US3163257A - Track lubricator - Google Patents

Description

INVENTOR JAMES BRUCE M WILL M5 1 Q I I P K J. B. M WILLIAMS TRACK LUBRICATQR Filed Jan; 26, 1962- Dec. 29, 1964 3,163,257 TRACK LUaRrcATon James B. McWilliams, Pittsburgh, Pa, assignor to Railway. Maintenance Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pin, a corporation of Pennsylvania, and Poor & Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 168,986 3 Claims. (Cl. 184-3) This invention relates :to railway track lubricators which supply grease to the gauge side of railroad rails as a result of the wheels of passing cars actuating grease pumping means. i V

The flow of grease from the pump through the track side lubricator is subjected to two operational factors,

namely the speed of trains operating on the trackand' ditions even though a standard type grease is used for the purpose.

Accordingly, a primary object of the invention is to eliminate variation in the quantity or amountof grease supplied by the pump to the lubricator, and to secure an approximately uniform discharge of grease under all 7 speed and temperature conditions.

A further object of the invention is to effect the desired control of the grease supply through a relief valve which may be selectively set to accomplish the desired result. This valve is located in the top of the grease storage tank and in communication with the pipe supplying grease from the pump to the track lubricator and in all valve settings, returns excess quantities of grease to the tank supply. This provides agitation of the grease in the storage tank upon each operation of the pump. Once the valve is set for a given installation in a particular area, it functions with minimum maintenance requirementssince only two yearly settings may be required, thereby not only saving grease, but, at the same time, reducing time and expense of frequent inspections.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated ad claimed. I

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a railway track lubricator system.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of the grease storage tank and the relief valve.

FIGURE 3 is a detail view of the settable relief valve.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the dial of the valve of FIGURE 3.

Referring to FIGURE 1, it will be seen that the rail R at the field side of the track is provided with a pair of lubricators L.

Each lubricator is supplied with grease by a pipe line 1 which connects with a distribution fitting 2 located at the track side beyond the ties, the said fitting 2 being, in turn, connected by piping 3 supported in the top of one wall of the grease tank T. This tank is, as usual, buried in the right-of-way at the field side of the installation.

The grease line 3 includes, within the tank, the verti- 3,163,257 Patented Dee. 29, 1964 cally extending pump leg 4 connected at its lower end with the discharge of a suitable pump P. The top of the pump leg 4 communicates with a vertically positioned T-section 5, the latter arranged with a bottom vertical inlet, and thereabove two oppositely directed horizontal axis discharges.

Within the tank and communicating directly with one of the horizontal axis discharges of the T-section, is'a horizontal axis pressure settable relief valve designated generally as V. The relief valve has a downwardly directed bottom discharge, spaced above the top level of the grease. The relief valve is thus self draining, and the proper operation of the track lubricator may be checked by observing this tell-tale discharge. As' both the valve inlet and the valve discharge or the return to tank are female threaded and are shown '(e.g. FIG. 3) as the same diameter, there will be free discharge to the tank of all lubricant which passes by the valve seat and head.

The relief valve is accessible by removing the cover C from the tank. Therefore, it may be conveniently observed and reached when the cover is removed, but, the grease is otherwise completely protected from the weather, including moisture and dust, and unauthorized changes in the settings of the valve are minimized.

As will be observed from FIGURES 3 and 4, the said valve V includes a stern 6.surroundcd by a spring V the said stem having a valve head 7 at one'end which may be adjusted relative to the annular seat in the valve according to the pressure placed thereon by the spring V that is to say, the spring is confined between the rear face of the valve head '7 and a collar 8, which latter abuts against the plug 9 threadingly engaged with relative to the casing, the compression of the spring will be greater or less to make the valve head 7 correspondingly bear on its seat. When the viscosity of the grease is low, in other Words when the grease is more fluid, the load onthe valve will be less, and vice versa. The outer portion of the screw plug 9 has a dial D, in the form of a disc, welded thereto for cooperation with a pointer E secured to the valve casing. The screw plugalso has secured thereto a cap nut or similar operating member 10.

When the non-circular portion of the cap nut is engaged by a suitable tool, for example an open end wrench, the cap nut, dial, and plug 9 will rotate together, upon applying hand pressure, in an angular direction, on the tool.

The dial D is suitably calibrated as indicated at D D and D for cooperation with said pointer E. As will be seen from FIGURE 4, the position D is associted with the legend Below 0 to 32; the position D is marked 3260; the position D is marked Above 60. It will thus seen from the legends that the valve may beset within the desired operating remperature ranges according to the site of installation.

The pump P is operated by suitable shafting S such, for example, as that shown in my Patent No. 3,015,370, issued January 2, 1962, and includes the ramp R- located at the field side of the rail.

The shafting S is mounted so as to permit universal vertical and horizontal movement between the ramp lever assembly and the grease tank. This movement may be As shown in the patent referred to, means is provided 7 to vertically adjust the ramp to control the height of the ramp contact point with reference to the top of the rail head. Passing car wheels depress the ramp, causing rotation of shaft S to actuate the pumping means which may a be either of the piston type shown, or, in some cases, a rotary type pump.

Setting of the ramp contact point with reference to the top of the rail head determines the amount of rotation imparted to the shaft S, which, in turn, determines the stroke or rotation imparted to the pump P and the volume of grease discharge per wheel contact. This method of setting the ramp does not fully take into consideration the variation in the speed of trains passing over the lubricator with accompanying differences in impact of wheels on the ramp. For example, the displacement of the pumpingrneans with the same setting of the ramp above the rail head, due to inertia of parts, may be'many times as great for high speed operationas for slow speed.

