GB2133441A

GB2133441A - Fastening railway rails

Info

Publication number: GB2133441A
Application number: GB08308292A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Brian George Conroy; John Robert Hewitt
Original assignee: Pandrol Ltd
Current assignee: Pandrol Ltd
Priority date: 1983-01-07
Filing date: 1983-03-25
Publication date: 1984-07-25
Also published as: GB8308292D0; WO1984002728A1; EP0117028A1; FI840029A; AU2300883A; GB2133441B; GR81707B; ES528729A0; FI840029A0; ES8501826A1

Description

1 GB 2 133 441 A 1

SPECIFICATION Fastening railway rails

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a railway sleeper in the form of an inverted trough with a portion cut out of the upper side to enable the flange at the foot of a railway rail to be positioned with its bottom lower than the top of the sleeper and supported by the side walls of the sleeper.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an assembly comprising a railway sleeper in the form of an inverted trough with a portion cut out of the upper side, a railway rail with its foot partly within the cut out and the bottom of a flange at the foot of the rail lower than the top of the sleeper and supported by the side walls of the sleeper and a clip engaging the sleeper and the rail and holding the rail down.

Preferably, parts of the side walls of the sleeper are bent over inwardly to provide ledges projecting inwardly, on which the flange of the rail is to stand. The side walls could instead have parts bent outwardly to provide ledges projecting outwardly for the same purpose, or each side wall could have an inwardly bent over part and an outwardly bent over part which form two ledges on which the flange of the rail is to stand.

The cut out part could be such that part of the top of the sleeper overhangs and holds down the flange of the rail on one side of the rail when the rail is positioned as indicated above.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a clip which is suitable for use in an assembly according to the second aspect of the 100 invention, the clip having a long lower limb and, above it, a shorter upper limb, the two limbs extending in the same general direction as one another away from a bend which joins them and there being an up-turned part at that end of the lower limb which is remote from the bend, the lower limb being slightly arched.

The up-turned part is preferably inclined to the horizontal by between 301 and 800 when the lower limb is substantially horizontal.

Examples in accordance with the invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 and 2 show an end view and a side view, respectively, of one end of an assembly in a 115 railway track, and Figure 3 shows a perspective view of another such assembly.

A clip D shown in Figures 1 and 2 has been made by bending a bar of resilient steel of rectangular cross-section. The cross-section is substantially rectangular over the whole length of the bent bar, although there are small and unavoidable departures from the truly rectangular cross-section, due to the bending process. The 125 clip consists of two limbs A and B extending in the same general direction as one another (to the right, considering Figure 1), away from a bend C which joins them, the limb B being below the limb Kand longer than the limb A, with an up-turned part 9 at that end of the limb B which is remote from the bend C. In greater detail, when the clip is placed in the particular position in which it is illustrated and it is free from stress, a first portion 1 of it, which extends over by far the greater part of the length of the clip, is nearly straight (being slightly arched at 1 A) and horizontal, the left-hand end of the first portion being adjoined by a second portion 2 which extends upwardly and to the left, this being followed by a third portion 3 which extends upwardly, then a fourth portion 4 which extends upwardly and to the right, then a fifth portion 5 which extends to the right, a sixth portion 6 which extends downwardly and to the right, a seventh portion 7 which extends to the right and an eighth portion 8 which extends upwardly and to the right. The right-hand end of the arch in the first portion 1 is adjoined by a ninth portion 9 which extends upwardly and to the right at an angle of between 301 and 801, in the illustrated case about 650, to the horizontal.

Figure 2 shows a steel railway sleeper in the form of an inverted trough of triangular cross section, although other shapes of cross-section could be employed. The side walls of the trough are referenced 11 and 12. A part has been cut out of the sleeper at 13 and slits have been cut in the side walls just below the cut out, enabling parts of the side walls, between the slits, to be bent over -inwardly to form ledges 11 A and 12A. A railway rail 14 of a light- weight narrow-gauge railway has a flange 15 at its foot and this is placed partly in the cut-out so that the bottom of the flange is lower than the top 16 of the sleeper and rests on the ledges 11 A and 1 2A. the rail is located, on the field side and the gauge side, by vertical faces 21 and 22, respectively. Above the faces 21 there are inclined faces 23, one on each of the side walls 11 and 12, to assist the operation of placing the rail in position.

A portion 17 of the sleeper overhangs the flange 15 on one side of the rail and holds the rail down on that side. The other side of the rail is held down by the clip D, of which the junction between the parts 1 A and 9 bears downwardly on the upper face of the flange. The clip is initially put, in a factory or depot, in a preparatory position, to the left of the position shown in Figure 1, with the legs A and B of the clip forced apart by the sleeper and the free end of the portion 9 of the clip vertically below the portion 18 of the top of the sleeper, the portion 7 of the clip engaging the top of the sleeper near the top of a ramp 19 on the sleeper. This ramp prevents the clip failing away from the sleeper when it is held in various positions during storage, transportation and assembly. When the sleeper and the rail have been positioned as shown, the clip is driven to the right to the illustrated position, where the portion 7 of the clip is still on the ramp 19, which prevents the clip from moving to the left. In contrast to what is shown in Figure 1, the ramp 19 is preferably inclined to the horizontal by an angle equal to or greater than the angle which the upper 2 GB 2 133 441 A 2 face of the rail flange makes with the horizontal.

