EP0059800B1 - Machine for renewing railway tracks, comprising a plough - Google Patents

Abstract

This plough adapted to be mounted on a railroad tracklaying machine comprises in its plough area members capable of disaggregating and/or thrusting aside the old compact ballast. These members consist of ejectors acting like pistons and extending through apertures formed in the ploughshares; the ejectors movable across the normal direction of travel of the plough under the control are driven by an actuating mechanism imparting a reciprocating motion thereto, and may be replaced by blades disposed beneath, and substantially parallel to, the ploughshares, the actuating mechanism being adapted to impart to these blades a movement substantially of translation along a closed path.

Description

The present invention relates to a machine for the renewal of railways comprising a plow, of the type applied in machines for the renewal of railways, for breaking up the pre-existing compact ballast, after the removal of old rails and sleepers, and preparing the route for laying new sleepers.

Plows used for this purpose are already known, such as, for example, that described in US Patent No. 3,020,853 on which the preamble of claim 1 is based. This plow comprises a frame provided with blades that can be tilted either forward to dig the ballast, or back to level it; this plow is intended to be placed below the rails and sleepers and to be towed by a machine to dig or level the ballast according to the position of the blades. These plows act by simple insertion in the ballast, caused by the advancement of the machine to which the plow is applied, and they meet a very strong resistance to the advancement, on the one hand because the gravel of the old ballast is very compact due to the compaction exerted by the convoys in transit and the sticking caused by sludge, metal dust and other substances depositing on the stone, and on the other hand also because the low speed of advance of the machine does not favor the establishment of a regular flow of stones displaced by the plow. It follows the impossibility of digging with these plows a furrow of great depth. In practice, we must limit ourselves to equalizing the ballast by reversing in the furrows left by the removed ties the stones previously found between two adjacent ties, pushing laterally only a modest amount of stones. The new sleepers are thus deposited at a higher level than it should be and a special machine must then intervene to dig the stones under the new sleepers by lowering their level enough so that the correct laying level is then reached after the raising operation which causes a lifting of the crosspieces by a few centimeters. In many cases the laying level of new sleepers must be lower than that of previous sleepers, because of the adoption of higher sleepers and / or rails, and the need to maintain the plane of the rail at same level as before, because we are bound by the height of the overhead line, by the size of tunnels, level crossings, etc.

The object of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of a machine of the type mentioned, so as to be able to dig with it, without difficulty, a groove of depth such that it can accommodate the new sleepers, without requiring no subsequent intervention to lower the level, even if higher sleepers or heavier rails are installed than those previously installed.

To this end, according to the invention, the plow is equipped in the area of its plowshares, with members for disintegrating and / or pushing back the ballast, these members being mounted movably on the chassis of the plow and being driven by a mechanism. actuating in a periodic movement, having a component perpendicular to the plowshares and such that the end of these members directed towards the outside makes, in external working positions, protrusion relative to said plowshares.

Thus, the efficiency of the coulters which push back the ballast in the traditional way while the plow is advancing, is increased by the action of these organs which also make it possible to disintegrate the ballast before it is pushed back by the coulters, since these organs sometimes go beyond the lower edge of the coulters.

According to a first preferred embodiment of the invention, the members consist of ejectors acting like a piston, passing through windows made in the lower zone of the plowshares, these ejectors moving transversely to the direction of movement of the plow under the action of the actuating mechanism which gives them reciprocating movement between internal positions, in which they do not protrude from the lower part of the plowshares and external positions in which they protrude relative to said plowshares.

Thanks to these characteristics, each ejector, during its displacement from the internal position to the external position, positively pushes a mass of stone from the ballast to one side, disintegrating and displacing it, without its energy resulting from the advancement of the plow and therefore by exerting a force which can be conveniently preset during the study and adjustment of the actuation mechanism. In the next phase in which the ejector has returned, it does not oppose the advance of the plow. Any mass of stones moved by an ejector is then taken up by the following ejector, which by the divergence of the plow blades acts on a greater width, and this until the stone is overturned on the sides of the trench. used by the plow for the installation of new sleepers. Because of these repeated actions of positive thrust exerted on the masses of rubble to be disaggregated, the plow can dig a furrow of much greater depth than that achievable without ejectors, and the extraction depth can thus be chosen so that it then does not require any subsequent lowering of the installed sleepers.

