GB2082231A - Apparatus for performing operations on a railway track - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus (24) for performing rail-shifting or other operations on a railway track is mounted on an intermittently-advanced carriage (11) carrying pivotal or other detecting means (3) to detect a certain location such as a sleeper projection (6). Sequencing means is provided whereby the certain location is detected by the detecting means (3), when, with the carriage (11) stationary an operation is performed by the apparatus (24) in the vicinity of said certain location whilst at the same time the means (3) is raised and moved forward towards the next location to be detected. The operations may comprise the driving of rail-fastening clips and/or spikes and/or the placing of electrical insulators and/or the correct positioning of the rails or one of them. In the embodiment described the intermittently-advanced carriage (11) is movably suspended beneath the chassis of a vehicle (Fig. 1, not shown) which is continuously advanced slowly, the advance of carriage (11) being effected step-by-step by a jack (8) associated with rail-gripping brakes (16, 9) on a trolley (7) having a lost-motion coupling with the carriage (11). The lost-motion coupling is provided by stops (5) associated with a rotatable rod (4) which carries the detecting means (3) and extends the length of the trolley (7). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for performing operations on a railway track According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for performing operations on a railway track, the apparatus including a carriage which can travel parallel to the two running rails of the railway track, the carriage carrying detecting means to detect a certain location on the track in the vicinity of which an operation is to be performed, the apparatus having sequencing means to carry out a sequence whereby said certain location is detected by said detecting means, then an operation is performed in the vicinity of said certain location whilst at the same time a further certain location is detected by said detecting means for an operation to be performed in the vicinity thereof after the operation has been performed at the first mentioned certain location.

The carriage may be constructed to be situated beneath and to run to and fro along a larger carriage which has wheels which run on the two running rails of a railway track.

If desired, the first mentioned carriage too may have running wheels, in which case these wheels may run on the two running rails or on a track provided by the larger carriage.

The larger carriage may be used to carry heavy loads, for example of rail-fastening clips and/or spikes, and may be caused to travel along the track at a substantially constant and very low speed, whilst the first mentioned carriage runs at a higher speed towards the front of the larger carriage, then stops at a said certain location and performs an operation there, by the completion of which the first mentioned carriage will be nearer than previously to the back of the larger carriage.

Then it may be caused to travel towards the front of the larger carriage, stop at a further said certain location and perform an operation there, and so on. The locations at which the first mentioned carriage stops may be the locations of different railway sleepers or, in the case where there are no sleepers, for example where the rails are laid on a continuous slab extending along the track, the first mentioned carriage may stop at locations where the rail is held down. The operations performed at the stopping locations may consist of or include the driving of rail-fastening clips and/or spikes into or out of operative positions and/or the placing of electrical insulators and/or the correct positioning of the rails or one of them.

The apparatus is of particular significance in relation to a railway track in which the two running rails are laid on a rail foundation or rail foundations (e.g. a continuous slab as mentioned above or wooden, steel or concrete railway sleepers), on which they are prevented from moving sideways by upward projections on the opposite sides of each rail foot (e.g. metal socalled "shoulders" cast in the concrete slab or sleepers or otherwise secured to them, ribs on base plates laid on the slab or sleepers, ribs and/or lugs pressed upwardly from steel sleepers, and so on) and they are held down by resilient clips (e.g.

clips which are driven substantially parallel to the rails). The two running rails of the railway track can stand on electrically insulating pads which lie on concrete railway sleepers each having incorporated in it, before setting of the concrete, or otherwise secured to it, parts of two or four metal members which afford two upward projections in one half of the length of the sleeper, between which one rail foot is located, and two upward projections in the other half of the length of the sleeper, between which the other rail foot is located.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic side view of an apparatus for performing operations on a railway track and showing how it may be incorporated into a railway vehicle serving to allow for continuous operation of the apparatus, and Figures 2 to 6 are schematic side views of part of the apparatus shown in Figure 1, this part including a carriage carrying detecting means to detect certain locations on a railway track in the vicinity of which one or more operations are to be performed, these Figures showing in sequence an operating cycle of this part of the apparatus.

