Latching arrangement for hatch cover

Claim 1

In a vehicle hopper arrangement having a lower discharge portion, a horizontal covering wall at the upper portion of said hopper including a vertical tubular wall having an upper flange defining an inlet opening into said hopper, a cover supported on said covering wall movable upwardly from a closed position to an open position, said cover having a peripheral portion and a flange extending downwardly from the peripheral portion and being adapted in the closed position to overlap said upper flange, means for moving said cover between said positions including manually operable means for tightly urging said peripheral portion toward said upper flange; the improvement comprising, a seal arrangement for sealing said inlet opening in the closed position of said cover including; a resilient seal supported on the underneath side of the peripheral portion of said cover and in the closed position being disposed adjacent and coextensive with both said peripheral portion and said upper flange, a latch bracket including a pair of spaced parallel arms connected to and projecting laterally from said tubular wall, a latch element pivotally connected between said arms adjacent the distal ends of the arms, a guide plate connected to the flange of the cover and extending downward therefrom, the lower portion of the Guide plate having a width slightly less than the spacing between the pair of arms for being received between the pair of arms toward the connected ends of the pair of arms from the latch element, a tongue attached to the guide plate and projecting laterally from the cover, said tongue having its plane in a vertical plane, said latch element having a slot for receiving said tongue only when said cover is in a closed position with a predetermined degree of compression of said resilient seal, said tubular wall including stop means therein, said means for moving said cover including a hand wheel rotatably connected to said cover and including rotatable drive means, driver means connected to said drive means, and said driver means including vertically movable spider means engageable with said stop means for compressing said resilient seal.