Patent Application
20160312412
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates generally to railroad maintenance equipment, and, more particularly, to equipment for changing ties of a railroad.
As is well known, railroads are based on trains running on parallel metal rails. The rail road includes flat-bottom steel rails supported on timber crossties that are perpendicular to the rails. The ties are laid on crushed stone ballast. Each rail is placed on a tie plate disposed between the crosstie and the rail. The rail is held down to the crosstie with spikes that are driven through the tie plate to the crosstie. Additional tie anchors may be used to join the rail to the crosstie. The crosstie transfers the loads from the rails to the ballast and the ground underneath and holds the rails to the correct gauge. Typically, crossties are timber treated with creosote, copper-chrome-arsenic, or other wood preservative. The purpose of the ballast is to support the ties and allow some adjustment of their position, while allowing free drainage.
Railroads require periodic maintenance and replacement of worn out components such as crossties. For example, the crossties must be periodically inspected and replaced to maintain the rail gauge as well as insure the track transfers load. Replacement of crossties therefore must be performed quickly with a minimal amount of disturbance to the rails.
Currently, replacement of ties involves a tie gang that is a long series of machines that together march along the track, replacing bad crossties with new ones. From front to back, a tie gang includes machine operators to operate a sequence of machines such as spike pullers, spike reclaimers, tie cranes, tie extractor(s), anchor spreaders, tie cranes, tie inserters, tampers, plate placers, spike drivers, and surfacing machines to tamp the track and groom the ballast. There are also numerous workers on foot, handling tie plates and dealing with anomalies that come up where the machines have trouble. Old ties are marked with paint ahead of a tie gang, so the workers know which ties are to be replaced. New ties are typically distributed in bunches by another set of machines. Typically, this is done with a standard excavator running on top of a series of gondolas to bring the bunches of new ties near the rails. Near the front of the tie gang, a tie crane is used to distribute the bunches of ties so that a new tie is positioned next to each old tie that is to be replaced.
Currently, a “conventional” tie changing machine is used that operates by extracting ties with a mechanical arm while the rails are lifted above the tie to be pulled out. An example of a conventional tie changing machine is the TR-10 Tie Exchanger manufactured by Harsco Rail of Columbia, South Carolina. In order for the TR-10 to function, the spikes or clips must first be removed from the tie that is to be replaced. The conventional tie changing machine such as the TR-10 discards the tie plates and therefore requires a worker to manually pick up the tie plates and reposition them before the new ties may be inserted.
Following the tie removal, other, separate machines are used to spread the anchors and carefully position a new tie in line with the open crib. Additional conventional tie changing machines such as the TR-10 are used to insert the new ties. The inserters are followed by a tamping machine, additional laborers who reposition the tie plates on the new tie, and finally a plate inserter/rail lifter that slides the tie plates into their final position.
Thus, there is a need for a combined tie changing machine that can simultaneously hold the tie plates, spread the anchors, pull out the old tie, and insert a new tie, to save labor and machine costs. There is a further need for a tie changing machine having a similar construction as to existing excavators in order to facilitate the tie changing operation. There is a further need for a tie changing machine that is self-propelled and may remove ties from either side of a set of rails.
According to one example, a railroad tie changing machine for replacing a railroad tie is disclosed. The railroad tie extends laterally under two rails and is attached to the two rails via tie plates. The tie changing machine includes a tie changing boom moveable to one side of the two rails. The tie changing boom includes a gripping assembly for clamping the railroad tie. The tie changing boom is moveable between a proximate position and a distal position from the one side of the two rails to grip the tie and remove it from under the two rails. The tie changing machine includes a kicker located on the opposite side of the rails from the tie changing boom. The kicker is moveable to contact one end of the tie to move the tie toward the tie changing boom. The tie changing machine includes a pair of track jacks to raise the tracks at a location proximate to the tie. The tie changing machine includes a pair of tie plate clamps to hold the tie plates in place when the kicker moves the tie.
Another example is a method of replacing an old railroad tie mounted under two rails via tie plates using a tie changing machine including a tie gripper assembly, a tie plate clamp assembly, and a kicker assembly. The tie plates are clamped in place over the old railroad tie with the tie plate clamping assembly. The rails are jacked up. The tie gripper assembly is moved in proximity to one end of the old railroad tie via a boom arm from one lateral end of the track. The opposite end of the old railroad tie is pushed via a kicker assembly. One end of the old railroad tie is gripped via the gripper assembly. The boom assembly is moved to remove the old railroad tie from under the rails. One end of a new railroad tie is gripped via the gripper assembly. The boom assembly is moved to insert the new railroad tie in position under the rails.
