Abstract: A heat transfer apparatus adapted for installation in a mobile liquid container such as a railroad tank car. The apparatus includes inlet and outlet ports at opposite ends of a continuous finned pipe. The continuous finned pipe extends within the container to provide a surface for conductive heat transfer from the heat transfer fluid flowing through the pipe to the contents of the container.The continuous finned pipe is provided with shock absorbers and flexible loop portions to prevent damage to the apparatus from inertial shocks to the container. A preferred embodiment is designed particularly for use in railroad tank cars adapted to carry molten sulfur. The apparatus is used to remelt the sulfur, which has solidified in transit, for unloading.

Abstract: A railroad bed has an elastomeric mat which supports the ballast and on which the sleepers and rails are mounted. The mat has an upper surface formed by a metal or plastic sheet which prevents penetration of the ballast into the elastomeric body.

Abstract: A brake arrangement is disclosed for rail vehicles which include two track wheel sets having two wheels connected by a shaft. A multi-stage reduction gear is connected to each track wheel shaft. The two multi-stage reduction gears are connected to an electric motor which has an armature shaft extending in the direction of movement of the rail vehicle. Each multi-stage reduction gear has at least one intermediate power transmission shaft which extends out of a housing of the reduction gear. At least one disc brake is connected to each intermediate shaft at a position outside the reduction gear housing. A caliper arrangement with calipers and caliper actuators is rigidly connected to the housing and engages the disc so that there is no relative movement between the disc and the housing during operation of the rail vehicle.

Abstract: An extendible and contractible bulkhead for a trailer is provided to accommodate high density loads and low density loads requiring more storage space. The bulkhead includes a plurality of spaced diagonal braces for receiving load forces and for transmitting them to the main structure of the trailer.

Abstract: Large metal plates (120) located on each side of a railway hopper car are used to connect the hopper slope sheets (102, 104) to the car body sides (16) and longitudinally extending side sills (112). The large plates are generally "U" shaped and include legs (124, 126) which extend downwardly from the joint between the transverse bulkheads (14) and the slope sheets downwardly along each of the slope sheets. The plates are connected to the car body sides (16) to a smaller side sill reinforcing plate (121) and the side sill (112) with mechanical fasteners (128, 129) such as Huck bolts. The plate includes flange portions (132, 134) extending inwardly from the car body sides containing openings or slots (132, 134) to receive transversely extending reinforcements (140), preferably I beams (142, 142') which reinforce the hopper slope sheets and which are held in place adjacent, but spaced from, the car body sides and side sill with gussets (146) integrally connected to the large plates.

Abstract: Bulkhead supports (18) are integrally connected to opposite side portions of a filament wound hopper car body (16). The bulkhead supports include longitudinally spaced extensions (20, 22) extending inwardly from the car body sides. The transverse bulkheads (14) are located within the extensions on either side of the car with longitudinal clearance (31). Resilient bulkhead cushioning members (32) are located between the bulkhead and each extension. The resilient bulkhead cushioning members extend only a short distance transversely to reduce or substantially eliminate the introduction of bending moments into the car body sides when the transverse bulkheads are subjected to lading loads.

Abstract: A rail wheel has in one of its rim surfaces, preferably the inner one, a circumferential undercut groove. Vibration-damping elements are connected to the wheel by means of screws which either engage in the undercut groove via appropriately shaped heads, or are threaded into wedges lodged in the groove.

Abstract: A wheeled carriage is proposed which is capable of moving on rails to-and-fro, and of moving on a railless flat floor in any desired direction. The carriage has at least three pivotable wheel units. Each of these units consists of a first wheel and a second wheel. The first wheel comprises a core wheel portion and a raised peripheral wheel portion surrounding the latter. The second wheel resembles substantially the core wheel portion of the first wheel. The wheel unit is designed for making two contact points with rails when seen at its side view and equally two contact points with rails when seen at its front or rear view.

Abstract: Heating apparatus is described that is particularly adapted for thawing frozen particulate material in railroad hopper cars. The apparatus is a low profile, fuel-fired heater adapted for installation between rails traversed by the hopper cars within a thawing shed. The construction employs heat-radiating metal plates forming an elongated gas-conducting chamber through which high velocity combustion gases are conducted. The arrangement of plates is such as to enhance the emission of radiant heat to the hopper car bottoms with appropriately positioned heat insulated regions to protect hopper car brake hoses, or the like, from damage caused by overheating.

Abstract: A railway hopper car has a through center sill including an elongated central section substantially A-shaped in transverse cross section, two end sections substantially hat-shaped in transverse cross section and two transition sections respectively connecting said end sections to the adjacent ends of the central section. The central section has upper and lower parts, each of which may comprise a plurality of subsections arranged in end-to-end relationship. Each transition section includes a transition member rectangular at one end for mating with the end section and trapezoidal at the other end for mating with the lower part of the central section. Each transition section also includes an inverted V-shaped top reinforcing member and a horizontal bottom reinforcing plate. Alternative forms of the lower part of the central section are disclosed.

