Patent Application
20110107940
This invention is directed to a gasket for a manway opening for containment vessels such as railroad cars, particularly tank cars. More particularly it is directed to a manway gasket with enhanced sealing capability and with visual recognition capability for verification of its presence.
A manway or hatch provides access to the interior of a containment vessel such as a railroad tank car for loading, venting, cleaning and maintenance. During transit the manway opening is closed by a cover. The cover is normally hinged and latched to the loading nozzle which is the upstanding tube surrounding the opening in the car body. The nozzle may be a cylindrical tube, or it may have a rounded top edge known as a coaming.
The cover is normally attached to the car by a hinge element. It is held in place by a series of six or eight bolts equally spaced about the opening. A resilient gasket is provided between the cover and the upper edge of the nozzle or coaming to seal between planar annular surfaces on the top of the nozzle or coaming and the underside of the cover. One such gasket, normally affixed to the coaming or nozzle, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,827. This design is available commercially from Salco Products, Inc., Lemont, Ill.
An adequate seal between the cover and manway opening structure is an important aspect of gasket function. It is particularly difficult to achieve because of the generally rough treatment of the edge of the coaming or nozzle during normal car usage.
In one form, the gasket includes upstanding concentric annular ribs or chevrons which contact the planar annular gasket contact surface on the under surface of the cover. These ribs, molded into the gasket about its upper sealing surface enhance the ability of the gasket to provide a fluid tight seal.
The manway cover urges the gasket against the upper edge of the coaming or nozzle. It is drawn toward closure by six or eight or more bolts equally spaced about the outer perimeter of the manway opening. Necessarily, the clamping force imparted to the gasket member by the coacting annular gasket contact surfaces on the cover an associated nozzle or coaming is maximized nearest the bolt locations. It further follows that the minimum clamping force is imparted at a location midway between bolts.
The presence of a resilient gasket element between the manway nozzle and cover is important in the operation and usage of railroad cars having manway openings. Particularly important is the capability to verify its presence from the ground level adjacent to the cars. This is a safety feature not only from the standpoint of assuring the integrity of the seal, but from the standpoint of eliminating the need for personnel to climb to the upper heights of the railroad equipment to perform manual verification.
The gasket of the present invention enhances sealing capability through employment of outwardly directed chevrons formed on the sealing surfaces of the gasket. The chevrons seal against the cooperating annular planar surfaces defined in the underside of the cover and upper edge of the manway body and accommodate irregularities present on these rigid surfaces. In its optimal form, these chevrons may be of varying height relative to the gasket planar sealing surface to accommodate unequal distribution of clamping force. Such chevrons are formed with a minimum height at locations aligned with clamping bolts and a maximum height at locations midway between spaced clamping bolts. In another form, the gasket includes a verification telltale visible from the ground level, to confirm the presence of the gasket between the manway nozzle or coaming and the associated cover.
Referring now to the drawings,
The open end of the tubular manway nozzle body 12 is closed by a removable cover 50. The cover 50 is arranged to close the opening and secure the interior of the car. It can be opened to permit interior access when needed.
A resilient sealing gasket 70 is interposed between the cover 50 and manway nozzle body 12 to provide a seal between the cover 50 and the manway body 12. The general configuration of gasket 70 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,827, the entire specification and drawings of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Referring to
Seen in
A plurality of securement brackets 22 are equally spaced about the manway body 12. As illustrated, there are six (6) such brackets 22. However, eight (8) could be provided, depending on the diameter of the manway body 12. Typically a manway body having a twenty inch (20″) internal diameter is provided with six (6) equally spaced securement brackets 22.
Each securement bracket 22 includes two spaced apart vertical arms 24 welded to the tubular body 12. The arms 24 include aligned apertures which support a cross, or pivot pin 26. The pins 26 are removably secured to the securement brackets 22. As illustrated, each pin 26 includes a head at one end. The opposite end receives a washer 30 and cotter pin 32 to affix pins 26 in securement brackets 22.
