GB2167475A - Railway ballast regulating machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A railway ballast regulating machine has a brush arrangement 16 for sweeping ballast from a track. The brush arrangement 16 sweeps ballast from the track into a first compartment 48 of a feed means 18. The ballast is flung over a dividing wall 46 into a second compartment 50 of the feed means 18 and is deposited on two selector members 68 which are pivotally mounted in the compartment 50 for movement between two positions. In one position (Fig. 3), the selector members 68 selectively feed the ballast to a lower central opening 58 in the compartment 50 whereby the ballast is deposited on one end of a ballast conveyor 20 which is located below the opening 58. In the other position (Fig. 4 not shown), the selector members 68 selectively feed the ballast to lateral openings 62 in the compartment 50 whereby the ballast is deposited at the sides of the track. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Railway ballast regulating machine The invention relates to a railway mounted machine for brushing collecting and/or distributing railway track ballast which machine is usually referred to as a railway ballast regulating machine.

In railway maintenance work it is often necessary to perform various acts, e.g. cleaning, distributing, profiling and tamping, on the ballast bed supporting the railway track. Such acts usually result in an excess of ballast lying on the track even after the ballast has been subjected to a ploughing operation since ballast ploughs can operate only to within a certain height from the desired level of the ballast.

It has been proposed to regulate the amount of ballast lying on the track or to remove loosened ballast from the track for cleaning by using a railway mounted machine which has ballast removing means in the form of a brush arrangement. In its operating position relative to the track the brush arrangernent usually sweeps the track down to at least the tops of the sleepers thereof.

Such brush arrangements have been proposed for use with a chute to dump the ballast at the sides of the track, e.g. see UK Patent Specification No. 1306147. Clearly, such a machine is limited in its application to maintenance work in which the removal of ballast from the track for cleaning and for re-distribution thereon or for permanent removal therefrom is required.

Such brush arrangements have been proposed for use with conveyor systems also, e.g. see UK Patent No. 1260400, which systems may have a first conveyor means for receiving the ballast from the brush arrangement and for conveying the ballast either outwardly to the side of the track of inwardly to a second conveyor means which conveys the ballast to a hopper, for example. Although such a machine is versatile in so far as its applicability to track maintenance work is concerned, the conveyor means are prone to breakdown owing to the arduous conditions under which they are used. If the first conveyor means breaks down, the machine is not usable to sweep ballast from the track until it has been repaired.

Consequently, considerable delays in completing the maintenance work on a particular section of track can be experienced.

According to the present invention, a railway ballast regulating machine comprises a brush arrangement for sweeping ballast from a track, ballast conveying means, ballast handling means and ballast feed means disposed between the brush arrangement and the conveyor means, the feed means comprising selector members movable between first and second positions to feed ballast deposited thereon by the brush arrangement towards the conveyor means and towards the sides of the track, respectively.

Preferably, oppositely-angled chutes cooperate with the lower ends of the selector members in both of the first and second positions to feed ballast on to the conveyor means and on to the side of the track, respectively.

Preferably, the feed means comprises a box-like structure divided into first and second compartments by a wall, the first compartment being open at the lower end thereof to the brush arrangement and at the upper end thereof to the second compartment whereby, in operation, the brush arrangement flings ballast through the first compartment into the second compartment at the upper end thereof, the second compartment having a lower opening below which an end of the conveyor means is located and having oppositelyfacing lateral openings, the selector members being pivotally mounted in the second compartment for movement between the first and second positions to feed ballast through the lower and lateral openings, respectively.

A ballast regulating machine will now be de- scribed to illustrate the invention by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure l is a schematic side elevation of part of the machine; Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the brush arrangement, feed means and a part of the conveyor means shown in Figure 1; and Figures 3 and 4 are sections on line A - A in Figure 2 showing the deflectors in the first and second positions, respectively.

The machine 10 has a main frame 12 mounted on bogies 14 for running on a railway track.

Mounted, in this instance, at the rear of the machine 10 is a brush arrangement 16; a ballast feed means 18, ballast conveyor 20; and ballast handling means 22.

The brush arrangement 16 has a part-cylindrical housing 24 in which a cylindrical brush 26 is mounted. The brush 26 is driven by hydraulic motors (not shown) mounted in an upper housing 28 via a chain drive (not shown) covered by a chain case 30. The leading edge of the housing 24 has two spaced-apart recesses which accommodate the rails of the track when the brush arrangement 16 is in its lower operative position (as shown).

The brush 26 consists of a shaft mounted in bearings in the housing 24, the shaft having radial stubs on which are mounted resilient brushing members 32, for example short lengths of rubber hose-pipe. The brush 26 sweeps the full width of the track between the rails and beyond the rails to clear ballast from the sleeper ends in the vicinity of the rail fastenings. In those portions of the brush 26 overlying the rails, the brushing members 32 are shorter than the brushing members 32 of the remainder of the brush 26.

The housing 24 is pivotally mounted at 34 on each side of a lower section 42 of the feed means 18. The brush arrangement 16 can be raised from the lower position to an upper inoperative position (when the machine 10 is to be run in train) by a double-acting hydraulic piston-and-cylinder unit 38 pivotally mounted at its ends to the housing 24 and to the feed means 18. In operation the unit 38 is used to adjust the position of the brush arrange ment 16 relative to the track.

The feed means 18 is a box-like structure having an upper lid section 40 into which the lower section 42 is telescopically retractable into an upper inoperative position by two hydraulic piston-andcylinder units 44 (only one shown) pivotally attached to the two sections 40, 42. The lower section 42 is lowered into its lower operative position by the controlled release of fluid from the units 44.

The lower structure 42 is divided by a wall 46 into first and second compartments 48 and 50, respectively.

