Discrete material transporting and dumping apparatus and method

Abstract

Discrete material transporting and dumping apparatus and method involve a container having an open top closed by hopper doors, a normally closed rear end through which, when open, contents of the container are adapted to be dumped by a pusher structure in the container chamber activated rearwardly by conveyance motivated means such as a hydraulic piston, a drive screw or a cable the end of which is accessible when the rear doors are opened for connection to a transporting conveyance-carried winch cable. The pusher structure is returned to the front end of the container after the dumping operation. The conveyance is adapted to be a flatbed truck trailer having tracks thereon receptive of bottom rollers on the container, whereby the container is adapted to be brought adjacent to a dump site on a railroad flatcar, transferred to the trailer, taken to the dump site, the pusher structure operated to unload the container, and the container then returned to the railroad car. The pusher may serve as a compacting ram.

I claim as my invention: 
     
       1. The combination of a discrete material transporting and dumping apparatus and a supporting structure therefor, comprising: a large capacity container having a bottom wall with opposite coextensive spaced side walls rising therefrom, a top wall, a front end and a rear end, and defining therein a discrete material receiving chamber;   means on said bottom wall for removably supporting the container on said supporting structure;   a forwardly and rearwardly reciprocable pusher structure in said chamber having a front side facing toward said front end and a rear side directed toward said rear end, with edges close to said bottom, side and top walls;   driving means mounted on said supporting structure; means for releasably connecting the pusher structure  to said driving means for actuating the pusher structure reciprocably between said front and rear ends;   closure door means at said rear end;   said pusher structure being operable by said driving means when the door means are open to discharge the material contents from said chamber through the open rear end; and   means on said supporting structure to hold the container against displacement by reason of driving force of said driving means acting on said pusher.   
     
     
       2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said container is of substantial length, said top wall having longitudinally adjacent filling opening areas one of which extends to adjacent said rear end and the other of which extends to adjacent said front end, and closure means for at least said one opening area enabling closing of said one opening area when said chamber is substantially filled therebelow while the other opening area remains open to receive additional discrete material therethrough. 
     
     
       3. Apparatus according to claim 1, including means for withdrawing said pusher through the front end of said container to enable discharge of material into the container through said front end, and said driving means being operable to drive the pusher through said front end to compact the material within the container. 
     
     
       4. Apparatus according to claim 1, said driving means comprising a telescopic cylinder actuator releasably connectable to the front side of said pusher structure by said connecting means. 
     
     
       5. A combination according to claim 1, wherein said means on said bottom wall comprise rollers, and said supporting structure has channel tracks extending transversely relative to the reciprocal directions of movement of said pusher and cooperating with said rollers as said means to hold the container against displacement. 
     
     
       6. A combination according to claim 5, said tracks having means at respective opposite end portions thereof for retaining the rollers against unintentional rolling of the container transversely from said supporting structure. 
     
     
       7. A combination according to claim 6, said retaining means at one of the ends of said tracks comprising fixed stops. 
     
     
       8. A combination according to claim 6, said retaining means at one of the track ends comprising pivotal ramps adapted to be moved from the retaining position into cooperation with track means at one side of the supporting structure to enable rolling of the container from the supporting structure, and means for locking the ramps in raised retaining position relative to said tracks. 
     
     
       9. A combination according to claim 1, said driving means comprising a winch mounted on said supporting structure and including means for driving the winch, and respective cables connectible to the front and rear sides of said pusher structure for effecting the reciprocations of the pusher structure by operation of said winch. 
     
     
       10. A combination according to claim 1, said supporting structure comprising a conveyance for transporting the container from one site to another, the conveyance including a bed on which the container is received removably, said driving means comprising a winch operatively carried by the conveyance including a pair of cables and including means for removably attaching one of the cables to the front side of said pusher structure and means for detachably connecting the other of the cables to the rear side of the pusher structure whereby to enable reciprocation of said pusher structure by operation of the winch to effect pulling action and paying out of the respective winch cables alternately, and a cable idler pulley at the rear end of said conveyance to facilitate operation of said other cable. 
     
     
       11. A combination according to claim 1, including tracks extending transversely on said supporting structure under said bottom wall, rollers on said bottom wall riding said tracks, winch means carried by said supporting structure and having cables operatively connected therewith, and means on said bottom wall for attaching said cables for moving the container along said tracks by means of said cables in the operation of said winch means. 
     
     
       12. A combination according to claim 1, including means providing a forward ramp extension from said bottom wall, said pusher structure being movable out of said front end of said container, and said driving means being operable to withdraw the pusher structure from said front end of the container and also being operable to drive the pusher structure in compacting relation within the container structure towards said rear end. 
     
     
       13. A combination according to claim 12, said ramp being hinged along an edge to said bottom wall and being movable into upward closing relation to said front end of the container. 
     