Grease is delivered from the pump P through the piping connections and passages in the distributing plate of the lubricator at the gauge side of the rail. Tests have shown that the pressure required to force the liquid through a series of pipes and passages vaiies directly with volume, speed, and viscosity of the grease.

In order to prevent the variation in the supply of grease and secure an approximately uniform discharge under all speed and temperature conditions, the relief valve V is introduced into the discharge line 3 from the pump. This valve is set at a pressure substantially equal to the average back pressure for a given ramp setting which will deliver the required amount of grease at an average train speed. The setting is checked by observing the downwardly di rected impacting discharge from the valve upon the tank contents. Higher back pressure, due to higher than average speed, will cause more surplus grease to be discharged back into the tank.

Higher temperatures lower the viscosity of the grease: and reduce the pressure required to force grease through the pipes and passages, thus reducing the desired pressure setting of the relief valve. Therefore, the relief valve is adjustable so that the setting can be changed for summer and winter operations to control the average quantity of grease discharge at various temperatures. For any given setting, there is always a constant supply of grease from the tank to the lubricator, and in some cases, particularly in the winter, the actuation of the ramp and valve are set to cause a small part of this constant supply to be continually returned to the tank at average train speeds. This continual return, particularly by the valve discharged dropping of material upon the main body of grease in the tank, produces an agitation, and a lower and more uniform grease viscosity, and thus provides better flow conditions to the distributing plate.

Accordingly, it will now be seen that the present invention proposes to regulate or control the supply of grease to be as uniform as possible under the varying conditions set forth. When the setting of the relief valve is changed for hot and cold Weather conditions, the ramp can be adjusted for both rail wear and wear upon its striking face. Therefore, the maintenance factor to supply proper but unwasteful quantities of grease can be reduced to two inspections per year, well knowing that the quantity of grease in the tank will not be abnormally reduced between inspections.

I claim:

'1. In a railway track including afield side rail, the combination comprising,

a track atfixed grease distributormounted on said rail,

a ramp lever at the field side of the rail and adjustable with respect to the head thereof,

a top-covered grease supply tank, a pump with suction in the tank bottom and actuated by impulses from charging by a vertically oriented outlet downwardly with undiminished velocity upon the tank contents;

to thereby return surplus grease to the supply tank at a given setting of the ramp lever.

2. In a railway track system, in which rolling stock passes over the rails at varying speed,

a top-cover possessinglubricant storage tank buried in the earth at the field side of a rail,

. a lubricant distributor at the gauge'side of at least one rail,

a conduit between the tank and the distributor,

means for regulating the supply of lubricant from the storage tank to the distributor including,

a pump with suction in the base of the storage tank and a discharge into said conduit,

shafting connected at one end to the pump for operating the same,

a ramp at the field side of one rail vertically adjustable in relation to the headcf the rail to be struck and thus variably moved by the passing car wheels,

a connection between the ramp and the other end of the shafting for powering the pump,

and an adjustable relief valve in the top of the tank settable for average speed of passing car Wheels and calibratedrin terms of variable temperature conditions,

sa-idvalve having a constantly open upwardly receiving communication at its inlet with said conduit and a relief discharge outlet having a substantially equal sized opening directed vertically downwardly towards the unobstructed top of the contents of the storage tank to impactively return lubricant in excess of the predetermined set positions of the valve and ramp into the body of the lubricant so as to agitate it and thus help to maintain a uniform viscosity therein.

3. In a railway track system according to claim 2,

wherein,

a the valve includes a casing with a valve seat adjacent to and facing away from the valve inlet,

a movable head coaxial with and cooperating with the seat, and thus being exposed on its seating side to the pres: sures of lubricant in the pump discharge, an axially apertured screw plug threaded into the casing coaxial with the'head, l a coaxial guided stem fixed to the head, the stem slidably passing through and having an extension slightly beyond the plug, 7 a pressure spring surrounding said stem, one end abut ting said plug and the other end abutting said head, the other side of the head thus being exposed to variable spring pressures, a temperature calibrated circular disc fixed to and revolvable with the plug,

and a singly marked pointer on the outside of the valve .casing and adjacent the periphery of the disc; whereby upon inspection of the valve from the cover end of the tank during ramp depressions by the car Wheels,

the amount of lubrication discharged from the relief valve outlet may be observed,

the movement of the head may be checked by the movement of the stem extension,

and the pointer and calibration juxtaposition may be observed and altered when required.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 433,471 Cunneen ct. 14, 1890 1,270,952 Jones July 2, 1918 1,343,160 Schmidt June 8, 1920 1,491,683 Donnell Apr. 22, 1924 2,884,093 Stewart Apr. 28, 1959 McWilliams Mar. 22, 1960

Claims (1)

1. IN A RAILWAY TRACK INCLUDING A FIELD SIDE RAIL, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING, A TRACK AFFIXED GREASE DISTRIBUTOR MOUNTED ON SAID RAIL, A RAMP LEVER AT THE FIELD SIDE OF THE RAIL AND ADJUSTABLE WITH RESPECT TO THE HEAD THEREOF, A TOP-COVERED GREASE SUPPLY TANK, A PUMP WITH SUCTION IN THE TANK BOTTOM AND ACTUATED BY IMPULSES FROM THE RAMP LEVER, A PRESSURE CONDUIT CONNECTING THE PUMP WITH THE GREASE DISTRIBUTOR, AND AN ADJUSTABLY SETTABLE RELIEF VALVE CALIBRATED IN TERMS OF TEMPERATURE AND WITHIN AND ADJACENT THE TOP OF THE TANK AND COMMUNICATING BY AN UPWARDLY RECEIVING INLET WITH THE PRESSURE CONDUIT AND DIS-

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