US1935562A - Anticreeper - Google Patents

Description

Patented Nov. 14, 1933 UNITEDQSTATES PATENT OFFICE- ANTICREEBER' 7 I r 7 George Hunt, Baltimore, Md., Application February 1, 1932. Serial No. 590,224

10 Claims. (01. 238-330) 'This invention relates to improvements in anti-creepers for preventing longitudinalv movement of a railroad rail upon the ties.

One of the features of the present invention is an anti-creeper which may be made of sheet metal from askelp, without loss of material.

Another feature of the present invention is an anti-creeper which has a biting engagement with the base of the rail, preferably at points removed from the edge thereof, and is elastically Supported in engagement with the rail by portions which engage with the topof the rail base. v I

Ajfurther feature of the present invention is the provision of an anti-creeper. having points of engagement with the rail which are spaced from one another in the longitudinal directioni of the rail, and which operate during transportmovements of they railand creeper to -cause a return of the rail to its former position, and in some instances to a position beyond its former position.

A particularfeature of the present invention is the provision of a cheaply and simply constructed anti-creeper which may be quickly "and easily applied to a rail, and removed therefrom With these and other --objects in view as will appear in the course of the following specificae tion and claims, an illustrative form of construction of the anti-creeper is shown in the accom panying drawing, inwhich:. v l 4 Figure 1 is a plan view of the manner of cutting blanks for the anti-creeper from askelp offuniform width. W, V

Figure 2 is a similar view, on'a. larger scale, of one blank, with the engaging tongues punched therefrom. 7

Figure 3 is a vertical section through-a rail, .with the anti-creeper applied thereto Figure 4 is a side view of a the same, showing the engagement/with a tie.

Figure 5 is a viewsimilarto Figure 3, but on a smaller scale, showing a manner of placing the anti-creeper in position on a rail. i

Inthe drawing, Figure 1 shows that ,a skelp of uniform width and of the desired thickness may be cut into a plurality of alternately are ranged and overlapping T-shaped blanks. withoutloss. :1

In Figure 2 the blank is shownto have atop member 10 of the T:.=witha bottom member 11. On the top member have been formed byrpunching from the body of the material the three upstanding biting tongues 12, 13, 14, which have the cross sectional shape indicated in Figure 4;.so that their upper edges are relativelysharp. and tend to-engage in'thebody of and against any roughbody 10.

nesses of the rail base, and project upwardly against the bottom of the rail base when in operative position.

The blank shown in Figure 2 is then formed by bending the left hand end upwardly and inwardly, (Fig.- 5) so that its finger 15 can overlie the uppersurface of therail base adjacent the edge thereof, while the other end 16 is bentupwardly and then provided with a new knuckle providing a bearing surface 20 above which, is an inclined camming surface 21. The downwardly extending member 11 of the blank (Fig. 2) is bent downwardly through an angle of substantially (Fig. 4)', r I

The material of the skelp is preferably a carbon steel so thatthe anti-creeper may be hardened, if desired, to provide a, proper temper to thebitingtongues and togive a properelastic yield and resiliency to the main portion of the The structure is assembled upon a rail by engaging the end; finger 15 over one side of the rail, and then rocking the device, against its resiliency,

untilthe-surface 20 snapsinto position on top of the rail base at its other edge. In Figure 5 is shown a tool foremployment for this purpose, al-

though it will be understood that the use of such a toolis not. essential. This tool has a hook 30 for engaging over the rail head, and provided with an arm 31 having apivotal connection 32 to a lever 33 havinga handle 34 at its outer end and a press member 35 at its inner end. The arm 31 has'a stop or abutment 36 for engagement with the rail base. By slipping the anti-creeper over one edge of the rail base and engaging the lever therewith, as shown in' Figure 5, the downward movement of the handle 34 causes the upward movement of the right hand end of the anti-creeper, where with the surface 21operates in conjunction with the edge of the rail base to cause a relative outward swinging'movement of the end 16 until the shoulder surface 20 engages in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3, in which for comparison the dotted lines are intended to show the position of the parts when not thus elastically engaged.

lationship of the parts is clearly shown in the side elevational view of Figure 4.

