An aluminum hopper car having a center sill hood which uses aluminum collar castings to connect cross ridge hoods which intersect a center sill hood, and to connect the center sill hood with intersecting sloped car end walls.

An optical inspection machine has a discharge chute provided for receiving fragile articles thrown from a high speed belt in the course of ejecting such articles. The chute has an “S”-shaped bottom with the top of the “S” under the trajectory of the ejected articles, the mid portion of the “S” positioned to receive the falling articles at a minimum impact angle, and the bottom of the “S” discharging the sliding articles after being significantly decelerated due to the variable slope of the “S”-s…

An apparatus and method for obtaining fine metals from gravel. A tiltable, rotatable cylinder has an inlet and an outlet. A mesh is positioned a predetermined distance from the inside diameter of the cylinder and extends around the periphery of the inside circumference. A first recovery ring is located downstream from the inlet and has an inside diameter greater than the inside diameter of the cylinder. An exit extends from the inside diameter to the outer periphery of the first recovery ring.

A wood chip sorter comprises a shell (22) which at least partially defines a substantially cylindrical sorting chamber (26) into which wood chips are introduced. The shell (22) has a plurality of rotatable shafts (28) mounted thereon with the axes (72) of the shafts (28) being circularly arranged about a central axis (24) of the shell (22). Each shaft (28) has a plurality of discs (80) mounted at spaced intervals thereon with discs of adjacent shafts (28) intermeshing radially to form essentiall…

A railroad crossing is provided in which transverse and end panels are joined by means of splines fitted into indentations on side surfaces of said panels whereby pairs of panels are joined together with a spline fitting partly into each side or end of adjoining panels; and lateral anchor members for fixing the panels adjacent to said rails, the end panels and the outer field panels whereby the need is obviated for affixing the panels to the ties by means of surface spikes. In one embodiment an …

A retractable truck bed cover comprising a plurality of relatively narrow slats (12–12) which are rotatably interfitted together along their longitudinal edges by means of mating elements (26,28) so that the cover is flexible in its longitudinal direction. The slats include wheels (64) which extend from the opposite end edges thereof and which are mounted for rotation. The wheels are received into opposing side rails (36,38) which are mounted along the top edges of the truck bed. A cover retrac…

A laterally disposed cylinder including fluid therein connected between a truck and car body is responsive to lateral forces to provide low damping when relatively low lateral forces are applied and proportionally higher damping as relatively higher lateral forces are applied. The cylinder includes a piston to provide two fluid chambers. The piston includes an opening therein. An element is provided to vary the opening in accordance with the lateral forces.

A method and apparatus for advancing eggs from a candling station through a plurality of weighing stations in an egg grading apparatus. The eggs are received from the candling station by elongated guide members and are advanced continuously on the guide members through the weighing stations by advancing bars disposed vertically above the guide members. After weighing, the eggs are advanced to a plurality of holding stations disposed in alignment with and downstream of the guide members and weigh…

An apparatus for sorting particles comprises a nozzle or the like for producing a stream of particles, such as cells, in a liquid flow. The particles are analyzed as they are flowing to detect different parameters thereof. A hollow inner tube and a concentrically arranged hollow outer tube are located downstream of the analyzing area. Gas bubbles are generated in the inner tube to prevent particles from flowing therein and to deflect particles into the annular space between the inner and outer t…

The piston rod of at least one hydraulic cylinder is axially connected to a pivot pin about which the car holding arm of a car holding device rotates in a vertical plane to engage the couplings between railroad cars. In the case of a single hydraulic cylinder, the inner chamber of the cylinder, located closest to the car holding arm, is connected to the outer chamber on the other side of the piston by a conduit. When hydraulic cylinders are connected to each pivot pin of the car holding arm, the…