Each securement bracket 22 supports an eye bolt 34 that includes an eyelet end pivotally mounted on one of the cross pins 26. The free end is threaded and receives a clamping nut 38 and washer 40 which engage the upper surface of cover 50. Tightening the nuts 38 draws the cover 50 toward the manway nozzle tubular body 12 to clamp the gasket 70 between the two components. For a typical twenty inch (20″) diameter cover, the bolts are one inch (1″) in diameter.
Cover 50 is a steel fabrication. Its shape generally corresponds to the shape of manway body 12. As illustrated in
Cover 50 includes a hinge bracket 58 welded to clamping plate 60. Hinge bracket 58 extends outward of the cover 50 away from dome portion 52. It includes vertical flanges 59 that fit between spaced arms 18 of cover bracket 16. Vertical flanges 59 each define an aperture aligned with the aligned apertures of arms 18. Cover pivot bolt 20 extends through the apertures and pivotally secures the cover 50 to manway tubular body 12. Though not shown, the apertures in flanges 59 are vertically elongate. This configuration permits an amount of vertical play or movement necessary to adequately tighten the cover 50 onto the manway tubular body 12.
Clamping plate 60 of cover 50 also includes an elongate aperture opposite the hinge bracket 56. The plate 60 thus defines a lifting handle 64 to assist in pivotal movement of the cover 50 on cover bracket 16.
Clamping plate 60 defines a series of radial outward extensions 61 that overlie the securement brackets 22. (In the illustrated embodiment, there are six (6) such extensions.) Each extension 61 defines a slot 62 sized to receive an eye bolt 34. The slots extend radially inwardly such to permit the eye bolts 34 to be positioned vertically. On tightening of the nuts 38 upon eye bolts 34, the upper surfaces on each side of slots 62 of the extensions 61 receives the clamping load of nuts 38 and washers 40.
Referring to
The gasket is an annular ring member of an inverted J-shaped cross section formed by a generally planar annular body portion 76 with depending integrally molded inner leg portion 74 and outer leg portion 78. The legs are separated by a distance approximately equal to the wall thickness of a manway loading nozzle tubular body 12, usually five eighths inch (⅝″). The gasket 70 is cylindrical about a center (C) as illustrated in
Gasket 70 is installed onto the upper edge of tubular body 12 with generally planar annular body portion 76 overlying upper annular gasket contact surface 14. As seen in
The underside of the generally planar annular body portion 76 overlies upper generally planar annular gasket contact surface 14 of the nozzle body. The radial inner edge 81 and radial outer edge 83 of gasket 70 are formed upon a radius of about one quarter inch (¼″). Rounding of these edges reduces the possibility of contact by the edges 56 and 57 of the cover during closing. This minimizes the risk of dislodgement of the gasket during closing.
As shown in
The generally planar annular body 76 is an annular flat ring portion that extends radially between the leg portions 74 and 78. It defines an upper annular cover sealing surface 80 and lower annular nozzle body sealing surface 82.
As illustrated in the embodiment of
The chevrons 84 are defined by annular wall surfaces 85 and 86 formed at an included angle α of eighty degrees (80°) and each define a circular peak (P). The peak (P) of the radially outer chevron is 3/16 inch inward from the inner cylindrical surface of outer leg 78. The peaks (P) of the radially outer and radially inner chevrons are one quarter inch (¼″) apart. The height (h) and angle α can be varied depending on the application. It is, of course, important that the chevrons 84 be readily deformable on exertion of compression forces between the cover 50 and manway body 12 to fill any irregularities in the associated contact surfaces on the manway body 12 or cover 50. The cross-sectional shape of the chevrons 84 may be other than triangular. For example, the cross-sectional shape could be semi-circular, or other suitable shape.
