AU595752B2

AU595752B2 - A railway rail-fastening clip and a railway rail-and-fastening assembly

Info

Publication number: AU595752B2
Application number: AU82214/87A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Christopher Gardner
Original assignee: Pandrol Ltd
Current assignee: Pandrol Ltd
Priority date: 1986-12-10
Filing date: 1987-12-08
Publication date: 1990-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 2007-12-08
Also published as: MY100612A; JPH046802B2; AR243250A1; BR8706687A; BE1002305B5; ID990B; GB8629513D0; BE1002305A6; NZ222808A; GB8728739D0; GB2199875A; AU8221487A; KR880007873A; JPS63161201A; IN172046B; KR920006424B1; GB2199875B

Description

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r COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA~~ Potents Act 1952-1969 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int. Claiss Application Number Lodged Complete Application No.

Specification Lodged Published ,9 0 Priority.

S. Related art: \This doCume1nnt e.nta n16ther ani efleits madecdr Sec-tiofl 49 a 1 rid is JC. V TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT ,,Name of Applicant: Address of Applicant: *Actual Inventor: PANDYkOL LIMITED 1 Vincent Square, London SWiP 2PN, ENGLAND Christopher GARDNER Address for Service: COLLISON CO., Patent Attorneys, 117 King William Street, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000.

Complete Specification for the invention entitled: "A RAILWAY RAIL-FASTENING CLIP AND A RAILWAY RAIL-AND-FASTENING ASSEMBLY" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to rlx us.

TO:

THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS. (Signature of Declarant) TREVOR PAUL BROWN (IMPORTANT Cross out inapplicable words in above Form.) *0/4524 -la- A railway rail-fastening clip and a railway rail-and-fastening assembly.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clip which is suitable for fastening a railway rail, the clip being a rod of metal which has been bent so as to have, proceeding along the rod from one end of it to the other end, firstly a substantially straight first portion having substantially the same cross-section over its entire length, then a bent second portion, then a substantially straight third portion the axis of which makes an angle substantially more than 450 with the axis of the first portion, the two axes lying in the same plane as one another, then a fourth portion which is a reverse bend, then a fifth portion, then a sixth portion which is another reverse bend and finally a seventh portion, the construction being such that it is possible to place the clip in a particular position such that the third portion is horizontal and the first portion extends downwardly and such that when the clip is viewed from above the fifth and seventh portions appear to be on oppo3ite sides of the third portion.

According to a second aspect u the invention, there is provided a clip which is suitable for fastening a railway rail, the clip being a rod of metal which has been bent so as to have, proceeding along the rod from one end of it to the other end, firstly a substantially straight first portion free from helical parts which would facilitate screwing the clip into a sleeper, then a bent second portion, then a substantially straight third portion the axis of which makes an angle substantially more than 450 with the axis of the first portion, the two axes lying in the same plane as one another, then a fourth portion which is a reverse bend, then a fifth portion, then a sixth portion which is another reverse bend and finally a a -2seventh portion, the construction being such that it is possible to place the clip in a particular position such that the third portion is horizontal and the first portion extends downwardly and such that when the clip is viewed from above the fifth and seventh portions appear to be on opposite sides of the third portion.

Preferably, when the clip is in said position, the sixth portion rises to a higher level than the third portion. Part of the sixth portion preferably lies directly vertically above part of the third portion.

Preferably, the axes of the first and third portions are substantially perpendicular to one another. The second portion is preferably such that when the clip is in said position no part of the second portion is below the level of the lower side of the third portion.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a railway rail-and-fastening assembly comprising a foundation for a railway rail, the foundation having a hole in it extending downwardly from its upper surface, a railway rail having a flange at its bottom, one edge of the flange being beside the hole, a rail-fastening clip having a portion inserted substantially parallel to the length of the rail beside the edge of the flange on the rail so as to limit sideways movement of the rail, another portion beyond said further portion, as seen from the rail, bearing downwardly on the rail foundation and an additional portion overlying the flange of the rail and bearing downwardly on its upper surface, the assembly further comprising means for holding parts of said further portion and said another portion down on the rail foundation.

Preferably the clip in an asembly according to the third aspect of the invention is a clip according to the first or second aspect of the invention, in which case the -2aportion in the hole is the first portion, said further portion is the third portion, said another portion is the fifth portion and said additional portion is the seventh portion.

