopper car in accord with this invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially broken away end elevation taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a enlarged side elevation of the discharge arrangement at the bottom of the hopper shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is `an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged broken away plan view taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a partially broken 'away end elevation view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is an exploded, fragmentary, cross sectional view of the closure plate and side wall of FIG. 6, with the closure plate in a vertical, fully open position.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the relative positions of the closure plate and side wall of FIG. 7 when the closure plate is in its 4closed position.

FIG. 9 is a partially broken away elevational view taken along the line 9 9 in FIG. 3, and showing the outlet sealing means in open position.

Referring to the drawings, a railroad hopper car 1 has Ia vent hatch 3 and contains a finely divided material 5 stored in a hopper 7 defined by sloping walls 8. The material 5 is unloaded through discharge port 9 in -an outlet housing 11. A valve 19 having a substantially fiat closure plate 21 controls the discharge flow of material 5.

The degree of opening of plate 21 is controlled by a 3,296,980 Patented Jan. 10, 1967 ICC lever 23 connected to horizontal shaft 25. The head of lever 23 contains a conduit 26. A locking peg 30 comprising a handle 31 and a shank 33, having a reduced portion 34, passes through conduit 26 and into one of a number of receptacles 35 whose distances apart on 4arc 36 correspond to various predetermined degrees of opening of valve 19. Receptacle 37 determines the closed position of valve 19, and receptacles 38 determine the various open positions of valve 19. A compression spring 39 receives portion 34 and urges peg 30 into any chosen receptacle.

A cover plate 32 having a lip 44 protects port 17 from atmospheric contamination. Cover 32 is pivotally mounted on lug 40 at hinge 41 through arm 42. As shown in FIG. 4, a gasket 43 may be placed between cover 32 `and a flange 45 on valve 19 to seal port 17. A lock 47 holds cover 32 in a closed position. Lock 47 includes Iarms 49 swingably mounted on fixed horizontal shafts 51, which are `mounted on housing 11. Arms 49 support la rotatable horizontal shaft 53 having cams 55 mounted thereon. Shaft 53 is parallel to and below the edge of lip 44 so that when cover 32 is in its closed position lip 44 will rest on cams 55. A horizontal stop 57 having an arcuate cross section is attached to the base of .arms 49 adjacent and parallel to shaft 53 so that cams 55 will contact stop 57 after partial rotation of shaft 53.

A -bend in shaft 53 defines an operating handle 59, having a U-shaped clevis 63 pivotally mounted on a pin 60 at its head. Clevis 63 is dimensioned to receive the outer end of shaft 25 which extends beyond housing 11. Aligned apertures 65 in clevis 63 are concentric with a hole 67 through the end of shaft 25, so that a car seal 69 can simultaneously pass through apertures 65 and hole 67. This permits a single car seal to fixedly intercon nect handle 59 and shaft 25 so that the seal 69 must be broken before either valve 19 or cover 32 can be opened. Alternatively, clevis 63 could be placed on shaft 25 and dimensioned to receive handle 59, with the remaining `features `and operation of the sealing arrangement being as described above.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a gas plenum chamber 70 is mounted in housing 11. A gas inlet. line 71 having a removable lcap 72 supplies chamber 70 with pressurized gas from any conventional source (not shown). Mounted above the chamber 70 is a screen 73 supporting a gas permeable membrane 75, such as burlap or woven polypropylene. Hold down strips 77 secure membrane 75 and screen 73 to the walls of chamber 704 with bolts 79. Membrane 75 slopes downwardly toward port 17 and has its lower end adjacent a substantially rectangular valve seat chamber 81. End 80 is situated at the top of short vertical end wall 82 of cham-ber 81, and end 80 is parallel to and lower in elevation than shaft 25 which defines the pivot axis of valve 19. Application of pressurized gas through inlet 71 to chamber 70 will cause an aerating stream 78 to flow upwardly toward vent hatch 3 `and thus through material on top of plate 21.

Chamber 81 also has a high vertical end wall 83 and side walls 84. Shaft 25 is parallel to walls 82 and 83, and passes through openings in each wall 84; the openings in Walls 84 are sealed by rubber gaskets 85 compressed against the outside of walls 84 by bearings 86.

