CA2682168C - Guide rail arrangement - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a guide rail arrangement (10) for a set of points or a crossing, comprising a grooved rail (14) with grooved rail head (16), groove (18), and lip (24), one side rail (26) extending along the grooved rail, one guide rail (12) adjustable relative to the rail head, as well as at least one adjusting device for adjusting the guide rail, which comprises one screw element (68) that passes through and fastens the guide rail. In order to facilitate making an adjustment of the guide rail relative to the grooved rail to the desired extent, it is intended that the screw element (68) passes through a screw nut (66) that is non-rotatable or substantially non-rotatable relative to the filler element (36), whereby the guide rail possesses on its lower side a contour profile, which runs along the longitudinal direction of the grooved rail and which is used to support the guide rail on a contour profile of the filler element.

Description

rt Guide rail arrangement The invention relates to a guide rail arrangement for a set of points or a crossing, com-prising a first rail, such as a Vignoles rail or grooved rail with grooved rail head, groove, and lip, one side element running along the Vignoles or grooved rail, such as a side rail, one preferably strip-shaped guide rail, which is adjustable relative to the head of the Vignoles rail or grooved rail, and which - if the rail is a grooved rail - rests on at least the lip or finished lip, as well as one adjusting device for adjusting the guide rail that comprises a screw element that passes through and fastens the guide rail.

Guide rails serve the purpose of guiding wheels through gaps in the track in the area of points or crossings. A corresponding arrangement is described in EP-B-O 830 480.
Along this arrangement extends a guide rail box, through which fastening means such as bolts, which are used to fasten the guide rail, are accessible to allow adjustments or re-placements. However, this complicates the design and structure of the set of points or the crossing, resulting in cost disadvantages.

In a guide rail arrangement in accordance with DE-U 1 -93 02 349, the guide rail is sup-ported both laterally on the grooved rail foot as well as at the lip.

In accordance with DE-U1-297 19 799, a guide rail can be adjusted relative to a grooved rail by way of a supporting element embodied as metal plate that originates in the grooved rail and can be welded to a profile strip, which possesses a slot running perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the grooved rail, whereby a nut for a bolt can be introduced into this slot and can be used to tighten a guide rail profile that is support-ed upon the lip of the grooved rail.

DE-U1-296 09 572 describes an adjustable guiding device. The fastening of a guide rail is accomplished using a screwed connection, which can be immobilized in a groove that is embodied between two cross bars, while the adjusting of the guide rail is effected via adjusting elements.

In a guide rail device in accordance with EP-B-1 518 026, a guide rail strip is adjustable by moving two wedge elements relative to each other.

Described in DE-A-102 09 198 is a guide rail that is connected to a trestle.
In order to vary the distance between the guide rail and a Vignoles rail, one introduces spacer plates of various thicknesses between the guide rail and the trestle. For the purpose of vertically adjusting the guide rail relative to the support, the respective contacting sur-faces of the spacer plate and the guide rail exhibit a textured surface.

It is the objective of the present invention to develop a guide rail arrangement in a struc-turally simple manner with few component parts, whereby adjustments of the guide rail should be possible to the desired extent in a simple manner. Adjusting the guide rail should be possible without having to open the track bedding or a box associated with the guide rail.

According to the invention, this objective is substantially met by the facts that the screw element engages into the inside thread of a wedge element, which pos-sesses on its element-facing side, i.e. side-rail-facing side, a first lateral surface extend-ing obliquely relative to the longitudinal axis of the screw element and on its opposite side that faces the rail, e.g. Vignoles or grooved rail, possesses a second face extending in parallel to the longitudinal axis of the screw element; that the first face extending obliquely is able to slide along a geometrically equidirectional first supporting surface of the side element, i.e. side rail, and the second lateral surface is able to slide along a geometrically equidirectional second supporting surface of a supporting element issuing from the guide rail, whereby the distance of the first lateral surface to the screw element decreases in the direction towards the guide rail, or that the screw element passes through a filler element, which supports the element rela-tive to the rail and which accepts a nut of the screw element in a non-rotatable or sub-stantially non-rotatable manner, whereby on its bottom side the guide rail possesses a contour profile, which extends along the longitudinal direction of the grooved rail and which is used to provide support for the guide rail on a preferably geometrically corre-sponding contour profile of the filler element or of an element issuing from the filler element.

The teaching of the invention, which in the following shall be explained using the ex-ample of grooved rails, creates the possibility of a continuously adjustable guide rail in accordance with a first variant and a step-wise adjustable guide rail in accordance with a second variant. Regardless of the particulars, only few constructional elements are re-quired in order to be able to shift and fasten the guide rail to the desired extent relative to the grooved rail, i.e. to shift the guide rail's head to achieve the desired groove width.
In this, the screw element is accessible from the top side of the guide rail, i.e. the head of the screw element is embedded in a recess extending on the upper side of the guide rail, so that the screw element is freely accessible. Consequently, neither opening the track bedding nor a guide rail box is necessary in order to align and fasten the guide rail with respect to the grooved rail.

