Abstract: A rail car sliding door includes a substantially rectangular frame having a pair of side frame members and top and bottom frame members which are secured to each other. At least one corrugated panel is secured to the frame. Top, bottom and side reinforcing channels are secured to a respective one of the frame members for door strengthening purposes. The top and bottom reinforcing channels extend over the side reinforcing channels to the door side edges for better bearing loads imposed on the door. The door may advantageously be provided with a corrugated metal panel in which substantially equal amounts of panel material are provided on each side of a plane which bisects the door thickness dimension. The door also may advantageously be provided with a hasp which is secured to the door by means of a U-shaped hasp securing member.

Abstract: Disclosed is an intermodal railway car 100 capable of carrying a number of different designs of highway vehicle trailers or cargo containers used to ship goods over such distances as will make railway transportation of such trailers or containers economically advantageous over other forms of transporting such goods to the marketplace. The intermodal railway car 100 is designed with a reduced profile vertically and laterally to allow clearance of Association of American Railroads clearance diagram-plae "B". Furthermore, the car is designed to minimize cost in terms of the use of standard railway trucks 108 to support more than one intermodal railway car 100 thereby reducing the number of trucks 108 and the expense thereof for the construction of such intermodal railway cars 100 by the factor of the number of intermodal railway cars 100 minus one.

Abstract: A sliding gate for closing the discharge opening of a hopper having inclined side walls is mounted on elongated low-friction bodies or assemblies secured between the underside of upturned inclined side margins of the gate and the top sides of inclined side walls of a discharge chute secured to the hopper and extending below the discharge opening. The elongated low-friction bodies or assemblies are mounted to create a labyrinth seal by methods which include the use of a plurality of integral stud portions extending through corresponding openings along the inclined side margins of the gate, adhesives, keyways, welding or combinations thereof. The elongated low-friction bodies or assemblies are of a polymeric material such as nylon, Teflon or a composite material like ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene impregnated with molybdenum disulfide. The polymeric low-friction material may be molded to a metal matrix which is mounted on the gate by means of welding.

Abstract: A pneumatic hopper discharge outlet is fastened to the bottom of railway hopper cars for controlling the discharge of lading. The outlet includes a pair of side walls, a pair of sloping side walls, and a valve shaft which is rotatably mounted in the end walls and extends longitudinally between the side walls. An eccentric valveshaft mounting is disposed on each end wall for rotation about a valve shaft mounting axis and includes a valve shaft receiving bore disposed eccentric to the valve shaft mounting axis. By rotating the eccentric valve shaft mounting, the lateral position of the valve shaft relative to the side walls is adjusted. Lading which has passed the valve shaft is received in a trough and is conveyed through a transition tube to conventional pneumatic off-loading equipment. In transit, the transition tube is closed by a closure cap assembly.

Abstract: A compact door driver is provided on a railway house car for moving a railway car door between a closed or locking position and an open or sliding position. The door driver includes a lever having a crank arm and is rotatably mounted on a structural member of the railway car for movement in excess of 45 degrees. A boss in the form of a roller is mounted on the crank arm. The door driver further includes a door mounted hasp having a cam surface defined end opening in the form of a transverse slot for receiving said boss selectively to drivingly interconnect the lever and the door. When connected to the crank, pivotal movement of the hasp is limited and the hasp, crank arm and boss act similar in manner to a Scotch yoke mechanism. The driver may provide theoretical mechanical advantages substantially within the range of from approximately 8 to 1, to approximately 46 to 1, ignoring friction, depending on the direction of the door and angular position of the crank arm.

Abstract: A door lock includes a cooperating bracket and hasp having aligned openings for receiving a pin. In the locking position of the pin, in which the pin is received through the aligned openings, a transverse hole in the lower end portion of the pin is aligned with a vertically elongated slot in a wall of the bracket for receiving a security member to prevent upward movement of the pin out of the openings. The openings are shaped to have aligned outwardly extending longitudinal grooves which receive a longitudinal flange on the pin. A cam member pivots between pin blocking and pin releasing positions and has a flat lower flange with a vertical hole therethrough. The hasp has a flat upper wall with a hole therethrough aligned with the hole in the cam member lower flange for receiving a security member to prevent movement of the cam member from its pin blocking position to its pin releasing position.

Abstract: A corrugated metal door having a damaged lower section is repaired by removing the entire lower damaged section, including the door bottom frame member and portions of the door side frame members, and replacing same with prefabricated door repair section.

