US2033660A - Fished rail joint - Google Patents

Description

Mamh M13 1936, ENs 2 @33 FISHED RAIL JOINT Filed May 20, 1952 INYENTOR NOREERT VRYENS ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 10, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE Application May 20,

In Belgium 2 Claims.

The fished rail joint according to the present invention has for its object the taking up of the play which is produced between the fish-plate bearing surfaces near the ends of thejoined rails and the central portions of the fish-plates.

It should be noted at the beginning that in the joints of the prior art the fish-plate bearing surfaces of the rails, which receive practically all of the wear, are of a length of only several centimeters. In effect, during the course of service and due to the repeated shocks of the passage of. loads over the joints of the rails, the ends thereof are subjected to slight repeated bendings, which create an appreciable wear on the fish-plate bearing surfaces adjacent the ends of the rails and at the central portion of the fish-plates, whereas the other portions of the fish-plate bearing surface formed on the rails and other portions of the fish-plates are subjected to very little wear.

To provide for the efficient taking up. of clearance or loosening of the joints produced by the above-described wear, it is important that the clamping system satisfy, among other conditions, the following:

In View of the considerable importance of the wear on the fish-plate bearing surfaces adjacent the ends of the rails compared to that of other parts of said bearing surfaces, it is necessary, in order that the taking up of play between the fish-plate and fish-plate bearing surfaces on the rail be possible, that the central part of the fishplate rest solely on the bearing surface provided on the inclined portions of the head and foot of the rail and that a sufiicient free space be left between the web of the rail and the fish-plate to permit further movement of the central portion of the fish-plate toward the web of the rails.

Another condition to be realized at the same time as the above is: In order that movement of the central portion of the fish-plate toward the rail be possible when the first condition is accomplished, it is essential that parts of the fish-plate other than the central portion, which are also called elastic arms, do not oppose this movement. For this result, it is necessary that parts of the fish-plate other than the central portion be neither in contact with the fish-plate bearing surface, nor with the web of the rail.

The third condition to be complied with, together with the first two, is: In order that the system be relatively efficient, the wear produced on the fish-plates and fish-plate bearing surfaces adjacent the ends of the rails must be taken up automatically in proportion to its formation. In

1932, Serial No. 612,574

June 22, 1931 effect, in the case of the contrary, the slight initial wear produced will cause repeated shocks of the load passing over the joint and will result in a rapid increase of the initial wear. Consequently, for the automatic taking up of the play to be possible, it is necessary when tightening the fish-bolts that an elastic tension be created in the fish-plate, which will tend to constantly move the central portion of the fish-plates toward the web of the joined rails.

The present invention complies with this condition, due to the fact that the fish-bolts are positioned near the middle ofthe portions of the fish-plates which are not in contact with the rails. In this condition, the tightening of the fish-bolts has the effect of giving the elastic arms of the fish-plate a curvature, the convexity of which is directed toward the web of the rail. The elastic tension created in the portion of the fish-plate under the bending effect has a tendency to urge the central portion of the fishplate toward the rails and, consequently, will immediately take up any play between the fishplate and the fish-plate bearing surface on the rails adjacent the ends thereof as it is produced.

The accompanying drawing shows by way of example, without in any way limiting the invention, several different constructions according to the invention. The invention covers the various original features comprised in the arrangements shown.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal view of a fished rail joint according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of Fig. 1 taken through the bolts, the nuts being assumed not tightened.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 in which the fishing nuts are assumed to have been screwed home.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line IV- IV of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line V-V of Figs. 1 and 2 before the bolt passing through the hole 13 is tightened.

Fig. 6 is a View similar. to Fig. 5 showing the bolt tightened.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line VII- VII of Fig. 1.

Figs. 8 and 9 are, respectively, an elevation and a plan of a modified construction of fish-plate according to the invention.

The rails I and 2 are joined by two fishplates 3 and 4 arranged at either side of the rail. These fishplates are constructed so as to support the ends of the rails by their central or active parts 5 resting on bearings or seats on a length corresponding to that where the wear generally takes place. At either side of this active part, are arranged elastic arms 6 and I having their ends 8 and 9 resting on the rail. The fishplate is constructed in such a manner that at rest, that is to say when the arms are not acted upon by the bolts which pass through them, they are held away from the rails (Figs. 2 and 5). When the bolt placed in the hole I3 is screwed home, the elastic arm I will be elastically bent and brought nearer to the rail, without however reaching it (Figs. 3 and 6). The same applies to the arm 6 when the bolt of the hole [2 is tightened.