In order to avoid the application of significant lateral forces to the machine carrying the plow, the actuation mechanism is preferably provided so that, while a certain number of ejectors are moved to one side, a number corresponding other ejectors are moved to the opposite side, thereby achieving at least approximate balancing of the lateral forces.

The deeper excavation, necessary in the center of the trench to unload the central areas of the sleepers, can be carried out by a point portion, of greater depth, of the plow blades, as usual, or by a horizontal milling machine that can be rolled in either direction depending on whether you want to unload the most. large amount of stone on one or the other side of the dug trench.

According to a second form of the invention, the members consist of two blades, preferably toothed on their outer face, arranged below the coulters and at least approximately parallel to them and that the actuation mechanism is designed to animate them. a movement which is approximately a translation along a closed trajectory.

Thus, the ballast is perfectly broken up by means of these blades which, by their movement of translation in closed loop, combined with the movement of advance of the machine, act like a kind of grinding wheel.

Finally, according to a third embodiment of the present invention, the ejectors and the blades can be combined on the same plow.

• La figure 1 est une vue en plan, à échelle réduite, d'une première forme d'exécution d'une charrue selon l'invention.
• La figure 2 en montre, à échelle encore plus réduite une vue en élévation latérale accompagnée de quelques parties d'une machine pour le renouvellement des voies ferrées, à laquelle la charrue est appliquée.
• La figure 3 montre une coupe verticale partielle, et exécutée selon l'axe III-III de la figure 2.
• La figure 4 illustre une coupe transversale de la tranchée creusée par la charrue selon l'invention.
• La figure 5 est une vue de dessous partielle, en plan, d'une variante d'exécution de l'avant de la charrue selon la figure 1.
• La figure 6 est une vue partielle en élévation de la variante selon la figure 5.
• La figure 7 est une vue en plan d'une deuxième forme d'exécution d'une charrue selon l'invention.
• La figure 8 est une vue agrandie partielle et schématique de la charrue en coupe selon l'axe VIII-VIII de la figure 7, pour montrer la relation entre les deux excentriques.
• La figure 9 est une vue schématique des articulations de la lame pour mettre en évidence son mouvement.
• La figure 10 est une vue de profil en élévation d'une troisième forme d'exécution de la charrue qui est une combinaison des formes d'exécution selon les figures 1 et 7.

In what follows the invention is explained in more detail with the help of drawings representing, schematically, several embodiments given by way of example.

• Figure 1 is a plan view, on a reduced scale, of a first embodiment of a plow according to the invention.
• Figure 2 shows, on an even smaller scale a side elevation view accompanied by some parts of a machine for the renewal of railways, to which the plow is applied.
• Figure 3 shows a partial vertical section, and taken along the axis III-III of Figure 2.
• Figure 4 illustrates a cross section of the trench dug by the plow according to the invention.
• FIG. 5 is a partial bottom view, in plan, of an alternative embodiment of the front of the plow according to FIG. 1.
• FIG. 6 is a partial view in elevation of the variant according to FIG. 5.
• Figure 7 is a plan view of a second embodiment of a plow according to the invention.
• Figure 8 is an enlarged partial and schematic view of the plow in section along the axis VIII-VIII of Figure 7, to show the relationship between the two eccentrics.
• Figure 9 is a schematic view of the joints of the blade to highlight its movement.
• FIG. 10 is a side elevation view of a third embodiment of the plow which is a combination of the embodiments according to FIGS. 1 and 7.

Reference is made to FIGS. 1 to 6 which illustrate the first embodiment of the plow.

