US2056632A

US2056632A - Tie plate

Info

Publication number: US2056632A
Application number: US558296A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frank J Werner; Gilbert H Werner
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1931-08-20
Filing date: 1931-08-20
Publication date: 1936-10-06
Anticipated expiration: 1953-10-06

Description

1936, F. J. WERNER ET AL 2,056,632

TIE PLATE ,Filed Aug. 20, 1931 2 Sheets$h aet 1 Fifl Z 5 Win12 23 so O 20 I 28 35 2 l ia, w 22 24 4 1m /fi 7i .5 JM Inventors I W 9% M By 254M422? A itorney Gd, 6, 1936. J, WERNER E AL 2,056,632

TIE PLATE Filed Aug. 20, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FEW-2.2

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Patented Oct. 6, 1936 PATENT OFFICE TIE PLATE Frank J. Werner and Gilbert H. Werner, Portage Township, Hobart, Porter County, Ind.

Application August 20, 1931, Serial No. 558,296

7 Claims. (Cl. 238-304) Our invention relates to improvements in tie plates for railways and it more especially consists of the features pointed out in the annexed claims.

The purpose of our invention is to provide a type of tie'plate that is formed from a single sheet of steel by a punching operation retaining its full effective cross section; that is not weakened through the displacement of metal by the punching operation; that is adaptable to the variations in width of base of all standard railroad. rails; that effectually looks the rail to the plate; that when once it is adjusted to a given rail width and the bolts are drawn tight onto the pair of cantilever clips the entire assembly cannot be loosened through the vibrations of the heaviest and most continuous train traffic; that within the usual mill tolerance securely and definitely supports the base of the rail, at its edges, and at the same time on the top of the rail base flanges; that secures the plate to the ties by means of screw spikes which cannot be lifted by alternate depressions of the rail as the wheels of trains pass over it; that by reason of the high carbon steel which we are able to, use there is practically no wear on the tie plate beneath the rail; and that by usinga punch press product, we avoid the risk of breakage present in cast iron and we also avoid expensive machining operations that have been employed heretofore.

With these and other ends in View we illustrate on the accompanying drawings such instances of adaptation as will show the broad underlying features of the invention without limiting ourselves "to the specific details shown thereon and described herein.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a tie plate with the fastening elements removed;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation in section of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of an assembled tie plate.

Fig. 4 is an elevation in section of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detached elevation in section on line 5 -5 of Fig. 1.

' Fig. 6- is a right end elevation of Fig. 2. I

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of a modified boss.

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of a square clamping clip.

Fig. 9 is a top plan view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the clamping clip adjusted to a narrow rail base.

Fig. 10'isa bottom plan of a hexagonal clamping clip.

Fig. 11 is a'bottom plan of a rectangular clamping clip.

Fig. 12 is a bottomplan of an octagonal clamping clip.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged side elevation of Fig. 10.

Fig. l l is a detached top plan view partly in sec- "tion of the fastening bolt being assembled,

Fig. 15 is a top plan view similarto Fig. 14 showing the head of the fastening bolt assembled in its recess on the undersideof the tie plate beneath the clip boss.

Figure 16 is a top plan view of a modified form of a portion of the tie plate.

In manufacturing and marketing our tie plate we may employ whatever alternatives and equivalents of structure that the exigencies of varying conditions may demand without departing from the broad spirit of the invention.

Tie plates of one form or another have been in use for many years. In their simplest form they simply comprised a flat plate provided with a pair of holes along each edge of the rail base through which spikes were driven into the wooden tie beneath. Such plates only provided an increased bearing surface over that of the rail base but they do not in any way serve to positively hold the rail onto the plate. Many variants of such plates have been proposed but these have involved too much cost and difficulty in manufacture. These difierent designs have comprised rail anchors, rail creepers, anchor plates, etc.