The movement of the elastic arms 6 and 1 toward the rail is permitted, due to the fact that these elements or intermediate portions do not have any part thereof in contact with the web of the rail nor with the fish-plate bearing sur faces. On the contrary, the central portion 5 and the end portions 8 and 9 cannot, except in the case of Wear, be moved toward the rail, since these parts are in contact with the inclined faces of the head and the foot of the rail which afford bearing surfaces for the fish-plate.

The result of the bending of the elastic arms of the fish-plates is that the central parts 5 are constantly forced to come nearer to the web of the rail and to take up automatically any wear that might have been caused between the fishplates and the fishplate bearings or seats on the rails.

As regards taking up the play, there are two cases to be considered: In the first of these cases the wear is such that it is taken up by the simple straightening of the elastic arms. In the second place, 'the wear is greater at the ends of the heads of the rails than at any other point. In order to take up this wear, the central or active part 5 of the fishplate 3 for instance would have to come nearer to the heads of the rails by rising on the inclined plane of the feet or flanges of the rails 2 and 3, to an extent greater than that of the ends 8 and 9. The arms 6 and I would have therefore to undergo vertical deformation to the extent required for the purpose, and they can undergo such deformation owing to the fact that their strength in this plane is less than that of the central part.

It will be understood that after the fishplates have been used for a certain time, it may be advisable to tighten again the fishbolts and more particularly the bolts of the active or central part. The elastic arms will not offer an excessive resistance to such renewed tightening since they are deformable.

As regards the bolt holes, it must be pointed out that the holes l2--I5 of the fishplates are smaller than the holes l and II whilst in the rails they are all equal to the largest ones. This arrangement has a two-fold purpose: To reduce to the least possible extent the weakening of the arms and of their bearings by the drilling of the holes which they comprise, and further to enable the'bolts |2l5 to move in the rails to the amount required by the working of the elastic arms.

For the purpose of facilitating the vertical movement of the fishplates, the holes l2 to I are elongated as visible in Fig. 7.

The method of manufacturing flshplates complying with the conditions hereinbefore set forth, may vary in several ways:-

(a) They may be manufactured in the ordinary way and thereupon the arms formed by removing by means of a tool the desired quantity of material. The fishplate would then have the appearance shown diagrammatically in Figure 1, that is to say the height of the arms would be smaller than that of their bearings and than-that of the central part (see Figs. 1, 5 and 6).

(b) The fishplate may be stamped out in dies directly to the above shape.

(0) By pressing out: Force away the intermediate parts 6 and I to a sufficient distance from the plane which connects the ends 3, 4 and the central part 1 of the fish-plate, so that when the ends and the central part are in contact with the bearing surfaces of the rails, said intermediate parts are not able to come in contact with the bearing surfaces (see Figs. 8 and 9).

What I claim is:

1. In a rail joint, a fish-plate for joining the ends of two rails together, comprising a central portion adapted to engage only bearing surfaces formed on the inclined portions of the head and the foot of the rails to be joined, said central portion bearing on a length of each of the rails corresponding to that portion usually subjected to wear, the extremities of the fishplate being firmly joined to the rails and the intermediate portions of the fish-plate between the central portion and the extremities thereof being adapted to remain spaced from the fishplate bearing surfaces and the webs of the rails, and fish-bolts positioned near the middle of the intermediate portions of the fish-plate for pressing the central portion of the fish-plate onto the bearing surface provided on the rails, the said intermediate portions having a weak horizontal rigidity in order to permit the easy bending of said portions by the tightening of the said fish-bolts.

2. In a rail joint, a fish-plate for joining the ends of two rails together, comprising a central portion adapted to engage only bearing surfaces formed on the inclined portions of the head and the foot of the rails to be joined, said central portion bearing on a length of each of the rails corresponding to that portion usually subjected to wear, the extremities of the fish plate being firmly joined to the rails and the intermediate portions of the fish-plate between the central portion and the extremities thereof being adapted to remain spaced from the fishplate bearing surfaces and the webs of the rails, and fish-bolts positioned near the middle of the intermediate portions of the fish-plate for pressing the central portion of the fish-plate onto the bearing surface provided on the rails, the said intermediate portions having a rectangular crosssection of small breadth.

NORBERT VRYENS.

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