The reference 1 (fig. 2) indicates a longitudinal span of the chassis of a machine for the renewal of railways, of the type known per se, to which is applied, in this example, the plow according to the invention. The reference 2 indicates a toothed wheel of this machine which, by cooperating with guides 3, serves to remove from the old ballast 4 the old sleepers 5, leaving instead empty cavities 6. The machine also has a device for installing the new sleepers 7; lateral metal plates 8 are visible therefrom intended to prevent, during the laying of the new sleepers, the collapse of the piles of rubble formed laterally by the plow. These clusters then partially slide behind the ends of the plates 8, immobilizing in their position the new cross members 7 posed. The plow is suspended from the structure 1 by means of supports 9. All these parts, indicated in phantom, are known. The level of the greatest depth of excavation achievable with a plow of known type, subject to the limitations explained at the beginning, is also indicated in dashed lines by line 10.

By the reference 11 are indicated the two plowshares forming an angle between them to constitute the plow according to the invention. They are supported in a known manner by a chassis 12, suspended from the supports 9. The chassis 12 also carries, laterally, plates 13 which extend on a part, parallel to the direction of advance A of the plow, the rear ends of the plowshares 11 to support the lateral piles of stones which, after having been abandoned by the plates 13, will still be temporarily supported by the side plates 8 mentioned above. The plowshares 11 constituting the plow have, as usual, a concave profile, the upper part of which, turned towards the outside, in the manner of a mouldboard, pushes the piles of stones formed by the plow.

In the lower part of the plowshares 11, and precisely in the part of these which is intended to sink into the ballast 4 to be disaggregated, are made windows 14, square in the example cited, which in this example are at number of four per share. The pair of windows 14 closest to the V-shaped top of the plow is occupied by two ejectors, or pistons, 16 moving transversely between guides 17 and connected together by a rod 18 so that the two ejectors 16 (formed as two pistons with almost square section) can move integrally in transverse direction along arrow T. Similarly, the second pair of windows 14 is occupied by a pair of ejector 19 also connected together by a rod 20 and guided to move in the transverse direction T. The third and fourth pair of windows 14 are in turn occupied by a third and fourth pair of ejectors, respectively 21 and 23, connected together by rods, respectively 22 and 24.

The rods 18 and 20 are coupled by a pendulum lever 25, with unequal arms, articulated to the fixed frame of the plow and provided with a lever arm 26. Similarly, the rods 22 and 24 are coupled by a lever balance 27, with unequal arms, articulated to the fixed frame of the plow and provided with a lever arm 28. The arms of the lever 26 and 28 are connected by a connecting rod 29 to which is fixed a hydraulic cylinder 30 whose opposite end bears against the chassis 12.

As can be understood, by alternately supplying the hydraulic cylinder in both directions, the connecting rod 29 is given an alternating movement which, by means of the lever arms 26 and 28, results in an alternating oscillation of the balance levers 25, 27 and in an alternative translational movement in the transverse direction of the various ejectors 16, 19, 21 and 23, so that while two of them move on one side, the other two move on the opposite side. Furthermore, the difference between the various lever arms results in an increasing amplitude of the displacement from the ejector 16 towards the ejector 23.

Each time an ejector moves outward, projecting from the corresponding window 14 of the ploughshare 11, it applies a transverse force to a part of the old ballast, disintegrating it and moving to one side of the railway track certain mass of stones. When the ejector then withdraws successively, it leaves a free space in which the plow can advance without resistance. The mass of stones already displaced is then taken up by the next ejector, and subsequently moved to the side, with a greater amplitude of movement which serves to compensate for the greater quantity of stones which accumulates in front of the following ejectors. All the gravel of the ballast is thus gradually displaced on the sides of the railroad track, where it is then temporarily retained by the metal plates 13 which prevent its collapse inwards.

The arrangement of the ejectors attached to the pairs of rods makes it possible to simplify the construction and the actuation means, while the actuation in the alternately opposite direction of the following ejectors ensures the balancing of at least most of the lateral forces. In the embodiment shown, the force exerted by the hydraulic cylinder 30 discharges on the chassis 12, but according to a variant not shown, particularly useful when it is desired to release the chassis from such a load, the hydraulic cylinder can be inserted in place of the connecting rod 29, thus producing oscillations in the opposite direction of the balance levers 25 and 27 and acting on the chassis only at the pivot points of said balance levers.

The greater efficiency of the plow according to the invention makes it possible to execute with it the digging of the trench in full depth, at a level illustrated by line 31, so as to deposit the new sleepers 7 there, even if they are of greater thickness, without the need to dig several times under them, while with a traditional plow digging could only be pushed to a level such as that indicated by line 10, as Comparative, in Figure 2, making necessary successive interventions of an appropriate excavator equipment.