The first compartment 48 is open, at 52, at its lower end to the brush arrangement 16 and, at 54, at its upper end to the second compartment 50.

Thus, ballast swept from the track is propelled upwardly through the first compartment 48 and over the wall into the second compartment. A curved deflector plate 56 is located in the lid section 40 to direct ballast over the wall 46.

The second compartment 50 has a lower opening 58 in the rear wall thereof below which is positioned a first end of the conveyor 20. The oppositely-angled chutes 60 are positioned to feed ballast through the opening 58. To ensure that ballast does not fall directly through the opening onto the conveyor 20 (and possibly cause damage to the conveyor 20), a deflector in the form of an inverted Y-shaped member 59 is mounted in the second compartment 50 above the opening 58 whereby ballast is deflected to each side of the opening 58 (see Figure 3).

The second compartment 50 also has two oppositely-facing lateral openings 62 through which extend oppositely-angled chutes 64 for feeding ballast to the sides of the track.

Mounted in the second compartment 50 above the pairs of chutes 60, 64 for pivotal movement about respective pivot axes 66 are two selector members 68. The pivot axes 66 are normal to the wall 46.

The selector members 68 each consist of two plates 70 mounted on a plate 72. The plates 70 are welded to the plate 72 at a slight angle to one another whereby they diverge away from one another in a direction towards the lower end of the respective member 68. Each member 68 thus forms two chutes in back-to-back relationship, the other side of the chute being formed by the wall 74 of the second compartment 50. One such chute, formed by each selector member 68 and the wall 74 in a first position of the selector members 68 (see Figure 3), is in alignment with a respective one of the chutes 60 and the other such chute, formed by each selector member 68 and the wall 74 in a second position of the selector members 68 (see Figure 4), is in alignment with a respective one of the chutes 64.

To ensure that the ends of the selector members 68 are in close proximity to the adjacent parts of the second compartment and to enable the selector members 68 to move relative thereto, the ends of the selector members 68 are tapered and the two plates 70 of each member are bent away from one another along lines extending from the upper corner of each plate 70 remote from the plate 72 to the lower corner of each plate 70 adjacent to the plate 72.

Bearings are mounted between the diverging plates 72 of each selector member 68 to mount the members 68 on respective pivot pins 76 mounted in the walls 46 and 74 of the second compartment 50. The selector members 68 each have a cranked arm 78 attached to their lower ends and extending through respective apertures in the wall 74. The ends of the arms 78 are pivotally connected to respective hydraulic piston-and-cylinder units 80 which are pivotally attached to support brackets 82 carried by the conveyor 20. Operation of the units 80 moves the selector members 68 between the first and second positions.

The lower end of the second compartment 50 is closed by a lower housing section 84 which is recessed at 86 to sit over the rails of the track and in which are mounted wheels 88 to support the feed means 18 relatively to the track.

Lateral guard members 36 are attached to the feed means 18 and extend forwardly therefrom to protect the sides of the brush arrangement 16 also.

The feed means 18 is also supported relatively to the machine 10 by suspension arms 90 attached to the lid section 40 and by support brackets 92 secured to the lid section 40 and pivotally mounted on the lower end of a saddle arrangement 94 for the conveyor 20.

The conveyor 20 can be any suitable conveyor and, in this instance, is a continuous belt-type conveyor. The bottom end of the conveyor 20 is fixed to the lower section 42 of the feed means 18 whereby the conveyor 20 is raised and lowered together with the lower section 42. The conveyor 20 is slidably mounted on the frame 12 by the saddle arrangement 94.

The ballast handling means 22 is, in this instance, a hopper which has several lower outlets and can be used to re-distribute the ballast across the whole width or any part of the track either on a section of the track from which the ballast is being swept or on a different section of the track. However, it will be appreciated that the ballast handling means 22 could include ballast cleaners, hoppers for delivering ballast to storage sites, conveyors for re-distributing ballast or transferring ballasts directly to trucks on a parallel track.

The machine 10 described with reference to the drawings is operable either to remove ballast from the track (in their first position (see Figure 3), the selector members 68 selectively feed the ballast to the conveyor 20) or to deposit ballast at either side of the track (in their second position (see Figure 4), the selector members 68 selectively feed the ballast to the openings 62). The machine 10 avoids using a conveyor means for feeding the ballast to the conveyor 20 or to the sides of the track and, consequently, irrespective of whether the conveyor 20 is operable, the machine 10 can be used to regulate the ballast on the track.

It will be appreciated that other forms of selector members and chute arrangements are possible within the scope of the invention.

Claims (5)

1. A railway ballast regulating machine comprising a brush arrangement for sweeping ballast from a track, ballast conveying means, ballast handling means and ballast feed means disposed between the brush arrangement and the conveyor means, the feed means comprising selector members movable between first and second positions to feed ballast deposited thereon by the brush arrangement towards the conveyor means and towards the sides of the track, respectively.

2. A machine according to claim 1 in which oppositely-angled chutes cooperate with the lower ends of the selector members in both of the first and second positions to feed ballast on to the conveyor means and on to the side of the track, respectively.

3. A machine according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the feed means comprises a box-like structure divided into first and second compartments by a wall, the first compartment being open at the lower end thereof to the brush arrangement and at the upper end thereof to the second compartment whereby, in operation, the brush arrangement flings ballast through the first compartment into the second compartment at the upper end thereof, the second compartment having a lower opening below which an end of the conveyor means is located and having oppositely-facing lateral openings, the selector members being pivotally mounted in the second compartment for movement between the first and second positions to feed ballast through the lower and lateral openings, respectively.

4. A machine according to claim 3, in which the selector members form, together with a wall of the second compartment, in both of the first and second positions chutes for feeding ballast through the lower and lateral openings, respectively.

5. A machine according to claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.