An example in accordance with the invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 shows a side view of a rail-fastening clip, Figure 2 shows another side view of the clip, taken as indicated by the arrow II in Figure 1, Figure 3 shows a plan view of the clip, F;gure 4 shows a plan view of a portion of railway rail held down on a railway sleeper by two clips according to Figures 1 to 3, and Figures 5 and 6 show side views, taken as indicated by the arrows V and V1, respectively, in Figure 4, of part of what is shown in Figure 4.

The clip shown in Figures 1 to 3 is made by bending a rod of resilient steel of circular cross-section and at least 0.8 cm. diameter.

Proceeding along the bent rod from one end A to the other end B, the clip consists of a first portion 1 which is straight, a second portion 2 which could be a 900 bend but is preferably bent as shown, a third portion 3 y s ~4 UU -3which is also straight and has its axis perpendicular to the axis of the portion 1, these two axes lying in a common plane, a further portion 4 which is in the form of a reverse-bend or a U, a fifth portion 5 which lies alongside the third portion 3, a sixth portion 6 which is in the form of another reverse-bend or U and which passes approximately directly vertically above the junction between the third portion 3 and the second portion 2, and finally a seventh portion 7 which lies alongside the third portion 3. When the clip is in the illustrated position, with the third portion 3 horizontal, and it is viewed from above, the fifth and seventh portions 5 and 7 appear to be on opposite sides of the third portion 3.

When the clip is in the above-mentioned position, 15 the portions 3 and 5 of it are at the same horizontal level as one another, i.e. a single horizontal plane contains the axis of the third portion 3 and the axis of the fifth portion The second portion 2 is wholly above the level 3A 20 of the lower side of the third portion 3, i.e. no part o of the second portion 2 is below that level. This is e to enable the first portion 1 to be inserted in a vertical hole in a railway sleeper without enlarging S the mouth of the hole to accommodate part of the bent portion 2.

Apart from the fact that it has the first and second portions, the clip is rather like a so-called "e-clip" which is disclosed in United Kingdom Patent Specification No. 1510224.

Further examples of a clip according to the first aspect of the invention could be obtained by adding the first and second portions 1 and 2 shown in the drawings to the free end of the substantially straight leg of a so-called "round-toe PR clip", as shown in United Kingdom Patent Specification No. 869385, or a soi -4called "flat-toe PR clip" as shown in British Patent Specification No. 1213762.

The fifth portion 5 could be at a level higher than that of the third portion 3 and the seventh portion 7 could be at a level higher than that shown, provided that the clip can be so positioned that the third portion is horizontal and when the clip is viewed from above the fifth and seventh portions appear to be on opposite sides of the third portion.

Clips as described above can be used in a low-c-st fastening system for securing a railway rail to an underlying structure and at the same time preventing sideways movement of the rail. To illustrate such a system, Figures 4 to 6 show a wooden railway sleeper formed with a recess the floor of which constitutes a 15 rail seat 10A, sloping downwardly from left to right, S: considering Figure 5, with a gradient of 1:20, upon which rail seat a railway rail 11 having a flange 12 at S"its base is directly placed, although there could be a resilient pad or a metallic plate placed on the rail seat and separating it from the bottom of the flange on the rail. Two vertical holes extend downwardly from the rail seat adjacent to respective edges of the rail flange and into these holes are inserted the first portions 1 of two clips according to Figures 1 to 3.

The third portions 3 of the clips lie on the rail seat, beside opposite edges of the rail flange, and parts of the fifth portions 5 of the clips are each pressed downwardly into contact with the rail seat at a location, as seen from the rail, which is beyond the third portion 3 of the clip, and the seventh portions 7 of the clips are pressed downwardly on to the upper surface of opposite sides of the rail flange. This is done by a collar 13A on the head of a screw spike 13, the shank 13B of which passes between the portions 3 and 5 of the clip in each case and into a vertical hole dl I i in the sleeper. If the screw spike becomes loose after a time, nevertheless the fact that the first portion 1 of the clip projects into a vertical hole in the sleeper will have the consequence that the third portion 3 of each clip remains substantially in its intended position and prevents sideways movement of the rail. The first portions of the clips projecting into the holes in the sleeper also resist any tendency for the clips to move along the rails.

The rail seat 10A forms the upper surface of the sleeper in the vicinity of the rail and the clips.

