Abstract: An open top railway hopper car is provided with a car body having the usual end slope sheets and lower side discharge openings. Transverse bulkheads spaced above the end slope sheets to provide the car with a rectangular center compartment particularly adapted to have elongated cargo such as logs and also provide an opening for end compartments which are filled and discharged when the car is used to haul cargo such as wood chips and the like.

Abstract: A trough hatch cover for a covered railway hopper car including an easily replaceable longitudinally convergently tapered elastomeric seal reactive therewith to form a weather-tight seal about the periphery of the hatch when secured by clamps at opposite ends of the hatch cover.

Abstract: A method and device for evenly distributing granular material such as plastic pellets into a railway hopper car to reduce the valley angle, eliminate void spaces, and increase the volume of material in each hopper. A cone-shaped deflector is placed in line with each hatch opening at a point below the roof line. The deflector directs material horizontally away from the hatch opening to reduce and virtually eliminate the valley angle for most granular materials. The cone is hung from support struts which may be suspended from an angular mounting ring which is mounted atop the hatch coaming.

Abstract: A railway car for transporting vehicles comprising a plurality of vertically spaced decks, one of which consists of a rigid central section and at opposite ends hinged deck sections that are adapted to be selectively raised for facilitating the loading of vehicles onto the railway car, and an improved counterbalancing and locking mechanism interconnecting the hinged deck sections and the car structure.

Abstract: A coupler arrangement for rapid transit passenger cars includes a self-centering coupler shank having limited horizontal and vertical swinging movement about a spherical bearing structure. The arrangement includes first and second shock absorbing mechanisms sequentially effective. A pin type coupler includes a locking arrangement on the coupler structure engageable with the coupler pin.

Abstract: A door operating mechanism for a bottom dump railway hopper car including a plurality of longitudinally mounted, divergently opening discharge doors held in the closed position by a plurality of longitudinally spaced claw-like latches. Each pair of transversely opposite latches includes operating rods connecting each latch to a bell-crank positioned beneath the longitudinal hood of the car. The bell-cranks are operatively connected to a longitudinally disposed tension rod, which includes linkages at either end for actuation of the mechanism by trackside mounted cams.

Abstract: Skulls which form within the upper nose section of steelmaking vessels are removed by means of a centrally located top blowing lance designed to blow at high velocity oxygen or other gases. The lance includes laterally extending ports communicating with a central relatively wide gas chamber and the gas is directed generally laterally outwardly against the inner wall of the nose section to retard or remove the skulls.

Abstract: A vehicle hopper construction having longitudinally spaced hopper end slope sheets and hopper cross ridge slope sheets formed prior to assembly in the vehicle hopper so as to provide integral interior hopper corner plates with associated transversely spaced hopper side sheets.

Abstract: A connection for joining the edges of a roof sheet to the wall of a railway car without the use of fasteners such as rivets or welds. The connection is weather-tight and includes an interlock feature which effectively carries the loading encountered during operation of the vehicle. A modified version of the interlock forms a trough for channeling water towards the ends of the railway car.

Abstract: A shear resistant roll restraining means for arresting lateral rolling motion of a railway car including a side bearing upstanding from the truck bolster, a bearing plate structure vertically aligned and abuttably engageable with the side bearing depending from the upwardly and outwardly sloping bottom web of the car body bolster, and a bearing plate coupling having a longitudinal axis extending substantially coaxial with the direction of oscillatory impact loads of the side bearing on the bearing plate.

Abstract: A static switching apparatus for a track vehicle includes a main line track and a switch track which at a switching junction both include a conventional track rail and a specially constructed rail. A switching cam including cam faces is positioned at the junction and includes straight and curved cam surfaces which are selectively engaged by cam followers supported on the vehicle to provide for steering of the vehicle. The cam followers are lowered and raised vertically by fluid extensible devices which also move them in an orbital path into cam surface engagement.

Abstract: An apparatus for pivoting and locking a door on the bottom of a rail hopper car includes a locking mechanism for locking the door when closed and a lever mechanism for pivoting the door between closed and open positions. The locking mechanism and lever mechanism are separate but are operated by a single sliding operating linkage on the bottom of the car.

Abstract: A nailable floor panel structure including a plurality of generally inverted-channel shaped parallel floor planks with depending flanges disposedly downwardly in generally abutting relation, and generally linear end caps affixed and rigidly interconnecting the respective ends of the panel planks. Each end cap includes longitudinally spaced, laterally offset portions corresponding to the floor plank junctures, and cut-out portions at the ends of the cap conforming in shape to the depending flanges of the channel-shaped floor planks. The design provides enhanced structural integrity of the finished floor panel and facilitates modular fabrication of the finished panel.

Abstract: An operating mechanism for sequentially opening and closing hopper discharge door is provided. Longitudinally extending gates are arranged in pairs and are suspended from the hopper by hinge links at one end and by an operator arm located near the center of each gate. A hopper-mounted rotating link is attached to one operator arm and a hopper-mounted bell crank is attached to the other operator arm; both the rotating link and the bell crank are interconnected to sequentially operate the doors. A power cylinder and linkage are connected with the bell crank for automatically opening and closing the doors.

Abstract: A silicate cement composition consisting of a spray dried hydrated sodium silicate powder and a silica polymer-forming agent includes an adhesive agent in the form of urea and sodium acetate which exhibits optimum adhesion to glass, metal, ceramics, wood and portland cement.

Abstract: A hopper car door locking mechanism includes a rotatable latch member which includes a keeper receiving portion. The latch member also includes a positioning portion providing stops which are engaged by a rotatable locking pawl in the closed position of the hopper car door. The rotatable locking pawl includes a cam device which is pivoted in response to reciprocating movement of a rod having a suitable cam surface. The rod also includes a stop device which with the rotatable latch member provides a second stop which therefore provides for double locking of the door.

Abstract: A water cooled material additive chute for introducing fluxing material into a furnace including water cooled inlet and outlet chambers meeting at a tip or nose portion, a local coolant water injection pipe extending through one of the chambers and into the tip region to augment the cooling efficiency of the water coolant, and a pipe structure which accommodates thermal expansion.

Abstract: A door seal for an inside compartment of a railway passenger vehicle. A door that moves on rollers laterally into and from a door opening to a stored position in a hollow portion of an adjacent wall. The lower portion of the door is located adjacent a threshold having a movable, flexible seal that moves between a flat position covering a roller track portion of the threshold to a substantially upright position against the bottom of the door when the door is located in a closed position. The seal is constructed of a resilient material and bends to be urged against the lower portion of the door in such a fashion as to seal out noise, debris, light and the like. When the door is open the seal returns to a flat, horizontal position to prevent an accumulation of debris or dirt in the door track which would interfere with movement of the door.

Abstract: A rail vehicle is disclosed for use on an elevated electric rail system having a lower rail below the vehicle and an upper rail above the vehicle. The vehicle includes a pair of lower wheels having independently rotatable flanges rollably carrying a vehicle cab along the lower rail and an upper wheel having independently rotatable flanges rollably engaging the upper rail. Electric motors, energized through contacts carried on the vehicle by an electric circuit associated with the upper rail, are drivingly connected through drive belts to the respective lower wheel to propel the vehicle along the rail system. The vehicle also includes a clamping rail brake carried by a vehicle which is engagable on the lower rail, and a vertically and laterally extendable servo system secured to the vehicle and carrying the upper wheel.