Patent ID: 7654205

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling discharge of material from a railcar having a longitudinally elongated centersill defining a longitudinal axis for said railcar, a hopper supported on said centersill, said hopper defining at least two discharge openings arranged in generally aligned relation relative to each other on opposite lateral sides of said axis and through which the material is gravitationally discharged from said hopper, with said railcar further including two laterally spaced doors mounted on said hopper and which are joined by an elongated connector, with each door being mounted toward an upper end thereof to said hopper for pivotal movement between closed and open positions relative to a discharge opening defined by said hopper whereby controlling discharge of the material from said hopper, said control apparatus comprising: an operating shaft mountable on said railcar for rotation about a fixed axis extending transverse to said centersill, a linkage system operably connectable to said operating shaft and said elongated connector, and wherein said linkage system simultaneously moves said doors from their closed position in response to rotation of said operating shaft in a first direction and simultaneously returns said doors from their closed position in response to rotation of said shaft in a second direction, with said first and second directions being opposed to each other; a mechanism operably connectable to said linkage system, said mechanism including a powered driver for selectively rotating said operating shaft so as to operate said linkage mechanism to either: simultaneously move said doors from their closed position; or, simultaneously return said doors to their closed position, and wherein the powered driver of said drive mechanism is operably connected to a lever radially extending from said operating shaft; and a lock assembly arranged in operable combination with said driver, said lock assembly including a displacable stop which, when the doors are in the closed position, positively engages with said lever to prevent movement of said doors from their closed position, and wherein when said doors are to be moved from their closed position, both manually and under the influence of powered movement of said driver, the stop of said lock assembly is released from engagement with said lever prior to pivotal movement of the doors from their closed position whereby allowing each door to be moved to the open position.