This invention relates to an improved railway container for transporting bulk cargo on specially adapted railway cars, and to railway cars configured to transport such containers.
It has been recognized for some time that the containerized transportation of cargo provides significant advantages in terms of more efficient cargo handling. Cargo containers have come into wide use in the water, rail, and highway transportation of palletized cargo.
Adams U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,909 describes one modern approach to the transportation of trailers and other containers on specially constructed railway cars. The approach described in the Adams patent does provide important advantages over conventional railway flat cars, as described in the Adams patent.
However, the railway cars and containers described in the Adams patent suffer from certain limitations. In particular, when containers are transported on railway cars of the type described by Adams, the center of gravity of the cargo being carried is situated at a relatively high level, because none of the cargo is carried below the uppermost level of the railway car itself. Such a high center of gravity can be undesirable particularly when heavy cargos, such as bulk grains, for example, are being transported. In addition, containers such as those shown in the Adams patent are rectangular and do not therefore provide an aerodynamically contoured shape. For this reason, energy losses due to wind resistance around the trucks of the railway car and around the containers themselves are unnecessarily high. Moreover, many containers of the type shown by Adams are adapted for use with palletized cargo. Bulk cargos, such as grain or coal for example, often cannot be transported in such containers efficiently. This is due to the fact that many standard rectangular containers do not have adequate structural strength to contain a full load of a heavy bulk cargo.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an improved cargo container and an improved railway car which cooperate to transport bulk cargos efficiently. Furthermore, this invention is directed to an improved container for bulk cargo which is strong and light in weight, which provides excellent aerodynamic characteristics when being transported on a railway car, which provides an exceptionally low center of gravity when used to transport bulk cargos, and which can be efficiently stacked for storage or transport.