Vehicle Hopper Door Operating Mechanism

Abstract

A hopper vehicle having hopper door operating mechanism opening a pair of laterally spaced bottom hopper door means, the mechanism including for each pair of door means a pair of opposed air cylinder means each connecting with a plurality of racks for driving same opposite to the other plurality of racks and in turn rotating a corresponding plurality of pinion means to each of which is connected a horizontal drive link which is carried in an arcuate path laterally and has connected to it a pair of laterally extending door connecting arm means for simultaneously opening and closing said pair of laterally opposed door means.

Description

SUMMARY

This invention relates to door operating means for hopper means and in particular relates to a door operating mechanism for opening and closing the bottom doors of a hopper railroad car.

It is a general object of this invention to provide for laterally spaced longitudinally opposed power means which in turn rotates pinion means for rotating link means the end of which is connected door connecting arms which are moved in an arc laterally inwardly and outwardly attendant to opening and closing the hopper doors.

These and other objects will become more apparent from reference to the following description and appended claims and attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hopper car;

FIG. 2 is a partial top plan view of the hopper car in section;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the hopper car with the hopper doors in the closed position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the doors in the open position;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial sectional view illustrating the door operating mechanism on the hopper car with the doors in the closed position;

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 5 and having parts removed and illustrating the crossbearer, center sill and slope sheet configuration; and

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 5 with parts removed and showing the arrangement between the slope sheets, the crossbearer and a center sill of the car.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular with reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a hopper car 1 having a hopper body 2a provided with hopper portions 2 and hopper slope sheets 2b (see FIGS. 3 and 4). The hopper is provided with two longitudinally spaced pairs of laterally spaced hopper doors 3 for corresponding hoppers. The car is further provided with a ladder 4 at the ends 5 and also has sides 6 and a center sill 7 and side sills 8. The ends of the center sill are provided with draft couple means 9 and the car is supported by the usual trucks 10. The bottom hopper doors 3 are opened and closed by the door operating mechanism 11.

With reference now to FIGS. 2 through 5 it is seen that the door operating mechanism 11 includes two power means or air cylinders means 12 that are spaced laterally from one another and oppose one another longitudinally of the car. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 5 each of the air cylinder means 12 are spaced longitudinally of one another and operate in opposite directions with respect to one another for opening (see direction of open arrow in FIG. 5) or closing doors 3. FIG. 3 illustrates the closed position and FIG. 4 illustrates the open position. The respective cylinders 13 of the respective cylinder means 12 operate through the outwardly extending piston rod or rod means 14 and 14a, to operate the longitudinally extending racks 16 which in turn act upon the pinions 19 to in turn operate on the door operating linkage for opening and closing the doors. The cylinders 13 are of the double acting double ended type wherein 14 represents one piston rod portion. As illustrated in FIG. 2 each air cylinder means 12 operates three racks, one on either side of the cylinder 13 and one connected by means of a connecting member or pipe or longitudinal transfer link 18. Each rack is provided with rack teeth 17. Each set of air cylinders and racks cooperate to rotate a set of three pinions 19 each having teeth 19a. Each pinion 19 and its associated pair of racks 16 are held in a rack and pinion guide structure 16a having an upper frame or support 16b and a lower frame or support 16d connecting with lateral or vertically extending guide end members 16c. Each of the lower frame portions or supports 16d has an extension end 16e which can engage with a stop lock 16f mounted on drive link 21 whereby when the link 21 moves into the closed over-center position the stop lock 16 engages the fixed or car mounted lower frame end 16e (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

The pinion 19 which is fixedly attached to a pinion drive shaft 20 causes rotation of said shaft 20 which is fixedly attached to the door arm drive link 21 which rotates about its axis in a counter-clockwise direction to open and a clockwise direction to close the doors as seen in FIG. 5. At each end of each of the door arm drive links 21 there is carried door link connecting pin 22 to which is connected by loose connection 23 of the end of the door link or arm 24. It will be noted that the door arms cross one another so that they connect with opposite pins 22. Each door arm or link 24 is provided with an end turn buckle or adjustable portion 24c which has an eye 24b which is attached to the connector rod 24a which in turn is attached to a pair of longitudinally spaced members 24a connecting with the laterally opposed pair of doors 3. These connector pins 24a are provided between and connect with the two doors 3 on each side of the car and at the outer ends of each of the two longitudinally spaced doors on each side of the car. This pinion door drive link 21 and the pair of door link means 24 is therefore provided for at the center of the car and at each of the ends of each of the doors 3 (see FIG. 2).

With reference now to FIGS. 6 and 7 it is seen that the center sill 7 includes a top or horizontal plate 26 and vertical side plate portions 27 having lower horizontal end portions 28 supported on the crossbearer 29. The crossbearers are of two types, namely, crossbearer 30 as shown in FIG. 6 and crossbearer 31 shown in FIG. 7. The crossbearer 30 is provided with a rectangular frame opening 30a for receiving the connector or longitudinal transfer pipe and is provided with a circular opening 30b for receiving the protecting cover or boot 15 covering the piston rod shaft portion 14a. The crossbearer 31 as seen in FIG. 7 is provided with a first round opening 31a to receive one of the racks 16 while the other opening 31b in the crossbearer plate receives the other rack 16. The slope sheets 2b connect with the center inverted v-shaped structure or hood 32 which is attached to the center sill 7 as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Thus what is provided here is a pair of opposed laterally spaced and longitudinally spaced air cylinder means which cooperate by movement of the respective piston and piston rod means in opposite directions to reciprocate three sets of rack means to develop a couple on three associated pinion means for in turn rotating three sets of longitudinally spaced of door drive linkage and in turn swinging three sets of crisscrossed door link means in arcuate paths for opening and closing two longitudinally spaced sets of laterally opposed pair of associated hopper doors. The door operating means is suspended from he center sill structure and reciprocates through the crossbearers. The suitable stops 16f and 16e on the rotating door opening structure 21 and on the car structure 16d respectively limit any further movement of the door operating linkage in the door closing direction when the door links are in an over-center door closed position.

The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate the invention and the invention is not limited thereto, except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, as those skilled in the art who have the disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. In a hopper vehicle having hopper door operating mechanism opening a pair of laterally spaced opposed hopper door means, the mechanism including for each pair of door means:

a pair of opposed power drive means,

each power drive means having drive link means extendable in reciprocating fashion longitudinally of the car and in driving opposition to the other drive link means,

each drive link means having rack means extending longitudinally of the car and movable in a direction opposite the rack means of the other drive link means,

pinion means being disposed between each of the rack means and rotated thereby,

drive lever means connecting with pinion means and having opposed arm end portions,

a pair of door arm link means each connecting with one of the arm end portions and crossable past the other door arm link means and connecting with a respective door means whereby the door arm link means are carried in an arcuate path laterally of one another for alternately opening and closing said pair of laterally opposed door means, and

a plurality of cross-bearer means and said rack means and said drive link means being extendable through said cross-bearer means.