Bottom dumping mating hopper doors sealing arrangement
O United States Patent 1 1111 3,878,794 Adler 1 1 Apr. 22, 1975 [54] BOTTOM DUMPING MATING HOPPER 1,099,878 6/1914 Hopkins 105/424 DOORS SEALING ARRANGEMENT 1,882,186 10/1932 Hankins 105/280 2,602,402 7/1952 Sanford. Jr. et a1. 105/424 X Inventor: anklin P- A e Michigan C ty. 2.863.402 12/1958 Ford 105/424 1nd. 3.169.491 2/1965 Darlington et a1 105/240 73 P 1 l 1 Asslgnee z h giz gz ggz if Primary E.\&#39;aminerLloyd L. King Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran [22] Filed: Apr. 24, 1974 Attorney, Agent, or Firm--Richard J. Myers [21] Appl. No.: 463,706  
 [57] ABSTRACT {52] U 5 CI 105/250 105/280, l05/3O4 A hopper car is provided with a pair of doors hingedly 105/424 connected for swinging movement between open and [51] In 361d 7/l8 861d 7/22 361d 7/26 closed positions. Distal edges of the doors are pro- [58] Fie&#39;ld &#39;g&#39;&#39; {05/243 6 240 280 vided with a seal arrangement which includes flexible 105/283 6 hairpin shaped seal elements having arcuate finger portions adapted to be placed in engaging sealing rela- [56] References Cited tion during the closed position of the doors. The seal elements are of the spring-like metal composition UNITED STATES T which include adjusting means whereby the finger por- 734.977 7/1903 Simonton 105/249 i s may be relatively adjusted to guarantee effective gf t sealing of the distal edges of the closure doors. &#34;T1011 on 1.014.768 1/1912 Meissncr 105/280 4 Claims, 3 Drawing gures 1 13 [Q n I BOTTOM DUMPING MATING HOPPER DOORS SEALING ARRANGEMENT CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION Patent application Ser. No. 415.098. Nov. 12. 1973. relating to a Door Operating Mechanism discloses an arrangement to which the present invention is applicable.  
 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to railway hopper cars and more particularly to a sealing arrangement for effectively sealing adjacent distal edges of bottom dump closure doors.  
 2. Description of the Prior Art The prior art includes flexible sealing edges which are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 734.977. 7/28/03; 761.551). /31/04; 1.014.768. 1/16/12: 1.882.186. /11/32; 2.863.402. 12/9/58; 3.169.491. 2/16/65. The prior art discloses various types of sealing arrangements for bottom dump hopper doors which include rubber seals. rigid seals. a combination of rigid and resilient seals. overlapping seals. etc. The sealing arrangements disclosed in the prior art are usually effective only for relatively short periods of time by reason of the type of use to which they are subjected. mainly extreme weather conditions. Freezing temperatures are very deleterious to rubber type devices and by reason of contraction and expansion of the doorsand metal parts and it has been very difficult to seal the edges of the doors consistently over long periods of time. The present arrangement provides for a flexible adjustable seal which can readily be adjusted to assure sealing under all conditions and which will have long life free of maintenance under the conditions to which hopper ears are subjccted.  
 SUMMARY A pair of hinged bottom dump doors for opening and closing the discharge opening of a hopper are provided at their distal edges with V-shaped sealing elements of flexible stainless steel construction. The seals extend the full length of each of the hopper car doors and include an anchoring flange and a second adjustment flange which is interconnected by means of anarcuate finger or curve portion. the said curve portions being engageable with each other when the doors are in a closed position for securely sealing the hopper of the car. A relatively flat anchoring bar is supportedby means of studs the length of the anchoring flange of the seal element and a second half-cylindrical shaped bar is supported by the studs externally of the adjustable or movable flange ofthe V-shaped or hairpin shaped seal element. The half-cylindrical bar is supported by the studs and adjustable nuts against the movable flange and by adjusting the nuts the flange may be moved relatively inwardly and outwardly. thereby moving contacting edges formed by the arcuate portions inwardly into sealing engagement. By simply adjusting a plurality of nuts along the length of the doors the seal elements are resiliently positioned in proper sealing engagement despite variations which may result from weather conditions. etc. The parts are preferably made of a stainless steel material so as to guarantee freedom of corrosion and result in long life.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view through an open top railway hopper car which includes a pair of bottom dump doors; 7  
  FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view ofa pair of bottom dump doors shown in .FIG. I, the doors at their distal portions being each provided with a resilient seal; and 1 FIG. 3 is a bottom view taken substantially along the line 33 of FIG. 2.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now particularly to FIG. I. a hopper car 10 includes vertical side walls 11 and slope sheets 12 which may include one or more hoppers provided at their lower ends with a discharge opening 13. The hoppers are also formed by a plurality of end walls 13&#39;. one of which is disclosed. The discharge opening 13 is adapted to be regulated by means of gravity drop closure doorsI-l hingedly connected as indicated at 15 to a door supporting structure 16. Each of the doors I4 includes an outer longitudinal beam 17. and inner Z- beams 18. as best shown in FIG. 2. The beams 17 and 18 are suitably interconnected by means of structural members (not described in detail) and include longitudinal bottom plates 21. The inner Z-beams include lower flanges 19 and upper flanges 20. the said flanges 20 providing distal portions of the adjacent doors.  
