GB2303659A

GB2303659A - Rail changing machine

Info

Publication number: GB2303659A
Application number: GB9610294A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ing Josef Theurer; Friedrich Peitl
Original assignee: Franz Plasser Bahnbaumaschinen Industrie GmbH
Current assignee: Franz Plasser Bahnbaumaschinen Industrie GmbH
Priority date: 1995-07-25
Filing date: 1996-05-16
Publication date: 1997-02-26
Anticipated expiration: 2016-05-16
Also published as: GB9610294D0; FR2738020A1; FR2738020B1; ITMI961357A1; GB2303659B; IT1284462B1; JPH0941306A; DE19628182A1; ATA126795A; AT404040B; ITMI961357A0

Description

1 2303659 The invention relates to a machine for exchanging rails of a

track, comprising a machine frame supported on two ontrack undercarriages and a number of rail guides, located between the on-track undercarriages, vertically and laterally adjustable by means of drives, and designed to guide old and new rails.

A machine of this kind is already known from US 4 274 334, the machine frame thereof comprising three sections joined together in an articulated manner. The front part in the working direction, which forms a propulsion vehicle, rides with the aid of on-track undercarriages on the old rails of the track, while the rearmost part is supported by means of further ontrack undercarriages on the new rails which have just been laid. The middle section of the machine frame is designed as an unsupported beam, bridging the elongated working region, on which the vertically and laterally adjustable rail guides for the old and new rails as well as the other working units are arranged or from which they are individually suspended. As the machine advances, the old rails are first lifted and deposited on the track shoulders. The old rail baseplates are then removed, whereupon a worker on the machine at another working location plugs the holes present in the top surfaces of the sleepers with plastic material. After sweeping, adzing the sleepers and creosoting the newly adzed surfaces, the new baseplates are placed in position and the new rails, pre-deposited in the shoulder region, are finally drawn together and laid on top of the said baseplates.

Also, an arrangement for renewing a track is described in 2 US 5 222 435, which comprises several part machines or machine frames arranged one after another in the longitudinal direction of the track. The old rails are first lifted, the old sleepers are replaced with new sleepers, and the old rails are then temporarily relaid on top of these. Using the machine at the rear in the working direction, the old rails are then exchanged for the new rails which, newly welded by means of a tempering tunnel joined to the machine frame, are fed to the rail guides located between the on-track undercarriages and are laid by these on top of the new sleepers.

However, machines are also known according to US 3 972 292, on the other hand, on whose machine frames are fixed vertically and laterally adjustable arms with rail guides which project at the front end in the longitudinal direction of the track. These serve simultaneously to pick up the old rails and the new rails pre-deposited in the track centre, which, as the machine advances continuously, are exchanged for one another with respect to their position in front of the machine in the working direction. Both on-track undercarriages of the machine run on the new rails, while the old rails are deposited to the side in the shoulder region or even behind the machine in the middle of the track.

US 3 635 164 discloses a machine for exchanging the two rails of a track with one another. The rails are each guided via arms which project at the front end, and cross beneath the machine frame which rides on the top surfaces of the sleepers with the aid of wheels.

The object of the present invention is now to provide a machine of the type specified in the introduction, which, with a constructionally simplified design, can be used unrestrictedly for exchanging rails.

This object is achieved with a machine of the type 3 previously defined in that associated with each on-track undercarriage are additional rail guides, each projecting in the longitudinal direction of the machine over one end of the machine fr.ame and vertically and laterally adjustable by means of drives, as well as an operator's cabin with a control unit for operating the drives of the rail guides, and in that rail guides, spaced apart from one another in the vertical direction, are provided between the two on-track undercarriages to support the old or new rails.

A machine developed in this way enables the machine frame to be made relatively short and therefore to obviate the necessity of providing a joint in the machine frame so that the machine can keep to the clearance gauge in curves. The arrangement according to the invention of rail guides on either side - with respect to the longitudinal direction of the track - of each on-track undercarriage, in combination with respective operator's cabins associated therewith, ensures that despite the compact design of the machine frame, the bending lines of the rails run in relatively gentle curves as a result of appropriate control of the rail guides, and the permissible or allowed bending values are not exceeded. At the same time, however, it is also thereby possible to guide the old and new rails in the region of the support rollers so that they are spaced apart laterally and vertically by the required amount in order to permit the unobstructed removal and insertion of the rail baseplates and yet to enable the new rails to be drawn together again in front of the rear on-track undercarriage and to be placed into the newly laid plates. In the context of the development according to the invention, it is entirely unimportant whether the new rails are predeposited in the track centre or on a track shoulder or even on either side of the track. The old rails may equally be deposited between or outside the new rails, as desired.

Further advantages of the invention ensue from the subclaims or from the description.

4 The invention is described in detail in the following with the aid of an embodiment shown in the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a side view of a machine accordipg to the invention for exchanging rails of a track, Fig. 2 shows a very highly schematized plan view of the machine with many machine parts omitted, and Fig. 3 shows an enlarged side view in the region of the working location.

