US2835207A

US2835207A - Wheel retainer with screw actuated clamps

Info

Publication number: US2835207A
Application number: US264703A
Authority: US
Inventors: Stanley W Hayes
Original assignee: Hayes Track Appliance Co
Current assignee: Hayes Track Appliance Co
Priority date: 1952-01-03
Filing date: 1952-01-03
Publication date: 1958-05-20
Anticipated expiration: 1975-05-20

Description

May 20, 1958 s. w. HAYES 2,835,207

' WHEEL RETAINER WITH scmzw ACTUATED- CLAMPS Filed Jan. 3, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1 "mam.

lllillmmwzumwmnm S. W. HAYES Filed Jan. 3, 1952 WHEEL RETAINER WITH SCREW ACTUATED CLAMPS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 84 I r 50 J "L 50 Z 24! 544 32/ I 2&-

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WHEEL RETAINER WITH SCREW ACTUATED CLAMPS Stanley W. Hayes, Richmond, Ind., assignor to Hayes Track Appliance Company, Richmond, Ind., a corpo ration of Indiana The present invention relates to improvements in railway wheel retainers which are also known as wheel chocks or rail clamps.

The wheel retainers of this invention represent iniprovements over that disclosed in Stanley W. Hayes Patent No. 2,359,106 issued September 26, 1944.

Frequently it is necessary to block a railway car against movement, such for example when the car is on a grade or is on a siding and might accidentally move or be moved into an open switch or the main line. Such blocking is of a temporary nature, and uninformed or careless workmen many times resort to wedging a chunk of wood between the rail and the car wheel. This is an unsafe and unreliable method of blocking the car against movement because the wood can easily be dislodged, or crushed or splintered by the car wheel should the car be suddenly jarred.

Adisadvantage of the earliergtype of safe wheel retainer is its weight which made its handling by one man sometimes inconvenient. The wheel retainer of this invention is very substantially lighter and thus overcomes that weight disadvantage. simpler in construction and easier to use.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved wheel retainer which is relatively light in weight, simple in construction and readily applied to and removed from a rail.

Another object is to provide an improved wheel'retainer of composite welded construction made primarily from the bar and plate stock.

Another object is to provide an improved wheel retainer which may be rigidly clamped onto rails of varying heights having different sizes of rail heads.

Another object is to provide an improved Wheel retainer having opposed rail head gripping and clamping elements which are brought into and retained in clamping position by a rotatable screw means the axis of which lies in a plane common to the movable carrier for the clamping elements to provide a minimum amount of strain on the parts consistent with the force required to clamp the retainer to the rail.

Another object is to provide an improved wheel retainer having opposed rail head gripping and clamping elements arranged at either side of an upstanding vertically slotted wheel abutment plate wherein a shaft extends through the plate slot and apertures in the upper ends of the clamping elements, a yoke straddles the plate and has its legs supporting the shaft, and a 'screw is threaded through the closed end of the yoke and bears against the top of the plate above the slot so that rotation of the screw in one direction or the other raises the clamping elements into or lowers them from railhead clamping position.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is an elevational View of a preferred form of wheel retainer constructed according to the present in- Also it is more compact,

vention and showing the retainer clamped to a rail and in chocking position against a railway car wheel;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the wheel retainer of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the wheel retainer with the clamping elements in open position;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view showing the wheel retainer elements in their Fig. 3 position;

Fig. 5 is a vertical medial sectional view showing the wheel retainer clamped to a small size rail; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the wheel retainer clamped to a large size rail.

Referring to the drawings, the wheel retainer 12 is mounted upon a rail 14 by clamping it to the head 16 thereof in such position that the tread 18 of a railway wheel 20 is in abutting relationship with. the wheel retainer. The wheel retainer 12 comprises a main frame 22 formed of a central upstanding portion 24 of platelike construction and a base portion 26 which is a closed rectangular loop formed from bar stock and welded to the central portion 24 at the bottom thereof. The loop 26 may be made of a pair of U-shaped bars having their open sides welded together along the central line of the frame where the loop 26 is welded to the upstanding plate 24. The plate 24 is provided with a forwardly and upwardly extending portion 28 terminating in a wheel abutment face 30 arranged at an angle to the horizontal and vertical which is most convenient for contacting railway car wheels. Toone side of the wheel retainer a U-shaped handle 32 is welded to the'loop 26 to pro vide a convenient means by which the wheel retainer may easily be carried and set in place.