The supporting element required for the continuous adjustability of the guide rail pref-erably possesses a block or cuboid shape and should be welded to the guide rail, i.e. its bottom side.

The first supporting surface extending in the side rail changes into a retaining surface that extends at an angle to the former and in turn changes into the inner lateral surface of the side rail.

Preferably, the geometric shape of the first supporting surface and the retaining surface corresponds to that of an oblique-angled V, whereby along the direction perpendicular to the side rail the retaining surface possesses a shorter extent than the first supporting surface.

The inside of the side rail is machined, in particular milled, to create the respective sur-faces.

Preferably the filler element comprises two plate elements, which extend separated by a distance from each other across the grooved rail between the fishing surface and the side rail, and which are connected via a cover plate element. The plate elements can also be referred to as filler plates and the cover plate element as cover plate.
Preferably, the filler plates are welded to the cover plate.

Independent of this, it is intended that in a plane extending perpendicular to the filler plates the cover plate exhibits a U-shaped geometry with a transverse leg that is oriented along the rail head or lip.

At least in some sections, the lateral legs of the cover plate exhibit a clearance that is less than the effective extent of the nut that is situated non-rotatably or substantially non-rotatably between the filler plates. This arrangement ensures that the bolt can be tightened or loosened to the desired degree in order to tighten or loosen the guide rail, which as explained above preferably is embodied in the shape of a strip.
Loosening the guide rail is required in order to move the guide rail.

In the case of step-by-step adjustability, the cover plate - in its outer surface facing the guide rail - preferably possesses a gear-tooth profile as contour profile to define the adjustment steps. The spacing of divisions of the profile can be in a range between 3 mm and 8 mm, preferably in the region of 6 mm, without this placing restrictions on the scope of the invention's teaching.

Guide rail arrangements comprise several filler elements. However, it is not necessary for all of the cover plates of filler elements to exhibit a structure such as a gear-tooth profile, in order to allow a step-by-step adjusting of the guide rail. Rather it is only nec-essary for a few of the filler elements to be embodied in this manner.

Moreover, it is also not necessary for the guide rail to possess a texture over the entire length of its bottom side. It is rather only necessary for a pattern to be present in the particular regions in which the filler elements or their cover plates possess a pattern.
With regard to the wedge elements that allow a continuous adjustability of the guide rail it should be pointed out that for example for a guide rail arrangement of typical length only three to four wedge elements are needed in order to ensure the required degree of adjustability of the guide rail relative to a grooved rail head in a set of points or a cross-ing.

Further details, advantages, and features of the invention are not only found in the claims, the characteristic features described therein, on their own and/or in combination, but also in the following description of preferred embodiment examples illustrated in the figures.

Figure 1 shows a top view onto a first guide rail arrangement.

Figure 2 shows a sectional view along the line Al-A1 of figure 1.
Figure 3 shows a sectional view along the line A-A- of figure 1.
Figure 4 shows a sectional view along the line B-B of figure 1.
Figure 5 shows a top view onto a second guide rail arrangement.
Figure 6 shows a sectional view along the line A-A of figure 6.
Figure 7 shows a sectional view along the line B-B of figure 6.
Figure 8 shows a sectional view along the line D-D of figure 7.
Figure 9 shows a perspective view of a filler element.

The figures, which on principle employ equal reference labels for identical elements, show guide rail arrangements and parts thereof that are intended for use in rail switches or crossings. In the following, for reasons of simplification, the invention is explained using the example of a track with grooved rails, but this is not to be interpreted as a lim-itation of the invention's teaching, which rather is applicable for all types of rails with associated guide rails. In this context, the elements that were described in connection with a grooved rail should be technically re-interpreted accordingly.

Figure 1 shows a first guide rail arrangement 10, for which it is possible to step-by-step move a guide rail 12 that is embodied as a strip - hereinafter also referred to as guide rail strip - relative to the head 16 of a grooved rail 14. The purpose of the guide rail 12 in this is to ensure that the width of the groove 18 in the middle region, which extends approximately between points 20 and 22 of the guide rail arrangement 10, is smaller than that in the end regions, as is also illustrated in the sectional views.
Moreover, the groove in the centre region should be of constant width along the entire length.

The sectional view Al-Al of figure 2 shows an enlarged view of the grooved rail 14 with head 16 and groove 18, whereby the groove - on the side further away from the head - is bordered by a lip 24. Alongside the grooved rail 14 extends a side rail 26 or a side element of equivalent action, which in particular consists of flat stock extending alongside the grooved rail 14.

A filler element 28 is provided between the side rail 26 and the grooved rail 14, sup-ports the latter two relative to each, and at least in the area where the guide rail 12 is to be adjusted relative to the rail head 16 possesses the design that is schematically illus-trated in figure 9.

A screw bolt element 30 is provided for the purpose of tightening the grooved rail 14 relative to the side rail 26 in a known manner.

