US3300141A

US3300141A - Rail spike and anchor device

Info

Publication number: US3300141A
Application number: US389904A
Authority: US
Inventors: Richard W Purdy
Original assignee: Armco Inc
Current assignee: Armco Inc
Priority date: 1964-08-17
Filing date: 1964-08-17
Publication date: 1967-01-24
Anticipated expiration: 1984-01-24

Description

Jan. 24, 1967 R. w. PURDY 3,300,141

RAIL SPIKE AND ANCHOR DEVICE Filed Aug. 17, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. RICHARD W. Purzov,

BY M 33 06W ATTORNEYS.

1967 R.w. PURDY 3,300,141

RAIL SPIKE AND ANCHOR DEVICE Filed Aug. 17, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

RICHARD W PuRov,

BY New ATTORNEYS 1967 R; w PURDY RAIL SPIKE AND ANCHOR DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 17, 1964 Flg.8

INVENTOR klouAao W. PuiZDY, BY W, 1

1M Noam ATToRNEva.

United States Patent 3,300,141 RAIL SPIKE AND ANCHOR DEVICE Richard W. Purdy, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to Armco Steel Corporation, Middletown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Aug. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 389,904

7 Claims. (Cl. 238-615) The invention relates to a rail retaining means, and more particularly to a device, which in association with a railroad rail, and with ties, will serve to spike and anchor such rail simultaneously.

In the laying of railroad rail or the like, utilizing ties, means must be provided for retaining the rail in its proper position on the ties, and for preventing rail creep, i.e., the longitudinal movement of the rail caused by thermal expansion and contraction, and the action of traffic on the rails. In the usual practice, rail spikes are used to retain the rail in proper position on the ties. Such rail spikes generally have no beneficial eflFect in preventing rail creep. Rail anchors are used to minimize longitudinal movement or creeping.

There are a number of problems associated with this method of laying rail. For example, the rail is subject to vertical movement under load, and as a result the rail spikes are pulled upwardly losing their rail contact. If they become excessively loose, their effectiveness is minimized. Furthermore, as far as applicant is aware, most rail anchoring devices in use today depend for their effectiveness upon cross-tie bearing to develop resistance to rail creepage. When such anchoring devices lose contact with the side of the tie, their ability to prevent rail creepage is lost. As a result, these anchoring devices must periodically be reset or reinstalled, thereby requiring additional maintenance and additional maintenance expense.

These problems have become even more acute with the increased use of continuous welded rail. When standard 39 foot 0 rail lengths are used, there will be a rail joint every39 feet. Rail joint devices have been designed to accommodate thermal expansion and contraction. However, when continuous welded rail, approximately onequarter mile in length, is used, the number of rail joints and rail joining devices is materially reduced. Thus, with welded rail, the intermediate relief points no longer exist and stresses must be accumulated for considerable distances. For example, the customary 100 thermal gradient that might be encountered will cause an approximate inch change in length in a 39 foot rail section. In a section of welded track A: mile long, the change in length will be of the order of 8 inches. When 39 foot rail sections are used, the rail is permitted to expand or contract in accordance with temperature changes, and the rail joints will accommodate the change in length. .When Welded rail is used expansion and contraction must be prevented since no single joint would accommodate an 8 inch length change.

It will be seen from the above that the problem of preventing longitudinal movement of continuous welded rail (both from expansion and contraction and the action of trafiic) is of particular importance. Many anchoring practices are in use today; but in general with continuous welded rail alternate or every third tie is box-anchored (i.e., the use of four anchors per tie to insure against longitudinal creep in either direction) throughout the length of the rail, with additional box-anchoring for some distance from the rail ends. It will be understood by one skilled in the art that the placement and frequency of placement of anchoring means will depend upon many factors including service condition, climate, traific type and density, etc. However, it is not uncommon to use between 7,000 and 10,000 rail anchors per mile of track,

3,300,141 Patented Jan. 24, 1967 ICC together with approximately 13,000 rail spikes per mile. For this reason, the installation time and expense, and the maintenance time and expense per mile of rail is high. It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a one-piece device adapted for use as a rail spike and a rail anchor simultaneously.

It is an object of the present invention to provide such a device permitting a mass anchoring technique with maximum rail creepage control. g

It is an object of the present invention to provide a onepiece means for rail spiking and rail anchoring whereby installation and maintenance time and expense are materially reduced.

It is an object of the present invention to provide such a device which will not lose its rail contact and effectiveness as a result of vertical movement of the rail under load.

It is an object of the present inventionto provide a rail spike and rail anchoring means which does not depend for its anchoring action upon a bearing on the side of the tie.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a onepiece device for rail spiking and rail anchoring which does not require periodic resetting or reinstallation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide such a device which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, install, and remove.

It is an object of the present invention to provide such a device which may be easily installed or removed by hand or mechanically.