In a modified version of what is shown in Figure 1, the top of the sleeper at its extreme left-hand end is flat and horizontal and the left-hand end of the ramp 19 is a few millimetres from the left hand end of the sleeper.

The other end of the sleeper shown in Figure 1 similarly has a clip on the right-hand or field side of the other rail and an overhanging portion 17 on the left-hand or gauge side. However, because the overhanging portions 17 are on the left-hand side of one rail and on the right-hand side of the other rail, there are difficulties when it is desired to replace a single sleeper without dismantling joints between adjacent lengths of rail and this can be done only by turning the rails about their longitudinal axes. In contrast, Figure 3 shows an assembly in which it is only necessary to remove the clips, raise the rails vertically, remove the sleeper, put a new sleeper in its place, lower the rails and re-insert the clips. This is because the overhanging portions 17 are both on the left-hand side of the respective rails, the right-hand clip, which is substantially as shown in Figure 1, being driven into position as described above with reference to Figure 1 and the other clip, of exactly the same shape as the right-hand clip, being positioned by inserting its leg B into a hole 25 which passes through the flat top 16 of the sleeper and causing the portion 7 of the clip to engage the top of the sleeper near the top of a ramp 19 or at a flat horizontal surface 26 between the top of the ramp and the hole 25 and then driving the clip to the left into a position where its portion 9 bears upon the flange of the rail.

If the right-hand end of the sleeper is incoveniently far from the nearest rail, so that if the right-hand clip were to be positioned as shown in Figure 3 the clip would have to be inconveniently long, the right-hand clip could have its leg B inserted in a hole like the hole 25, 105 between the rail and the end of the sleeper.

Instead of there being the overhanging portions 17, an arrangement which is particularly useful for railways in mines, there could if desired, for mine railways and other narrow-gauge railways or even wider-gauge railways, be four clips per sleeper. All four could have their limbs B inserted in holes like the hole 25 or the arrangement could be that only the gauge-side clips have their limbs B inserted into holes, whilst the field-side clips are positioned as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 also shows that there could be outwardly-directed flanges 27 at the bottom of the side walls 11 and 12 of the sleeper, in order to strengthen the sleeper.

Claims

1. A railway sleeper in the form of an inverted trough with a portion cut out of the upper side to enable the flange at the foot of a railway rail to be positioned with its bottom lower than the top of the sleeper and supported by the side walls of the sleeper.

2. An assembly comprising a railway sleeper in the form of an inverted trough with a portion cut out of the upper side, a railway rail with its foot partly within the cut out and the bottom of the flange at the foot of the rail lower than the top of the sleeper and supported by the side walls of the sleeper and a clip engaging the sleeper and the rail and holding the rail down.

3. A sleeper according to claim 1 or an assembly according to claim 2- in which parts of the side walls of the sleeper are bent over inwardly to provide ledges projecting inwardly, on which the flange of the rail stands.

4. A sleeper or an assembly according to any preceding claim in which the side walls of the sleeper have parts bent over outwardly to provide ledges projecting outwardly on which the flange of the rail stands.

5. A sleeper or an assembly according to any preceding claim in which the cut out part of the sleeper in such that part of the top of the sleeper overhangs and holds down the flange of the rail on one side of the rail.

6. A sleeper or an assembly according to any preceding claim in which the sleeper is of substantially triangular cross- section. 90

7. A sleeper or an assembly according to any preceding claim in which there are outwardlydirected flanges at the bottom of the side walls of the sleeper in order to strengthen the sleeper.

8. A sleeper or an assembly according to any preceding claim having a ramp at one end of the sleeper at its top, the ramp sloping downwardly towards the cut-out and serving to prevent the clip moving away from the cut-out.

9. A sleeper or an assembly according to claim 8 in which the upper end of the ramp is a few millimetres from the extreme end of the sleeper, separated therefrom by a flat horizontal surface.

10. A sleeper or an assembly according to any preceding claim in which at one side or at each side of the cut-out, a hole is formed through the top of the sleeper to receive part of a clip.

11. An assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 10 in which the clip has a long lower limb below the top of the sleeper and bearing on the rail flange and a shorter upper limb above the top of the sleeper and bearing thereon, the two limbs extending in the same general direction as one another away from a bend which joins them.

12. An assembly according to claim 11, there being an up-turned part at the end of the lower limb of the clip which is remote from the bend, the lower limb being slightly arched.

13. An assembly according to claim 11 or 12 in which the lower limb of the clip has been pushed into the open end of the sleeper.

14. An assembly according to claim 10 and according to claim 11 or 12 in which the lower limb of the clip has been inserted through the hole mentioned in claim 10.

15. A railway sleeper substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

16. A railway sleeper substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 3 i 3 GO 2 133 441 A 3 of the accompanying drawings.

17. An assembly comprising a railway sleeper, a rail and a clip substantially as hereinbefore 15 described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

18. An assembly comprising a railway sleeper, a rail and a clip substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 3 of the 20 accompanying drawings.

19. A clip which is suitable for use in an assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 14, the clip having a long lower limb and, above it, a shorter upper limb, the two limbs extending in the same general direction as one another away from a bend which joins them and there being an upturned part at that end of the lower limb which is remote from the bend, the lower limb being slightly arched.

20. A clip substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

2 1. A clip substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by the Courier Press, Leamington Spa, 1984. Published by the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC2A lAY, from which copies may be obtained.