US744868A - Suspended rail-joint for railroads. - Google Patents

Description

No. 744,868.` PATBN'IED NOV. 24, 1903.

A G.H. J. MAAS. SUSPENDED RAIL JOINT PoR RAILROADS. APIILIOATION FILED JUNE 10, 1.903.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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PATEN'IED NOV. 24, 1903.

G. H. J. MAAS. SUSPENDED RAIL JOINT FOR RAILROADS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 10, 190s. No MODEL. z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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tirarme @Tatras Patented November 24., 1903.

Pastrana @erica GOTTFRIED HEINRICH JACOB MAAS, OF ARNSBERG, GERMANY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 744,868, dated November 24, 1903.

Application filed lune 10, 1903.

lfb MZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, GOTTERIED HEINRICH JACOB MAAS, civil engineer, federal and architectural counselor, a subject ofthe King of Prussia, German Emperor, residing at 7 Ruinbeckerstrasse, in the city of Arnsberg, Province of 'Westphalia Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Suspended Rail- Joints for Railroads, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a suspended railjoint on a single peculiar metal joint-sleeper for railroads,in which the width of the sleeper depends upon the distance of the supportingplates in such a manner that the bed on the whole width of the sleeper is subjected to pressure for all loads and is compressed and tightened just below the supporting-plates on packing the ballast, whether the joint be symmetric or not.

In the ordinary superstructure with crosssleepers the rails and the fish-plates will wear off in their contact-surfaces the quicker the larger the distance between two adjacent joint-sleepers is, and the loaded rail end will bend the deeper than the adjacent still un` loaded rail end, which means that the rollingstock will be shaken on passing from the one rail end over the gap to the other rail end, and the more so the more the wear and tear of the rails and the sh-plates has advanced. Even for quite new superstructu1es,when the loaded rail'end will bend very little below the level ofthe adjacent unloaded rail end, owing to the support afforded by the strong and unworn fish-plates,the shock given to the railroad-cars by the joint is quite distinct, and it will constantly increase in a considerable degree. Attempts have been made with little success to avoid these defects by placing the two joint-sleepers as near as possible to each other and by reducing the distances between the neighboring cross-sleepers. Of course there was a limit, sinceit was necessary to leave suficient space between the two adjacent joint-sleepers to pack the ballast. For

the ordinary Widths of the sleepers of from two hundred to two hundred and sixty millimeters it was, however, impossible to reduce the distance between the two joint-sleepers further than four hundred millimeters from This expedient proving in- Serial No. 160,925. (No model.)

sufficient, it has been tried in superstructu res with wooden ci'oss-sleepers to compound the two joint-sleepers and to form of them a single broad joint-sleeper and to place there on the two supporting plates, which remained distinct; but this trial was in vain. It is true thatin this arrangement the two supportpoints of the two adjacent rail ends can be placed near each other and at pleasure, so as v neath the rail-joint is widened and made of metal, since it is impossible to obtain wooden sleepers of the necessary width and quality out of the logs or timbers at disposal, and

` the metal sleeper affords the advantage that it will retain the perfect straightness of the common even surface required for receiving the two supporting-plates of the suspended rail joint, whereas wooden sleepers of a larger width are liable to warping and sloping, so that they are rendered unfit for the uniform support of the two suspended rail ends, which is required for the goed passage of the railroad-ears over the joint.

Second. The width of the metal crosssleepers beneath the suspended rail-joint is so proportioned with regard to the distance of the two supporting-plates from center to center as to prevent the sleeper from turning and to secure it under the load. Although the required width is to be found by calculation, as hereinafter stated, yet it is new to se proportion the width of the sleeper, and thereby to essentially improve on the suspended railjoint.

Third. The metal cross-sleeper beneath the suspended rail-joint is given a central rib in addition to the lateral wings, which central rib being located vertically between the two ICO YVation.

supporting-plates causes the ballast just beneath the two supporting-plates to be mostly compressed on being packed.

' Fourth. The unsymmetric suspended railjoint having a shorter giving-off rail end and a longer taking-up rail end, which is especially to be recommended for double tracks and which hitherto was known in the railroad literature only in connection with two vadjacent joint-sleepers, can be `placed with special advantage on the single metal crosssleeper, since the two suspended rail ends of unequal length are given a single and solid basis, which it is impossible to obtain by two adjacent joint-sleepers.