  FIG. I also discloses a door opening and closing or actuating mechanism generally designated at 22. One of these is provided for each door. The actuating mechanism. as more specifically described in the above mentioned application. includes pivoted arms 23 which are suitably connected to links 24 and in turn pivotally connected to the doors 14 which in FIG. I are shown in the closed position. In this position the arms 23 and links 24 are in an over&#39;center position. Asuitable spring type mechanism 25 assists the mechanism into its overcenter position.  
 The edgesof each of the doors is provided by a seal arrangement 26. as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Each seal arrangement comprises a hairpin or V-shaped seal element 27 having an anchoring flange 28. The seal elements 27 and anchoring flange 28 extend substantially the length of each of the doors. as best shown in FIG. 2. The seal elements 27 also include second movable flanges 29 connected together integrally by means of an arcuate relatively thin inner portion 30 which, as best shown in FIG. 2, provides arcuate surfaces in contact with each other during the closed position of the door. The seal elements 27&#39; are constructed of a relatively thin resilient sheet material such as stainless steel and the like. having a high elasticity and an effective stiffness. The flange 29 is provided with a plurality of apertures 31 through which threaded studs 32 extend. As best shown in FIG. 2. the threaded studs 32 are rigidly secured by welding or other means at 33 to the distal portion of the flanges 20. The studs 32 extend through openings or apertures 34 provided in the anchoring flanges 28. The flanges 28 are also rigidly connected to the flanges 20 by means of flat stainless steel bars 35 provided with apertures 36 through which the studs 32 extend. A stainless steel washer 37 and nut 38 further solidly secure the flanges 28 on the flanges 20. The flanges 29 of the seal elements 37 are adapted to be moved laterally relative to the flanges 28 by means of half-round bars 39 which extend the length of the doors as shown in FIG. 2 and which are held in position on the studs 32 which extend through the openings 31 by means of stainless steel washers 41 and nuts 42.  
 THE OPERATION The general operation of the doors is in response to the movement of the door opening and closing actuating mechanism which may be manual or may be accomplished by off car track camming elements which are more specifically described in the aforementioned patent application. Once the doors are released. the weight of the material within the hopper forces these doors downwardly to the open position. thus dumping the contents of the car. Subsequently. the door actuating mechanism is effective to again close the doors.  
  As best shown in FIG. 2. the seal elements 27 include contact fingers or surfaces 30 which provide for the effective sealing of the door edges. The fingers or contact elements 30 are resiliently in constant engagement with each other and are readily adjusted by tightening or loosening the nuts 42. By moving the half-round bars 39 upwardly the arcuate fingers or contact surfaces 30 are moved laterally together to continue to exert the inward thrust upon each other as they preferably are in the most effective position. as shown in FIG. 2. However. by unloosening the nuts 42. the flanges 28 and 29 are moved relatively apart. whereupon the contact surfaces 30 are moved further apart. Variations due to welding tolerances. weather shrinkage or expansion. etc.. which normally might keep some of the surfaces from effectively sealing are eliminated by the simple adjustment of the nuts 42 which in turn causes adjustment of the half-round bars 39 so that the sealing edges can constantly be adjusted to be in relative biasing engagement with each other. Since the parts are all made of stainless steel. corrosion is prevented and they are effectively conditioned for long term service without any maintenance. Thus. it is readily apparent that an effective sealing arrangement has been provided which sharply distinguishes over all of the improvements in the prior art.  
 I claim:  
  1. A hopper car with a hopper including side walls having adjacent lower portions thereof a discharge opening. a pair of doors supported on said hopper for hinging movement about longitudinal axes for opening and closing said discharge opening.  
 longitudinally extending distal portions on said door in said closed position being in substantially contiguous relation.  
 the improvement comprising:  
 a sealing arrangement connected to said distal portions.  
 said sealing arrangement including first and second sealing elements connected to said distal portions of said doors.  
 at least one of said sealing elements being of generally hairpin shaped configuration including an anchoring flange connected to the distal portion of one of said doors.  
 said hairpin shaped first sealing element including a second resilient flange connected to said anchoring flange by a spring-like arcuate finger.  
 said finger providing a first longitudinally extending contact surface.  
 a second contact surface on said second sealing element engageable with said first contact surface to seal said doors in a closed position. and  
 adjustable means engageable with said flanges to move the same relative to each other whereby said finger and first contact surface is adjusted relative to said second contact surface.  
  2. A hopper car with a hopper including side walls having adjacent lower portions thereof a discharge opening. a pair of doors supported on said hopper for hinging movement about longitudinal axes for opening and closing said discharge opening.  
 longitudinally extending distal portions on said door in said closed position being in substantially contiguous relation.  
 the improvement comprising:  
 a sealing arrangement connected to said distal portions.  
 said sealing arrangement including first and second resilient sealing elements connected to said distal portions. said sealing elements including longitudinal contact surfaces engaging each other in sealing relation in the closed position of said doors.  
 said first and second sealing elements being of hairpin shaped configuration. each including:  
 an anchoring first flange connected to said distal portions of said doors.  
 a second resiliently movable flange connected to said anchoring first flange by a spring-like arcuate finger.  
 said fingers providing said first and second contact surfaces. and  
 adjustable means engageable with said movable second flanges for moving the same toward and away from said anchoring first flanges thereby moving said contact surfaces laterally with respect to each other.  
  3. The invention in accordance with claim 2. said adjustable means comprising threaded studs connected to said first flanges and extending laterally between said first and second flanges. and  
 nuts on said studs engaging said second flanges to move the same.  
 4. The invention in accordance with claim 2. said second flange having openings through which said studs project and said nuts having arcuate surfaces engaging outer portions of said second flange.  
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