Partial Closure Plates for Hopper Cars

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/642,508 filed on May 3, 2024 and entitled “Partial Closure Plates for Hopper Cars.” The complete disclosure of the above application is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.

Hopper cars include a partition wall that separates adjacent bins and provides lateral support to the side walls. Large pressures may be applied or imparted to the partition wall, such as during longitudinal impact events. The resulting stress and deflection can be reduced by stiffening the wall with corrugations that are built into or integral with the partition wall. However, the corrugations can be crippled by buckling if the impact event is large enough.

What is desired, therefore, is a device that enhances structural integrity and buckling resistance of a corrugated partition wall while adding only minimal weight.

Referring now to the drawings that form a portion of the disclosure herein,show a railroad freight carof the covered hopper type. The covered hopper carincludes a car bodycarried on a pair of wheeled trucksand having a pair of opposite ends or end wallsandand a pair of opposite sides or side wallsand. A roofis attached to and supported by the endsandand the sidesandand may include a centrally-located, longitudinally-extending hatchproviding access to, for example, three separate cargo hoppers,, anddefined within the car body. A pair of transversely-extending partition walls or bulkheadsandextend between the sidesand, separating the cargo hoppers,, andfrom each other. The bulkheads provide lateral support to sidesand.

A center sillmay extend through the entire length of the car body, and an appropriate protective structuremay extend along the top of the center sillwithin each hopper to assure that cargo is free to slide out of each hopper, rather than being able to remain atop the center sillwhen the hopper is emptied.

Referring to, bulkheadsandinclude a plurality of corrugationsthat are built into or integral with the bulkheads, which reduces the stress and deflection caused by large pressure applied or imparted on the bulkheads, such as during longitudinal impact events. The corrugations include a trough surfacedisposed between crest surfaces. The corrugations may be any suitable shape(s). In the example shown in, the corrugations are trapezoidal, having sloped transition surfacesdisposed between the trough surface and the crest surfaces. In other words, a first transition surfaceis between trough surfaceand a first crest surface, and a second transition surfaceis between trough surfaceand a second crest surfacedifferent from the first crest surface. However, corrugationsmay alternatively, or additionally, have a curved or curvilinear, or a zigzag or other rectilinear shape. Additional examples of corrugations that may be used for the bulkheads are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 11,820,407, the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. Although bulkheadsandare shown to include corrugationsof the same shape, other examples of bulkheadsand/ormay include a combination of shapes.

However, the corrugations can be crippled by buckling if the impact event is large enough. Therefore, covered hopper caralso includes one or more partial closure platesthat have a shape that corresponds to the shape of the corrugations to allow for the partial closure plates to be received in and/or attached (e.g., welded) to the corrugations. The partial closure plates include at least a base portionhaving opposed end portionsandand one or more side portionsattached to, or formed with, the opposed end portion(s). In the examples shown in, partial closure platesinclude base portiondisposed between first and second side portions.

The base portion and/or side portion(s) are attached to and/or received in the corrugations. In the examples shown in, at least opposed endsof base portionare attached to sloped transition surfaces. Additionally, a bottom endof side portion(s)is attached to trough surface, and side endsof the side portions are attached to sloped transition surfaces. Base portionincludes a surfacethat is parallel to crest surfaces. Additionally, surfacemay be co-planar with the crest surfaces (as shown in the example of) or may be above or below the plane defined by those crest surfaces.

The base portion and side portion(s) may be any suitable shape(s). In the example shown in, the base portion is planar and has a rectangular or rectangular prism shape and the side portions are planar and has a trapezoidal or trapezoidal prism shape with the end attached to the trough surface having a smaller width than the opposed end adjacent the base portion. The partial closure plates and the corresponding corrugation may thus define a hollow interior volumetherebetween. The side portion(s) may be at any suitable angle(s) from the base portion. For example,shows a partial closure plate with one or more side portions that are at right angles (or 90 degrees) with the base portion. Other suitable angles include 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 120 degrees, etc.

Referring to, side portionsare shown to include cutoutssuch that each side portion is generally U-shaped. Alternatively, partial closure platesmay include only base portion, as shown in. Although particular shapes are shown for the partial closure plates, the plates may alternatively, or additionally, have any suitable shape(s) that are received in the corrugations. Additionally, although the partial closure plates are shown to have a horizontal orientation, one or more (or all) of the partial closure plates may alternatively have a vertical orientation, such as having the side portions extend transverse of the corrugation (instead of along the longitudinal axis of the corrugation).

Partial closure platesmay be any suitable width relative to the width the corresponding corrugation (i.e., as measured along or parallel to the longitudinal axis formed by the corrugation). For example, the partial closure plates preferably have a width that is about 20% to about 60% of the width of the corresponding corrugation, and more preferably a width that is about 20% of the width of the corresponding corrugation.

Referring to, covered hopper carmay include doublersthat are attached to the crest surfaces or apex of the corrugations. Other apparatus may alternatively, or additionally, be used in combination with the partial closure plates of the present disclosure.

The partial closure plates of the present disclosure enhance structural integrity and buckling resistance while adding only a minimal weight. In stress simulations, the above partial closure plates have shown that they can more than double the resistance to buckling with a modest weight gain. Other prior art methods are either heavier or not as effective as stiffening and reducing buckling.

It will be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment that has been described, and that variations may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appending claims, as interpreted in accordance with principles of prevailing law, including the doctrine of equivalents or any other principle that enlarges the enforceable scope of a claim beyond its literal scope. Unless the context indicates otherwise, a reference in a claim to the number of instances of an element, be it a reference to one instance or more than one instance, requires at least the stated number of instances of the element but is not intended to exclude from the scope of the claim a structure or method having more instances of that element than stated. The word “comprise” or a derivative thereof, when used in a claim, is used in a nonexclusive sense that is not intended to exclude the presence of other elements or steps in a claimed structure or method.