US2110531A

US2110531A - Railway rail joint

Info

Publication number: US2110531A
Application number: US122293A
Authority: US
Inventors: Petrus P H G Scheffers
Original assignee: JAN A H MESTERS
Current assignee: JAN A H MESTERS
Priority date: 1936-01-22
Filing date: 1937-01-25
Publication date: 1938-03-08
Anticipated expiration: 1955-03-08

Description

March 8, i938. p. P. H. G. SCHEFFERS ZW RAILWAY RAIL JOINT Filed Jan. 25, 1937 FEG 1 3 E m q, 3

Patented Mar. 8, 1938 PATENT FFICE RAILWAY RAIL JOINT Petrus P. H. G. Schefers, The Hague, Netherlands, assignor to Jan A. I-ll. Mesters, The

Hague, Netherlands Application January 25, 1937, Serial No. 1?'293 In the Netherlands, January 22, 1936 2 Claims.

It is well known in the art that the joint between adjacent railway rail sections, which wholly or partly project above the body of ballast, should permit expansion and contraction of the 5 sections so joined. With a view thereto, it is ordinary practice to only moderately tighten the bolts, by which the fish plates are vforced against the rail sections. Moreover, the iish bolts themselves are capable of yielding a little, so that during the passing of a wheel of rolling stock the meeting ends oi' the rail sections will be slightly displaced, in vertical direction, relative to one another. This displacement gradually increases owing to wear and tear and also to corrosion of the lish plates and of the rail sections, so that in the long run the pounding and jolting produced by` the wheels passing over the joint become objectionable.

It has been suggested to provide, on either side of the joined rail sections, a claw embracing the non-supported ends of the bases of the sections, and to force said claws into clamping engagement with said bases by rmly drawing them towards one another by means of screw bolts.

Since these bolts: have to be well tightened, the

total frictional resistance offered against eXpansion and contraction of the rail section is thus unduly increased, unless the fish bolts are loosened, whereby, however, the operation of the fish plates is impaired. Other known means comprising wedges have the same disadvantage.

The object of my present invention is to provide for a reliable rail joint, which permits free expansion and contraction of the rail sections joined by ordinary fish plates, and which nevertheless ensures the meeting ends of the tread portions of said sections to remain substantially flush with one another.

With this and other objects in view, it is suggested to provide, in a rail joint of the aforesaid type, 'for a flat supporting member engaging the bottom faces of the bases of the meeting rail sections, secured to which member are straight guiding elements embracing both bases through asuitable distance in longitudinal direction. Such a supporting member permits free relative sliding movement of the rail sections. When a wheel o-f rolling stock passes over the joint so as to cause the end of the tread portion of the one rail section to descend, the supporting member with its straight guiding elements must follow this movement, and as the descending supporting member necessarily exerts a downwardly directed bending force upon the end of the adjacent rail section, the ends of the meeting tread portions remain substantially flush with one another. Since the supporting member slidingly engages the rail sections, so that during expan` sion and contraction of said sections it does no-t exert any clamping action thereon, the wear and y,5 tear of the contacting faces will not be appreciable. Moreover, the normal joint provided by the fish plates will be less liable to get out of order, since the frictional resistance against expansion and contraction of the rail sections is 10 comparatively small and the wear and tear reduced. Finally, the sh bolts are less liable to elongation.

The supporting member, used in accordance with the invention, may be rigidly secured to the end of one of the rail sections to be joined, for instance, by bolts, or by bolts and clip-plates, or by claws, but preferably by welding, so that said member has a sliding fit only with the end of the other rail section. 20

Similarly, the guiding elements, which have for their duty to embrace the bases of the adjacent rail sections, maybe bolted, but will prei'- erably be welded to said member. Welding these elements in situ offers the advantage that eX- 25 cessive jamming cannot occur and that nevertheless said elements and said bases have relatively large contacting surfaces. Owing thereto, the life of the joint will be extended and chattering is obviated. 30

If the supporting member is rigidly secured to one of the joined rail sections, it is effective in counteracting the tendency of the rails to creep.

In order that my invention may be more readily 35 understood, reference is had to the annexed drawing, which illustrates, by way of example only, some preferred embodiments thereof.

Fig. l is a side elevational view of the first embodiment. 40

Figs. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views along the lines II-II and III-III, respectively, in Fig. 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are similar sections of the second embodiment.

In the drawing, the adjacent rail sections I and 2 are of normal type, as well as the fish plates 3 and the sh bolts 4.

Provided below the adjacent ends of the rail sections l and 2 is the aforesaid flat supporting member 5, welded as at 6 to section l. Said member has a sliding fit with the rail section 2, for which purpose it is provided with guide strips 'l welded thereto as at 8 on either side of the base of said section so as to engage the top face 55 thereof and permitting section 2 to slide longitudinally relative t the supporting member 5.

It will be readily understood that, when a wheel of rolling stock passes over the joint just described, vertical relative displacement of the meeting ends of the tread portions of the rail sections l and 2 is counteracted by the cooperation of the

normal sh plates

3, 3 with the supporting member 5. Owing thereto, the life of the normal rail joint is extended and the maintenance work considerably reduced.

In accordance with Figs. 4 and 5, the supporting member is formed by a flat tubular body 9, Which, for a given weight, has a great moment of resistance against bending stresses.

The supporting member (5, 9) may have any suitable cross section and may, for instance, be provided with two stiifening ribs instead of one, as shown in Figs. 1-3.

In joining rail sections of different heights, the top face of the supporting member may be stepped, as shown by the dash and dot line I4 in Fig. 1, the left hand side portion of which indicates the bottom face of a rail section having a height exceeding that of section I.

What I claim istl. A railway joint structure comprising in combination a pair of meeting rails having like shaped end sections including base and tread portions which are similarly terminated and arranged in an abutting fashion adjacent each other, fishplates interconnecting the ends of said rails and arranged intermediate the base and tread portions, an individual flat stiffening member having the flat surface thereof arranged along the bottom faces of the base portion of both of said rails, the at surface of said stiffening member being wider than the base p0rtion of said rails, individual guide elements having the inner edges thereof engaging the upper faces of the base portion of one of said rails so as to permit relative longitudinal movement only between the guide elements and the rail, said guide elements being arranged in such a position adjacent the base edges of the rail and connected to said stiiiening member by welding, and the other of said rails being connected along the edges of the base portion to said. stifening member by welding whereby the rails may move longitudinally with respect to each other without relative vertical movement.

2. A railway joint structure comprising in combination a pair of meeting rails having like shaped end sections including base and tread portions which are similarly terminated and arranged in an abutting fashion adjacent each other, shplates interconnecting the ends of said rails and arranged intermediate the base and tread portions, means for clamping said fishplates to both of said rails comprising bolts eX- tending through said fishplates and said rails, an individual flat stiffening member having the at surface thereof arranged along the bottom faces of the base portions of both of said rails, individual guide elements having straight inner edges which engage throughout their length the upper faces of the base portion of one of said rails so as to permit relative longitudinal movement only between the guide elements and the rail, said guide elements being arranged in such positions and connected to said stifiening member by welding, and the other of said rails being connected along the edges of the base portion to said stiifening member by welding whereby the rails may move longitudinally with respect to each other without relative vertical movement.

PETRUS P. H. G. SCHEFFERS.