Fig. I or 2 shows a machine 1 for exchanging rails of a track 2, more particularly old rails 3 for new rails 4 (shown respectively in dot and dash lines and in solid lines). The machine 1 has an elongated machine frame 6, supported on the track 2 at each end by means of an on-track undercarriage 5, the working direction being indicated by an arrow 7. Arranged at each of the two ends 8 of the machine frame 6, remote from each other in the longitudinal direction of the machine, are respective rail guides 9 and 15 which are designed as telescopically extendable arms 10 projecting (in the working position) in the longitudinal direction of the machine beyond the machine frame 6. Each arm 10 is mounted on the machine frame 6 so as to be rotatable or laterally adjustable around a vertical axis 11 by means of a drive 12 and is also designed so as to be vertically adjustable by means of another drive 13, and is provided at its free end with a roller lifting clamp 14 for picking up the old or new rails 3, 4.

Provided along the machine frame 6 are other rail guides 16,17 for guiding the old rails 3 or new rails 4 which are vertically and laterally adjustable by means of drives 18 and similarly have roller lifting clamps 14. In addition, rail guide rollers 19 are visible immediately preceding each of the two on-track undercarriages 5 in the working direction, the said rail guide rollers being laterally adjustably connected to the machine frame 6 on either longitudinal side of the machine. An engine 20 serves to supply energy to the various drives and to a motive drive 21 of the machine 1.

Between the on-track undercarriages 5 there are two operator's cabins 22 arranged beneath the machine frame 6 or fixed thereto, each associated with one of the on-track undercarriages 5 and in each of which is positioned an operator with his direction of view pointing towards the nearer end 8 of the machine frame 6. Provided in the operator's cabins 22 are control units 23 by means of which the operator is able to control the operation of the drives 12,13,18 of the rail guides 9,15,16,17 which are located on either side, with respect to the longitudinal direction of the machine, of each on-track undercarriage 5.

Located in the longitudinal centre of the machine frame 6 equidiBtant from both on-track undercarriages 5, between the operator's cabins 22, are working locations 24 (more clearly visible in Fig. 3), which include a total of four Beats 25 POBitioned immediately above Bleepers 26 of the track 2. These are each intended for one worker and are arranged in pairs on each longitudinal side of the machine, the two workers associated with one side of the track Bitting back to back looking in OPPOBite directions. InBtead of a manual working location, a mechanical working location, for instance in the form of a magnetically operable manipulator for automatically picking up baBeplateB, can of course also be provided.

Provided adjacently on either side of the working locations 24, in the transverse direction of the track, are additional rail guides 27 (see particularly Fig. 2) which are each designed as support rollers 28, one arranged above the other, and which laterally guide the old and new rails 3,4 which cross each other at this point. The distance between these rail guides 27 in the transverse direction of the track 6 is greater than the gauge of the track 2, so that the baseplates 29 of the old rails 3 left on the sleepers 26 in the region of the working location are freely accessible from above. Also associated with the working locations 24 is a device 30 - not shown in detail - for supplying or taking away rail fastening means such as the aforementioned baseplates 29, for example.

In operational use, the new rails 4 pre-deposited in the track 2 - either in the track centre or at the side - are picked up by means of the projecting rail guides 9 and fed to the front rail guide rollers 19. These are displaced to the side in such a way that the new rails 4 may easily be guided past the front on-track undercarriage 5. The old rails 3 are lifted off the baseplates 29 immediately behind this front ontrack undercarriage 5 by means of the rail guides 16 and are spread outwards, the operator in the front operator's cabin 22 controlling the drives 12, 13 and 18 in such a way that the bending line of the new rails 4 generates only permissible bending stresses. In the region of the working locations 24 in the machine centre, the rails are guided with the aid of the support rollers 28 in such a way that the workers are able, unhindered, to remove the old baseplates 29 or to position the new baseplates supplied by the device 30. The new rails 4 are then drawn together onto these new baseplates 29 in front of the rear on-track undercarriage 5, while the old rails 3, again with appropriate vertical and lateral control of the rail guides, are deposited past the rear ontrack undercarriage 5 either in the track centre or laterally adjacent to the new rails 4, as desired.

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Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A machine for exchanging rails of a track, comprising a machine frame supported on two on-track undercarriages and a number of rail guides located between the on-track undercarriages, vertically and laterally adjustable by means of drives and designed to guide old and new rails, characterized in that associated with each on-track undercarriage are additional rail guides, each projecting in the longitudinal direction of the machine over one end of the machine frame and vertically and laterally adjustable by means of drives, as well as an operator's cabin with a control unit for operating the drives of the rail guides, and in that rail guides, spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction, are provided between the two on-track undercarriages to support the old or new rails.

2. A machine according to claim 1, characterized in that working locations with seats located immediately above sleepers of the track are provided in the region of the rail guides.

3. A machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the rail guides projecting at the ends of the machine are each designed as telescopically extendable arms which may be swivelled around a vertical axis.

4. A machine according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a respective rail guide roller connected laterally adjustably to the machine frame immediately precedes each on-track undercarriage in the working direction.

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5. A machine according to one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the working locations are provided in the longitudinal centre of the machine frame between the two on-track undercarriages.

6. A machine according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that rail guides designed as support rollers are associated with the working locations, located adjacently to them on either side in the transverse direction of the track, to guide the old rails in each case over the new rails.

7. A machine according to claim 6, characterized in that the support rollers are located at a distance apart with respect to the transverse direction of the track which is greater than the gauge of the track.

8. A machine according to one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the working locations on each longitudinal side of the track have two seats respectively.

9. A machine according to claim 8, characterized in that the two seats associated with one longitudinal side of the track are arranged back to back with mutually opposite directions of view.

10. A machine according to one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that a device - known per se - for supplying or taking away rail fastening means is associated with the working locations.

11. A machine for exchanging rails of a track, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.