With the gasket 70 installed on manway tubular body 12 the chevrons 84 depending from lower annular nozzle sealing surface 82 rest on planar upper annular gasket contact surface 14. To close the manway opening, the eye bolts 34 are pivoted to a downward position with the free ends below the cross pins 26. The clamping nuts 38 are unthreaded a sufficient distance to permit pivoting of the bolts into slots 62 with the nuts 38 and washers 40 positioned above the extensions 61. The cover 50 is pivoted on cover pivot bolt 20 to overlie the manway tubular body 12. The planar annular gasket contact surface 55 makes contact with gasket 70 at chevrons 84 of upper annular cover sealing surface 80. The eye bolts 34 are then pivoted into slots 62 with clamping nuts 38 and washers 40 above the upper surface of the extensions 61 of plate 60. The nuts 38 are tightened to draw the cover 50 downward onto the tubular body 12 in overlying relation to the manway opening of manway body 12. The gasket 70 is clamped between the planar annular gasket contact surface 14 of manway body 12 and planar annular gasket contact surface 55 of cover 50. The applied compressive forces deform chevrons 84 on upper annular cover sealing surface 80 and lower annular nozzle body sealing surface 82 to provide a fluid tight seal between the manway nozzle body 12 and cover 50. The nuts 38 are typically tightened to one hundred foot pounds (100 ft-lbs).
Easy verification of the presence of gasket 70 from ground level adjacent the car is provided through incorporation of a telltale or tab 88, seen in
To augment visibility, the tabs 88 and, if desired, the exposed portion of outer leg portion 78 adjacent either side of tabs 88, are covered with a reflective media such as tape or paint. Thus, the tab is readily visible at night when illuminated by a light source utilized by inspection personnel.
It should be noted that the position of tabs 88 is an important consideration when installing gasket 70. Because there are two, the tabs can be visible from either side of a railroad car. But it is important to locate the tabs such that they are not obscured by securement brackets 22 and eye bolts 34. Usually, the cover hinge bracket 58 is positioned on the longitudinal centerline of the car. With a six eye bolt arrangement, two securement brackets 22 and associated eye bolts reside on a line transverse to the car longitudinal centerline. Therefore, it is desirable to position the gasket 70 such that the tabs 88 reside midway between adjacent securement brackets. In the six bolt configuration, the optimum position of the tabs 88 would be on a radial line passing through the center C of the gasket 50 at 60° to the longitudinal centerline of the car.
To orient the verification tabs relative to cover 50, the longitudinal centerline of the cover is deemed to pass through the center of dome 52 and bisect the space between vertical flanges 59 of hinge bracket 58. Thus, properly oriented tabs 88 would lie on a line that bisects the tabs and is at an angle of sixty degrees (60°) to the longitudinal centerline of the cover. Of course, the important factor in orienting the verification tabs 88 is to avoid disposition radially behind or inward of a securement bracket 22 and eye bolt 34. Therefore, though not optimal, the angle of a line that bisects tabs 88 to the longitudinal centerline of the cover could vary substantially so long as the visibility of the tabs from the ground adjacent the sides of the car is not completely impaired.
In the embodiment of
Referring now to
In the embodiment of
Referring to
As in the embodiment of
The gasket 170 is installed such that locations M1 to M6 seen in
In this embodiment, external tabs 188 are molded onto the gasket outer leg portion 178 at a radial location aligned with locations of maximum height “hmax” of the chevrons 184. To properly orient the varying height of chevrons 184 relative to the securement brackets 22 it is only necessary to position the external tabs 188 midway between adjacent securement brackets 22. As previously explained to take maximum advantage of the visual verification capability provided by the tabs 188, it is necessary to position the tabs 188 on the sides of the manway nozzle 12 most visible from the ground adjacent the railroad car. That is, for a manway having six (6) securement brackets the tabs 88 should lie on a radial line passing through center “C”, sixty degrees (60°) to the longitudinal centerline of the car.
Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
