GB2210918A

GB2210918A - Rail clip pin extraction apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2210918A
Application number: GB8828966A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William George Michael Strong; Richard Andrew Richman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-12-16
Filing date: 1988-12-12
Publication date: 1989-06-21
Anticipated expiration: 2008-12-12
Also published as: GB2210918B; GB8828966D0; GB8729282D0

Abstract

An apparatus for extracting the tortuous pins 23 of rail hold-down clips as 25 comprises a hydraulic piston and cylinder arrangement 11 mounted on a frame 13. The frame 13 spans in use the socket 31 of the clip 25 and manual operation of the piston and cylinder arrangement 11 causes the piston 27 to advance to drive the pin 23 from the socket 31. The frame 13 has stabilising means 41 which engaging with the rail 83 prevents angular movement of the apparatus under turning moments developed at the piston and cylinder arrangement 11 under loads forcing the pin 23 from its socket 31. <IMAGE>

Description

Clip Pin Extraction This invention relates to apparatus for extracting the pins of clips (hereinafter referred to as "clips of the kind described") the pin receiving members (hereinafter "socket members") of which are adapted to be secured with respect to laterally adjacent rails, such, for example as railway rails, as by being embedded in rail bearing e.g. sleepers and the pins of which are so adapted, arranged and constructed, or any of these, that the pins, when respectively received in socket members secured as aforesaid at intervals along said rail, are each operable to exert a hold-down force on the flange of the said rail member.The invention is primarily, concerned with the extraction of pins of clips of the kind described being pins which are of a tortuous form and which when respectively received in socket members secured as aforesaid at intervals along a rail, bear, at once, on the associated socket member and on a surface of the said flange being then in a state of torsional strain creating the said hold-down force on the rail.

According to the present invention, an apparatus for.

extracting the pins of clips of the kind described or any of them when installed secured with respect to a laterally adjacent rail, comprises: a man-power operable hydraulic piston and cylinder arrangement; a frame part rigid with the cylinder of the said arrangement and having abutment means; and in which the said frame part is of such shape and dimensions and is so adapted, arranged, and constructed, or any of these, and the said piston and cylinder arrangement so disposed with respect thereto, as, when the apparatus is positioned with the said frame part spanning the socket member of a clip in the longitudinal direction of the said rail, and with the piston of the said piston and cylinder arrangement axially aligned with the pin receiving passage of the said socket member, operation of the said piston and cylinder arrangement causes the piston to advance forcing the pin along the said socket passage against reaction between the said abutment means and a proximal surface of the socket member.

Preferably the apparatus incorporates stabilising means operable when the apparatus is located spanning a said frame part to oppose turning moments acting on the apparatus, being turning moments arising as a result of want of collinearity between the line of action of the force exerted by the said piston on a pin retained within the socket and the line of reaction in response to the said force between the abutment means and the said socket.

The said stabilising means may comprise manually operable vise means carried by the said frame part and operable, in use, to clampingly engage a rail flange.

The stabilising means may alternatively, or additionally, comprise two abutment means on the said frame part, being abutment means adapted to engage spaced surfaces of a socket member. The said two abutment means may comprise fixed abutment parts of the said frame part. The aforementioned abutment means which, with a proximal surface of a socket member, is operable to develop reaction against the force of the piston, of the said piston and cylinder arrangement, on the clip pin, may constitute one of the said two abutment parts of the frame part.

Yet again, the said stabilising means may comprise abutment means, rigidly supported laterally offset, with respect to the said frame part and adapted when, in use, with the frame part spanning the socket member of a clip, and the piston of the piston and cylinder arrangement axially aligned with the said pin receiving passage, to make contact with a surface of the elongate member laterally adjacent to the said clip, being a surface of the said elongate member on the side of the said elongate member remote from the piston and cylinder arrangement. The said abutment means may be laterally adjustable with respect to the frame part; and means is then provided for securing the abutment means rigidly supported at a desired offset position, with respect to the frame part.

Conveniently the said laterally offset abutment means may be a cranked portion of a part projecting laterally from the frame part rigid with respect thereto. Conveniently, the cranked part is laterally adjustable so as to permit adjustment in the offset position of the said cranked portion thereby to provide an adjustable positionable abutment means.

