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:
Apr. 16, 1996
Filed:
Jan. 25, 1994
Richard H Dugge, Des Peres, MO (US);
Gregory E Bertram, Valmeyer, IL (US);
ACF Industries Incorporated, Earth City, MO (US);
Abstract
A gravity outlet (10) for discharging lading from a railway car (C). An outlet assembly is attached to a discharge opening in the railcar. The assembly includes an upper end attached to the discharge opening, and sidewalls (14a, 14b) and endwalls (16a, 16b) sloping downwardly and inwardly from the upper end. A bottom portion of the sidewalls and endwalls define a discharge outlet (D) through which lading flows, by gravity, when it is discharged from the railcar. An outlet gate (22) is positioned beneath the assembly and is movable relative to the discharge outlet between respective open and closed positions to open and close the outlet. A latch assembly (26) latches the outlet gate in its closed position, when the gate is closed, to prevent inadvertent opening of the gate and spillage of lading. A gate operating mechanism (34) moves the gate between its open and closed positions. The mechanism automatically unlatches the latch when the gate is to be moved from its closed to its open position. The mechanism unlatches the latch prior to moving the gate. And, the gate operating mechanism automatically relatches the latch when it moves the gate from its open to its closed position.