There is another recess in the sleeper, the floor of which constitutes another rail seat on which there rests another rail (not shown) which is held down by two more clips. Except at the recesses in the sleeper, 15 the upper surface of the sleeper is flat and horizontal, as shown at 10B. At the right-hand side of the recess in the sleeper there is an inclined wall defining one end of the recess but there is no such wall at the left-hand side of the recess because the V. 20 depth of the recess smoothly decreases from right to 0. left, to zero at its left-hand side.

If desired, there could be a metal plate between the lower surface of the portion 5 of the clip and the S upper surface of the sleeper, in order to reduce wear on the sleeper.

S..

r li~lr-.i-r ;rr- u -6- It is to be noted that in making the assemb!y shown in Figures 4 to 6 the first portion 1 is not screwed into the hole in the sleeper 10, nor is it provided with any helical parts which would facilitate screwing it into the sleeper. On the contrary, the first portion 1 is of substantially the same cross-section over its entire length.

The sixth portion 6 of the clip, when the clip is in the position shown in Figures 1 and 2, rises to a level higher than that of the third portion 3. In fact a part of the sixth portion 6 lies directly vertically above part of the third portion 3, as Figure 3 shows.

if\ I L I 7

Claims

1. A clip which is suitable for fastening a railway rail, the clip being a rod of metal which has been bent so as to have, proceeding along the rod from one end of it to the other end, firstly a substantially straight first portion having substantially the same cross-section over its entire length, then a bent second portion, then a substantially straight third portion the axis of which makes an angle substantially more than 450 with the axis of the first portion, the two axes lying in the same plane as one another, then a fourth portion which is a reverse bend, then a fifth portion, then a sixth portion which is another reverse bend and finally a seventh portion, the construction being such that it is possible to place the clip in a particular position such that the third portion is horizontal and the first portion extends downwardly and such that when the clip is viewed from above the fifth and seventh portions appear to be on opposite sides of the third portion.

2. A clip which is suitable for fastening a railway rail, the clip being a rod of metal which has been bent so as to have, proceeding along the rod from one end of it to the other end, firstly a substantially straight first portion free from helical parts which would facilitate screwing the clip into a sleeper, then a bent second portion, then a substantially straight third portion the axis of which makes an angle substantially more than 450 with the axis of the first portion, the two axes lying in the same plane as one another, then a fourth portion which is a reverse bend, then a fifth portion, then a sixth portion which is another reverse bend and finally a seventh portion, the construction being such that it is possible to place the clip in a particular position such that the third portion is horizontal and the first portion extends downwardly and such that when the clip is viewed from above the fifth and seventh portions appear to be on opposite sides of the third portion.

3. A clip according to claim 1 or 2 in which, when the clip is in said position, the sixth portion rises to a higher level than the third portion. Vr' C -7-

4. A clip according to any preceding claim in which the axes of the first and third portions of the clip are substantially perpendicular to one another.

A clip according to any preceding claim in which, when the clip is in said position, no part of the second portion is below the level of the lower side of the third portion.

6. A clip according to any preceding claim in which, when the clip is in said position, the third and fifth portions of it are at the same horizontal level as one another.

7. A clip according to any preceding claim in which, when the clip is in said position, the sixth portion of it passes approximately directly vertically above the junction between the second portion and the third portion.

8. A clip which is suitable for fastening a railway rail, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.

9. A railway rail-and-fastening assembly comprising a foundation for a railway rail, the foundation having a hole in it extending downwardly from its upper surface, a railway rail having a flange at its bottom, one edge of the flange being beside the hole, a rail-fastening clip having a portion inserted, but not screwed, downwardly into the hole, a further portion extending substantially parallel to the length of the rail beside the edge of the flange on the rail so as to "mit sideways movement of the rail, another portion beyond said further portion, as seen from the rail, bearing downwardly on the rail foundation and an additional portion overlying the flange of the rail and bearing downwardly on its upper surface, the assembly further comprising means for holding parts of said further portion and said another portion down on the rail foundation.

An assembly according to claim 9 in which the clip is a clip 'according to any one of claims 1 to 8. P/ -8-

11. An assembly according to claim 9 or 10 in which said means is a screw spike having a shank which passes between the said further and another portions of the clip and into a hole in the sleeper and an enlarged head which presses downwardly on the said further and another portions.

12. A railway rail-and-fastening assembly, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 4 to 6 of the accompanying drawings. Dated this 21st day of December 1989 PANDROL LIMITED By their Patent Attorneys COLLISON CO 4s^^M^