Additional aspects of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the detailed description of various embodiments, which is made with reference to the drawings, a brief description of which is provided below.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The tie changing machine 100 also includes an operator cabin 120 and engine housing 122. The engine housing 122 includes an engine, which powers the hydraulic systems of the tie changing components of tie changing machine 100 as explained below. The engine housing 122 and operator cabin 120 are mounted on a rotatable platform 124, which is mounted on a base 126 that is mounted on the chassis 102.
As may be seen in
The tie changing machine 100 includes a kicker assembly 130 mounted on the engine housing 122 near one end of the rotatable platform 124 and a tie changing assembly 140 mounted on the opposite end of the rotatable platform 124. The kicker assembly 130 includes a swinging arm 132 that has one end rotatably attached to the bottom of the engine housing 122. The opposite end of the swinging arm 132 is attached to a cross member 134. The cross member 134 is substantially perpendicular to the swinging arm 132. The cross member 134 has one end that includes a contact plate 136 that has a surface area approximately the size of the end of a cross tie. The kicker assembly 130 includes a stabilization plate 138 that joins the cross member 134 to the swinging arm 132.
The kicker assembly 130 is hydraulically propelled between an up position where the swinging arm 132 is rotated to a position roughly parallel to the chassis 102 as shown in
The tie changing assembly 140 includes a mounting plate 142, which is attached to the top of the rotating platform 124. The mounting plate 142 includes two support walls 144 and 146 that support the rotation of one end of a boom 148. The boom 148 is articulated and has a first end 150 that is pivotably mounted to the support walls 144 and 146. The first end 150 is part of a main support 152, which is attached to an articulated secondary support 154. The boom 148 includes parallel supports 156 and 158.
An opposite end 160 of the boom 148 supports a gripping arm 162, which is pivotably mounted on an axis 164 supported by the opposite end 160 of the secondary support 154. The gripping arm 162 includes two parallel supports that pivot around the axis 164.
An end 170 of the gripping arm 162 mounts a tie gripping assembly 180. The tie gripping assembly 180 includes two clamp arms 182 and 184, which clamp onto opposite sides of a railroad cross tie 186 as shown in
When the main cylinder 202 is retracted, it pulls the arm 212 and pivots the translation linkage 210 around the pivot point 216 in a clockwise direction. When the main cylinder 202 is extended, it propels the translation linkage 210 in a counter clockwise direction and pushes the linkage 222 to rotate the swinging arm 132 of the kicker assembly 130 down.
As will be explained below, the tie changing assembly 140 operates in a similar fashion as a construction excavator. The tie changing assembly 140 includes a pair of boom cylinders 250 that each have a first end pivotably coupled to the mounting plate 142. The second ends of the boom cylinders 250 are mounted on pivot point 254 on the main support 152 of the boom 148. A top arm cylinder 260 has a proximal end pivotably attached to a pivot point 262 on the top of the gripping arm 162. The opposite, distal end of the top arm cylinder 260 is pivotably attached to the end of the gripping arm 162. A bottom arm cylinder 270 has a proximal end pivotably attached to a link member 272 on the bottom of the boom 148. The opposite, distal end of the bottom arm cylinder 270 is attached to the middle of the gripping arm 162. The arm cylinders 260 and 270 work in concert to provide additional force to rotate the arm 162.
The boom cylinders 250 may be extended to raise the boom 148 and gripper assembly 180 and may be retracted to lower the boom 148 and the tie gripping assembly 180. The top cylinder 260 and bottom cylinder 270 work in a complementary fashion to rotate the griping arm 162 around the end of the boom 148. The gripping arm 162 may be rotated away from the chassis 102 by retracting the top arm cylinder 260 and extending the bottom arm cylinder 270, causing the gripping arm 162 to rotate around the end of the boom 148. The gripping arm 162 may be rotated toward the chassis 102 by extending the top arm cylinder 260 and retracting the bottom arm cylinder 270. This causes the end of the gripping arm 162 attached to the tie gripping assembly 180 to be brought near the rail and ties.
A gripper cylinder 280 is attached between the gripping arm 162 and a linkage 282. The linkage 282 pivots on the arm 162 and has a rotating member 284 attached to the gripping assembly 180. The gripper cylinder 280 allows the gripping assembly 180 to be tilted in relation to a tie.
