Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Multiple passage filling means for diverse materials or flows – With baffle – spreader – displacer – drip ring – filter or screen
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-31
2001-11-06
Jacyna, J. Casimer (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Multiple passage filling means for diverse materials or flows
With baffle, spreader, displacer, drip ring, filter or screen
C141S382000, C141S383000, C137S56100R, C137S592000, C414S293000, C414S299000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311744
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hose fitting and method for filling tank cars. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hose fitting and method for filling railroad and truck tank cars with pellet-like or powdery materials.
BACKGROUND
Transferring materials from a one tank to another by hose is a cumbersome and time-consuming chore. This is especially true of the process of filling railroad tank cars with pellet-like materials. Pellet-like materials such as plastic pellets are lightweight and tend to fly about. Railroad tank cars for carrying pellet-like particles typically have a rectangular configuration with a v-shaped bottom. The top of the tank car has two or three hatched openings for loading the tank car and an opening in the v-shaped bottom for unloading. Materials for loading the tank cars are often transported to the tank cars by truck. The driver of the truck must transfer the load to the tank car by means of a high-pressure hose. A truck compressor is used to blow the pellets out of the truck, though the hose and into the tank car. This can be difficult. High-pressure hoses are heavy. One end of the hose is brought up to the roof of the tank car and inserted into one of the hatched openings as illustrated in prior art
FIGS. 1 and 2
. Because the hatched openings B, B′ are off center, if the hose A empties into one hatched opening B, pile ups F occur and the tank car fills unevenly. A string or rope E is attached to the end of the hose and the truck driver attempts to catch the rope E through the other hatched opening B′ after the hose E is inserted to centered the hose. Even with the hose somewhat centered, an uneven mound F forms so that the sides D of the railroad tank are not utilized and thereby leaving unfilled spaces within the tank car.
As the pile of lightweight pellets approach the top of the of the railroad tank in uneven mounds, the pellets, under pressure, tend to fly out of the openings and scatter into the surrounding environs. Pellets flying out of the tank car can be dangerous to the loader of the tank car who can slip and fall. Also this loss of pellets is a financial loss as well as an environmental problem. The scattering of pellets is especially dangerous if the pellets are hazardous materials.
T-type couplers are well known. Cox, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,781, discloses a apparatus for removing density materials from the bottom of an oil storage tank that provides an extended bottom hose with multiple openings. The hose lies on the bottom of the tank. Reference 5,065,781 discloses attaching a rope to the free end of a bottom hose and lowering the T-coupling until it is inside the tank, recovering the free end and attaching it to T-coupling. The bottom hose is attached to a riser through which liquid is removed from the tank.
Soultatis, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,555, discloses a quick connect coupling having heads unified with a pipe. It is a quick connect pressurized coupling assembly having mating male and female headboards, each attached to an outwardly flared pipe end. The Soultatis device uses two hooks adapted for attachment to the male part of the coupling device providing male and female head parts to be connected together to provide a pressurized joint for pipes.
Shumway, U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,697, discloses a pipe and coupling system that is fabricated for use in conjunction with a locking pin type readless couplings, the pipe has a thin wall configuration achieved by fabricating it from high tense steel.
Meadows et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,628, discloses a branch hose constructing and T-connector used in methods of making the hose construction with T-connector. The branched hose construction comprises a T-connector having a body portion provided with a pair of substantially oppositely directed legs extending outward.
Bard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,150, discloses a multiple purpose irrigation fitting. The fitting comprises tee shaped fitting for connecting porous and non-porous irrigation tubing. The tee shaped fitting is also connected to garden hoses with three openings and includes caps. The fitting is collapsible at one or more openings with caps so that one fitting can be used as a elbow, coupling, tee, or end cap, thus avoiding the purchase of many different kinds of fittings. None of the above-referenced patents disclose a hose fitting that facilitates the loading of pellet-like particles in tank cars.
What is needed is a hose fitting that is easy to insert into the top of the tank and loads the tank car evenly, without pellets flying out to pollute the environment.
SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a hose fitting for filling tank cars that facilitates the insertion of the hose into the top of the tank car and disperses the material, pellet-like particles for example, evenly throughout the tank car thereby avoiding mounding and empty spaces. Advantageously, the hose fitting of the present invention stops the high pressure filling action when the pellet-like particles reach the top of the go hose fitting so that pellets are not lost to the environment.
A preferred embodiment of a hose fitting for filling tank cars comprises a t-shaped pipe defining a bore throughout coupled with a hose adapted to disperse pellet-like particles under pressure. Preferably, the t-shaped pipe comprises a body member with one or more pairs of opposingly directed legs, and an intermediate leg extending substantially perpendicular from the body member. The intermediate leg preferably has an end referred to as an intermediate end opposite the body. The intermediate end is adapted to couple with an end of the hose. Preferably, the hose comprises a truck end and a t-shaped pipe end so that the intermediate end of the t-shaped pipe is adapted to couple with the tshaped pipe end of the hose.
In one aspect, each of the one or more pairs of legs can comprise a first leg and a second leg, the first leg having a first end, the second leg having a second end. The first end and the second end are adapted to couple with one or more tube extensions. Tube extensions allow the hose fitting to be easily inserted into openings in the roof of the tank car when the tube extensions are uncoupled from the t-shape pipe. The tube extensions help to prevent the hose fitting from slipping out of the top opening in the tank car as well as improve the filling action so that the pellets fill the tank car substantially without mounding.
In one embodiment, a first tube extension is detachably coupled to the first end of the first leg and a second tube extension is detachably coupled to the second end of the second leg so that a fluid conduit is formed therethrough. In another aspect, the first extension is connected to the first end by a first connecting wire and a second extension is connected to the second end by a second connecting wire, so that the first extension and the second extension remain attached to the body member by the first and second wires when the first extension is uncoupled from the first end and the second extension is uncoupled from the second end. This facilitates carrying the hose fitting to and from roof of the tank car as well as preventing loss of the extensions.
In a more preferred embodiment, the body member further comprises a cone-shape projection extending into the bore opposite the intermediate leg so that pellets are dispersed to evenly to the first and second legs of the t-shaped pipe.
Another embodiment of this invention is a method for filling tank cars with pellet-shaped particles or other materials. The method comprises transporting a t-shaped pipe to the roof of a tank car, the tank car roof having one or more openings for receiving materials. In one preferred method, the t-shaped pipe comprises a body member with one or more pairs of opposingly directed tubular legs, each pair of opposingly directed legs comprising a first leg and a second leg extending therefrom and the body member and tubular legs comprising a first bore extending therethrough. Preferably, the body member further compris
D'Ambrosio Jo Katherine
Jacyna J. Casimer
LandOfFree
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