     
       14. A combination according to claim 1, said driving means comprising a multi-section telescopic actuator. 
     
     
       15. A discrete material transporting and dumping apparatus comprising: a large capacity container having a bottom wall with opposite coextensive spaced side walls rising therefrom, a top wall, a front end and a rear end, and defining therein a discrete material receiving chamber; means on said bottom wall for removably supporting the container on a supporting structure;   a forwardly and rearwardly reciprocable pusher structure in said chamber having a front side facing toward said front end and a rear side directed toward said rear end, with edges close to said bottom, side and top walls;   means for releasably connecting the pusher structure to conveyance-carried driving means by which the pusher structure is adapted to be driven reciprocably between said front and rear ends;   closure door means at said rear end;   said pusher structure being operable by said driving means when the door means are open to discharge the material contents from said chamber through the open rear end;   said closure door means comprising a pair of door members respectively hinged vertically along the adjacent ends of said side walls and including means for latching them in closed position; and   a leakage preventing barrier cooperating with said door members along the rear end of said bottom wall and movable into a non-obstructing position when the door members are open to facilitate discharge of said material contents from said chamber through said open rear end.   
     
     
       16. Apparatus according to claim 15, said barrier comprising a flexible gasket member intermediately hinged along a horizontal line with a base portion secured to said bottom wall adjacent to said rear end and having a portion extending upwardly along the lower portion of said closure door means in the closed condition of the door means but swingable downwardly and outwardly when the door means are opened for dumping container contents. 
     
     
       17. A discrete material transporting and dumping apparatus comprising: a large capacity container having a bottom wall with opposite coextensive spaced side walls rising therefrom, a top wall, a front end and a rear end, and defining therein a discrete material receiving chamber;   means on said bottom wall for removably supporting the container on a supporting structure;   a forwardly and rearwardly reciprocable pusher structure in said chamber having a front side facing toward said front end and a rear side directed toward said rear end, with edges close to said bottom, side and top walls;   means for releasably connecting the pusher structure to conveyance-carried driving means by which the pusher structure is adapted to be driven reciprocably between said front and rear ends;   closure door means at said rear end;   said pusher structure being operable by said driving means when the door means are open to discharge the material contents from said chamber through the open rear end;   said pusher structure including a vertical front frame and a rearwardly facing plate extending diagonally downwardly and forwardly from the upper edge of said frame and joined at its bottom edge to the bottom edge of the frame by an integral dolly having a plurality of generally V-grooved rollers aligned in front to rear spaced relation between said bottom edges; and   rails on the upper face of said bottom wall running longitudinally therealong and engaged by and within the V-grooves of said rollers for running therealong in the reciprocations of the pusher structure. .Iadd.18. A method of transporting and dumping solid discrete material, comprising:   at a loading site filling a large capacity material-receiving chamber within a container with discrete material, said container having a mobile pusher at one end of the chamber and an opposite unloading end of the chamber provided with an opening defined by the unloading ends of the chamber walls, and selectively operable closure door means closing the opening;   transferring the container to a dumping site;   positioning the container so that the pusher end is adjacent to and in alignment with a pusher driving means mounted separately and independently of the container on a supporting structure;   releasably connecting said separate and independent pusher driving means to said mobile pusher;   opening said closure door means for discharge of the material through said unloading end opening;   activating the driving means to apply thrust force to said pusher and thereby moving the pusher in said chamber toward said unloading end opening and ejecting the discrete material load contents from the chamber;   holding the container against displacement relative to said supporting structure and said driving means as the thrust force is applied to the load contents by the pusher;   after ejection of said load contents releasing said driving means from the pusher; and   transferring the container away from said driving means. .Iaddend..Iadd.19. A method according to claim 18, including reversing the pusher driving means at the dumping site and returning the pusher to the said one end of the container chamber, releasing said pusher driving means from said pusher, closing said closure door means, and transferring said container to a loading site. .Iaddend..Iadd.20. A method according to claim 19, including, at the loading site connecting said pusher releasably to driving means mounted independently of the container on supporting structure and located in alignment with the pusher end of the container, loading compactible discrete material into the container, operating said driving means and thereby moving said pusher toward the closed door means to compact the compactible material in the container chamber, then releasing said loading site driving means from the pusher, and transferring the container to a dump site with said pusher serving as a bulkhead at said pusher end. .Iaddend..Iadd.21. A method according to claim 18, including closing said closure door means, returning the container to a loading site, at the loading site connecting said pusher releasably to driving means mounted independently of the container on supporting structure and located in alignment with the pusher said one of the container chamber, operating said loading site driving means to withdraw the pusher from the container chamber through said one end, supplying compactible discrete material into filling relation between the pusher and said pusher end, actuating said loading site driving means and thereby moving the pusher to compact the supplied discrete material in the container chamber, then releasing said loading site driving means from the pusher, and transferring the container to the dump site with said pusher serving as a bulkhead at said one end. .Iaddend..Iadd.22. A method according to claim 18, comprising closing said closure door means, releasably connecting the pusher to driving means on supporting structure at the loading site adjacent to and separate from said one end of the container, loading compactible discrete material into the container chamber through the top thereof, operating the driving means to actuate the pusher and compact the discrete material in the container toward said closure door means, releasing said loading site driving means from said pusher, and then transferring the container to the dumping site with said pusher serving as a bulkhead at said one end. .Iaddend.