In an hereinafter described embodiment the stabilising means incorporates a part which is secured under lapping the edge portion of the said frame part projecting laterally from one end thereof, the step created by the lapping parts constituting an inner abutment surface part which is secured to one end thereof constituting an inner abutment surface and which has an outer portion providing an outer lateral abutment surface and, at a position displaced inwardly from the said outer end portion, clamp means constituted of a bearing member and a cam action quick release clamp means, the arrangement being such that with the apparatus adjacent a rail at the site of a clip the said laterally projecting part extends beneath the rail, the outer and inner abutment surfaces are respectively juxtaposed to the edges of the flanges of the rail, and the bearing member overlaps the inner flange and is movable to and from a flange engagement position by actuation of the said quick release means.

The said man-power operated piston and cylinder arrangement may be a manually switchable double acting piston and cylinder arrangement.

The man operated input member of the piston and cylinder arrangement may be removably connected to the said apparatus.

Where the apparatus is for extracting pins of clips of the kind described, being clips serving as hold down devices for railway, and like rails, preferably, the apparatus, or at least the apparatus with the man powered input member thereof removed, is of such configuration that it may be left, in situ, engaged with a clip as aforesaid, without presenting a hazard to the passage of vehicles along the rails.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a pictorial representation of one form of apparatus; Fig. 2 depicts the apparatus of Fig. 1 located in situ with respect to a clip of the kind described; Fig. 3 is a pictorial view of a variant of the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a plan view of a second form of apparatus; Fig. 5 shows a cross-section taken on the line A-A of Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 shows a cross-section taken on the line B-B of Fig. 4.

The apparatus comprises a man-power operated hydraulic piston and cylinder arrangement 11 and a frame part 13 rigid with the cylinder 15 of the said arrangement 11. The frame part 33 and the cylinder 15 may constitute a unitary casting or they may, as illustrated, be separable castings rigidly connected together by fixing means 17.

The frame part 13 has a re-entrant surface portion 19 providing, remote from the piston and cylinder arrangement 11, an abutment surface 21. The re-entrant portion 19 has a length somewhat greater than the corresponding dimension of the tortuous pin 23 of the clip 25; and the said arrangement 11 is supported, with respect to the frame part 11, at a position such that the piston 27 thereof is, with the frame 11 seated on a rail supporting sleeper S, aligned with the receiving passage 29 of the socket member 31 of the clip 25.

The hydraulic piston and cylinder arrangement 11 is double acting, being provided with a manually operable change-over switch member 33, and is operable by means of a manually rockable arm 35 removably connected to the apparatus.

In operation, with the apparatus positioned as shown (Fig. 2) with the frame part spanning the socket member 31, operation of the rockable arm 35 causes the piston 27 to advance to contact and then to force the tortuous pin 23 along the socket passage 29 against binding forces between the pin 23 and the socket member 31 between the pin 23 and the rail flange 37, opposing such pin movement, the force applied hydraulically to the piston 27 being reacted by contact between the abutment surface 21, of the frame part 13, and the proximal surface 39 of the socket member 31.

When a pin 23 has been driven from its socket member 31 the apparatus is freed from the said socket member 31, by operation of the rockable arm 35, the change-over switch member 33 having been swung to its other operative position.

The line of action of the piston 27 and the line of reaction through the position of contact of the abutment surface 21 and the said proximal surface 39 being non-collinear, there arises a moment or moments tending to produce angular displacement of the apparatus, and in particular of the piston 27, with respect to the socket member 31. As a result there may be an undesired contact between the piston 27 and the wall of the socket passage 29, such contact opposing movement of the said piston.

To obviate this the apparatus is provided with stabilising means 41 operable to oppose the said moment.

The stabilising means 41 illustrated comprises a manually operable vise 43, the jaws 45a, 45b, of which are adapted to clampingly engage the bottom lateral flange 47 of the rail 49.

An alternative, or additional form of stabilising means (not illustrated) comprises two abutment means on or associated with the frame 13. The said two abutment means are adapted respectively to engage surfaces fixed with respect to earth. The two abutment means may for example be spaced apart by a distance equal to the sleeper width so that contact between the two abutment surfaces and respective opposed sleeper surfaces opposes rotation of the apparatus. More conveniently perhaps the said two abutment surfaces may be so positioned as respectively to contact oppositely outwards facing surfaces of the socket member 31.