The wheel retainer 12 is adapted to be seated on top of the rail head 16 with the base loop 26 in a hori zontal position and the central body plate 24 upstanding from the top of the rail and having its longitudinal axis ing elements 38 each of which includes a generally vertically arranged plate .40 having an aperture 42 adjacent its upper end. At its lower end the plate 40 is bent inwardly to provide a short inwardly and downwardly inclined portion or shelf 44 which is adapted to engage beneath the rail head 16 and particularly to grip the outer lower corner of the rail head. The clamping elements 38 are hung or suspended from a shaft 46 which extends horizontally and transversely through the apertures 42 and through a vertically disposed slot 48 in the central plate, the slot being long enough to permit the range of vertical movement for the shaft 46 necessary to bring the clamping elements 38 into and out of clamping position on all sizes of rails with which the wheel retainer may be used. A pair of short diametrically disposed keepers 50 are welded to the outer ends of the shaft 46 to prevent the clamping elements 38 from being removed from the shaft. 2

'Each clamping element is provided with a pair of cam members 52 disposed adjacent the outer vertical edges of the plate 40. Each cam member 52 has a downwardly and outwardly inclined cam surface 54 terminating in a rigidly clamped to the rail. As seen most clearly in Figs.

2 and 4 to 6, the clamping elements 38 move vertically Patented May 20,1958

3 in rectangular spaces 60 defined by the central upstanding plate 24 and the bisected base loop 26. As the clamping elements are raised in these spaces the cam surfaces 54 of the cam members 52 come into contact with arcuate fulcrum surfaces 62 formed or provided by the inner surfaces of the loop 26 to move the lower ends of the clamping elements inwardly, the extent of the inward movement depending upon the extent of the upward movement of the shaft 46. This inward movement of the clamping elements causes the shelf part 44 to move inwardly below the rail head 16 of the rail to insure that they engage and firmly seat against the lower outer corners of the rail head 16. As the fulcrum surfaces 62 are arcuate they provide a low resistance line contact with the cam surfaces 54 regardless of the relative angular positions of the cam members and the base loop.

The actuating means 36 for raising the clamping elements 38 into clamping position is adapted to react against the rail through the central portion 24 of the wheel retainer frame. To this end the central portion 24 is provided at its upper end and above the slot 48 with a recess 64 having a flat horizontal seat 66 provided with a depression 68 the center of which is axially aligned with the vertical axis of theslot. The depression 68 is adapted to receive the outer end of a screw or bolt 70 the upper end of which is welded to a short sleeve 72 which slidably receives a turning handle 74 in the well known manner. The screw 70 projects through a threaded opening 76 in the closed end 78 of a U-shaped or yoke member 80. The member 80 has a pair of legs 82 which straddle the central upstanding plate 24 and are positioned inside of the clamping elements 38. Adjacent their outer ends the legs 82 are apertured at 84 to receive the shaft 46. The yoke 80 and the screw 70 are movable relative to the central upstanding plate 24, part of the movement being pivotal, and to accommodate the latter movement the upper rear of the plate is arcuately formed at 86.

From the foregoing description it is clear that the wheel retainer of this invention has very few parts, which are simple in their construction and are easily welded together. Basically the wheel retainer comprises the frame 22, a pair of clamping elements 38, the shaft 46, the yoke 80, the screw 70 and the turning handle 74. The whole is assembled by moving the clamping elements 38 into position within the recesses 60 on either side of the central plate 24, placing the legs 82 of the yoke between the upper ends of the clamping elements and the plate and passing the shaft 46 through aligned apertures 42 in the clamping elements, 84 in the yoke, and 48 in the upstanding plate 24. It is preferred that before the shaft is inserted through these apertures one of the retaining members 50 be welded across one end. After the whole has been assembled in the manner indicated the second retaining member 5,0 is welded across the opposite end. It is, therefore, impossible to separate these elements without cutting them apart with a torch or a hacksaw. The screw 70 is threaded into the opening 76,, and if desired any conventional means may be utilized to prevent removal of the screw from its threaded aperture. The wheel retainer is now ready for placement upon a rail.

