US3044709A - Rail anchor made of plate steel - Google Patents

Description

July 17, 1962 J. H. LIEBENTHAL 3,044,709

RAIL ANCHOR MADE OF PLATE STEEL Filed Sept. 2, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 V7 I I I I 111,1 l

I 1j I July 17, 1962 J. H. LIEBENTHAL 3,044,709

RAIL ANCHOR MADE OF PLATE STEEL l Filed Sept. 2, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

. ite- States This invention relates to an improved rail anchor device of a general one-piece hook jaw type including an underrail `body portion for abutting against a stationary part of the roadbed and formed at one end with an integral hook adapted to be driven transversely of the rail into expanded gripping engagement with a base flange of the rail at one side thereof and provided at the other end with means `for locking engagement with the rail base yflange at the other side of the rail.

Rail anchors of the Iabove general type have been made heretofore from steel bars of various cross-sections and some attempts have lbeen made to produce said type of anchor experimentally from blanks sheared from steel plate, but the latter anchor devices have not been entirely satisfactory, since their rail clamping jaws, in the absence of structure for imparting resilience thereto, are relatively rigid as compared to anchors made of 'oar `stock and therefore are not suflciently yieldable to accommodate rail base flanges which, due to imperfections in rolling, are of abnormal thickness. The said steel plate rail anchors are usually of lighter weight than those made of bar stock and therefore use 'less material, but this advantage alone is not sufficient to insure the commercial success of a steel plate anchor device.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a steel plate rail anchor device of the above mentioned general -type which, in addition to being of lighter weight than the corresponding type of anchor made of Steel bar stock of the usual width and thickness, includes new and improved constructions by which additional advantages are obtained over the solid bar anchors as follows:

The general anchor construction is such that the rail gripping hook portion thereof is relieved from excessive radial expansion strains during its applying movement on a rail. In this connection the curvilinear hook portion of the anchor device in addition to being radially expanded is also yieldable 'laterally and vertically at various locations during said applying movement so kas to relieve the curvilinear portion of the hook from excessive radial expansion strains. As a yfurther advantage the improved anchor construction provides a more versatile grip on the rail lthan the bar `anchor in that it provides a strong resilient grip on the rail during the absence of creeping pressure thereon, so as to resist the normal vibrations and other disturbing influences, but the tenacity of this grip is automatically increased during the presence of creeping pressure on lthe rail; this automatic increase in the tenacity of the grip being eiected principally by the lateral flexing of Ithe side wall portions of the anchor in a direction to move them toward a more perpendicular position and thereby increase their gripping pressure. This increased gripping action only persists during the presence of said creeping pressure on the rail and results from slight flexing of the side walls. Consequently there is no tendency to induce metal fatigue.

According to the present invention, the improved anchor device is of channel configuration in cross-section arranged so that the open side of the channel faces the surfaces of the rail base to be engaged thereby. One

end of the anchor device includes a hook portion adapted to grip the top and bottom surfaces of a rail base flange, the anchor being driven transversely of the rail to its applied position rfrom one side thereof. The other end of the anchor is provided with spaced apart lug Vportions which, when the anchor is in its applied position, snap yover the edge of the rail base flange at the other side of therail to lock the anchor device in its applied position. The side ywalls of the said channel diverge laterally outwardly at acute angles relative to the longitudinal center plane of the channel and are formed along their upper edges with flange portions which incline outwardly at acute angles relative to the top and bottom faces of the rail base. The outer edges of these flanges provide the initial contact with the top and bottom surfaces of a rail base flange so as to yield vertically when the hook porl tion is forced onto the rail base flange. The side walls of the anchor, as a whole, including both the under-rail body portion and the curvilinear portion of the hook diverge from each other at relatively steep acute angles and, therefore, are spread apart during the movement of the hook portion onto the wedge-shaped rail base and thereby yield to relieve the radial expansive forces exerted on the curvilinear portion of the hook as it is driven onto the wedge-shaped rail base flange. Therefore, the stresses incident to the general expansion of the hook portion of the anchor is distributed to the several above mentioned flexible portions of the anchor device. The tendency which the flexed portions of the anchor have to resume the positions from which they werel sprung exerts on the rail a strong resilient grip representing the aggregate forces of the several flexed portions ofthe anchor device. The angularity of the laterally extending flanges which extend along the longitudinal edges of the channel side walls exert resilient pressure at their outer edges against the top and bottom surfaces of the rail hase at such angle that the presence of any creeping movement of the rail tending to press the anchor device against -a stationary part of the roadbed tends to move the said flanges into shackle `gripping engagement with the rail and also moves the side walls of the channel toward each other, that is to say toward the perpendicular whereby the gripping force exerted by the hook portion of the anchor as a whole is increased in proportion to the creeping force exerted.

By virtue of the lateral flexing of the side walls of the channel and the vertical flexing of the lateral flange extending along the upper edges of the channel, the side Walls of the channel can be made relatively wide Without appreciably iaecting their resiliency and thereby provide a relatively large tie abutting area to reduce cornpression and other wear of the tie. By virtue of the lateral yieldability of the side walls of the channel their additional width does not materially increase the force required to drive the anchor to its applied position.