By the provision of abutment surfaces so spaced and provided, also, each with a taper of appropriate inclination, tendency to rotation of the apparatus about each of two orthogonal axial directions under the force of the piston 27 on the pin 23 may be opposed. The two abutment means may be fixed in the frame, constituting features of a casting, for example, or they may be adjustable with respect to the frame 13.

In the apparatus of Fig. 2 the stabilising means 41 comprises abutment means 51 rigidly supported laterally offset with respect to the frame part 13. The abutment means 51 is adapted when, in use, with the frame part 13 spanning the socket member 31 of the clip 25 and the piston 27 aligned with the receiving passage 29 of the said socket member, as depicted in Fig. 2, to make contact with a surface of the elongate member, the rail 49, being a surface of the rail 49 on the side (not shown) of the rail remote from the piston and cylinder arrangement 11.

The abutment means 51 is constituted, in the embodiment of Fig. 3, by a cranked portion of a member 53 projecting laterally from the frame part 13, rigid with respect thereto.

In use of the apparatus of Fig. 3 the rail 49 extends, above the outwardly projecting arm portion 55 of the member 53, between the frame part 13 and the cranked portion 51.

To accommodate tolerances in the positional relationship between socket members and the rails and in rail track tolerances, or rails of various widths, the member 53 is adjustably positionable with respect to the frame 13, a slot 55 being provided in the member 53 through which the bolt 57 of a nut and bolt connector extends.

In the embodiment of Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the stabilising means 41 has: an arm 59 underlapping the edge portion 61 of the frame part 13; and cam action quick release means 63.

The arm 59, which projects laterally from one end 65 of the frame part 13, is connected to the said frame part by a bolt 64 which extends through an oversize hble through the arm 59. The bolt 64 has a length such that, with the quick release means 63 in the operated state depicted, there is a clearance between the head of the bolt 64 and the undersurface of the arm 59.

The arm 59 has an outer end portion 67 providing an outer lateral abutment 69 and the step 71 created by the lapping parts 59, 61 constitutes an inner abutment surface.

Welded to the frame part 13 at a marginal surface thereof, is a plate 73 having an inclined undersurface.

The cam action quick release means 63 comprises an arm 75 having an integral cam portion 77; and a coaxial pin and helical spring arrangement 79 extending through aligned oversized holes through the arm 59 and frame part 13.

In the operative position illustrated, the inner and outer abutment surfaces 71, 69, are in contact with the edges of the flanges 81a, 81b, respectively, of the rail 83; and the plate 73 has its inclined surfaces in contact with the complementarily inclined upper surface of the flange 81b and applies a vertical clamping force to the said rail flange.

Angular displacement of the arm 75 in a counterclockwise sense through 900 moves the cam portion thereof to a position such that the arm 59 is urged away from the frame part 13, the resulting clearance between the plate 73 and the rail flange 81b being sufficient to permit the apparatus to be rocked away for removal of the apparatus from the rail.

At the opposite end 85 of the frame part 13 there is a second laterally extending arm 87, underlying the frame part 13 and being welded thereto. The arm 87 has an end portion 89 corresponding to the end portion 67 of the arm 59 and providing a corresponding abutment.

The arm 87 contributes to the rotational stability of the apparatus under the action of the piston during removal of a pin.

If need be, however, a stabilising arrangement substantially identical to that of Fig. 5 could be employed at the end 85 of the frame part 13.

The apparatus of Figs. 4, 5 and 6, is for use where binding forces between pins and their sockets are substantially higher than those for which the apparatuses of Figs. 1 or 3 are designed. This is reflected in the presence in Fig. 4 of a main hydraulic fluid reservoir 91 which communicates by way of an hydraulic nose 93 with the cylinder 15.

It is highly desirable that the apparatus should be capable of being left in situ with the frame 13 spanning a socket member 31 and the piston 27 received within the socket passage 29, without presenting a hazard to the passage of vehicles, engines and rolling stock, along the track. It is therefore a feature of the embodiment, that the apparatus has a configuration, that is to say is of a shape and size, such that, at least with the rockable arm 35 removed, no part of the apparatus is located in the path of a vehicle wheel moving along the track.