Abstract: A sliding gate for closing the discharge opening of a hopper having inclined side walls is mounted on elongated low-friction bodies or assemblies secured between the underside of upturned inclined side margins of the gate and the top sides of inclined side walls of a discharge chute secured to the hopper and extending below the discharge opening. The elongated low-friction bodies or assemblies are mounted to create a labyrinth seal by methods which include the use of a plurality of integral stud portions extending through corresponding openings along the inclined side margins of the gate, adhesives, keyways, welding or combinations thereof. The elongated low-friction bodies or assemblies are of a polymeric material such as nylon, Teflon or a composite material like ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene impregnated with molybdenum disulfide. The polymeric low-friction material may be molded to a metal matrix which is mounted on the gate by means of welding.

Abstract: A railway house car is provided with a sliding door and door driver. The door driver includes a lock having a door mounted hasp and upper and lower bracket portions mounted on a fixed door post for common engagement with a locking pin. The lower bracket portion has a pivoted manual lever mounted thereon with a crank arm for providing an increased mechanical advantage. The crank arm extends downwardly to pivotally and drivingly engage a door latch carried on an inner surface of the crank arm. The door latch has an opening on its end opposite the crank arm for selective connection to a flanged boss mounted on a vertical door edge reinforcement member. The lever with its crank arm and the door latch may be made from plate steel.

Abstract: A railway car hopper having downwardly and inwardly inclined side walls and end walls defining a rectangular hopper discharge opening is provided with a downwardly extending discharge chute. A gate for opening and closing the hopper discharge opening is supported for reciprocable movement by the discharge chute. The discharge chute has a pair of integral cold formed steel members defining the side walls and integral cold formed steel members defining the end walls. The discharge chute side walls each have an upper inwardly and downwardly directed flange. The top surfaces of the flanges each engage an outside surface of one of the downwardly and inwardly inclined side walls of the hopper. The bottom surfaces of the flanges each define a gate receiving and supporting elongated groove with a remaining portion of its respective integral cold formed member. The grooves each include a downwardly and inwardly directed surface for slidingly and sealingly supporting upwardly and outwardly turned edges of the gate.

Abstract: A railway house car has plug doors, each with a pair of rotationally driven top operating cranks and an auxiliary crank in engagement with a c-shaped top retainer. The auxiliary crank is mounted between the operating cranks on a lower vertical crank end for rotation relative to the door. An upper vertical crank end of the auxiliary cranks has mounted thereon a front sled moveably engaging the inner surface of the downwardly extending front flange of the top retainer and a bottom sled moveably engaging the upper surface of the laterally outwardly extending lower flange of the top retainer. The bottom sled and lower flange extend outwardly beyond the front sled and front flange to resist the auxiliary crank's outward pivotal movement and separation from the retainer and any door displacement as a result. The sleds provide large load bearing surface areas to resist distortion and are spaced and mounted on the common vertical axis of the upper vertical crank end for rotation independent of each other.

Abstract: A rail car having an interior cavity and an end opening for loading and unloading lading is provided with a pair of door assemblies, each of which includes a plurality of panels, each pivotally movable with respect to the other for closing at least a portion of the end opening. Pivot means comprising a shaft for mounting each of the door assemblies are provided to move the door assemblies between their respective open position and closed position. The pivot means are mounted for movement toward and away from the interior of the rail car on a track to permit storage of the door assemblies within the rail car when their panels are folded back upon one another. The shaft is manually driven by means of a housing. A rack and a source of rotational power including a cooperating pinion mounted on the shaft act to guide, move and lock the door. The housing has a cavity into which one or more enlarged lever ends are inserted and secured before assembly of the housing to the shaft.

Abstract: A rail car having an interior cavity defined partially by vertical rail car side walls and a roof structure with an inwardly and upwardly directed portion to improve car clearance is disclosed. Access to the cavity for loading and unloading lading is through an end opening. A pair of door assemblies, each of which includes a plurality of panels, each panel of which is pivotally movable with respect to the others, are included for closing the end opening. Pivot means for mounting each of the door assemblies are provided to move the door assemblies between their respective folded open positions and unfolded closed positions. The pivot means are mounted for movement toward and away from the interior of the rail car to permit storage of the folded door assemblies within the rail car along the car side walls. Top panel portions extend from the top of the door assemblies angularly inwardly relative to the opening and in spaced relation with each other and the roof structure.

