US1069792A

US1069792A - Railroad-rail spike.

Info

Publication number: US1069792A
Application number: US56600510A
Authority: US
Inventors: Julius Kruttschnitt
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1910-06-09
Filing date: 1910-06-09
Publication date: 1913-08-12
Anticipated expiration: 1930-08-12

Description

J. KRUTTSGHNITT.

RAILROAD RAIL SPIKE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9,;910.

1,069,792, Patented Aug. 12, 1913.

Ill

ll 11 g 6 5 l ti'neovea. F 10 JKZ/ew UNTTED STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

JULIUS KRUTTSCHNITT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-RAIL SPIKE.

T 0 (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUS KRUrrsoI-INITT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Rail Spikes, of which the following is a full, true, clear, andeXact description.

My invention relates to improvements in spikes and has particular reference to rail spikes for securing railroad rails to wooden cross-ties.

The object of my invention is to provide a rail or track spike which shall beso formed that while it may be quite easily driven into a cross-tie, it will be firmly retained therein and may be withdrawn only by the exertion of great force.

A further object is to provide a railroad spike so formed that any force applied to withdraw the spike will tend to increase the hold of the fibers of the tie upon the spike.

My invention consists in a railroad or track spike having a shank of substantially rectangular cross section and having in one or more of its longitudinal faces, a longitudinal groove or slot of substantially uniform depth but tapered longitudinally and wider at its upper than at its lower end.

The invention also consists in a railroad spike the opposite shank faces of which are provided with shallow, substantially trapezoidal grooves, the bottom walls of said grooves being parallel and said grooves being tapered and wider at their upper ends than at their lower ends.

It further consists in a track spike having a rectangular shank, a head on one end adapted to engage a rail flange, and a V- shaped point on the other end adapted to sever the fibers of a cross tie, the front and rear faces of said shank being provided with shallow longitudinal grooves extending from the point and ending adjacent to the head, the bottom walls of said grooves being parallel, said grooves being tapered and narrower adjacent to the point than adjacent to the head of the spike, and transverse shoulders on said bottom walls.

It further consists in a track spike having a substantially rectangular body portion, longitudinal grooves on the front and rear faces of said body portion, the bottom walls of said grooves being parallel, said grooves being narrower at their lower ends than at their upper ends, and transverse shoulders Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 9, 1910.

Patented A11 12,1913.

Serial No. 566,005.

on said bottom walls and on the side faces of said body portion.

My invention also consists in the features of construction and combinations and relations of parts whereby a railroad spike of exceptionally great holding power is produced, all as hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a track spike illustrating a suitable embodiment of the preferred form of my invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in vertical section of the spike illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a spike showing a modification of the invention; Fig. t is a horizontal sectional view on the line 4: l of Fig.

2; Fig. 5 is a similar section on the line 55 of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a similar section illustrating a second modification of the invention; Fig. 7 is a section similar to Fig. l, but showing an additional modified form of the invention; and Fig. 8 is a fragmentary vertical section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6.

The preferred form of my invention as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 comprises the body portion or shank 1, having the head 2 on one end and the V-shaped point 3 on the other end. The head 2 is similar to the usual track spike head having the forwardly projecting portion 4 adapted to overlap and to engage a rail flange and the laterally pro jecting flanges 5 by means of which the spike may be withdrawn from a cross-tie. The V- shaped point is formed by two upwardly and outwardly inclined surfaces 6 and 7 forming the cutting edge 8 on their meeting line. This cutting edge 8 is adapted to sever the fibers of the tie when the spike is driven thereinto and'the inclined surfaces 6 and 7 spread the ends of the severed fibers curving them downward to a slight degree and placing them in position to act as struts or braces against the forward and rear faces of the body of the spike and thus retain the spike in the tie.

The front and rear faces of the spike are provided with longitudinal grooves 9 extending from the inclined surfaces 6 and 7 and ending adjacent to the head 2 of the spike, in other words they extend the eifec tive length of the body portion of the spike.

Said grooves 9 are substantially trapezoidal in cross section and uniform in depth and consequently the bottom walls 10 thereof are parallel with each other. The grooves 9 are preferably narrower at their lower ends or adjacent to the point of the spike than at their upper ends or adjacent to the head of the spike. This construction results in the grooves being tapered longitudinally of the spike and adapted, when an attempt is made to withdraw the spike from the tie, to compress the ends of the fibers laterally, which lie within the grooves. This action of the grooves upon the fibers tends to wedge the fibers within the grooves and cause additional friction upon the body of the spike and thus prevent its easy withdrawal. The bottom walls 10 and side walls 11 of the grooves 9 are provided with a plurality of shallow concave transverse grooves 12. The grooves 12 are arranged close together and completely cover said walls forming transverse shoulders 13 therebetween. The inclination of the upper surfaces of the ridges or shoulders 13 is such that they present abutment surfaces substantially at right angles to the end of the curved fibers of the crosstie.