Preferably, to facilitate later, the operation with a couple of small auxiliary plows, which can be applied to the same machine for renewal or to another machine intended to pass on the line to be renewed before this, small trenches like that indicated in dotted lines at 33 in FIG. 4, are dug laterally to the line, to receive a part of the stone broken up by the plow, while the excess forms piles 34 momentarily supported by the metal plates 13 and then by the plates 8; after the passage of these, as shown in FIG. 4, on the right, the pile 34 partially collapses, forming an inclined embankment 35 which envelops the ends of the new sleepers 7 laid, immobilizing them in their position. The piles 34 are formed below the level of the new rails 37, which are lifted temporarily by the machine in a known manner, on the edges of the dug trench and above which the old rails 36 to be removed are placed, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

As is known, the central area of the trench for laying the crosspieces 7 must be lowered to level 32 located below the laying level 31, to release the central part of the crosspieces from the bearing load. This can be obtained, as usual, by providing the plowshares 11 of the plow with a front part 11a extending at level 32. The same effect can also be obtained, according to the invention, by mounting under the front end of the ploughshare 11 a horizontal milling machine 38 (fig. 5 and 6) driven in rotation by an electric or hydraulic motor. With the same milling machine it is also possible to move the dislocated stone mainly on one side, if desired, by adopting a corresponding direction of rotation R, and in each case the height of the stone pile 39 which forms in front is reduced the V-shaped top of the plow, further reducing drag.

It should be understood that various modifications can be made to the embodiments described. For example, the shape, number and position of the ejectors may vary, as well as the nature and arrangement of their actuating means. These can include kinematics relating to a single energy source, as in the example described, or else several energy sources connected directly or indirectly to the ejectors can be used. Hydraulic cylinders can advantageously be used as a source of energy due to the presence of a hydraulic installation on board the machines for the renewal of the railways, however mechanical or electromechanical energy sources can also be used. The ejectors which correspond on the two sides of the plow could also be actuated in opposite directions instead of being joined by a rod.

We now refer to Figures 7 to 9 which illustrate a second embodiment of the plow according to the invention. In this case the ejectors or pistons are replaced by two blades 42, located below the two plowshares 41, at least approximately parallel to them, and which are driven by means of an appropriate mechanism, of a movement which is approximately a translation along a closed path. The mechanism has been designed such that each blade 42 is given a circular movement at the front and an elliptical movement at the rear, as will be explained below.

As in the first embodiment, the two plowshares 41 which form an angle between them are fixed to the chassis 40 of the plow which has lateral supports 40a. On this chassis 40 are also mounted, in a movable manner, two blades 42 which are further connected to each other at the front by means of teeth 52 and a nose 43 articulated at their anterior end. Each blade 42 is connected to its front part by a connecting rod bearing 56 to an eccentric piece 44b which is located at the bottom of an eccentric shaft 44 (fig. 8); the rear part of the blade 42 is articulated by a pin 61 on a connecting rod 45 itself articulated by a pin 60 to a connecting rod 46. This connecting rod 46 is equipped at its front part with a fork 47, shown diagrammatically in fig. 7 and 8 and by means of which it is connected to another eccentric 44a which forms the upper part of the eccentric shaft 44. The connecting rod 46 is on the other hand supported on the lateral support 40a of the chassis 40 by a pivot 48 around which it can pivot freely. As can be seen in Figure 8, the arrangement of the eccentric shaft 44, whose axis of rotation is shown by the line 57, is such that the upper eccentric 44a whose axis of rotation is shown by the line 58 is offset by 180 ° relative to the lower eccentric 44b whose axis of rotation is represented by the line 59.

The two blades 42 are articulated at their anterior end, by means of two rounded teeth 52, to the nose 43 which constitutes the most forward part of the plow, the lower edge of the nose 43 and of the teeth 52 being moreover below the level of the blades 42 in order to dig a deeper central groove, as explained in relation to the first embodiment.

