Seec, Inc.

Ron Randolph

Stewart E Erickson

W David Alldredge, Jr

A railroad car conversion apparatus for hauling a flowable material in an open-topped railroad car having a frame for holding a plurality of bladders, which may depend downwardly from the frame into the railroad car. The frame is adapted to fit on top of the sidewalls of a hopper car, and be readily attached or detached from the railcar. A plurality of bladders, which may be attached directly to this frame for removal therewith, are also attached in such a manner that they may be readily filled with or emptied of a fluid of a particulate, flowable material without requiring the removal of the frame. The conversion apparatus includes an elongate central beam having first and second ends, and a plurality of bladder-connecting devices for releasably attaching a plurality of material-receiving bladders to the central beam. A plurality of arms may extend generally laterally outwardly from the central beam, such that the arms and central beam are sized to permit each of the arms to abut an upper edge of a side wall of the railroad car. The arms carry a lock for releasably attaching the arms and the central beam to the railroad car, and the central beam carries a grappling device adapted to be engaged by a train mechanism for lifting the central beam and any bladders attached thereto generally upwardly away from the railroad car.

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Camden, AR, United States of America

Ron Randolph