These novelties and improvements in the suspended rail-joint are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional view of a sleeper and the rail-supporting plates thereon in accordance with my invention, portions of two rails and a fish-plate being shown in side ele- Fig. 2 is a plan, partly in section,of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a cross-section through the rail, fish-plate, and sleeper. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the rail-supporting plate. Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. l, but showing the ends of the rails in a different position rela- `tively to the sleeper and rail-supporting plates. Fig. 6 is a plan of Fig. 5, partly in section. Fig. 7 is a sectional View through the rail, fish-plate, and sleeper shown in Fig. 5. Figs. 8, 9, and l0 are diagrams for the purpose of illustrating certain equations referred to hereinafter.

The hook-nailand plate systems now mostly in use in Germany are shown in Figs. l to 7,

Figs. l and 2 representing the symmetric and Figs. 5 and 6 the unsymmetric rail-joint. In bothl cases the width of the hollow sleeper S is more than three times the distance of the two supporting-plates V and V from center to center. Preferably these supporting-plates are slightly curved upward, as is shown at Fig. 4, so that the suspended rail ends, even if very abruptly shortened, may have a sufficient suspending length. In the cross-sec tion shown at Fig. 3 angle lish-plates L L are assumed in correspondence to Figs. l and 2, while in the cross-section shown at Fig. 7 Hat Jfish-plates L L are assumed in correspondence to Figs. 5 and 6. In the rail-joint according to thev three latter gures the railheads do not require to be supported by angle fish-plates, and this construction in which the fiat fish-plates are independent of the railfeet and supporting-plates may be employed if the rails are prevented from moving or shifting on the supporting-plates by other means, such as opposing fish-plates on the intermediate sleepers. Of course the broad cross-sleeper with the suspended rail-joint may also be employed in other superstructures with cross-sleepers-for instance, such having chair-rails, the two cast-iron chairs being placed on the single broad sleeper instead of on two joint-sleepers. In case the suspended rail ends are abruptly shortened, however, it will be necessary to slightly curve upward the supporting-surface for the lower rail-heads in the chairs, so as to support the rails only in the centers of the chairs.

In proof of the advantages of the present construction of the suspended rail-joint the following statement is made. In the suspended rail-joint on a single wooden cross-sleeper mentioned in the introductory Vpart of this the distance of the two supporting-plates from center to center is two hundred and siXty millimeters and the width of the sleeper four hundred and iifty millimeters. Let P equal the load by a wheel of a railroadcar, p d equal the specic stress on the bed thereby caused, p e' equal the specific stress and tug on the edges of the sleeper per square unit resulting from the turning moment. Then according to Fig. 8 the tug on the edge ot' the unloaded part of the sleeper will be so this edge will be lifted from the bed by a specific tug of 26-15 11 M Hp d Ep d,

resulting from 4'0 2 260 -l-pe-Q-. 450=P 2- Of course such an unstable joint-sleeper cannot be secure beneath a suspended rail-joint, and presumably this is the reason whya similar construction having been tried in South Italian railroads was not taken up elsewhere.

The improvement according to my invention is useful, for the reason that by proportioning the width of the hollow sleeper with regard to the distance of the supportingplates not only the tilting forcesare entirely avoided, but also a solid and secure position of the sleeper is obtained by distributing a proper pressure on the bed over the whole width of thesleeper. In order to cause the under side of the sleeper on its entire width 2 .fr to always exert a pressure on the ballast, it is, according to Fig. 9, necessary that onehalf of the width of the sleeper be at least equal to triple the distance of a supportingplate from the center ot' the sleeper, for

which, for instance, results in a width of the sleeper of six hundred millimeters for a dislOO IIO

rasees' e" a little larger than G ct, for in this case vnot only thc uniform stre-ssp d caused by the single load, but also and in a greater degree the stress p .e resulting from the bending mo ment P. a will decrease, as is proved by the following equations:

so that if 3 tt l); p e' p d and the diagram becomes a trapezium, whereby the difference between the stresses on the two edges will decrease if the width of the sleeper increases. The cross-section of such a joint-sleeper with a suspended rail-joint will be nearly equal to that of two joint-sleepers of the usual size.

It is a further novelty and an essential improvement that the central rib of the sleeper holds the ballast beneath the supportingplates and prevents it from shifting too much. I-Iitherto in the ordinary superstruotures with cross-sleepers such a central rib forming an abutment for the bedding of the ballast has not been made known or employed. lf there are any cross-sleepers with middle ribs, then the latter are placed immediately beneath the supportingplates themselves7 where they are rather disad vantageous as far as regards the uniform compression and packing of the ballast beneath the supporting-plates and over the-whole widthsvof the latter, since the material beneath each supportingplate requires to be packed uniformly, whereas in the hollow cross-sleeper with a central rib having the supporting-plates on both sides according to my invention the ballast beneath each supporting-plate need be packed from one side only.

