ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,280,812, issued on April 22, was assigned to Inter-Rail Transport Inc. (Centreville, Va.).
"Railcar spacing tool" was invented by James E. Handlin (Hallsville, Texas).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A system and method are provided for spacing railcars of a train apart from each other with a predetermined gap in between. Embodiments include a railcar spacing tool having a hydraulic cylinder with brackets at opposing ends for contacting the frame of each of a pair of adjoined adjacent railcars to be spaced from each other, and a cylinder support frame attached to the cylinder and movably attached to a support vehicle such that the support fr...