Figure 1 shows a railway vehicle having a first carriage 10 having two bogies spaced about 5 metres apart as shown, the wheels of which run on running rails 2 of the railway track. The carriage 10 supports apparatus (not shown) comprising an engine which drives a pump or pumps of a hydraulic system which drives the carriage 10 at a low and constant speed to the left along the rails 2 and also operates mechanisms carried by the carriage 10 and by a second and smaller carriage 11.

The carriage 11 carries apparatus, generally shown by reference numeral 24, for performing operations on a railway track; also shown in Figure 1 are three of many similar concrete railway sleepers 1 across which lie the two similar flange-footed railway rails 2, of which only one is shown. Each rail stands on an electrically insulating resilient pad (not shown) between upward projections 6 which prevent the rail from moving sideways. There are four upward projections 6 on each sleeper, each being afforded by the upper end of a so-called "shoulder" of malleable cast iron, the lower end of which was incorporated in the concrete before setting of the concrete.

A sensing member 3 senses the position of the shoulder in one of the sleepers 1 when the carriage 11 is moving to the left, i.e. towards the front of the carriage 10, and automatically brings the carriage 11 to a halt at about the appropriate position relative to two of the shoulders in the sleeper. Then the various operations on the railway track, as hereinbefore described, can commence.

Figures 2 to 6 illustrate that part of the apparatus which is carried by the carriage 11 for detecting a certain location on the track, for example the should 6 of a sleeper 1, in the vicinity of which an operation is to be performed. The arrangement is such that, whilst an operation is being performed at one particular location, a location further along the track, which can be, for example, between one and four sleepers ahead of the first location, is being detected and this further location becomes a reference point to which the apparatus can move after it has completed operations at the first location.

The detecting means includes a locator arm which is arranged to contact an upward projection such as the shoulder 6 and the free end of the arm 3 can carry a wheel or roller 3A which can roll over a sleeper 1 until it strikes against its shoulder 6. The locator arm 3 is able to pivot clear of the shoulder 6 so that it can move to the next location.

A slidable and rotatable control rod 4 is fixed to the locator arm 3 and extends substantially parallel to the rail 2. The rod 4 is limited in its sliding travel by a yoke forming two stops 5 against which the arm 3 can abut. The rod 4 extends through a traversing trolley generally shown at 7 which carries a ram arrangement. The traversing trolley 7 is supported on the rail 2 by means of wheels 8.

The ram arrangement includes a traversing ram 8 which carries a caliper brake 9 at one end thereof for engagement with the head of the rail 2 which lies therebeneath. A ram rod 13 extends from the ram 8 and the free end of the rod 13 is fixed to a block 14 which is slidably mounted on a rod 15 which extends parallel to the rod 4. A caliper brake 1 6 is also fixed to the block 14 and is also arranged to engage the head of the rail 2.

Figure 2 shows the condition of the detecting means after one of the projections 6 has been found and the apparatus 24 has begun to perform its operations on the sleeper 1 that precedes the sleeper at which the locating arm 3 is. The ram rod 13 is fully retracted and both brakes 9 and 16 are applied.

Figure 3 shows the beginning of the sequence that occurs when the detecting means progresses to locate the next sleeper. With the brake 9 still applied, the brake 1 6 is released and the ram rod 13 is extended out of the ram 8. This pushes the block 14 and the brake 16 along the rod 4. The block 14 carries a cam 1 4A which comes into contact with a sensing device 1 7 which straddles the rod 1 5. The sensing device 1 7 can be hydraulic (e.g. a control valve) or electric, for example and its purpose is to detect when the carriage upon which it is drawn, which carriage is fixed on the rod 4, and the block 14 come into a predetermined proximity.Upon striking the sensing device 17, the cam 1 4A stops further extension of the ram rod 13 and the brake 1 6 is applied about the head of the rail 2. In this condition, the position of the brake 1 6 is effectively a known distance from the shoulder 6 against which the locator arm 3 abuts. This reference length can also be seen by the distance which the ram rod 13 has extended out of the mm, 8 and so, if the ram rod 13 is now retracted to draw the ram 8 towards the brake 16, it will be seen that the apparatus 24 will be brought from the sleeper at which it was performing an operation precisely to the next sleeper. Figure 4 shows how this is done.