The drive of these mechanisms is ensured by a motor pinion 49 which drives the toothed wheel 50 secured to the first eccentric shaft 44, this toothed wheel 50 in turn driving a toothed wheel 51 secured to the second eccentric shaft 44 ', this system of wheels being mounted in a casing 40 ′ secured to the chassis 40.

The eccentric shaft 44 prints on the one hand to the blade 42, by means of its lower eccentric 44b, a circular movement whose radius corresponds to the eccentricity of the eccentric, and which is represented by the arrow F1, and on the other hand to the connecting rod 46, by means of the fork 47, a movement oscillating around the axis 48, represented by the arrow F2. The oscillating movement of the other end of this connecting rod 46, therefore of the pivot axis 60 on which the connecting rod 45 is articulated, performs an oscillation whose amplitude depends on the ratio of the lever arms of the connecting rod 46 and the value of the eccentricity of the eccentric 44a. The amplitude of this oscillation can therefore be amplified by an adequate ratio of the lever arms of the connecting rod 46. The end of the connecting rod 45 and therefore the rear end of the blade 42 on which it is articulated by the axis 61 are therefore forced to describe a movement along an elliptical trajectory, illustrated by the arrow F3 (fig. 7) which results from the circular movement of the front part of the blade 42 and from the oscillation of the connecting rod 46, the major axis of this elliptical trajectory F3 being approximately perpendicular to the blade 42. The mentioned movements of the front and rear part of the blade 42 are therefore synchronized by the connecting rod 46. Preferably the ratio of the lever arms of the connecting rod 46 and the eccentricities of the eccentrics 44a and 44b will be chosen so that there is an amplification of the movement at the posterior part of the blade compared to the movement of its anterior part, so that the major axis of the ellipse describes te is greater than the radius of the circular path of the front part of the blade 42.

By this movement, it is obtained that the amplitude of the displacement of the rear part of the blade is always greater than that of the front part, which is very useful for pushing the ballast which accumulates towards the front and from the side. the back of the machine. The principle of this movement is illustrated schematically in Figure 9 where the two eccentrics 44a, 44b have been replaced by a lever 44a, b.

This movement can be modified at any time depending on the value of the eccentricities of 44a and 44b, the eccentric ratios of the shaft 44 and the ratio of the lever arms of the connecting rod 46. The arrangement of the elements is preferably such that the movement is asymmetrical, that is to say that when a blade 42 projects laterally from the lower part of the ploughshare 41, the other blade retracts. Because the nose 43 of the plow is articulated to the two blades 42 via the two end teeth 52, the asymmetrical movement of the two blades gives the nose 43 an oscillating movement intended to facilitate penetration into the ballast.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a motor is used for driving the pinion 49 having a rotational speed of 100 to 300 revolutions per minute and the ratios of the eccentrics and of the arms are such that the amplitude of the movement at the front of the blade is about 3 cm while that of the posterior is about 6 cm.

According to another embodiment shown in Figure 10, is superimposed on this blade system 42, the system with lateral ejectors 53, or pistons, as described above, which allows to expel the ballast accumulated by the advance of the plow . A combined plow is thus obtained which combines the advantages of the two plows described above.

In this same figure 10 are also shown a vibrator 54, known per se, fixed to the frame of the plow as well as a rectilinear sheet 55 which extends the plowshares 41 and which temporarily retains the rubble accumulated on the edges.

Other modifications or variants could also be made to the embodiments which have just been described without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (12)

1. A railroad track renewal machine comprising a plough for ejecting laterally the compact ballast and forming a cutting for laying the new ties, characterized in that members (16, 19, 21, 23 ; 42) are provided in the ploughshare area (11 ; 41) of said plough, for disaggregating and/or thrusting the ballast aside, said members being movably mounted on the plough frame (12 ; 40) and driven by an actuating mechanism (25-30 ; 44-51) for periodic motion, said motion having a component perpendicular to the ploughshares and such that the outwardly directed ends of said members protrude, in the external operating position thereof, from said ploughshares (11, 41).

