GB2290818A

GB2290818A - Divided suction nozzle for removing ballast from railway track

Info

Publication number: GB2290818A
Application number: GB9513219A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Josef Theurer; Herbert Woergoetter
Original assignee: Franz Plasser Bahnbaumaschinen Industrie GmbH
Current assignee: Franz Plasser Bahnbaumaschinen Industrie GmbH
Priority date: 1994-07-01
Filing date: 1995-06-29
Publication date: 1996-01-10
Also published as: IT1275281B; FR2721951A1; ITMI951125A0; GB9513219D0; DE19522848A1; ITMI951125A1

Description

A SUCTION NOZZLE WITH A SUCTION OPENING SUITABLE FOR REMOVING BALLAST FROM

A TRACK BED OF A TRACK BY SUCTION The invention relates to a suction nozzle of a suction pipe with a suction opening suitable for removing ballast from a track bed of a track, such as a railway track, by suction.

Many suction nozzles of this kind for removing ballast from a track bed by suction are already known in combination with track-going vehicles, for instance from DE 91 11 238 Ul, DE 90 00 529 Ul and EP 0 485 810 Al. To remove the ballast in the sleeper crib or in the shoulder region of the ballast bed by suction, the suction pipe is adjusted vertically and horizontally with the aid of drives. The suction nozzle consists of a circular opening of the suction pipe which is located in a horizontal plane.

A special ballast plough for grading the bedding ballast is described in GB 2 270 943 A, in which the ballast in the sleeper crib is swept out with the aid of a rotating sweeper brush to a prescribed depth relative to the top edge of the sleeper. However, this sweeping procedure cannot be used to remove ballast located underneath a track conductor from the sleeper crib. A vertically adjustable suction pipe is therefore arranged following the sweeper brush, the suction opening of which may be pivoted laterally under the track conductor by being swivelled about an axis extending in the longitudinal direction of the track. The sleeper crib can thereby be lowered without exception to the desired depth.

The object of the present invention is now to provide a suction nozzle of the type previously defined, with which, with minimum design effort, the ballast specifically located underneath a track conductor can easily be removed by suction.

This object is achieved with a suction nozzle of the type described in the introduction wherein suction openings are provided which are situated opposite one another with respect to a horizontal direction extending perpendicularly to a track conductor of the track.

By means of the special suction nozzle, the ballast can now be removed by suction on either side in a particularly rapid manner, a particular advantage here being the fact that the track conductor is not situated in the suction stream and therefore cannot be shifted from its position by the suction power or by the ballast stones drawn up by suction. The suction nozzle according to the invention thus enables ballast to be removed by suction quickly and efficiently to a desired level, without the track conductor being touched by the suction nozzle itself or by the ballast stones drawn up by suction.

Other advantageous developments of the invention emerge from the subclaims.

The invention is described in more detail in the following with the aid of embodiments shown in the drawing, in which Figs. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 show respective exemplary embodiments of a suction nozzle according to the invention, in side view, and Figs. 2, 3 and 8 show respective schematically simplified plan views of a suction nozzle.

The suction nozzle 1 shown in Fig. 1 and 2 is connected to the lower end of a main suction pipe 2 which is circular in cross-section and is vertically and laterally adjustable by means of drives which are not shown specifically. This main suction pipe is part of a suction machine, as described by GB 2 273 515 A, for example, which is designed to travel on the track 8. The suction nozzle 1 is composed of two suction pipes 5 which have respective separate suction openings 3 and 4 and are circular in cross-section, each suction pipe being arranged at an angle to the vertical 6 indicated by a dot and dash line for the purpose of union in the main suction pipe 2. The two suction openings 3, 4 are arranged opposite one another with respect to a direction (see arrow 9) extending perpendicularly to a track conductor 7 of a track 8 having sleepers 21 and horizontally.

As Fig. 2 in particular also shows, the two mutually opposite suction openings 3, 4 are separated from one another by a covering strip 10 extending in the longitudinal direction of the track conductor 7 and horizontally and positioned above the suction openings 3, 4. The two suction openings 3, 4 are arranged symmetrically with respect to a vertical plane 12 extending in the longitudinal direction of the covering strip 10 and through the track conductor 7.