In placing the device on a rail, it is located in the usual manner adjacent a tie, and after being placed may be driven along the rail base until its bottom member 11 bears against a tie (Fig. 4). During such movement longitudinally along the rail, the biting tongues slip freely. In a position of the part shown in Figure 4 it is assumed that the traffic is moving from right to left, or that the right hand end is uphill.

As the rail tends to move from right to left under such conditions, it carries by engagement therewith the biting tongues, while the device engages with the tie; This engagement with the tie causes an elastic compression between the bot tom member 11 and the body 10, so that the bottom member 11 moves toward a right angle position, possibly accompanied by a rocking of the device about one edge of the finger 15 and the shoulder 20, with a fulcrum about the biting fin gers 12, 14, for example. Hence, the spring strain in the anti-creeper increases, and by the increasing angle of presentation, these biting fingers tend to resist the rail movement, and upon the cessation of such movement, the anti-creeper operates to return the rail to its former position, during which return movement the biting tongue 13 comes into operation at a point which will usually be, in the construction shown, relatively toward the left from the position which it left when the device began to rock. The device continues its expansion under the resilient effort stored up between the bottom member 11 and the body member 10, and hence the anti-creeper operates to move the rail against the direction of traffic, or to build up a greater and greater resilient resistance to the movement of the rail in the direction of trafiic.

Since the tongues have a resilient effect with respect to the body 10, their biting edges may move upward and downward and thus yield, along with the resilient effects referred to above, whereby to accommodate the device to rails which are oversize or undersize, so that the device is always in engagement with the rail when normally applied thereto. During the rocking movement, further, while the rail is pushing toward the tie and the structure is rocking in a counter-clockwise direction in Figure 4, which is also opposed in part by a resilient torsional movement of the body, the tongues 12, 14 are pressed resiliently downward toward the body member 10, and therewith the body member 10 is moved further toward the left in Figure 4, since the tongues 12,14 make a movement relatively to the right with re-' spect to the body portion 10 during this resilient bending thereof. At the same time, the tongue 13 is relieved of some of itspressure and may assume a greater angle with respect to the body 10, and as it swings upward and toward the left with respect to'the body portion 10, it tends to move along the base of the rail, so that an actual ratcheting effect may occur to restore the rail to its former position and to assure a tight engagement of the device with the tie at all times.

From Figures 3 and 4 it will be noted that the operation of placing the device upon the rail causes a resilient downward movement of the body 10 from the position shown by dotted lines into that shown with some exaggeration by the full lines. This yield is, however, substantially confined on the edge adjacent the tie by reason of the reinforcing effect of the depending bottom member 11, so that substantially equal strains are offered at the positions of the three tongues 12, 13, 14. In particular the center tongue 13 is preferably located closely adjacent the bottom member 11 for this purpose.

It will be understood that many changes may be made in the construction of the device, and in its employment, without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: Y

1. An anti-creeper comprising a body portion adapted to extend transversely beneath the rail in spaced relationship therewith, an upstanding and rebent portion joined at one end of said body portion to engage over the rail base at one side of the rail, a second upstanding portion at the other end of said body terminating in an upwardly and outwardly inclined cam surface and a shoulder at the lower end of said surface for engaging over the rail base at the other side of the'rail, a depending tie engaging portionv joined to said body between its ends, and a plurality of laterally spaced tongues extending upward from said body and directed away from said depending portion for engaging the bottom of the rail at points spaced longitudinally of the rail from said depending portion and from one another. 2. An anti-creeper comprising a body portion adapted to extend transversely beneath the rail in spaced relationship therewith, an upstanding and rebent portion joined at one end of said body portion to engage over the rail base at one side of therail, a second upstanding portion at the other end of said body terminating in an upwardly and outwardly inclined cam surface and a shoulder at the lower end of said surface for engaging over the rail base at the other side of the rail, a depending tie engaging portion joined to said body between its ends, anda plurality of longitudinally'spaced tongues extending upward from said body and directed away from said depending portion for engaging the bottom of the rail, all of said tongues being spaced longitudinally of the rail from said tie engaging por-' tion;