Claims

1. An apparatus for extracting the pins of clips of the kind described or any of them when installed secured with respect to a laterally adjacent rail, which comprises: a man-power operable hydraulic piston and cylinder arrangement; a frame part rigid with the cylinder of the said arrangement and having abutment means; and in which the said frame part is of such shape and dimensions and is so adapted, arranged, and constructed, or any of these, and the said piston and cylinder arrangement so disposed with respect thereto, as, when the apparatus is positioned with the said frame part spanning the socket member of a clip in the longitudinal direction of the said rail, and with the piston of the said piston and cylinder arrangement axially aligned with the pin receiving passage of the said socket member, operation of the said piston and cylinder arrangement causes the piston to advance forcing the pin along the said socket passage against reaction between the said abutment means and a proximal surface of the socket member.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 which incorporates stabilising means operable when the apparatus is located spanning a said frame part to oppose turning moments acting on the apparatus, being turning moments arising as a result of want of collinearity between the line of action of the force exerted by the said piston on the pin retained within the socket and the line of reaction in response to the said force between the abutment means and the said socket.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the stabilising means comprises manually operable vise means carried by the said frame part and operable, in use, to clampingly engage a rail flange.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the stabilising means comprises two abutment means on the said frame part, being abutment means adapted to engage spaced surfaces of a socket member.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which the said two abutment means comprise fixed abutment parts of the said frame part.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 in which the said abutment means which, with a proximal surface of a socket member, is operable to develop reaction against the force of the piston, of the said piston and cylinder arrangement, on the clip pin, constitute one of the said two abutment parts of the frame part.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the stabilising means comprises abutment means, rigidly supported laterally offset, with respect to the said frame part and adapted when, in use, with the frame part spanning the socket member of a clip, and the piston of the piston and cylinder arrangement axially aligned with the said pin receiving passage, to make contact with a surface of the elongate member laterally adjacent to the said clip, being a surface of the said elongate member on the side of the said elongate member remote from the piston and cylinder arrangement.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which the said abutment means is laterally adjustable with respect to the frame part; and means is provided for securing the abutment means rigidly supported at a desired offset position, with respect to the frame part.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8 in which the said laterally offset abutment means is a cranked portion of a part projecting laterally from the frame part rigid with respect thereto.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which the cranked part is laterally adjustable so as to permit adjustment in the offset position of the said cranked portion thereby to provide an adjustable positionable abutment means.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the stabilising means incorporates a part which is secured underlapping the edge portion of the said frame part projecting laterally from one end thereof, the step created by the lapping parts constituting an inner abutment surface part which is secured to one end thereof constituting an inner abutment surface and which has an outer portion providing an outer lateral abutment surface and, at a position displaced inwardly from the said outer end portion, clamp means constituted of a bearing member and a cam action quick release clamp means, the arrangement being such that with the apparatus adjacent a rail at the site of a clip the said laterally projecting part extends beneath the rail, the outer and inner abutment surfaces are respectively juxtaposed to the edges of the flanges of the rail, and the bearing member overlaps the inner flange and is movable to and from a flange engagement position by actuation of the said quick release means.

12. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim in which said man-power operated piston and cylinder arrangement may be a manually switchable double acting piston and cylinder arrangement.

13. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim in which the man operable input member of the piston and cylinder arrangement is readily removably connected to the said apparatus.

14. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim which is of such shape and size that it may be left, in situ, engaged with a clip as aforesaid without presenting a hazard to the passage of rail vehicles and rolling stock along the rails.

15. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

16. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawings.

17. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings

18. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.

19. An apparatus for extracting the pins of clips of the kind described, comprising actuating means cersisting of a stationary part and a movable part, a frame part secured to said stationary part, and having abutment means; said frame part sein@ formed and constructed so that when the apparatus is @@sitiene@ with the said frame part spanning the socket member of a clip in the longitudinal direction of a rail, and with the movable part of the actuating means aligned with the @in receiving passage of the said socket member, operation of the said actuating means forces the pin along the said passage against reaction between the said abutment means and a proximal surface.

2C. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 13, wherein the actuating means comprise a hydraulic piston and cylinder arrengement.