Thrall Car Manufacturing Company

Keith J Hallam

Kenneth H Smith

John A Ritter

Railroad hopper car end slope collar casting

Railroad hopper car cross ridge collar casting

An aluminum hopper car having a center sill hood which uses aluminum collar castings to connect cross ridge hoods which intersect a center sill hood, and to connect the center sill hood with intersecting sloped car end walls.

Aluminum hopper car with cast collars interconnecting intersecting

A railroad hopper car having bottom discharge doors, an elongated beam assembly along the bottom of the car, door operating levers to open and close the doors connected to the beam assembly and doors, and lost motion timing connections in the beam assembly which permits displacement of beam sections to open and close pairs or sets of doors in a sequential but substantially simultaneous and automatic order so ast to permit reduction of air pressure required to open the doors, or permit use of smaller diameter air cylinder, a pneumatic drive to move the beam in opposite directions to open and close the doors, and a secondary lock to maintain the beam stationary unless pneumatic pressure intentionally operates the pneumatic drive, with the lock being positioned to be readily seen when locked and safely operated if necessary from the wayside.

Hopper car with automatic discharge door mechanism

A railroad hopper car comprising an elongated car body having a plurality of laterally pivoted bottom discharge doors; a door opening and closing elongated beam assembly positioned longitudinal of and along the bottom portion of the car; a plurality of spaced apart door operating levers mounted on a pivot lateral to the car body along and to the bottom of the car; the door operating lever pivot including a lateral shaft to which the operating lever is fixedly joined; a pair of laterally spaced apart supports on the car body beneath the elongated beam assembly with each support carrying a bearing mount for the door operating lever pivot; each bearing mount being fixedly joined to the support at a position determined by the actual position of the beam sections when installed rather than at a predetermined location on the support thereby making it unnecessary to include elements to adjust the length of each beam section.

Hopper car automatic discharge door mechanism with operating lever

A railroad hopper car having bottom discharge doors, an elongated beam assembly along the bottom of the car, door operating levers to open and close the doors connected to the beam assembly and doors, and lost motion connections in the beam assembly which permit displacement of beam sections to open and close pairs of doors in a sequential but substantially simultaneous and automatic order, and a pneumatic drive to move the beam in opposite directions to open and close the doors.

Growing community of inventors

Roswell, GA, United States of America

Keith J Hallam