When operation has been completed at the previous sleeper 1 (the sleeper furthest to the right in Figure 2) the control rod 4 is rotated by a ram 18, this having the effect of swinging the locator arm 3 away from the shoulder 6 against which it was abutting. The control rod 4 is then drawn forwardly by the action of a spring 1 9 so that the locator arm 3 strikes against the forward-most stop 5. Thereafter, the rod 4 is rotated back to drop the arm 3 so that it can locate another shoulder 6.

Figure 5 shows the continuance of the sequence whereby the brake 9 is released and the rod 13 is withdrawn into its ram 8 which, because the brake 1 6 is still applied, has the effect of drawing the trolley 7 forwards and consequently the carriage 11 is also drawn forwards. During this movement, as shown in Figure 6, the locator arm 3 strikes the projection 6 on the next sleeper 1 and is arrested at this point, thus placing the sensing device 1 7 at a known distance ahead of the sleeper just located. The trolley 7 continues moving until the ram 8 is fully retracted, by which time the arm 3 will have been moved from its position in contact with the stop 5 against the action of the spring 1 9. The brake 9 is then applied on the head of the rail 2 and then operations by the apparatus 24 at the new location can commence.To repeat the cycle, the brake 16 is released and the sequence follows from that shown in Figure 2.

It is important that when the brake 1 6 is applied and when the locator arm 3 is abutting against a shoulder 6, these must not shift, otherwise the reference length will be destroyed.

The ram 8 can work in one of two ways. Either it always returns to its fully retracted position and so the sleeper spacing is provided by the extension of the ram 8 until the sensing device 17 is operated, or the ram 8 can be arranged always to extend to a known length and then it retracts so that the sleeper spacing is provided by the difference between the fully extended position and the position where it stops upon retraction.

The arrangement whereby the locator arm 3 is able to travel between the two stops 5 is provided so that the arm 3 can move forwards further than necessary relatively to the carriage 11 in case subsequent sleeper spacing increases so that arm 3 can reach the subsequent sleeper. In such a case, the arm 3 is allowed to drop back to its central position midway between the two stops 5 before the brake 9 is applied. Conversely, if the subsequent sleeper spacing decreases, the locator arm 3 will find this subsequent sleeper sooner and so it can run backwards relatively to the carriage 11 towards the rearmost stop 5.

It will be appreciated that all the movements of the various parts are produced by hydraulic systems and controlled by a sequencing system. It is conceivable to utilise rotary hydraulic motors instead of the linear ones depicted.

Claims (10)

1. An apparatus for performing operations on a railway track, the apparatus including a carriage which can travel parallel to the two running rails of the railway track, the carriage carrying detecting means to detect a certain location on the track in the vicinity of which an operation is to be performed, the apparatus having sequencing means to carry out a sequence whereby said certain location is detected by said detecting means, then an operation is performed in the vicinity of said certain location whilst at the same time a further certain location is detected by said detecting means for an operation to be performed in the vicinity thereof after the operation has been performed at the first mentioned certain location.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said carriage is constructed to be situated beneath and to run to and fro along a larger carriage which has wheels which run on the two running rails of a railway track.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first mentioned carriage has running wheels which are intended to run on a track provided by said larger carriage.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the first mentioned carriage has running wheels which are intended to run on the two running rails of a railway track.

5. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said detecting means includes a sensing member to sense the position of an upward projection on a railway sleeper, the first mentioned carriage being caused to be brought to a halt when the sensing member has sensed the position of the upward projection.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said sensing member includes a locator arm a free end of which carrying a wheel or roller which can roll over a sleeper until it strikes against the upward projection, said locator arm being able to pivot clear of the upward projection after it has been sensed.

7. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sequencing means controls hydraulic systems to move the various parts of the apparatus.

8. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first mentioned carriage is provided with rams and rail grip brakes so that parts of the apparatus can be respectively held and moved with respect to the railway track in accordance with said sequence.

9. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said operations which the apparatus is intended to perform consist of or include the driving of rail-fastening clips and/or spikes into or out of operative positions and/or the placing of electrical insulators and/or the correct positioning of the rails or one of them.

10. An apparatus for performing apparatus for performing operations on a railway track, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.