Patent ID: 8969745
Filing Date: 2015-03-03
Classification: G01G

Abstract:
1. A system, comprising: a railcar body weight sensor mounted on a flexible load bearing member of a railcar body or a truck arrangement of a railcar; a transmitter coupled to said sensor for transmitting a signal representing the output of said sensor; and a database comprising sensor readings for a series of repeatedly added known incremental weights to a car body; wherein: the railcar has a support pad between a car body and said truck arrangement; said car body rests on said support pad and is horizontally swivelable about an axis through the support pad; said sensor is a stress/strain gauge mounted on one of said flexible members outside of said support pad that measures stress/strain based on the deformation of the flexible member upon which it is mounted and located exclusively a) offset from the axis, and b) on one side of the axis; and said sensor output indicates a load within the railcar body utilizing data within the database.