Tie plates have also been made with cross-wise ribs on the bottom so as to be imbedded in the top surface of the wooden ties. This form of plate is ineffective and expensive because special rolls must be made to roll them. Every change in shape and number of ribs requires a different set-up of rolls. Other attempts have been made to form tie plates with channels on the top surface to fit the base of the rail close enough to eliminate any sidewise movement. The efforts in this direction have been directed to the use of castings with lugs on each side of the channel, or heavy ribs have been rolled on the top side of the plate to form a channel in which the base of the rail is seated.

None of these attempts to find a solution of the problem have proven very satisfactory because there is no exact uniformity in the widths of rail bases, even though they are rolled to the same weight per yard. The reason this variation oc ours is due to the fact that in the manufacture of rails there is usually allowed a tolerance of inch at each edge of the rail base which makes a total variation of inch. Under these conditions a new rail, under the most ideal conditions of carefully formed channels and ribs, will be inch loose. Eighty pound rails A. S. C. E. standard vary in base width from 4-1-5 inch to 5 inch. To meet these conditions as many different forms of tie plates must be provided as there are different widths of rail bases corresponding to different sizes of railsa costly procedure.

Even the simple form of tie plate formed with a single ledge on its top face with holes punched in such relation to the ledge as to force the widest rail base against it when a spike is driven into the tie through the hole is impracticable. If used with a narrower rail the spike will be loose on the same tie plate.

A most vital objection exists in respect of ordinary tie. plates having holes for driven spikes because such plates are only about 75% effioient. In other words to of the cross section is punched out in forming the holes. that such plates must be made thicker all over to compensate for the material removed by the punchings. I

It is well known among manufacturers-of tie plates that the expedients above referred to leave the problem largely unsolved. This condition is emphasized when it is recalled that at the present time American railways are using over 2000 different kinds of tie plates and in the period 1910 to 1930 more than 2000 other styles were actually tried and discarded because of inherent defects of one kind or another.

We have solved the problem by producing a tie plate and associated fastenings which is universally adaptable to variations in rail base width and which in' addition will securely clamp the rail against vertical and sidewise movement eilec tively without having any lateral shift due to the manufacturers tolerance of an A; inch. This effectiveness insures mechanical efficiency and economy which has been unattainable hitherto.

In manufacturing and marketing tie plates we may use whatever alternatives or equivalents of structure that the varying conditions of actual use may demand without departing from the broad spirit of the invention.

It will also be understood that our tie plate can i be used on steel ties by means of bolts or rivets in place of screw spikes. It can also be used on concrete ties by suitable fastenings in place of screw spikes.

As instanced in the drawings a tie plate I is shown with a canted upper face 2. This form is not however necessary in practicing our invention because there are many railways that only use uncanted plates. The plates I have holes 3 for the reception of screw spikes 34 which enter ties l3. The holes 3 are formed by punching so that the cubical amount of metal in the hole diameter is not all removed from the plate but a large part is shifted to a position around the hole to increase the thickness of the plate, on the under side. This forms a shallow boss 4 which imbeds itself into the tie and then cooperates with the screw spikes in holding the plate from side slipping on the tie.

Each plate has two openings 5 punched through it. These openings lead into hexagonal recesses 6 formed beneath upwardly projecting bosses. The exterior faces 8 of these bosses may be varied as desired so as to accommodate different shaped recesses 20 formed on the under side of the clamping clips 26, 21, 28 and 29. The bosses may be shaped square as at IT; hexagonal as at [8 and half-circle at 19 and the recesses 20 will be correspondingly shaped. Other shapes may be used as desired, but the abutment I of each boss is primarily formed on the upper face of the plate by forcing the metal upward in shaping the recess for the bolt head so as to not structurally weaken the plate.

The rail base 15 is positioned singly between a pair of straight abutments 23 without any lost motion whatever and the clips are held in nonslipping engagement with the rail flanges [5 by means of sharp V shaped teeth 24 formed on the under side of the clip flange at the termination of each abutment 23. These teeth engage the rail most eifectively so that rail creep is avoided. The long straight faces or abutments 23 are in contact with the rail through their length. This straight face and the teeth insures a positive and definite hold on the rail which cannot be secured by any form of curved surface which This means at best can only form a narrow line-contact.