These and other objects of the invention, which Will be described hereinafter or will be clear to one skilled in the art upon reading this specification, are accomplished by that structure and arrangement of part of which certain exemplary embodiments will now be described. Reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one form of rail spike and rail anchor device in association with a rail, the rail being shown in dot-dash lines.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a rail, tie and tie plate illustrating the use of two forms of the rail spike and rail anchor device of the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is a partial sectional view taken along the section line 33 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a partial sectional view taken along the section line 44 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the device of the present invention illustrating the initial position, fully stressed position and the in-place position of the device during installation.

FIGURE 6 is a partial sectional view showing the initial position, fully stressed position and the in-place position of the spur end of the device during installation.

FIGURE 7 is a partial elevational view illustrating another form of spur end.

FIGURE 8 is a partial elevational view illustrating yet another form of spur end.

FIGURE 9 is a view similar to FIGUREI, but showing another modification of the rail spike and rail anchoring device of the present invention.

FIGURE 10 is a view similar to FIGURE 4, showing v the embodiment of FIGURE 9.

The device of the present invention will be described in connection with the use of conventional wooden ties and conventional tie plates. As will be understood by one skilled in the art, this is exemplary only since the device may also be used with concrete ties or the like having cast holes, wooden inserts or other means for receipt of the shank of the device described hereinafter.

A tie plate has been illustrated in the various figures at 1, and provided with a series of

rectangular openings

2 and 5 for the reception of spikes. It will be understood that the outlying openings 5 are employed in fastening the tie plate to the tie 6 by means of ordinary spikes (not shown). The rectangular opening 2 more remote from the ends of the tie plate are so positioned as to lie adjacent the bottom flange 7 of the rail 8. The rail has the conventional vertical web 9 and the head member 10. The worker in the art will understand that the tie plate may have ridge elements 11 lying adjacent the edges of the rail flange 7, so as to minimize movement of the rail across the tie plate in a direction parallel to the axis of the tie.

It will be evident that if ordinary spikes are driven into the tie to the openings 2 in the tie plate, the heads of these spikes will tend to hold the rail flange down onto the tie plate. But up and down movement of the rail in use will tend to draw such spikes upwardly, and in any event such spikes cannot prevent longitudinal movement of the rail.

The spike and anchor device of this invention comprises a rectangular body, a head by means of which the spike may be driven into the tie in the usual fashion, a lateral extension or arm on the head and a hooked end or spur on the opposite end of the lateral arm. These parts will now be described in detail.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the spike and anchor device has a shaft or spike body 12 which is preferably pointed as at 13 on its lower end. The spike body or shaft 12 is rectangular in cross section and of such cross-sectional dimensions as to pass through the perforation 2 in the tie plate 1. This prevents rotation of the spike body when it has been driven home.

.The device as shown in FIGURE 1 has a head 14 in the form of a reversely bent loop. The outer end of the loop overlies an edge portion of the rail flange 7 as shown.

The laterally extending arm 15 joins the head 14 at one end and is intended to lie along a marginal portion of the rail flange. On the outer end of the lateral arm 15 there is a hooked portion or spur end 16 which has an outwardly and downwardly extending portion and a detent element 17 for engagement beneath the under surface of the rail flange. The lateral arm 15 is given a horizontal deflection in the direction of the web 9, and a vertical lead in the direction away from the rail flange 7. These vertical and horizontal leads or deflections are illustrated in FIGURES 5 and 6. As will be described hereinafter, the horizontal deflection and vertical lead of the lateral arm 15 is of importance not only with respect to the function of the device, but also with respect to its installation and removal. the solid lines 18 show the initial position of the lateral arm and the spur. The dotted lines 19 show the maXimum deflection of the lateral arm required to engage the spur end over the edge of the rail flange 7. The dotdash lines 20 in this figure show the final position of the lateral arm and spur when in engagement with the rail flange. Such engagement of the spur end is illustrated in FIGURE 3. The lateral arm is also canted as shown in FIGURE 4 so that in its final position it can lie parallel to and against the sloping upper surface of the rail flange.

The manner of use of the device will now be clear.

- The shaft of the spike is inserted in a perforation 2 in the tie plate, and the spike is driven downwardly either by hand or by machine. At first the spur element 16 will lie above the rail flange 7 as shown in solid lines in FIGURE 6. Then as the spike end is further driven downwardly to its final in-place position and the spike end of the lateral arm contacts the rail flange 7 (see FIGURE 4), the spur element 16 is moved outwardly to a position shown by the dotted lines 19 in FIGURES 5 and 6. The spur element is then placed in its final clamping position (as shown by dot-dash lines 20 in FIGURE 6) by a vertical blow applied in the direction of the vertical rr w A. Th s vertical blow will cause In FIGURE 5 the lateral arm to spring toward the rail flange edge due to resilient deflection of the lateral arm so that the detent portion 17 engages beneath the rail flange edge. The spur may then be hit a horizontal blow (in the direction of the horizontal arrow B in FIGURE 6) to insure that it firmly engages the rail flange edge. Usually, however, such a blow will not be necessary due to the resilient deflection of the lateral arm. Both the horizontal deflection and the vertical lead of the lateral arm will tend to insure a strong frictional engagement of the rail flange by the spur element. If the device is to be removed, the spur element need only be pried away from engagement with the rail flange edge. The vertical lead of the lateral arm will cause the spur element to snap upwardly to the position 19 shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 6. Then, the spike end may be pulled upwardly for complete removal of the device.