The screw or bolt 70 is unscrewed sufiiciently to permit the yoke 80 to be moved to the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 wherein the shaft 46 is at the bottom of the slot 48 and the clamping elements 38 are in their lowermost or open position. They are then separated and the wheel retainer is dropped onto the rail so that the central plate 24 is aligned with the longitudinal axis of the rail which brings the wheel abutment face 30 into its proper wheel tread abutting position. If the railway car has been spotted in position the wheel retainer is moved to contact the abutment face against the wheel tread, and then the yoke 80 is moved upwardly and pivoted in a clockwise direction (Figs. 1 and 3) so that the outer end of the bolt 70 can be seated in the depression 68 above the slot he s re is hen. rned the clockw se to raise the shaft 46 and the clamping elements 38 in the spaces 60 at either side of the plate 24. This movement causes the cam surfaces 54 slidably to engage the fulcrum surfaces 62 on the base loop 26. As the cam surfaces diverge downwardly, their sliding contact with the fulcrum surfaces moves the lower end of the cam elements 38 toward the center of the rail which eventually results in a contact between the downwardly and inwardly inclined shelf portions 44 against the underside of the rail head 16. The clamping means is tightened by and may be, set by smartly tapping the handle 74 in the clockwise direction (Fig. 2) with a hammer or lightly weighted object. The retainer is removed from the rail by reversing these operations.

From the foregoing description it is clear that the objectives which were claimed for the improved wheel retainer of this invention have been obtained. The Wheel retainer is simple in construction, easy to place upon a rail, has few parts and, therefore, may economically be made, and it is light in weight.

While a preferred embodiment constituting the wheel retainer of this invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that modifications and variations thereof may be made without departing from the underlying principles of the invention. It is, therefore, desired by the following claims to include within the scope of the invention all such variations and modifications by which substantially the results of this invention may be obtained through the use of substantially the same or equivalent means.

What is new and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is: r

l. A wheel retainer adapted to be mounted on a railway rail, comprising in combination, frame structure adapted to be seated on top of a rail head and including a central vertically slotted wheel abutment plate and means forming fulcrum surfaces at both sides thereof and spaced therefrom, movable clamping elements at either side of said plate with aclamping element between said plate and each of said furcrum surfaces, said clamping elements each having an aperture therein, a part engaging beneath the rail head, and an outwardly and downwardly extending cam surface engaging the adjacent fulcrum surface, a shaft extending through said slot and said clamping element apertures and being rotatable and movable vertically in said slot to move said clamping elements into and out of clamping position, a yoke having arms pivotally connected to said shaft, and a screw threaded through the closed end of said yoke and adapted to act against said central plate on a part thereof above said slot whereby when said screw is rotated in one direction said yoke raises said shaft to move said clamping elements into clamping position and when said screw is rotated in the opposite direction said yoke lowers said shaft to release said clamping elements from clamping position.

2. A wheel retainer adapted to be mounted on a railway rail, comprising in combination, frame structure adapted to be seated on top of a rail head and including a central vertically slotted wheel abutment plate and means forming fulcrum surfaces at both sides thereof and spaced therefrom, movable clamping elements at either side of said plate with a clamping element between said plate and each of said fulcrum surfaces, said clamping elements each having an aperture therein, a part engaging beneath the rail head, and an outwardly and downwardly extending cam surface engaging the adjacent fulcrum surface, a shaft extending through said slot and said clamping element apertures and being rota; table and movable vertically in :said slot to move said clamping elements into and out of clamping position, a U-shaped member having its legs straddling said central plate with each lying between said central plate and one of said clamping elements, the outer ends of said irect n legs being apertured to receive sad shaft thereby pivotally to connect said U-shaped member to said shaft, and a screw threaded through the closed end of said U-shaped member and adapted to act against said central plate on a part thereof above said slot whereby when said screw is rotated in one direction said member raises said shaft to move said clamping elements into clamping position and when said screw is rotated in the opposite direction said member lowers said shaft to release said clamping elements from clamping position.

