US2371413A - Two-piece rail anchor - Google Patents

Description

J. W. SKEEL TWO-PIECE RAIL ANCHOR March 13, 1945.

Filed Aug. 6, 1943 INVENTOR I John W Skeel m ms ATTORNEY v Patented Mar. 13, 1945 I I v 2,311,413:

UNIT so STATE-S FATE-N r oFF-loE TWOr-PIEQE ANGHQR. John William S'keel, North Girard, Pa, assignor to The American Fork & Hoe Company, Cl'eve'- land, Ohio, a corporation" of Ohio Application August 6, 1943,, Serial No. 497,101.

2 Claims.

My invention relates to railanchors and relates more particularly to soecalled two-piece rail anchors of the type having a rail base clamp and a. spring projected therethrough. and. extending beneath the r il. base to en a e: the pp site-v rail base. edge to.- lock the anchor. on. the rail.

An. object. of. my invention is, to provide an im proved rail anchor oi the two-piece; type. which will. be simple in. pplication, inexpensive to manuiacture and durable an emcien in Another object of. my invent on is to. bromide an improved r il; anch-orof the. two-piece type in which, the; spring may bedriyen into the clamp and lockedon. the rail base. by a direct: blow f the-.snike-malll.-.

Another object of. my intention, is to; provide an improved, rail anchor; oft-h o-piece type winch will resist distortion inuse.

Other o jec of my invention. and: the. invene tion itself. will become increasin ly anpar ntirom a consi eration of the. fol-lowing: description and accompanying drawing, which:

Fig. 1 is. a side elevationalview showing theimproved; rail anchor-of my invention applied to. the rail: and abutting across tie;

Fig. 2.. is a. vertical, sectional view taken on the line; 2P2, of: Fig. 1;

Fig. 3.- iS, a. vertical sectional viewtaken on the line t Fig. 21;.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the anchor clamp; nd;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the rail anchor spring member.

My invention may be considered as an im provement in certain respects over the two-piece anchors disclosed in patents to A. E. Fifield, Nos. 2,036,031 and 2,031,621, dated March 31, 1936, and May 25,1937, respectively.

Referring now to the drawing, in which like parts are designated by like reference characters,

' at II) I show a rail of conventional type having its rail flange H engaged by the rail anchor I2 of my invention. This rail anchor, as shown, consists of a substantially W-shaped clamp element I3 adapted to have a clip I projected through a perforation designated at l5 in Fig. 3 provided between the clamp l3 and the underside of the rail base lfi'when the clamp is secured to the rail flange H and the clip projected through the clamp and under the rail base.

As illustrated herein, the clamp I3 is a gem erally W-shaped member having a pair of vertically extending generally parallel limbs l 1-l l slightly bowed outwardly at I 8 at their lower ends and joined together at said ends by a. web I9 inc tegrally formed therewith.

The. clam-n web-or seat l 9.,, as"b.est shown in-Eigs. 2. and. 3... comprises a horizontally extendingmom.- ber 2!! generally parallel. to thebase LB; or the rah, and a hump 2t, 'iormedby bodily off-setting upwardly the center material. oithe forward end at the. seat. H1. The limbs, ll-all of. the. clamp are. further provided with. a pair of aligned notches 22-42., said. notchesbeing formed in the upper generally parallel disposed. portionsv of the said, limbs. and conforming generallyto the outer portion of the rail base. flange, ill, the notches initiating at the outer edge 23. oi the pper p rtion. oi the limbs 1 slanting downg Wardly at 24. tow rdthe center part. of said limbs where the notches are. isposed for a, short. dis.- tance generally parallel'to, the. outer edge of. the clamp as at 25 and, are next disposed. at right angles to the said edge 23, the bottom 24', of said notches disposed parallel to the member 2.0 of, the clamp web I9.

As illustrated, the clamp is disposed vertically of'the rail base and the outeredges oi the clamp are parallel to the center line of the web of the rail, the bottom of the clamp, being parallel to the bottom of the base of'the rail, 7

The clip or spring member 14 projected through theperforation [-5 provided bythe engagement; of the clamp with the rail, as] best shown in Figs.