2. A machine of claim 1, characterized in that said members consist of ejectors (16, 19, 21, 23) acting like pistons and extending through apertures (14) formed in the lower portions of the ploughshares (11), said ejectors being adapted to move across the direction of travel of the plough when driven by said actuating mechanism (25-30) imparting a reciprocating motion to said ejectors between inner positions in which said ejectors do not protrude from the lower part of the ploughshares (11) and outer positions in which they protrude from said ploughshares (11).

3. A machine of claim 2, characterized in that said ejectors (16,19, 21, 23) are disposed symmetrically on either side of said ploughshares (11), each pair of ejectors being rigidly assembled by a common rod (18, 20, 22, 24) operatively connected to said actuating mechanism (25-30), said actuating mechanism being adapted to actuate simultaneously a substantially equal number of ejectors on either side of the ploughshares.

4. A machine of claim 3, characterized in that said common rods (18, 20 ; 22, 24) of the pairs of adjacent ejectors (16, 19, 21, 23) are interconnected by means of rocker levers (25; 27) ful- crumed to the plough frame (12) and each provided with a lever arm (26 ; 28) connected to at least one source of driving power (30), and that said rocker levers (25 ; 27) have arms of unequal lengths and are adapted to impart to the ejectors a stroke increasing with the increment in their distance from the plough apex (V).

5. A machine of claim 4, characterized in that the lever arms (26 ; 28) of the two pairs of adjacent ejectors (16, 19 ; 21, 23) are connected either directly or through a rod (29) to the piston of a hydraulic cylinder (30) constituting said source of power.

6. A railroad truck renewal machine comprising a plough for ejecting laterally the compact ballast and forming a cutting for laying the new ties, characterized in that this machine is equipped in its ploughshare area with members for disaggregating and/or thrusting the ballast aside, said members being movably mounted on the plough frame and driving by an actuating mechanism for periodic _.motion, said motion having a component perpendicular to the ploughshares, said members consisting of at least two blades (42) provided preferably on their outer surface with teeth and disposed beneath, and at least approximately parallel to the ploughshares (41), and that the actuating mechanism (44-51) is adapted to impart to said blades a movement which is at least approximately a translation along a closed path.

7. A machine of claim 6, characterized in that at least one end of each blade (42) is moved by an eccentrix shaft (44) constituting the actuating mechanism.

8. A machine of claim 7, characterized in that it comprises an actuating mechanism (44b) which imparts a circular motion to the front portion of each blade (42), and an actuating mechanism (44a, 46, 45) which imparts an elliptic motion to the rear portion of each blade (42), said elliptic motion having its major axis at least approximately perpendicular, to said ploughshare.

9. A machine of claim 8, characterized in that the front end of each blade (42) is connected to a first eccentric (44b) formed at the lower portion of the eccentric shaft (44) provided at its upper portion with another eccentric (44a) opposite said first eccentric and connected through a fork (47) to the end of a rod (46) adapted to oscillate about a pivot (48) carried by a support (40a) rigid with the plough frame (40), the other end of the rod (46) being connected through a link (45) to the rear end of the blade (42), and that the two eccentric shafts (44, 44') associated with each blade are driven preferably by a single motor through gears (49, 50, 51).

10. A machine according to anyone of claims 6-9, characterized in that each blade (42) is provided at its front end with a pivoted tooth (52) and that a nose member (43) pivotally connected in turn to the two teeth (52) interconnects said blades, said nose member and teeth having a lower edge located at a lower level than the lower edge of the blades (42), the movement of said blades being so shifted to each other that said nose member (43) describes an oscillatory movement in the rhythm to the periodic movement of the blades.

11. A machine according to anyone of claims 1-10, characterized in that it comprises on the one hand at least one pair of ejectors (53) extending through corresponding apertures formed in the ploughshares (41) and adapted to be moved across the direction of travel of the plough by a first actuating mechanism, and on the other hand two blades (42) disposed beneath, and at least approximately parallel to, said ploughshares, and driven by a second actuating mechanism for imparting to said blades a movement which is approximately a translation along a closed path.

12. A machine according to anyone of claims 1-11, characterized in that a horizontal cutter (38) is provided beneath the front end of the ploughshares (11) and adapted to be rotated in one or the other direction, said cutter projecting below the lower edge of the ploughshares (11).

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