Patent ID: 7752979

Claim:
A hopper car for transporting bulk solids, said car comprising: opposed generally upright side walls; opposed generally upright end walls joined to each of said side walls; a bottom joined with each of said side walls and each of said end walls, said bottom having a plurality of spaced apart openings, wherein at least one of said openings has a length extending in a direction parallel to a longitudinal dimension of said car and a width extending in a direction transverse to said longitudinal dimension, and wherein said length of said opening is about twice said width, wherein each of said openings is approximately equidistant from each of said side walls and there is no more than one of said openings positioned in any vertical plane that is transverse to said longitudinal dimension, and wherein at least two of said plurality of openings are vertically spaced relative to each other; and first and second sloping surfaces between adjacent openings, said surfaces being joined to said bottom adjacent said openings and extending upwardly from said bottom to an apex to present an inverted V.