The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 10, 1980
Filed:
Sep. 11, 1978
Steven L Jantzen, St. Louis, MO (US);
Dallas W Rollins, St. Charles, MO (US);
ACF Industries, Incorporated, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
Enclosed covered hopper cars are interconnected by conduits to form a partial or complete unit-train for liquid lading service, particularly liquid petroleum. The conduits are at least partially flexible to negotiate curves in the road bed. Preferably the conduits joining adjacent hoppers extend between openings located in the upper portion of the end hoppers. Preferably at the bottom of each hopper a hopper floor is removably attached to a hopper outlet mounting flange. The hopper floor includes a lading opening. A longitudinal tube is located below the lading openings, extending between the end floor sheets. A conduit extends from the upper portion of one end hopper in the car to the longitudinal tube to enable the cars to be unloaded by positive pressure applied to an end car of a group of cars. The car may be converted to particulate solid lading service by removing the conduits extending between adjacent cars, closing the openings at the ends of the car, removing the hopper floor from the hopper mounting flange, and attaching to the hopper mounting flange an appropriate outlet for the particular particulate solid lading to be transported.