`Other objects and advantages of the invention, not at this time enumerated, will become apparent as the following description ensues.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illus- ,trated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

'FIG l is a fragmentary plan View of a base portionY of a railroad rail andan underlying tie plate and crosstie and showing a rail anchor device constructed in accordance with this invention applied to therail base;

FIG. 2 is a face view of the structure shown in FIG. 1;

its movement to its applied position on a rail base flange of normal configuration;

FIG. 4 is an end View in elevation of the hook end of the anchor device; and

rFIG. 5 is a fragmentary face view in elevation of the Patented July 17, 1962 hook end of the improved anchor device and illustrating in dotted lines the normal flexing of the lateral anges of the anchor device during its movement transversely of a rail to its applied position thereon, a fragmentary portion of the rail base being shown in dot-and-dash lines.

Referring to the drawings: The improved anchor is designated as a whole bythe reference numeral 10. It is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 in its applied position on the base portion 11 of a railway rail, the latter of which is seated on a conventional tie plate 12 mounted on a wooden crosstie 13. The tie plate 12 is formed with spaced apart shoulders 14-14 which define the width of the rail base seat 15 and is positioned on the top face of the crosstie 13 at a location spaced inwardly from a vertical side face 16 of the crosstie. This position of the tie plate on the crosstie provides a clearance 17 between the top surface of the crosstie and the bottom surface of the rail base 11. The tie plate 12 and the rail base 11 are secured in their operativepositions by means of rail spikes 1S which are driven into the crosstie through spikes openings 19 formed in the tie plate. There is preferably a slight clearance 2li (see FIG. 2) between the head of each rail spike and the inclined top face of the adjacent rail base flange so as to permit the normal wave movement of the rail, during the passing of trains thereover, without imparting objectionable upward pressures to the heads of the spikes. l

The improved anchor device is formed from a blank of steel plate or strip material of uniform width, the blank being shaped while hot by a combination of special rolling or drawing, bending and pressing operations to impart to it the desired configuration of the finished device shown in the drawings. The completed anchor device, being of the general one-piece type of anchor hereinbefore identified, includes a preferably, though not necessarily, straight body portion 23 which extends across beneath the rail base 11 in a position to abut against a vertical face 25 of the underlying crosstie 13, a hook portion 24 is formed at one end of said body for resiliently gripping a base flange of the rail at one side thereof, for example the base flange 21, and locking means 26 is formed at the other end of said body for locking engagement with an edge surface of the base flange 22 at the other side of the rail. The terminal portion 27 of the hook 24 and the portion 28 of the said body constitute upper and lower jaws adapted to be expanded into said resilient gripping engagement with the inclined top surface 29 and the bottom surface 30 of the rail base flange 21.

Said body portion 23 and the hook 24 are of channel configuration in cross-section, the channel being arranged with the open side facing the base portion of the rail. Consequently, the said upper and lower jaws 27, 28 each comprise a pair of spaced apart rail gripping portions 31, 31 and 32, 32, respectively. The bottom 33 of the channel, as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings, is curved transversely with an outside radius 34 of approximately one-fifth the overall width of the anchor device, measured across the spaced apart jaws portions 31, 31. The sharply curved bottom 33, therefore, is suciently narrow to insure free vertical movements of the anchor body in the ballast 35 of the roadbed. The side 4walls 36, 37 of the channel diverge laterally outward at steep angles relative to 4the longitudinal center plane of the channel and terminate in out-turned flanges designated generally at 38 and 39 which are coextensive with the length of the channel and constitute the spaced apart rail gripping portions 31, 31 and 32, 32 of the upper and lower jaws 27, 28 of the anchor. The said flanges 38, 39 and consequently the jaws 31, 31 and 32, 32 extend laterally at sharply acute angles relative to the rail base when the anchor is in its applied position on the rail and normally bear at their outer edges against `the rail base. The actual angularity of said flanges 38, 39 will vary to accommodate rail basis of different thickness and will also vary from time to time to increase the tenacity of the anchors grip on the rail as hereinafter presently described `when the anchor is subjected to rail creeping pressure.

The anchor is locked in its applied position on a rail by means of locking lugs 26, 26 which are spaced apart lengthwise of the rail. These lugs 'are conveniently formed by slitting the out-turned fianges 38, 39, as indicated at 40, and thereafter bending the lug portions 26, 26 to a steeper angle so that they will stand in abutting engagement with the longitudinal edge 41 of the rail base flange 22.

