The present invention relates in general to hopper transport vehicles, and, more particularly, to a bottom for the hoppers of such vehicles.
Hopper vehicles include trucks, railroad cars, and the like, and are used to transport many materials, such as granular products, liquid products, and the like. The problems involved in unloading such vehicles have engendered many inventions, see, for example, co-pending Patent Application Ser. Nos. 137,438, filed Apr. 3, 1980, and 144,850, filed Apr. 29, 1980 by the present assignee, and incorporated herein by reference thereto.
Many unloading systems involve pressurizing the hopper and forcing the product into a discharge manifold. Such unloading systems will be referred to hereinafter as pneumatic unloading systems. Other unloading systems involve gravity unloading wherein product is discharged out of the hopper bottom.
There are situations where pneumatic unloading is more efficient than gravity unloading, and vice versa. Accordingly, there is need for a hopper vehicle which is capable of being unloaded by pneumatic unloading procedures and by gravity unloading procedures.