Abstract: An open top gondola railway car of depressed center design having stub sills and an end panel at each end of the car body which slopes outwardly and upwardly from an intersection with a generally permanently closed bottom having horizontal plate portions and at least one centrally located depressed curved portion in cross-section. Wheeled multi-axle trucks adjacent each end are provided with the horizontal plate portions extending over them. An upwardly directed step portion located intermediate the ends of the curved portion and reinforced openings having a smoothly curved perimeter in the horizontal plate portions located over the wheels, provide an increase in the clearance distance between the bottom and any concave or convex contoured portion of track upon which the car is located. The openings may be circular with rings or flanged conical members bolted to them to provide the reinforcing. The sloped ends have support sheets directing lading forces exerted on the ends to the stub sills.

Abstract: A rail house car with at least one opening along each of its sides. The car includes a door for closing each of the openings by movement of the doors longitudinally along the car sides and laterally into and out of the openings. Bottom and top rotating crank members moveably support and retain the doors on longitudinal tracks below the doors and within longitudinal retainer means above the doors. At least some of the crank members are selectively manually driven by rotational means for selective lateral movement of the doors. The top crank members adjacent the upper portion of the doors each include a bore. A forged pin is telescopingly received in each of a plurality of pipes rotationally mounted on the door. Each pin has a shank portion and an upper headed or flanged portion. Each crank member's bore is counterbored to receive the headed portion of a pin.

Abstract: A railway house car having a door supporting track on a car side beneath a door opening, a door formed with a lower edge surface for support of the door on the top of the track and to provide a good light seal when the door is in the closed position. The edge surface has a plurality of openings with a portion of a roller extending from each one. Corresponding copes are located in the top of the track to receive the roller portions when the door is in the closed position. The rollers and corresponding copes permit at least two rollers to engage the top of the track and support the door for movement when the door is in other positions on the track than the closed position. A door leverage or force-multiplying mover is selectively interconnected to the door by means of a hasp to initially move the door from the closed position. Alternatively, a fulcrum is provided so that a pry bar can manually engage a bottom retainer to accomplish the initial door movement.

Abstract: A rail car having an interior cavity and an end opening for loading and unloading lading is provided with a pair of door assemblies, each of which includes a plurality of panels, each pivotally movable with respect to the other for closing at least a portion of the end opening. Pivot means comprising a shaft for mounting each of the door assemblies are provided to move the door assemblies between their respective open position and closed position. The pivot means are mounted for movement toward and away from the interior of the rail car on a track to permit storage of the door assemblies within the rail car when their panels are folded back upon one another. The shaft is manually driven by means of a housing. A rack and a source of rotational power including a cooperating pinion mounted on the shaft act to guide, move and lock the door. The housing has a cavity into which one or more enlarged lever ends are inserted and secured before assembly of the housing to the shaft.

Abstract: A rail house car with side openings and doors for closing the openings by movement of the doors longitudinally along the car sides and laterally into and out of the openings. Cranks moveably support and retain the doors on longitudinal tracks below the doors and within longitudinal retainers above the doors. The cranks are selectively manually driven for lateral movement of the doors. The top cranks include combination skid and roller devices which permit the doors to move easily because of the rollers when they are longitudinally moved along the track and retainer but which permit the locating of the rollers within recesses in the surfaces of the retainers when the doors are located laterally substantially within their openings along the car sides.

Abstract: A multi-deck rail car having an interior cavity and an end opening for loading and unloading lading is provided with a pair of door assemblies, each of which includes a plurality of panels. Each door assembly is pivotally movable for closing at least a portion of the end opening. Double vertical pivots mount each of the door assemblies and are provided such that they move the door assemblies between their respective open position, storage position and closed position. The double vertical pivot means are cranks pivoted at either end to permit pivoting of the door assemblies for storage within the rail car, when their panels are folded back upon one another. A lock for the doors includes a rigid projection extending from the edge of a first one of the panels behind and past an adjacent edge of the second of the two panels and in register with a cutout in the adjacent edge of the second panel.

Abstract: A door driver is provided on a railway house car for moving a railway car door between a locking position and a sliding position. The door driver includes a lever which is rotatably mounted on a structural member of the railway car. The door driver further includes a plurality of drivingly interconnected drive members, one of which is a driving member and another of which a driven member. The lever is drivingly connected to the driving member. The drive members have a plurality of gear teeth thereon and are rotatably mounted on the railway car with the gear teeth of at least one other drive member. When a force is exerted on the driving member, the driving member transmits that force to the driven member so the force capable of being exerted by the driven member is greater than the force exerted on the driving member.