The present invention relates to machines for clearing railroad flangeways and similar grooves or channels.
Railroad flangeways are the grooves in road surfaces at level crossings that accommodate the rails of the railroad tracks. Gravel, sand, mud, ice, and snow and other debris can accumulate in these flangeways. Industry specific research indicates that clogged flangeways are a contributing factor in train derailments, which occurrences, sometimes catastrophic, generate substantial safety and liability issues. The potential results of such occurrences include extensive property and environmental damage, and personal injury. Also, there are effects on vehicular traffic and railroad productivity, caused by time delays due to slower train speeds in order to minimize the risk of derailment.
Clearing this debris presents a challenge. Conventional machines for clearing ground surfaces are concerned with clearing generally smooth surfaces, such as roads, and generally leave surface grooves untouched and may actually add to the debris accumulation in them.
Current practice is to clean rail flangeways with labour-intensive, manual application of shovels, switch brooms, picks, bars, air compressors, or front-end loaders with crow's-foot attachments. During the winter months, heated pitch may be manually applied to railway crossings to melt the ice and snow prior to the manual removal of debris. These existing methods for clearing rail flangeways are labour-intensive and time-consuming, factors that generate undesirable consequences.
According to the present invention there is provided a cleaner for clearing debris from a flangeway accommodating a rail of a railroad track, the cleaner comprising:
a vehicle adapted to travel along the track;
a cleaning head comprising;
a carrier for mounting the cleaning head on the vehicle for supporting the cleaning head above the flangeway for movement along the flangeway as the vehicle travels along the track, such that, as the cleaning head moves along the flangeway and the rotor is rotated, each cleaning element sweeps repeatedly along the groove to clear debris therefrom.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention the cleaner has two cleaning heads for simultaneously cleaning two parallel flangeways of a track. Similarly, the carrier may provide for variations in the vertical positioning of the cleaning heads.
To prevent electrical shorting across the rails, the cleaning heads are preferably electrically isolated from the remainder of the cleaner.
The debris dislodged by the cleaning elements may be propelled by the cleaning elements into a receiver mounted on the cleaning head. The accumulation of debris may be assisted by configuring the housing as the shroud of a centrifugal blower, and mounting a set of impeller blades on the rotor for producing a rotary air flow discharging tangentially from the housing into the receiver along with the debris
The use of the present cleaner provides a mechanical, power operated clearing of debris from flangeways. This obviates labour intensive, manual processes and the use of chemicals or heated pitch to remove ice and snow.
A detailed description of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is given in the following. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be construed as limited to this embodiment.
In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the present invention:
Referring to the accompanying drawings, there is illustrated an exemplary embodiment of a flangeway clearing machine or cleaner 10. For purposes of illustration, a typical flangeway is illustrated in cross section in
Referring to the remaining drawings, an in particular to
A track frame 22 is mounted on the back of the subframe 16 for pivotal movement about a second lateral axis 24. The track frame is linked to the uprights of the subframe by respective hydraulic cylinders 26.
At its trailing end 28, the track frame has two laterally oriented sleeves 30 which support a box beam 32 for sliding movement transversely of the frame. The beam 32 carries a cleaner head 34 at each end. To adjust the lateral position of the heads, a hydraulic cylinder 36 is coupled between one of the sleeves 30 and the beam 32.
Each of the cleaning heads 34 has a housing or shroud 38 with an arcuate upper peripheral wall 40 and a truncated, open base 42. At the front of the shroud, immediately above the base, is a rectangular discharge 44. This opens into a duct 46 that discharges into a vented, box-like collector 50. The shrouds are mounted on respective ends of the beam 32. The inner panel of each shroud is fitted with hooded air inlets 52, on opposite sides of, and adjacent the beam 32. To support each cleaning head 34 on a rail, it is equipped with flanged wheels 54 and 56 at the front of the collector 50 and the back of the shroud respectively. Within the shroud is a rotor 58. This includes a shaft 60 extending laterally into the shroud from the adjacent end of the beam 32. The shaft is driven by a hydraulic motor 62 (illustrated schematically in
The rotor hub is electrically isolated from the remainder of the cleaner by insulating plates 76 and 78 and insulating sleeves 80 for the mounting bolts. This prevents electrical shorting from one rail to the other.
For use, the frame is unfolded from the transport position shown in
As the cleaner is pulled along the track, the cleaning elements sweep along the flangeways and dislodge any debris therein. The debris is propelled forwardly by the cleaning elements and by the air flow produced by the rotating impellers. The combined effect discharges the debris tangentially from the discharge 44 into the vented collector for subsequent disposal.
While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been described in the foregoing, it is to be understood that other embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention and are intended to be included herein. It will be clear to any person skilled in the art that modifications of and adjustments to this invention, although not shown, are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention as demonstrated through the exemplary embodiment. Thus, for example it is to be understood that a machine with a single cleaner head will be useful in some applications and is intended to be included within the scope of this invention. The invention is applicable to all rail applications where flangeways are found. Additionally, while the present invention has been described in terms of its use in clearing railway flangeways, it is to be understood that the invention is applicable in other environments, and, in particular, has general application to the cleaning of grooves or slots, regardless of the location or end use of such grooves or slots. The invention is therefore to be considered limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2,450,827 | Dec 2003 | CA | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10954490 | Oct 2004 | US |
Child | 11586550 | Oct 2006 | US |