The hook portion 24 of the anchor device, as previously indicated, is expanded and therefore exerts a strong V resilient grip on `the rail base, but the expansion of the hook takes place at various areas thereof in a manner to relieve the expansion stresses on the curvilinear portion of the hook. The expansion of the said hook is effected during the application of the anchor to a rail. rlfhis is accomplished by manually applying the hook end of the anchor onto a base flange of a rail in a position whereby the body portion 23 will abut against a vertical face of a crosstie and one of the out-turned flanges 38 or 39 will extend into the clearance recess 17 in a position to abut against a vertical face of the tie plate 12. A portion of the lower jaw 23 is offset downwardly as indicated at 28a to provide a recess to receive the lower corner portion of the rail base flange 21 during the initial positioning of the hook onto the rail fiange. Impact force is then applied to a perpendicular striking face 42 (see FGS. 2 and 5) by means of a track maul or sledge to drive the anchor transversely of the rail until the locking lugs 26 snap up over the edge 41 of the rail base. The spacing between the upper and lower jaws 27, 28 of the anchor is normally less than the thickness of the rail base, the normal position of the rail gripping portions 31, 31 and 32, 32 of the jaws being shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 3 and 5. During the movement of the anchor device onto the wedge-shaped base flange the out-turned flanges 38, 39, particularly the rail gripping portions 31, 31 and 32, 32 of the jaws are flexed from the dotted line positions to the full line positions shown in FIG. 3. Substantial radial expansion of the curvilinear hook portion 24 is effected during the applying movement of the anchor device, but the radial stresses imposed thereon are relieved by the said flaxing of the said out-turned flanges 31, 31; 32, 32, and the side walls 36, 37 of the anchor device. The fact that the out-turned flanges 31, 31; 32, 32 and side Walls 36, 37 of the anchor device are yieldable independently of the expansion of the curvilinear portion of the hook makes the improved anchor device readily applicable to rail base flanges which are abnormally thick, due to the worn condition of the rolls used in their manufacture. The inner perimeter 24a of the hook is so formed as to engage the rail base when the anchor is fully applied and thereby serves as a stop surface to prevent driving the anchor beyond its properly applied position.

Because of the angular position of the out-turned flanges 31, 32 relative to the rail base, together with the steep angle of divergence of the side walls 36, 37 of the channel, the tenacity of `the anchors grip on the rail is increased during the presence of creeping pressure on the rail tending to press the anchor device against the vertical face 25 of the crosstie and/or to press the edge of a flange 32 against' a vertical edge surface of the tie plate. This result is accomplished by virtue of the fact that the anchor device is pressed against the crosstie by such creeping pressures and thereby tends to move the side walls 36, 37 closer together at locations above and below the rail base and thereby increase their effective vertical dimension and consequently increase the gripping force exerted Ithereby on the rail base. However, as soon as the said creeping pressure is removed the resilience of the side walls 36, 37 of the anchor device will cause them to resume their normal rail gripping positions.

From the above description it will `be seen that I have provided an improved lightweight rail anchor which is so constructed as to provide, in addition to its reduced weight relative to anchors of similar type made of bar stock, improved rail gripping qualities whereby the anchor device will accommodate rail basis of varying thickness, relieve the hoo-k portion from excessive radial stresses during the application of the anchor to a rail and which will automatically increase the tenacity of its grip on the rail during the presence of creeping pressure.

I claim:

`1. A rail anchor comprising a horizontal body portion for extending across beneath the base portion of a railway rail in a position to abut against a stationary part of the roadbed of a railway track and formed at one end with a hook adapted to be driven transversely of the rail into expanded gripping engagement with diverging top and bottom surfaces of a rail base flange at one side of the rail, 'and locking means at the other end of said body for engaging an edge of the base ange at the other side of the rail; the said body portion and said hook being of channel configuration in cross-section with the open side of the channel facing the rail and with its side walls diverging laterally outwardly relative to the longitudinal central plane bisecting the channel and dening upper and lower jaw portions -for engaging said diverging top and bottom surfaces of said rail base flange, each of said walls comprising a portion which merges into the bottom of the channel and inclines `outwardly at a sharp acute angle relative to said longitudinal central plane to a junction with a rail gripping marginal portion which inclines to its outer edge at an obtuse angle relative to said longitudinal central plane, whereby the acute and obtuse portions of `both side walls are readily flexed laterally outward to relieve the hook portion from excessive radial expansive stresses as the hook is forced upon said diverging surfaces of said rail base flange and are adapted by inward flexure of the acutely inclined side wall portions relative to each other, during lateral pressure thereon, to increase the grip of said jaws on the rail base.

2. A rail anchor according to claim 1 wherein the anchor device is made of plate material and the rail gripping marginal portions of the side walls of the channel are positioned at acute angles relative to the rail base surfaces engaged and are movable both vertically and lengthwise of the rail to relieve the hook from excessive radially expansive stresses.

3. A rail lanchor according to claim 2 wherein the rail gripping marginal portion of one side wall of the channel, in the applied position of the anchor, projects lengthwise of the rail in opposition to the direction of creeping movement of the rail and the rail gripping marginal portion of the other sidewall of the channel projects lengthwise of the rail in the direction of said creeping movement.

4. A rail anchor according to claim 3 wherein the side walls yof said channel include outturned marginal flanges and that the ends of these flanges remote from the hook is formed with spaced apart locking lugs bent upwardly from said anges and adapted to engage an edge portion of the r-ail -base to lock the anchor on the rail.

5. A rail anchor according to claim 4 wherein said out-turned marginal flanges extend around the inner perimeter of the hook and serve as resilient over-drive stop surfaces adapt-ed to engage the rail base to limit the apply-ing movement of the anchor.

References Cited in the le of this patent Switzerland Sept. 16, 1935

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