Plate 21 is fixedly mounted on shaft 25 to rotate therewith for opening and closing valve 19. Plate 21 has side edges 87, each of which has a central flat portion 89 in a vertical plane when in -the position shown in FIG. 7. Biased fiat portions 91 project toward side walls 84 from portion 89. Each portion 91 has a longitudinal center line 93 which intersects the longitudinal center line 94 of shaft 25 at a first acute angle 0, at a point 95; each wall 84 has a fiat sealing surface 99 sloping downwardly toward plate 21. For proper sealing of plate 21 against Walls 84, the plane of surface 99 should intersect center line 94 at point 95 at a second angle tb whcih is smaller than angle 0. This permits edge 91 Ito seal against surface 99 by straight line contact because edge 91 will be Wholly in the plane of surface 99. This can be explained by the geometry of intersecting surfaces, which reveals that the rotation of shaft 25 causes edges 91 to generate an imaginary conical surface of revolution having the shape of a frustum of a cone whose vertex is coincident with point 95. During such rotation, each edge 91 lies entirely in the line of intersection of the imaginary conical surface with different planes which pass through point 95, because point 95 corresponds to the vertex of the imaginary conical surface and a plane passing through the vertex of a cone will intersect the cone in a straigh-t line. Thus on rotation of shaft 25 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 8, edge 91 will approach surface 99 and finally bind thereagainst in a sealing manner by lying entirely in the plane of surface 99.

A vertical portion 101 depends from the lower edge of surface 99 and is in sliding sealing contact with edge 89 of plate 21. The Vertical length of surface 101 is less than the true length of edge 39 in order to prevent edge 99 from binding against surface 101 during rotation.

Wall 84 also has a portion 102 which slants upwardly toward plate 21 to a connection with the bottom of surface 101. Plate 21 has a lower biased side edge 100 which cooperates with portion 102 in a manner identical to that in which edge 91 cooperates with surface 99, except that edge 91 must rota-te downwardly to contact surface 99, while edge 100 must rotate upwardly to contact surface 102.

Plate 21 has a lower end edge 103 which is located directly below shaft 25 when plate 21 is in widest open or vertical position and an upper end edge 105 which is located directly above shaft 25 when plate 21 is in such vertical position. When plate 21 is in its closed position, edge 103 is in sealing contact with Wall 82, and edge 105 is in sealing contact with wall 83.

The dimensions of

edges

91, 100, 103 and 105 are such that they will contact their respective valve seats on Walls S2, 83 and 34 simultaneously. All edges of plate 21 are cushioned by a rubber coating so as to be at least as soft as the internal surfaces of chamber 81, which may be coated with an epoxy paint to prevent the stored commodity from contacting the metal from which the apparatus is made.

Operation of the invention Referring to FIGS. l, 3 and 5, car 1 is inspected by a workman prior to discharging nely divided material 5. Observation of an unbroken car seal 69 connecting handle 59 and shaft 25 indicates that during transit neither valve 19 nor cover plate 32 have been opened because car seal 69 prevents rotation of handle 59 and shaft 25.

Car seal 69 is then broken. Clevis 63 is removed from the end of shaft 25 and arm 59 is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 3, rotating horizontal shaft 53 and cams 55 until cams 55 contact stop 57. Further rotation of arm 59 swings arm 49 in a clockwise direction around shaft 51 until cams 55 no longer contact lip 44 of cover 32. Cover 32 will then rotate downwardly around hinge 41 to open port 17. A flexible hose (not shown) is attached in a conventional manner to flange 45, for conducting the material 5 from the car.

Hatch 3 is then opened, and pressurized gas is introduced into chamber 70 through line 71. Stream 78 then iiows through membrane 75 upwardly toward hatch 3 and crosses plate 21 through material 5, the weight of which tends to rotate plate .21 into more tightly sealing contact with chamber 81. This fluidizes material 5 above plate 21 and will permit rotation of plate 21 in a counterclockwise direction against the weight of material 5. Handle 31 of peg 30 is pulled outwardly to compress spring 39 and remove shank 33 from receptacle 37. Operating handle 23 is then rotated in a counterclockwise direction 4 to open valve 19. Plate 21 is held in a fixed open position by allowing peg 30 to enter any desired receptacle 38.