Abstract: A frame fixture having a support base, receiving plate, a pair of carrier bolts and a post, the fixture is placed onto the top of a telephone switchgear frame so that the base grips the frame. The post has two carrier bolts extending therefrom and further has a cargo bar placed transversely to the bolts and is located therebetween. A receiving plate is attached to the bolts to fasten the cargo bar between the post and plate. A plurality of spaced switchgear frames in a transport vehicle are adapted to be interconnected by the cargo bar so as to prevent toppling of the former about their bases.

Abstract: A self-propelled device prevents any sliding on a track cable, no matter what the slope of the latter, by means of a dynamic clamping action which is self-gripping, self-stabilizing, self-controlled and proportional to the load. The device comprises a device for the automatic coupling and uncoupling of the engine, an end of travel automatic braking device and an automatic control device for lowering the speed in the case of a breakdown on a steep slope. The device can be used for the overhead hauling and transportation of various loads (lifting, handling, lumbering, civil engineering). It could also be used for transporting people (self-propelled ropeway or ski lift), as well as for the installation of small cables during the installation and maintenance of electric power lines.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for securing a wheelchair and its occupant to the interior of a vehicle is disclosed, in which a pair of elongated flexible tensioning straps are secured at one end to the floor of the vehicle behind the wheelchair, a hood member carried by the intermediate portion of each is placed over the upper peripheries of each of the large wheels of the wheelchair and the opposite end portion slidably extends through a keeper secured to the floor ahead of the wheelchair and thence upwardly where its terminal portion is secured to the wheelchair frame. A section of a restraining belt is carried by intermediate portions of each of the tensioning straps, the sections connecting transversely between the straps to cooperatively restrain the occupant in the wheelchair.

Abstract: A system for fastening a rail to a foundation such as railroad ties or sleepers to form a railroad track. The system includes L-shaped inserts which are imbedded into the foundation and extending above it, supports which are laterally located with respect to the rails, and a fastening member or clip securing the rails. The main portion of each clip is mounted between the insert and the foundation, and one end contacts the upper surface of the supports. The other end of the clip contacts the flange of the rail, and has an offset lower surface which applies vertical and lateral pressure to the edge of the flange. The clip is made of a metal material and is a resilient spring having a multiple curved cross-section in order to apply compressive forces to the rail flange, the curved portions having undulating portions which make the various contacts.

Abstract: A low rate soft primary system for a railway truck includes a pair of longitudinally disposed assemblies on opposite sides of a journal bearing for carrying a wheel-axle unit. Each of said assemblies includes a plurality of laminated rubber strips separated by relatively thin metal strips oriented parallel to the vertical axis of the journal bearing. The layers of the laminated assembly form angles opening towards or away from the journal bearing somewhat in the shape of chevrons. The assemblies provide relatively high spring rates for lateral and longitudinal loads and low spring rates for vertical loads.

Abstract: A sleeve having a readily removeable attachment to a tank containing gritty particulate supports a piston and cylinder device for opening normally closed valve seats to permit flow of the particulate to the path of a rolling vehicle wheel. The device is actuated to open position by compressed gas which is directed against the particulate flowing through the sleeve only when the valve seats are open.

Abstract: A device for the front end locking of containers on a chassis comprising a lock bolt movable in a guideway approximately parallel with the longitudinal axis of the chassis and between a locking and a release position while coupled to an operating handle which is swivelable on a holding fixture. The guideway and holding fixture are jointly fixed on a mounting plate oriented perpendicular to the plane of movement of the operating handle. The mounting plate is located on the end of the guideway facing the locking part of the lock bolt.

Abstract: A covered railway hopper car includes side walls comprising upper arcuate side sheet and lower flat inclined side sheet portions. The upper edge of the flat side sheet is bent to form a longeron which extends intermediate the height of the side wall and which is attached adjacent the lower edge of the arcuate side wall. A side sill extends longitudinally on the exterior of the flat side sheet to form, together with the longeron, reinforcement for the side walls. The car also includes an end structure comprising a vertical plate extending upwardly into support of the end slope walls of the car at a location intermediate the length of the end slope walls and a vertical support of the interior of the wall above the plate to distribute forces directly from the center plate of the car to the roof at a location spaced from the vertical end walls of the car.

Abstract: A spring-biased restraining member is retracted by means of a remotely positioned, manually operable lever being outside the cargo space; the linkage includes a hydraulic structure for delayedly returning the lever and the restraining member to the protracted position. The linkage unlocks a latch and enables the cargo to overrun the restraining member even from that side that is to lock the cargo when the restraining member is in its locked position. In the other direction, the restraining member is overridden by the cargo out of each position of the restraining member structure between the lever and the restraining member.

Abstract: A center plate structure for a railway vehicle is provided which utilizes a polymeric wear-resistant tubular liner disposed in sandwiched relation between a cylindrical outside surface of a center plate of the body of the railway vehicle and a cylindrical inside surface of an upstanding peripheral flange of an associated bolster bowl of a truck of the railway vehicle wherein a continuous uninterrupted metal ring is fixed against a top portion of the inside surface of the flange with the ring serving to engage the top surface of the polymeric liner and prevent vertical cold flow of the polymeric material comprising same from between the cylindrical surfaces.