Patent ID: 7908975

Claim:
A covered hopper railroad freight car operable to roll along railroad tracks in a longitudinal direction, said covered hopper railroad freight car comprising: a lading containment shell carried on railroad car trucks; said lading containment shell having at least first and second hopper discharge sections, said first hopper discharge section having a first slope sheet, and said second hopper discharge section having a second slope sheet; said shell having a peripherally extending reinforcement located between said first and second hopper discharge sections; said reinforcement being located in a vertical plane oriented cross-wise to said longitudinal direction; said reinforcement having a first portion, said first portion extending cross-wise across said car and having first and second surfaces to which upper margins of said first and second slope sheets mate; said reinforcement having a second portion having sidewall and roof sheet profile defining sectors forming a downwardly opening U; said shell having an external skin that includes respective first and second sidewall and roof sheets conforming to respective profiles of said profile defining sectors; said profile defining sectors being free of (a) top hat section; and (b) other out-of-plane formed sections other than top hat sections; said sidewall sheet profile defining sector of said reinforcement and said first sidewall sheet being mounted co-operably to define a T-section; said sidewall sheet profile defining sector of said reinforcement defining a stem of said T-section; said stem being of solid cross section; and said first and second portions of said shell peripherally extending reinforcement combining to define a ring frame having an open interior portion.