Walls 8 of hopper 7 have an angle with the horizontal which is greater than the angle of repose of material 5 when aerated. Therefore, iiow of material 5 will commence through valve 19 as soon as plate 21 is opened, and the flow will continue until hopper 7 is empty.

Emanation of stream 7 8 from chamber 70 is continued in order to displace quantities of material 5 falling on membrane 75 from upper regions of hopper 7. Most of stream 78 will then accompany material 5 through port 17, because this is the path of least resistance. When hopper 7 is empty, the gas is shut off, and the flexible hose is removed from flange 45. Plate 21 is then turned toward its closed position by rotating handle 23 so that peg 31 approaches receptacle 37. Rotation of plate 21 to its closed position causes edge to contact wall 83 of sea-t chamber S1, and edge 103 to contact wall 82. Simultaneously, edge 91 approaches surface 99 by rotating around center line 94 of shaft 25. Since portion 89 has a true length greater than the vertical length of por-tion 101, no part of portion 91 will contact portion 99 until the entire area of portion 91 seals against surface 99 by lying completely on the plane of surface 99. This single line of con-tact sealing action between portion 91 and wall 84 precludes the possibility of abrasion of the coating on wall S4 due to scraping by portion 91.

Since none of the sealing surfaces in chamber 81 are horizontal, finely divided material 5 will not be trapped while passing through valve 19; this prevents stagnation and interference with sealing engagement between plate 21 and chamber 81.

In a commercial embodiment of this invention, a railroad hopper car had 3 hoppers, each about 126" high, each capable of containing about 1200 cubic feet of flour, and a uidizing discharge arrangement in the bottom of each hopper as previously described having the following approximate specications:

Plate 19:

Material: Steel, coated with 3716 thick Type W neoprene rubber of 30 durometer hardness. End edge 10S-length: 2'61/2 Central flat side portion 89-length: 3%" -Biased side portion 91-length: 12%2 Angle 0: 7845 Valve seat chamber 81:

Vertical planar portion 101-leugth: 111/16" Angle rb: 7635 In operation of a commercial embodiment of this invention having the aforementioned specifications, it was impossible to manually rotate plate 19 against the load of our bearing thereon. However, after applying a fluidiz ing air stream at an average ow rate of about 200 c.f.m. for about five minutes, plate 19 Was easily rotated manually to its open position.

It will be understood that while the forms of the invention herein shown and described constitute preferred embodiments, it is not intended herein to illustrate all of the equivalent forms or ramifications thereof. It will also be understood that the Words used are Words of description rather than of limitation, and that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention herein disclosed, and it is aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes as fall within the true spirit .and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railroad car comprising:

(A) means deiining a discharge outlet,

(B) means for opening and closing said outlet, and

(C) independently operable cover means for sealing said outlet below said opening and closing means,

the improvement in means for preventing inadvertent opening of either said opening and closing means or said cover means comprising:

(1) first means for operating said opening and closing means,

(2) -second means for closing said cover means,

(3) said first and second means being independently operable,

(4) means providing aligned openings in said rst and second means when said opening and closing means and said cover means are both closed,

(5) a car seal passing through said aligned openings so as to fxedly interconnect said said first and second means, and

(6) said first and second means being constructed and arranged such that movement of either said first means or said second means -relative to the other breaks said car seal,

(D) whereby presence of an unbroken car seal confirms that neither said opening and closing means nor said cover means has been opened.

2. In a railroad car comprising:

(A) means defining a discharge outlet,

(B) a valve for opening and closing said outlet, and

(C) an independently operable cover plate for sealing said outlet below said valve,

the improvement in means for preventing inadvertent opening of either said valve or said cover plate comprising:

(l) first means for opening ,said valve,

(2) second means including an operating handle 4for holding said cover plate closed,

(3) means providing aligned openings in said handle and said valve opening means When said valve and said cover plate are both closed,

(4) a car seal passing through lsaid aligned openings so as to fixedly interconnect said first and second means, and

(5) said first and second means being constructed and arranged such that movement of either said first means or second means relative to the other breaks said car seal,

3. In a railroad hopper car comprising:

(A) a hopper discharge outlet,

(B) a pivotable valve for opening and closing said outlet, and

(l) shaft means pivotably supporting said valve, there being a hole through said Shaft means,

