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:
Sep. 02, 1986
Filed:
Dec. 03, 1981
Douglas C Ruhmann, Brentwood, MO (US);
Ralph A Britton, St. Charles, MO (US);
James D Mundloch, Florissant, MO (US);
Frederick E Vorwerk, St. Peters, MO (US);
ACF Industries, Incorporated, Earth City, MO (US);
Abstract
A railway hopper car (200) includes a filament wound fiberglass car body having side walls (202, 204) integral with a roof (208), preferably also formed of a filament wound fiberglass. The fiberglass side walls are connected to longitudinally extending side sills (220, 222) preferably made of steel which extend along each side of the car. The car body includes laterally spaced top sills (226) preferably of fiberglass connected to the fiberglass sides. The car is divided into a plurality of hoppers by transverse bulkheads (244, 246, 248) which are conveniently formed of sandwich panels of wood or wood fibers with fiberglass facings. Hopper slope sheets (258, 260, 262, 264, 266, 268) and end slope sheets (304, 306) are also conveniently formed of sandwich panels of wood or wood fibers with fiberglass facings. Metallic stub sills (282) are located at each end of the car and a metallic shear plate (292) at each end of the car extends transversely of the car to transfer coupler loads from the stub sill to the side sills. The fiberglass body is cut away at lower end portions (340) to avoid direct engagement of the car body with the stub sill and the shear plate. The coupler loads are transferred through the shear plate (292) to the side sills (220, 222) and direct loading of the fiberglass car body with coupler loads is substantially reduced.