The length of the lateral arm 15 may be varied but in any event it should be long enough to permit the spur element to lie off the edge of the tie plate as shown in FIGURE 2. It will be evident that the action of the spike will be not only to hold the rail down onto the tie plate but also to maintain a strong frictional engagement with the flange of the rail minimizing longitudinal movement of the rail. This strong frictional engagement will be maintained despite any loosening of the spike With respect to the tie. However, the action of the spike is not dependent upon the engagement of the spur end with the edge of the tie plate or with the edge of the tie. Thus the lateral arm may be longer than the distance between a perforation 2 and the adjacent side edge of the tie plate. This is especially desirable where the clearance between the bottom of the rail flange and the tie is not suflicient to enable the spur detent to engage beneath the rail flange. An anchor spike having an elongated lateral arm is illustrated in the lower left hand portion of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 7 illustrates an alternative form of spur, having a downward extension 21. The lower end portion of the downward extension 21 lying toward the rail is relieved as at 22, so as to tend to cam the extension away from the rail flange until the anchor spike is driven home and final engagement of the spur with the rail flange is achieved. The provision of the downward extension 21 enables an earlier contact between the spur end and the rail flange. While the anchor spike is driven home, the downward extension 21 rides along the edge of the rail flange producing an automatic deflection of the lateral arm and thereby facilitates the inter-engagement of the parts. The spur end illustrated in FIGURE 6 may be given a relief 23 similar to the relief 22 in FIG- URE 7.

Another form of spur is illustrated in FIGURE 8. In this instance the spur 16 is provided with an inwardly projecting lip 24 adjacent the detent 17, and a downwardly and outwardly sloping bottom surface 25. As the rail spike and anchor device is driven home, the surface 25 will cam the spur away from the rail flange edge until final engagement of the rail flange by the lip 24 and detent 17 is achieved.

In FIGURES 9 and 10 where like parts are given like index numerals, there is shown a modification of the anchor spike of this invention. The modification differs from the structure shown in FIGURES 1 through 7 inclusive, in that instead of providing a spike head in the form of a reversely bent loop 14, a flat upset spike head 26 is provided on the upper end of the spike body 12.

The rail spike and anchor devices of the present invention can be manufactured from a suitable steel such as A.I.S.I. 1045. Other alloys or corrosion resistant materials may also be used. The structures may be cast, formed, or die forged, and preferably are heat treated to produce the necessary strength for various service conditions.

A Brinell hardness reading of 200 to 375 is recommended in order to obtain the desired resiliency in the steel. The rail spike and anchoring devices of the present invention may be furnished uncoated or galvanized.

Modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit of it.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A rail spike and anchor device for use with a rail having a head, a web, and a lower flange, and a tie, said device having an elongated body portion to be driven into said tie, a head portion by means of which driving force may be applied to the body portion, a one piece lateral extension on said head portion adapted to lie along the upper surface of said flange in a position substantially parallel to an edge thereof, and a hook-shaped spur at the end of said extension remote from said head to extend over said edge of said flange and engage beneath the lower surface thereof.

2. The structure claimed in claim 1 wherein said device has a flat head.

3. The structure claimed in claim 1 wherein the said head comprises a substantially U-shaped continuation of said body adapted to exert resilient pressure on the upper surface of said flange.

4. The structure claimed in claim 1 wherein said extension is deflected upwardly and inwardly requiring a resilient distortion of said extension to cause said hookshaped spur to engage over the edge of said flange.

5. The structure claimed in claim 4 wherein the lower edge of said hook-shaped spur is relieved to permit said distortion to occur upon the application of a driving force to the end of said extension to cause said hooked shaped spur to snap over the edge of said flange.

6. The structure claimed in claim 4 wherein said extension is additionally canted to conform to a slanted upper surface of said flange.

7. The structure claimed in claim 4 wherein said hooksha-ped spur has a inwardly extending lip and an outwardly and downwardly extending portion, said lip and said portion connected by a downwardly and outwardly sloping camming surface.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,029,426 6/1912 Courson 2383 14 1,777,990 10/1930 Moore et al. 238330 2,252,116 8/1941 Clarkson 238-315 2,257,641 9/1941 Muller 23 8349 2,287,843 6/ 1942 Tvrzicky 23 8-349 2,293,423 8/1942 Clarkson 23 83 15 2,726,043 12/1955 Endsley 238-315 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner.