GB863421A - Apparatus for welding rails or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

863,421. Welding by pressure. COX, E. F. Nov. 7, 1958 [Feb. 25, 1958], No. 35835/58. Class 83(4). A welding-apparatus for use in butt-welding the end of a rail or the like having top and bottom faces and a web to another rail &c., comprises top and bottom clamp members adjacent the end of the rail, means to move the members together to press against the top and bottom of the rail to index and anchor the rail, the members defining a vertical space substantially equal to the height of the rail, side clamp members located in the vertical space and operable to fit in jamming action against the opposite sides of the web in the same region as the top and bottom clamp members and operating means to press the side clamp members against the web. In an embodiment, short rails are delivered from a storage 10, Fig. 1, passed through scale removal device 15 to a welding-machine on a trailer 16, which may be for road use but is shown as a railway trailer, having a bed 18 on which are carried a movable welding-head 20 and a fixed head 22 both connected to a source of welding current. The welded rails then pass to a flash remover 24 and then to flat trucks 30. The head 20 movable by an hydraulic cylinder comprises side-plates 66, 67, Fig. 5, carrying members 68 riding on guides 70 on the base and between the plates is a top jaw 74 rotatably receiving a shaft 76 on a housing 77 carried eccentrically by a shaft 78. On rotation of the shaft 78 through gearing by a hand wheel 86, the jaw is vertically adjusted. A bottom jaw 88 is mounted on a piston-rod 94 of an hydraulic cylinder 96 to clamp a rail against the upper jaw, the jaws being connected to a source of current supply 100. A pair of dogs 102, 104, arranged to grip the rail web, have jaws and extensions 102c, 104c provided on sleeves rotatable on vertical shafts 108, 108a, the extensions receiving in pivoted nuts thereon a common threaded rod 110 rotatable by a hand wheel 114 so that the centre line 99 of action of the jaws may be laterally adjusted. The jaw 104 is connected to an air cylinder 116 so that the jaws may be moved simultaneously towards or away from the rail. In an alternative construction, the extensions extend in opposite directions and the rod 110 is fixed in one and threaded in a nut on the other. The dogs may have pivoted shoes, possibly supported on parallelogram linkage. A similar set of jaws and dogs is provided on the fixed head insulated from the base. In operation, the rail 14c forming the end of the long length is clamped by jaws and dogs in the fixed head and in the movable head the upper jaw 74 is adjusted by hand wheel 86. New rail 14b is placed in position in head 20 and air is applied to a cylinder 23a to lift a support roller 23. Air is then applied to the cylinder 116 to cause the dogs to clamp the rail and then oil is supplied to cylinder 96 to lift the lower jaw 83 against the rail.' The rails are abutted, current is passed between them, the rails are separated and then abutted to flash heat the rail ends and when properly heated the rails are forced together and current cut off. The rails are held in position until cooled.