As the spike is driven into the tie the chisel. edge 8 severs the fibers of the tie, the inclined surfaces 6 and 7 spread the fibers apart and the shoulders 13 receive the severed ends, the fibers acting as struts or braces upon the shoulders 18 to retain the spike in the tie.

I sometimes. prefer to dispense with the transverse shoulders, forming the grooves 16 with their bottom and side walls smooth as shown in Figs. 3 and 5. In this form I rely upon the wedging action of the tapered longitudinal grooves and the friction caused by the compressive force of the fibers of-the tie upon the body of the spike to retain the spike in the tie against the forces tending to withdraw it.

In addition to the longitudinal grooves 9 in the front and rear faces of the spike, I sometimes provide the side faces of the body portion of the spike with shallow concave transverse grooves 14: similar to the grooves 12 on the bottom walls of the longitudinal grooves 9. This results in the side walls being provided with transverse or horizontal shoulders or ridges 15 adapted to engage the adjacent fibers of the tie and thereby aid in retaining the spike in the tie.

The grooves 9 are so proportionedin depth to the whole thickness of the spikethat the fibers which are spread thereby are notdistorted beyond their elastic limit but are rather distorted or curved downwardly just enough to develop their maximum or greatest holding power.

It is obvious that as the two longitudinal grooves perform their functions independently of each other, either one of them may be omitted without departing from the spirit of my invention. 'lVhen I do omit one of the grooves, I prefer to omit the one from the forward face of the spike (see Fig. 7) as the tendency of the forces acting upon the spike both when it is being driven and afterward, is to force the spike backward into the tie. hen this occurs the groove and ridges on the forward or rail face of the spike are forced out .of contact with the severed ends of the fibers and are of no practical advantage and may be dispensed with. As the longitudinal grooves do not reduce the effective depth or thickness of the spike in the direction in which the forces acting thereon tend to bend it, that is from front to rear, its strength to resist such bending is not reduced appreciably while at the same time it is made somewhat lighter in weight. I

Havlng thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A railroad spike comprising a body portion of substantially rectangular crosssection, a head on one end adapted to engage a rail flange and a chisel edge on the opposite end adapted to sever and bend the fibers of the tie when the spike is driven, the front and rear faces of said body port-ion each being provided with a longitudinal groove extending from the point of the spike and ending adjacentto the head thereof, the bottom walls of said grooves being substantially parallel, said grooves being tapered longitudinally and wider at their upper than at their lower ends and outwardly and downwardly inclined transverse abutment shoulders on the bottom and side walls of said grooves.

2. A railroad spike comprising a body portion substantially rectangular in cross section, a head on one end adapted to engage a rail flange, and a chisel edge on the opposite end adapted to sever and curve downwardly the .fibers of the tie when the spike is driven, the forward and rear faces of said body portion each being provided with a shallow longitudinal groove open at its lower end extending substantially the length of the spike and tapered laterally from end to end being wider at its upper than at its lower end, the bottom walls of said grooves being substantially parallel, concave transverse grooves forming shoulders on the bot tom and side walls of said grooves and transverse shoulders on the side faces of said body portion.

3. As an article of manufacture, a track spike having a flat bottomed longitudinal depression open at its lower end in one of its sides, said depression being narrower at its lower than at its upper end and a plurality of comparatively small concave transverse grooves in the bottom of said depression forming a plurality of outwardly and downwardly inclined fiber abutment surfaces within said depression, below the face of the spike.

4. As an article of manufacture, a track spike having longitudinal depressions in opposite faces, said depressions being relatively shallow and substantially uniform in depth throughout their extent and narrower at their lower than at their upper ends, and provided with a plurality of comparatively small concave transverse grooves on their bottom walls which present a plurality of out-wardly and downwardly extending fiber abutment surfaces.

5. As an article of manufacture, a track spike having longitudinal depressions open at their lower ends in opposite faces, said depressions being substantially uniform in depth throughout their extent and narrower at their lower than at their upper ends and having the surfaces of said depressions divided into a plurality of comparatively small transverse fiber abutment surfaces disposed angularly with respect to the axis of the spike and inclined outwardly toward the point of the spike.

6. As an article of manufacture, a track spike having longitudinal depressions in opposite faces, said depressions being substantially uniform in depth throughout their extent and wider at their upper than at their lower ends, the bottom and side walls of said depressions having a plurality of comparatively small substantially parallel surfaces inclined downwardly and outwardly; said surfaces being vertically concaved, substantially as described.

7. A railroad spike having a substantially rectangular shank, the front and rear faces of which are each provided with a longitudinal groove substantially trapezoidal in cross section, uniform depth, laterally tapered from end to end and wider at their upper than at their lower ends, the bottom walls of said grooves each being provided with transverse concave grooves closely arranged and forming transverse concave outwardly and downwardly inclined fiber-abutment shoulders, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this 3d day of June, 1910, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JULIUS KRUTTSCHNITT.

Witnesses:

JOHN D. ISAACS, R. B. BARTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.