Claims
- 1. A tie replacement vehicle comprising:
- (a) a main frame having a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels;
- (b) a lifting means having a portion disposed at a rail level corresponding to a pair of rails upon which said wheels are supported, said lifting means, mounted at a first end of said main frame, provided for lifting ties from said pair of rails to above said main frame;
- (c) a lowering means having a portion disposed at said rail level, said lowering means, mounted at a second end of said vehicle opposite said first end, provided for lowering ties from above said main frame to on top of the pair of rails;
- (d) movement means to selectively move ties over said main frame from said lifting means to said lowering means; and
- (e) a tie inserter supported by said main frame and including a first tie clamp for clamping ties, said tie inserter arranged to receive a tie previously placed above said main frame by said lifting means and to insert the tie under the pair of rails while the tie is clamped by said first tie clamp, and wherein said tie inserter includes an extendable boom extendable in a boom direction transverse to a lengthwise direction of said vehicle and a rotatable tie inserter head having said tie clamp mounted to said boom, said rotatable tie inserter head rotatable relative to said boom about a substantially horizontal axis, and said tie inserter is arranged to insert ties under the pair of rails by retraction of said boom.
- 2. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 1, wherein said tie inserter is arranged to remove old ties from a road bed.
- 3. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 1, wherein said substantially horizontal axis extends parallel to the lengthwise direction of the vehicle.
- 4. A tie replacement vehicle comprising:
- (a) a main frame having a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels;
- (b) a lifting means having a portion disposed at rail level corresponding to a pair of rails upon which said wheels are supported, said lifting means, mounted at a first end of said main frame, provided for lifting ties from said pair of rails to above said main frame;
- (c) a lowering means having a portion disposed at said rail level, said lowering means, mounted at a second end of said vehicle opposite said first end, provided for lowering ties from above said main frame to on top of the pair of rails;
- (d) movement means to selectively move ties over said main frame from said lifting means to said lowering means;
- (e) a tie inserter supported by said main frame and including a first tie clamp for clamping ties, said tie inserter arranged to receive a tie previously placed above said main frame by said lifting means and to insert the tie under the pair of rails while the tie is clamped by said first tie clamp; and
- (f) a tie feeding arm mounted to said main frame and having a feed gripper, and said tie inserter receiving a tie from above said main frame by way of said tie feeding arm.
- 5. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 4, wherein said tie feeding arm only moves a tie perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of said vehicle and within a vertical new tie movement plane.
- 6. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 4 wherein said tie feed arm includes a first member mounted to said main frame, a second member pivotably mounted to said first member and having said feed gripper mounted to said second member, and a swing means to pivot said second member relative to said first member.
- 7. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 6 wherein said second member extends at least partly in a lengthwise direction of said vehicle.
- 8. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 7 wherein said tie inserter includes an extendable boom extendable in a boom direction transverse to a lengthwise direction of said vehicle and a rotatable tie inserter head having said tie clamp mounted thereon, said rotatable tie inserter head rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis relative to said boom, and said rotatable tie inserter is arranged to insert ties under the pair of rails by retraction of said boom.
- 9. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 8, wherein said tie clamp is arranged to clamp ties disposed parallel to and offset from said boom direction.
- 10. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 8, wherein said tie feeding arm only moves a tie perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of said vehicle and within a vertical new tie movement plane, and said tie clamp is arranged to clamp ties when disposed in said vertical new tie movement plane.
- 11. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 4 wherein said tie feeding arm turns a tie upside down as it moves the tie from above said main frame to said tie inserter.
- 12. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 11 wherein said tie inserter includes an extendable boom extendable in a boom direction transverse to a lengthwise direction of said vehicle and a rotatable tie inserter head having said tie clamp mounted thereon, and wherein said boom is disposed below said main frame.
- 13. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 12, wherein said boom is pivotally mounted to said main frame by a pivot means having a horizontal axis extending perpendicular to said boom direction.
- 14. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 11, wherein said tie clamp is movably mounted to said boom by a mounting means for allowing shifting a tie transversely to said boom direction.
- 15. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 4 wherein said first tie clamp clamps a tie while it is gripped by said feed gripper.
- 16. A tie replacement vehicle comprising:
- a main frame having a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels;
- a tie holding station on the vehicle for holding new ties for insertion;
- a tie handling means including a tie feeding arm means for directly gripping a new tie in said holding station and lowering said new tie from said holding station, and a tie inserter means for receiving said new tie directly from said tie feeding arm means and inserting said new tie under a pair of rails;
- said tie feeding arm means including means for allowing said tie feeding arm means to pivot about a horizontal pivot axis extending in a lengthwise direction of said vehicle; and
- said tie inserter means including an arm means and a tie clamping means mounted at one end of said arm means, said clamping means receiving said new tire directly from said tie feeding arm means and inserting said new tire under said pair of rails.
- 17. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 16, wherein said tie feeding arm means only moves a tie perpendicularly to a lengthwise direction of said vehicle and within a vertical new tie movement plane.
- 18. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 16, wherein said tie feeding arm means includes a first member mounted to said main frame, a second member pivotally mounted to said first member, a feed gripper mounted to said second member, and a swing means to pivot said second member relative to said first member, and wherein said second member extends at least partly in a lengthwise direction of said vehicle.
- 19. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 16 wherein said arm means includes a boom extendable in a boom direction transverse to a lengthwise direction of said vehicle.
- 20. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 19 wherein said boom is disposed below said main frame.
- 21. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 16 further comprising a tie pickup mounted at an end of said main frame and having a pickup clamp, said tie pickup operable to move ties from resting on the rails to above said main frame, and further comprising movement means to selectively move ties over said main frame.
- 22. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 21 further comprising an operator cab mounted to said main frame by way of supports and wherein said movement means moves ties horizontally below said operator cab and above said main frame.
- 23. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 21 wherein said tie pickup is operable to move ties by moving said pickup clamp along a vertical member.
- 24. The tie replacement vehicle of claim 16 further comprising a tie guide mounted to said main frame via a tie guide cylinder, said tie guide cylinder arranged for lowering said tie guide relative to said main frame into a position for preventing said new tie, during being inserted under the pair of rails, from catching on a rail and a tie plate.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 512,206 filed Apr. 20, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,424, in the names of Harry Madison and G. Robert Newman, two of the inventors herein. That application is hereby incorporated by reference.
US Referenced Citations (18)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
512206 |
Apr 1990 |
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