3. A wheel retainer adapted to be mounted on a railway rail, comprising in combination, frame structure adapted to be seated on top of a rail head and including a central vertically slotted wheel abutment plate and means forming fulcrum surfaces at both sides thereof and spaced therefrom, movable clamping elements at either side of said plate with a clamping element between said plate and each of said fulcrum surfaces, said clamping elements each having an aperture therein, a part engaging beneath the rail head, and an outwardly and downwardly extending cam surface engaging the adjacent fulcrum surface, a shaft extending transversely through said slot and said clamping element apertures, said shaft being rotatable and movable vertically in said slot to move said clamping elements into and out of clamping position, a U-shaped member having its legs straddling said central plate with each lying between said central plate and one of said clamping elements, the outer ends of said legs being apertured to receive said shaft thereby pivotally to connect said U-shaped member to said shaft, said U-shaped member having pivotal and longitudinal movement relative to said plate and said plate being formed opposite its wheel abutment to accommodate such movement, and a screw threaded through the closed end of said member and adapted to act against said central plate on a part thereof above said slot whereby when said screw is rotated in one direction said member raises said shaft to move said clamping elements into clamping position and when said screw is rotated in the opposite direction said member lowers said shaft to release said clamping elements from clamping position.

4. A wheel retainer adapted to be mounted on a rail- Way rail, comprising in combination, structure adapted to be seated on top of a rail head and providing a central vertically slotted wheel abutment portion and fulcrum surfaces at both sides thereof and spaced therefrom, movable clamping elements at either side of said central portion with a clamping element between said central portion and each of said fulcrum surfaces, each clamping element including a generally vertically extending plate having an aperture therein adjacent the upper end thereof and an inwardly and downwardly inclined portion at the lower end thereof providing a shelf engaging beneath the rail head and a pair of plates secured to and outstanding from the outer surface of said vertically extending plate, said last named plates having outwardly and downwardly extending cam surfaces at their outer edges engaging the adjacent fulcrum surface, said last named plates including parts extending below and supporting said inwardly and downwardly inclined portion, a shaft extending through said slot and said apertures and being movable vertically 6 within said slot to raise and lower said clamping elements, a yoke having arms connected to said shaft, and a screw threaded through the closed end of said yoke and adapted to act against said wheel abutment portion on a part thereof above said slot, whereby when said screw is rotated in one direction said yoke raises said shaft to move said clamping elements into clamping position and when said screw is rotated in the opposite direction said yoke lowers said shaft to release said clamping elements from clamping position.

5. A wheel retainer adapted to be mounted on a railway rail, comprising in combination, structure adapted to be seated on top of a rail head and providing a centralvertically slotted wheel abutment portion and fulcrum surfaces at both sides thereof and spaced therefrom, movable clamping elements at either side of said central portion with a clamping element between said central L portion and each of said fulcrum surfaces, each clamping element including a generally vertically extending plate having an aperture therein adjacent the upper end thereof and an inwardly and downwardly inclined portion at the lower end thereof providing a shelf engaging beneath the said head and a pair of plates secured to and outstanding from the outer surface of said vertically extending plate, said last named plates having outwardly and downwardly extending cam surfaces at their outer edges engaging the adjacent fulcrum surface, said last named plates includingparts extending below and supporting said inwardly and downwardly inclined portion, a shaft extending through said slot and said apertures and being movable vertically within said slot to raise and lower said clamping elements, a U-shaped member having its legs straddling said wheel abutment portion with each lying between said wheel abutment portion and one of said clamping elements, the outer ends of said legs being apertured to receive said shaft thereby pivotally to connect said U-shaped member to said shaft, and a screw threaded through the closed end of said U-shaped member and adapted to act against said wheel abutment portion on a part thereof above said slot, whereby when said screw is rotated in one direction said member raises said shaft to move said clamping elements into clamping position and when said screw is rotated in the opposite direction said member lowers said shaft to release said clamping elements from clamping position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 176,737 Campbell May 2, 1876 1,104,528 Melliville July 21, 1914 1,293,831 McDermid Feb. 11, 1919 1,343,661 Crim et al. June 15, 1920 1,425,836 Campbell Aug. 15, 1922 1,439,089 Gallagher Dec. 19, 1922 1,601,752 Wortham Oct. 5, 1926 1,741,613 Catignani Dec. 31, 1929 2,303,560 Knight Dec. 1, 1942 2,359,106 Hayes Sept. 26, 1944 2,375,391 Smith May 8, 1945 2,762,314 Hayes Sept. 11, 1956