(2) means for holding said cover plate closed including (a) an operating handle,

(b) clevis means on said handle dimensioned to receive said shaft,

(c) there being an aperture through said clevis means,

(3) said handle, said shaft means and said clevis means `being positioned so that when said valve and said cover .plate are both closed, said clevis means receives said shaft,

(4) said hole and said aperture being positioned so that when said shaft is received by said clevis means, said hole and aperture are aligned,

comprising:

(A) a hopper having a bottom discharge outlet,

(B) a pivotable valve for opening and closing said outlet, and

(C) an independently operable external cover plate for sealing said outlet below said valve,

( l) shaft means pivotably supporting said valve, there being a hole through said shaft means,

(b) a pivotable U-shaped clevis on Asaid handle and dimensioned to receive said shaft means,

(c) there being aligned apertures through said clevis,

(3) said handle, said shaft means and said clevis being independently operable and being positioned so that when said valve and said cover plate are both closed, said clevis receives said shaft means,

(4) said hole and said apertures being positioned so that Iwhen said shaft means is received by said clevis, said hole and apertures are all aligned,

(5) a car seal passing through said hole and said apertures so as to fixedly interconnect said handle and said shaft means, and

(6) said handle and said shaft means being constructed and arranged such that movement of either said handle or said shaft means relative to the other breaks said car seal,

(D) whereby presence of an unbroken car seal confirms that neither said valve nor said cover plate has been opened.

5. In a railroad car for transporting finely divided material,

(A). means adapted to be connected to a source of pressurized gas for uidizing said finely divided material,

(B) means defining a discharge outlet for fiuidized finely divided` material,

(C) valve means for opening and closing said outlet,

and'

(D) independently operable cover means for sealing said outlet below said valve means,

the improvement in means for preventing inadvertent opening of either said valve means or said cover means comprising:

(1) first means for operating said valve means,

(2) second means for closing said cover means,

(3) means providing aligned openings in said first and second means when said valve means and said cover means are both closed,

7 (4) a car seal passing through said aligned openings so as to lixedly interconnect said and `second means, and (5) said first and second means being constructed and arranged such that movement of either said first means or said second means relative to the other breaks said car seal, (E) whereby presence of an unbroken car seal conrms that neither said opening and closing means nor saidcover means has been opened.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 95,717 10/1869 Noling 298-3 754,351 3/1904 Shelton 10S-308 X 8 Johnson 10S-308 Balthasar 251-305 `Campbell 10S-239 Zimmer 105-250 Holly 214-8328 McKenna 214-8328 Wine et al 105-283 X McBride et al. 105-309 X Doyle 222-506 Brown 251-305 Johansson et al. 222-506 X Mulcahy 105--250 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

15 LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiner.

H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. IN A RAILROAD CAR COMPRISING: (A) MEANS DEFINING A DISCHARGE OUTLET, (B) MEANS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING SAID OUTLET, AND (C) INDEPENDENTLY OPERABLE COVER MEANS FOR SEALING SAID OUTLET BELOW SAID OPENING AND CLOSING MEANS, THE IMPROVEMENT IN MEANS FOR PREVENTING INADVERTENT OPENING OF EITHER SAID OPENING AND CLOSING MEANS OR SAID COVER MEANS COMPRISING: (1) FIRST MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID OPENING AND CLOSING MEANS, (2) SECOND MEANS FOR CLOSING SAID COVER MEANS, (3) SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEANS BEING INDEPENDENTLY OPERABLE, (4) MEANS PROVIDING ALIGNED OPENINGS IN SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEANS WHEN SAID OPENING AND CLOSING MEANS AND SAID COVER MEANS ARE BOTH CLOSED, (5) A CAR SEAL PASSING THROUGH SAID ALIGNED OPENINGS SO AS TO FIXEDLY INTERCONNECT SAID SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEANS, AND (6) SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEANS BEING CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED SUCH THAT MOVEMENT OF EITHER SAID FIRST MEANS OR SAID SECOND MEANS RELATIVE TO THE OTHER BREAKS SAID CAR SEAL, (D) WHEREBY PRESENCE OF AN UNBROKEN CAR SEAL CONFIRMS THAT NEITHER SAID OPENING AND CLOSING MEANS NOR SAID COVER MEANS HAS BEEN OPENED.