The object of the covering strip 10, also shown in the other exemplary embodiments according to Fig. 3 to 8, is to divide the suction stream of the main suction pipe 2 into two suction streams passing through respective suction openings 3, 4, while covering the track conductor 7. The result of this is that the ballast 13 underneath the track conductor 7 is removed by suction laterally in the direction of the arrows shown, while the track conductor 7 is protected. Each suction opening 3, 4 is formed from a side portion 15 immediately adjoining the covering strip 10 and having a suction opening plane 14 inclined at an angle to the vertical 6, and a horizontal portion 16 directly joined to the side portion with a horizontal suction opening plane 17 (Fig. 1 and 2).

A lower end portion having the suction opening 3 or 4 is formed from a rubber pipe stub 18 which may be mounted on the suction pipe 5. This rubber pipe stub may be detachably fixed on the suction pipe 5 by means of a quick-action fastening 19 consisting of a clamping band, for example. Thus, by using rubber pipe stubs 18 which have different diameters, optimum adaptation is possible in a rapid and simple manner to varying sleeper crib widths of different track sections. Expediently, the diameter of the suction pipe 5 should be designed to correspond approximately to the average width of a sleeper crib 20 of the track 8.

According to the variant shown in Fig. 3, the suction nozzle 1 has a rectangular cross-section, in plan view. The edge running parallel to the track conductor 7 is here expediently designed so as to be somewhat shorter than the average width of a sleeper crib 20. As the cross-section in Figure 4 shows, the horizontal portion 16 is designed closed, so that the two suction openings 3, 4 are merely formed by the side portions 15 which are inclined at an angle to the vertical. This variant is particularly suitable for those applications in which the region of the sleeper crib 20 adjoining the ballast underneath the-track conductor 7 is already at the desired level as a result of the sweeping procedure.

In the variant shown in Fig. 5, there is no horizontal portion at all, and in Fig. 6 a suction nozzle 1 is shown which is suitable for use in a track having two track conductors 11 running parallel to one another.

The suction nozzle 1 according to Fig. 7 and 8 is composed of two suction pipes 5 running parallel to one another, the suction openings 3, 4 being formed by respective planes inclined approximately 450 to the vertical 6.

Finally, Fig. 9 shows a suction nozzle 1 composed of two mutually independent suction pipes 5 with suction openings 3 and 4. In this case a covering strip 10 for protecting the track conductor 7 is not strictly necessary. The two suction pipes 5 are expediently united again above the track conductor 7 to form a single main suction pipe (not shown).

7

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A suction nozzle of a suction pipe with a suction opening suitable for removing ballast from a track bed of a track by suction, including suction openings situated opposite one another with respect to a horizontal direction extending perpendicularly to a track conductor of the track.

2. A suction nozzle according to claim 1, including a covering strip separating the mutually opposite suction openings from one another, extending in the longitudinal direction of the track conductor and horizontally and positioned above the suction openings, the suction openings being arranged symmetrically with respect to a vertical plane extending in the longitudinal direction of the covering strip and through the track conductor.

3. A suction nozzle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each suction opening is formed from a side portion immediately adjoining the covering strip and having a suction opening plane inclined at an angle to the vertical, and a horizontal portion directly joined to the side portion with a horizontal suction opening plane.

4. A suction nozzle according to one of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein each suction opening is associated with its own suction pipe which is circular in cross-section, the suction pipes being arranged at an angle to the vertical for union with a main suction pipe.

5. A suction nozzle according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the diameter of the suction pipe is designed to correspond approximately to the average width of a sleeper crib of the track.

6. A suction nozzle according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a lower end portion having the suction opening is formed from a rubber pipe stub.

7. A suction nozzle according to claim 6 wherein the rubber pipe stub is mounted on the suction pipe.

8. A suction nozzle according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the rubber pipe stub is detachably fixed on the suction pipe by means of a quick-action fastening.

9. A suction nozzle according to claim 10 wherein the quick-action fastening consists of a clamping band.

10. A suction nozzle substantially as herein described with reference to one or more of the accompanying figures.