2 and 5, comprises a loop portion 30, an ofiset hook portion 3lat the opposite end of the clip and an intermediate arched member 32 joining the hook and loop portions. The clip I4 is preferably of a width slightly less than the width of the perforation l5 and the thickness of the clip at its point of engagement with the hump 2| is sufficient to compressively engage the hump, thereby maintaining the arched portion 32 of the clip under tension.

In applying the rail anchor, the notches 22-22 of the clamp engage the outer portion of the rail base flange, with one limb of the clamp abutting a tie, as shown in Fig. 1, the hook portion 3| and the arched portion .32 of the clip being projected through the perforation l5 and upon striking the loop portion 30 a direct blow with a spike maul, the loop is wedged over the hump 2| and the hook 3| sprung over the opposite edge of the rail base flange, locking the anchor-in, position.

It will be noted that, with the improved rail anchor of my invention, the base at the bottom of the clamp is in a horizontal rather than in an angular position, as in prior art patents to which I have previously referred.

It will further be noted that the loop portion of the clip or spring member has an upper surface of the loop, as shown at or, provided with a flat portion which is adapted to be disposed horizontally with respect to the bottom of the rail base which it engages, and that the lower portion of the loop is also provided with a flat portion, as shown at 3!, which engages the flattened upper surfaces of the hump 2| whereby, upon load being applied to the rail as the rail tends to move downwardly relative to the clamp shoe 13, the loop portion abutting the hump 2! tends to increase the canting action of the clamp I3 on the rail base flange ensuring positive clamping action irrespective of load commissions.

An advantage accruing from the improved positioning of the clamp and clip member of my present invention further resides in the fact that the said anchor will give more improved action in frozen ballast than in anchors of. the prior art. In connection with prior art devices, it has been found that, where the ballast is not particularly clean and there is insuflicient drainage, the same freezes into a solid form and normally, upon the application of loads to the rail, the angularly disposed clamp has a tendency to distort and be forced outwardly.

Although I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I am aware that numerous and extensive departures may be made therefrom without however departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A two-piece rail anchor comprising a spring member having an intermediate arched portion adapted to underlie the base of a rail, an upwardly disposed hook end portion engageable with a rail flange edge and a downwardly disposed loop portion at its opposite end, a generally channel shaped clamp member of substantially W-shaped form, said clamp comprising a pair of vertically extending spaced limbs, said limbs having a portion of each disposed generally parallel to each other and each comprising a lower portion, said lower portions being generally bowed with respect to each other, a web portion connecting said upwardly extending limbs, said web comprising a horizontally extending member and a hump portion, said hump being disposed in the forward portion of the web and offset with respect to the horizontally extending portion thereof, a notch disposed in each of the limbs, said notches conforming in shape to the conformation of the outer portion of the rail flange, the clamp in operation being disposed vertically of the rail base, the outer edges of the clamp being parallel to the center line of the web of the rail, the horizontally extending portion of the web of the clamp being parallel to the bottom of the base of the rail, the spring member being projected through the space provided between the limb portions of the clamp below the notch portions of the limbs and above the web of the clamp, the hook portion being projected through said clamp initially, the intermediate portion of the spring member underlying the base of the rail, the loop being in wedged contact with the oifset hump of the clamp and one rail flange being wedged within the aligned notches disposed in the limb members and the opposite rail flange edge being engaged by the hooked end portion of the clamp whereby the anchor is locked in position with the rail.

2. A two-piece rail anchor comprising a spring member having a hook end portion, a loop portion and a connecting portion disposed between said hooked end and loop portions, and a clamp member of generally channel shaped form, said clamp member comprising a pair of upwardly extending limbs, said limbs having aligned notches disposed in the forward faces of the same and a web portion having an intermediate up standing hump portion, said hump portion initiating in the central portion of the web portion and being progressively more offset with respect to the remainder of the web portion as said hump approaches the forward end of the clamp, the spring member being inserted through the clamp member between the limbs thereof, its hooked end portion being lockingly engaged with a rail flange, the connecting portion underlying the rail :base and the loop portion wedgingly engaged with said offset hump portion, the said clamp being locked in engagement with a rail flange disposed on the opposite side of the said rail from said first named flange, said notches receiving the said second flange, said clamp being disposed vertically of the rail base, the outer faces of-the clamp being parallel to the center line of the web of the rail.

JOHN WILLIAM SKEEL.

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