For tracks on which the trains are regularly running in one and the same direction (with the exception of interrx1ptions)t'. e., for all twotrack main railroads-the unsym metric rail-joint is made use of r:in combination with the special construction of the suspended rail-joint according to my invention. As iswellknown,in the unsymmetric rail-joint the lengths of the two suspended rail ends are made unequal, and for the purpose aimed at the giving-off rail end is made shorter, so as to reduce as much as possible its deflection under the wheel load, while the taking-uprailend is made longer in order to offer little resistance to its deflection down to that ofthe other rail end. Then the shocks given to the railroad-cars will be far less violent than when the taking-up rail end is as long as the giving-off rail end. It is true that such a suspended rail-joint in which the free rail ends are unequal is already known, but then the two supporting-plates are invariably placed on separate sleepers, and hence the free rail ends in such a joint cannot be shortened as abruptlyas inthe jointon a single sleeper, since sufficient space must be left between the two adjacent sleepers for packing the ballast. The construction of such a joint according to my invention is shown at Fig. 5 in elevation aud at Fig. 6 in plan. Let the length of the giving-olf rail end be land its deflection under the load P. Then for the longer taking-up rail end of the length l1 a smaller load Pl will be required for producing the same deflection d, which is found as follows:

l For a proportion of l to l1 like two to three ine load P1 and also the reaction of the taki ing-up rail end against deflection will be 8 P I I H P' 1 P 27 aud for the proportion being like one to two Pl would be only 23. P S P.

In this proportion the shocks given to the railroad-cars will be decreased. TWere the load P to remain on the longer taking-up rail end of course it would produce a greater deflection than d-z. e., the wheel would sinkwhile for rail ends of equal lengths it would perceivably jump under the influence of the reaction of the elastic resistances. The mechanical work to be performed during the deflection, however, requires a certain time, during which the wheel passes on. The least shock is produced if the longer taking-up rail end of the length l1 sinks as easily as possible down to the deflection ofthe giving-o rail end of the length l while still retaining a sufficient power of resistance, so that a deeper sinking of the wheel on the taking-up rail end 0c- Acurs only at the moment when the wheel has traveled through the distance like the dilerence of l1 l-t'. e., occupiesa position at the distance of l from the center of the supporting-plate, in which case also the taking-up rail end will deect equally to the giving-off rail end under the same wheel load. The said difference l1.-l will have to vary with the varying wheel loads and velocities, and it should be ascertained by calculations and trials under the respective circumstances.`

The examination of the relations between the mechanical-work,the elastic resistances, their durations of time, and the velocities of the railroad-cars does not fall 'within the scope of this invention, which merely concerns the new technical effect of this perfecting of the unsymmetric suspended rail-joint in reducing the shocks of the railroad-cars.

IOO

Ils

The novelties and improvements described above in the suspended rail-joint cannot be obtained With` the ordinary wooden or iron cross-sleepers. Especially the central rib cannot be arranged in a practical manner when making the sleepers of wood. Preferably the metal joint-sleepers are provided with the usual head-plates on the ends to prevent them from shifting longitudinally.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1.- The combination With two rails arranged end to end and fish-plates connecting their adjacent ends, of a metal sleeper having a central, longitudinal vertical rib on its under surface, and a pair of rail-supporting plates between the sleeper and the rails, said plates being separated from each other and substantially equidistant from the said rib, for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with two rails arranged end to end and fish-plates connecting their adjacent ends, of a metal sleeper having a central, longitudinal Vertical rib on its under surface, and a pair of rail-supporting plates between the sleeper and the rails, said plates being separated from each other and substantially equidistant from the said rib, and the end of one rail extending a greater distance beyond its plate than does the end of the opposing rail beyond its plate, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a suspended rail-joint, a metal sleeper having a central longitudinal vertical rib on its under surface, and two rail-supporting plates on the sleeper separated from each other and substantially equidistaut from said rib, for the purpose set forth.

at. In a suspended rail-joint, a metal sleeper having a central longitudinal vertical rib on its under surface, and two rail-supporting plates on the sleeper separated from each other and substantially equidistant from said rib, and the width of the sleeper being equal to at least three times the distance from center to center of said plates, for the purpose set forth.

In Witness whereof l have hereunto signed my naine in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GO'ITFRIED HEINRICH JACOB MAAS.

Witnesses:

@Tiro KNIG, J. A. RITTERSHAUS.

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