The straight abutments 23 are formed on multiple faces of the different styles of clips but they are always in pairs and in parallel alignment with each other regardless of the number of faces on the clips, such as two in clip 26, four in clip 21, six in clip 28 and eight in clip 29. The abutments -23 are at different distances from the center of the clip bolt holes 25 forming the widest under-flange faces 2| and the narrowest ones 22. Between these two extremes others of graded dimensions are formed when clips of more than two clamping faces are used. 7

The clips whether of one or the other forms instanced in the drawings are all similarly held in engagement with the rail flanges by means of clamping bolts 30 which have hexagonal heads 3| whose faces are flattened at 32. The purpose of this flattening is to permit the assembling of the bolts and clips without loosening the tie plate I from the tie 13. A bolt is first dropped through the opening 5 with the head 3| extending downward into the recess I2 formed in the tie 13. It is then moved sidewise through the slot 9 formed in theboss when it is turned on its axis as shown in Fig. 15 and is drawn into the hexagonal recess 6 as the nut 33 above a split washer is threaded toward a clip positioned in place on the rail flange. The hexagonal recess 6 and the head 3| coact to prevent the bolt 30 twisting as the nut 33 is tightened.v

Without a raised support having an abutting ledge for the clip on the side opposite that in engagement with the rail flange the clip could not be held immovably against the rail, the sidewise engagement could not be made permanent.

ciple of the cantilever. This is accomplished by stamping a raised support 10 adjacent each opening 5 and forming a ledge II on which the flange 35 of the clip is seated. The ledge I I is about on the same plane as the top edge of the rail flange and it is the cooperation of the straight vertical wall of the ledge II with the clip flange 35 and the simultaneous cooperation of the abutment 23 against the edge of the rail base that produces our new result, a result-notattained heretofore. a y

We are aware that clips of one form or another have been-proposed to hold railway rails onto tie plates prior to our invention, but no fastening and clamping means of the'cantilever type have been used in which, the clamping clips are supported at two edges on 'opposit'e'sides of. the fastening bolt. By forming the clamping clips with a central bolt hole 25 and positioning the abutting edges or shoulders 23 different distances from the center, we are able to adapt the clips to all practical variations of rail width bases. The adjustment can be made by very small amounts, as small as 3 2' inch or less if the'hexagon or octagonal clips are shaped accordingly. Whatever the adjustment that may be required to align a rail or to bring a'pair of rails into gauge it can be done expeditiously.

Yet other attempts have been made to simply effectively and economically produce serviceable tie plates with little success. The best We overcome these difiiculties by employing the prinof these efforts require the use of expensive production machinery and costly material with no adequate sidewise support of the rails. Several devices depend entirely on the bolts alone to receive the side strains of heavy trafilc.

What we claim is:

1. A tie plate comprising oppositely positioned raised abutments, sloping ledges on the abutments, said plate having openings formed adjacent the abutments and recesses on the under side of the plate leading into said openings, a raised multifaced boss formed above each recess through the raising of the upper surface of the plate by the metal displaced in forming the recesses, said bosses having slots leading into the openings, fastening bolts projecting through and above the slots, said bolts having heads at their lower ends retainedagainst turning in the recesses, and multifaced clamping means assembled on the bolts, said means engaging the bosses, abutments and the base flanges of a railway rail to positively maintain said rail in different lateral positions on said plate depending upon the angular position of said clamping means on said bosses.

2. A self-contained rail support constituting a tie plate, comprising a relatively fiat plate having recesses on its under side and openings therethrough communicating with the recesses, a rail positioned on the plate between the openings, a pair of bosses on the upper face of the plate adjacent each opening one of said bosses having a multifaced exterior and a slot extending into the opening, upwardly facing and downward sloping beveled ledges on the bosses positioned on the outer side of the openings, clamping means comprising multifaced clips having underneath recesses conforming to the multifaced bosses and also having beveled under faced rims adapted to simultaneously engage the multifaced bosses and the beveled ledges of the bosses and the flange of the rail base, said clips being adapted to be positioned in different angular positions on the bosses to laterally position the rail, and means for holding the tie plate the clips and the rail in assembled relation.

3. A rail support comprising a plate adapted to rest on a tie having openings therethrough to receive spikes for securing it on the tie, said plate having openings through it in spaced apart relation to receive a rail on the plate between such openings, a rail, a recess on the underside of the plate leading to each adjacent opening, an upstanding boss on the upper surface of the plate above each recess said bosses having axial slots connected with the openings and the recesses, raised abutments positioned between the openings and the adjacent edges of the plate, inclined ledges on the abutments facing the bosses, multifaced clips having underneath recesses that conform to the perimeter of the bosses, beveled rim projections of the clips adapted to simultaneously engage the incline-d ledges of the abutments and the base flanges of the rail, said clips being adapted to be located in different angular positions on the bosses to laterally position the rail, and means for holding the clips against displacement to securely retain the rail on the tie plate.

4. A tie plate supported on a tie, comprising a pair of recesses and adjacent openings formed on the under side of the plate adapted to receive the heads of upstanding bolts, multifaced bosses formed above the recesses, said bosses having axial slots leading into the recesses and adjacent openings, a rail positioned in spaced apart relation between the multifaced bosses, abutments formed on the plate adjacent the bosses, beveled ledges on the abutments, the bosses and abutments being separated by openings formed in the plate, recessed clamping means assembled on the multifaced bosses and on the bolts said means engaging the abutments and the rail base at the same time said means being adapted to prevent vertical and sidewise movement of the rail, said clamping means being adapted to be positioned in different angular positions on the bosses to laterally position the rail whereby the fastening bolts for the clamping means are adapted to be attached to or removed therefrom without loosening the plate from the tie.

5. A combined tie plate and rail abutment including a relatively fiat plate, angularly shaped bosses pressed up from the under side of the plate, said bosses being positioned on opposite sides of the rail, holding clips having angularly shaped recesses on their under side adapted to engage the similarly shaped bosses to thereby prevent the clips having rotation on the bosses without an entire removal therefrom, said clips being adapted to be positioned in different angular positions on the bosses to laterally position the rail, retaining rims on the clips, toothed projections on the under side of the clip rim to closely grip the rail flanges, and means for holding the clips in engagement with the rail.

6. A perforate rail holding clip, a multi-faced rim edge on the clip, a similarly faced recess on the under side of the clip the faces of the recess being at the same radial dimension from the center of the hole, faces of the clip edge formed at different distances from the center of the hole, a tie plate, angularly shaped bosses on the plate, raised abutments adjacent the bosses, and overhanging beveled rims above each faced edge of the clips, whereby a pair of clips when assembled on the angularly shaped bosses similar to the recesses on the under side of the clips will hold a rail between a pair of such bosses as a portion of the beveled overhanging rims rest on the base flanges of the rail and another portion of the beveled rims rest on adjacent upwardly faced beveled abutments thus the parts are held assembled against any possible change of the clips on the bosses by the vibrations of passing trains through the cooperation of bolts which hold the clips on the plate against the rail base and the abutments said clips serving as clamping means adapted to be positioned in different angular positions on the bosses to laterally position the rail.

7. An article of manufacture which comprises a rail support formed from a flat plate of approximately uniform thickness in which angularly shaped bosses and separate abutments are pressed up from the bottom, said plates having an opening formed between each boss and an abutment and a slot of less width than the opening extending from the opening into and throughout the length of the boss, the pressed-up metal forming the bosses producing a recess thereunder and an indentation beneath the abutments whereby the structural strength of the plate will be maintained substantially constant.

FRANK J. WERNER. GILBERT H. WERNER.