A ballast broom and tie guide attachment 290 is installed at the bottom of the chassis 102 between the rail/plate clamp assemblies 110 and 112. The attachment 290 may be rotated into place so that a series of brooms 292 may contact the top of the ties and brush away stray ballast on the ties. A tie guide 294 assists in insuring that a new tie is inserted in proper alignment with the tie plates and the rails as will be explained below.
The support frame 302 is coupled to the corresponding support frame of the rail/plate clamping assembly 112 by a cross frame bar 318. The front track gripping assembly 306 includes a cylinder 320 that powers a pair of articulating clamp arms 322 and 324 that grip the rail on one side of the tie. The rear track gripping assembly 306 includes a cylinder 330 that powers a pair of articulating clamp arms 332 and 334 that grip the rail on the opposite side of the tie. Once the clamp arms 322 and 324 and 332 and 334 grip the rails, hydraulic jacks at the bottom of the chassis 102 activate to lift the frame 302 and the rails that are held by the clamp arms 332 and 324.
The tie plate gripping assembly 310 includes a horizontal cylinder 350 that allows actuation and rotation of two grip arms 352 and 354. The grip arms 352 and 354 are attached to one end of a respective two curved pivot bars 360 and 362. The other end of the pivot bars 360 and 362 are rotatably attached to a rotating cam 364 to join the actions of the arms 352 and 354. When the horizontal cylinder 350 is extended, the grip arm 354 is moved in a counter-clockwise direction and through the pivot bars 360 and 362 rotates the other grip arm 352 in a clockwise direction. This action closes the grip arms 352 and 354 to grip the tie plate. When cylinder 350 is retracted, the grip arms 352 and 354 move apart and release the tie plate.
A lateral cylinder 370 allows the spreading of anchors on the tie. The cylinder 370 in this example is a dual cylinder arrangement that moves a sliding frame 372 forward and backward on a lateral track 374. The tie plate gripping assembly 310 is mounted on the sliding frame 372. Either end of the cylinder 370 may be extended. When both ends of the cylinder 350 are extended, the plate gripping assembly 310 moves to the forward position, sliding a front anchor away from the tie via the tie plate held by the grip arms 352 and 354. When both ends of the cylinder 370 are retracted, the plate clamp assembly 310 moves to the rear position, sliding the rear anchor away from the tie via the tie plate held by the grip arms 352 and 354. A pair of vertical cylinders 340 and 342 are retracted in order to move the plate gripped by the grip arms 352 and 354 up and hold it over the tie to be replaced. When the vertical cylinders 340 and 342 are extended, the plate is moved back to rest on the new tie.
As shown in
As shown in
The tie guide and the ballast broom assembly 290 are moved down to align with the bottom of the tie plates as shown in
Once the new tie 510 is inserted in the desired position, the tie guide and ballast broom assembly 290 retract. The kicker assembly 130 is retracted to the up position. The jacks are retracted and the rail clamp arms 322 and 324 and 332 and 334 release the grip on the rails 502 and 504. The rail/plate clamp assemblies 110 and 112 release and retract and thus the plates are placed in position on the new tie 510. The boom 148 lifts into the clear. The machine 100 is then driven to the next tie to be replaced. The tie gang workers may thus reattach the plates to the new tie 510 by inserting spikes via a spiker machine.
The complete automation of the tie replacement process provides savings in labor that was previously required to retrieve the tie plates manually, place tie plates manually, and operate various specialized machines. The integrated tie changing machine 100 also saves the previous need for separate machines for removing the tie, spreading anchors, handling ties, and inserting tie plates. The concept of using the top half of a machine similar to an excavator mounted to the rail-bound chassis 102 has several benefits. By using excavator parts that are proven and mass-produced, the expectation is that the machine as a whole can be simpler, less costly to build, and easier to maintain. The combined plate-holding tie remover/inserter functions of the tie changing machine 100 have the benefit of eliminating several machines and manual laborers from a typical tie gang. Tie removal and insertion are done by the same machine as opposed to separate machines in a typical gang. By holding the plates, the machine 100 eliminates the manual labor involved with collecting plates and placing plates, as well as eliminating conventional plate inserter machine(s). By using the plate clamps to spread the anchors, the anchor spreaders used in a typical tie gang are eliminated. With greater flexibility to grab the new sleeper, the tie crane that typically operates between the remover and inserters is eliminated.
Each of these embodiments and obvious variations thereof is contemplated as falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