3. An anti-creeper comprising a body portion adapted to extend transversely beneath the rail in spaced relationship therewith, an upstanding and rebent portion joined at one end of said body portion to engage over the rail base at one side of the rail, a second upstanding portion at the other end of said body terminating in an upwardly and outwardly inclined cam surface and a shoulder at the'lower end of said surface for engaging over the rail base at the other side of the rail, a depending tie engaging portion joined to said body between its ends, a first tongue extending upwardly from said body, and a second tongue extending upwardly from said body and spaced laterally and longitudinally from said first tongue, said tongues being directed away from-said depending portion for engaging the bottom of the rail.

4. An anti-creeper comprising a body portion adapted to extend transversely beneath the rail in spaced relationship therewith, an upstanding and rebent portion joined at one endof said body portion to engage over the" rail base at one side of the rail, a second upstanding portion at the other end of said body terminating in an upwardly and outwardly inclined cam surface and a shoulder at the lower end of said surface for engaging over the rail base at the other side of the rail, a depending tie engaging portion joined to said body between its' ends, a first tongue extending upwardly from said body adjacent said depending portion for engaging the bottom of the rail at a point spaced longitudinally of the rail from said depending portion, and a second tongue spaced laterally from said first tongueand at a greater distance from said depending portion than said first tongue and extending upwardly from said body, said tongues being directed away from said depending portion for engaging the bottom of the rail. y

5. A semi-formed blank for an integral anticreeper comprising a single piece or" metal of substantially uniform thickness and of T-shape, having three tongues upstanding at an angle therefrom and located in the upper portion of the T and spaced from one another in the direction of said upper portion, one of said tongues being closer to the bottom portion of the T than another of said tongues.

6. An integral anti-creeper comprising two up wardly directed end portions each having inward projections for engaging over a rail base at opposite sides of the rail, a resilient body portion for connecting said end portions to hold them in position upon the rail, tie-engaging means on said body portion, and rail-engaging members extending angularly upward from the body portion and away from said tie-engaging means for contacting the bottom of the rail at points spaced transversely and longitudinally with respect to one another and spaced from the transversely extending edges of said body portion, said body portion being held by said end portions against downward yielding at the sides of the rail and operating by its resiliency to press said mem bers against said rail.

7. An integral anti-creeper comprisingtwo upwardly directed end portions each having inward projections for engaging over a rail base at opposite sides of the rail, a resilient substantially flat and horizontally disposed bar for connecting said end portions to hold them in position upon the rail and yieldable beneath the rail relative to said end portions by movement toward and from the bottom of the rail substantially in a transverse upright plane and including a tieengaging portion, and at least one resilient rail engaging member upstanding angularly from said bar.

8. An anti-creeper as in claim '7, in which the member is intermediate the width of said bar.

9. An anti-creeper comprising a substantially flat and horizontally disposed body for extending transversely beneath a rail, upwardly directed portions from said body each having inward projections for engaging over the rail base at 0pposite sides of the rail and extending between longitudinally spaced upright transverse planes,

a tie-engaging portion located intermediate the width of the rail outside the space between said planes for causing a resilient movement of the body upon movement of the rail toward the tie, and a rail-engaging member directed upwardly away from said tie-engaging portion and located between said planes.

10. An anti-creeper comprising a substantially flat and horizontally disposed body for extending transversely beneath a rail, upwardly directed portions each having inward projections for engaging over the rail base at opposite sides of the rail and extending between longitudinally spaced upright transverse planes, a tie-engaging portion located intermediate the width of the rail, and a plurality of rail-engaging members each directed upwardly away from said tie-engaging GEORGE W. HUNT.

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