The guide rail 12 is supported on the one side on the finished lip 24 and on the other side on a step-shaped notch 32 of the side rail 26. In addition, the guide rail 12 rests on a cover plate element, which is referred to as cover plate 34, 46 and is connected, e.g.
welded, to two filler plate elements 42, 44, which are referred to as filler plates and which extend at some distance from each other and rest upon the fishing surface of the grooved rail 14 on one side and on the inner side of the side rail 26 on the other. The screw bolt 30 extends between the filler plate elements 42, 44.

Figure 9 schematically illustrates the structure of a corresponding filler element. Shown is a filler element 36 that is also shown in the sectional view B-B of figure 4.
Irrespective of the particular design of the respective filler element 28, 36, the guide rail 12, i.e. the guide rail strip, rests with an areal contact surface upon the cover plate 34, 46 - also referred to as cover plate element - and consequently is supported by the filler element 28, 36.

As illustrated in the sectional view Al-Al, a pin or stud 38 passes through and is weld-ed to the end region of the guide rail 12 and also passes through the cover plate 34. In this, the stud 38 serves in the role of an axle in order to allow a certain degree of rotata-bility of the guide rail 12.

As further illustrated in the sectional view of figure 2, the guide rail 12 rests upon the lip 24 and with its rail-head-facing face 40 extends outside of the groove 18.
However, between the points 20, 22 of the guide rail arrangement 10, the guide rail 12 extends with its face 40 in closer proximity to the rail head 16, so that as a result the width of the groove 18 is reduced as desired. As a result of this, any wheel travelling on the rail 16 impacts on and wears down the face 16. Consequently the possibility of readjusting the guide rail 12 is required in order to be able to set the desired groove width.
In accord-ance with the embodiment example of figures l to 4 and 9, a step-by-step adjustment of the guide rail 12 can be achieved on the basis of the following design features.

As illustrated in figure 9 and different from the filler elements located outside the region of the guide rail arrangement delimited by the points 20, 22, the filler element 36 com-prises the cover plate 46, which is welded to the filler plates 42, 44 and which on its top side possesses a structure or contour profile 48 that runs along the longitudinal axis of the grooved rail and has a saw-tooth or gear-tooth shape. Furthermore, if observed in a top view the cover plate 46 exhibits a U-shaped geometry with a transverse leg 50 and lateral legs 51, 52. These are bordered by a slot 56 that possesses a width that is lesser on the transverse-leg side than at the front-face side. The corresponding sections are marked by the reference labels 58, 60 and merge into each other via a step 62.
As also illustrated in the schematic diagram, the forward slot 60 extending along the front-face side corresponds to the clearance between the filler plates 42, 44, i.e. it merges in a flush manner into the inner surfaces 64, 66 of the filler plates 42, 44. On the other hand, the inner section 58 ensures that the cover plate 46 protrudes inward over the inner surfaces 64, 66 of the filler plates 42, 44. This ensures that a nut 66 that is situated below the inner section 58 of the slot 56 can not be pulled out in the upward direction, whereby the effective extent of the nut 66, which preferably is embodied as a square nut, is coor-dinated with the width, i.e. the clearance between the inner surfaces 64, 66 of the filler plates 42, 44, substantially resulting in non-rotatability.

Into the screw nut 66 engages a bolt 68, which with its head 70 is inserted in a recess 72 situated on the top side of the guide rail 12. Consequently, a tightening of the bolt 68 results in the guide rail strip 12 being tightened or loosened relative to the cover plate 46 and thus the filler element 36.

Corresponding to the contour profile 50 of the cover plate 46, the guide rail strip 12 on its lower side possesses a geometrically matching pattern or contour profile 74, which facilitates an indexed adjustability of the guide rail 12 relative to the rail head 16. In order to shift the guide rail 12 it is only necessary for the bolt 68 to be loosened so that the guide rail 12 can be distanced from the surface, i.e. contour profile 50, of the cover plate, so that the guide rail can be shifted relative to the rail head 16.
Subsequently the bolt 68 is tightened to fasten the guide rail 12. The maximum adjustment range is lim-ited by the length of the rear section 58 of the slot 56 in the cover plate 46.

As illustrated in the sectional view A-A of figure 3, which displays a region outside of the area of the guide rail arrangement 10 defined by the points 20, 22 -namely the left edge of the drawing of figure 1 - the guide rail 12 is secured in this region by a corre-sponding bolt 68 as well, which engages into a nut 64 corresponding to figure 4, which is situated below a cover plate that on principle corresponds to the one of figure 2 and consequently is identified by the reference label 34. Accordingly, the filler element itself - which possesses a design like the filler element 36 - is labelled 28, however the cover plate neither is nor has to be contoured on its top side.

The filler plates 42, 44 consist of metal and possess a thickness of between 10 mm and 20 mm, in particular approximately 15 mm. In comparison, the cover plate 46 should possess a thickness of between 15 mm and 25 mm, preferably approximately 20 mm.
Furthermore, the width of the cover plate 46 should be such that it protrudes laterally beyond the outer surfaces of the filler plates 42, 44, in order to allow problem-free welding.

Figures 5 to 8 illustrate a further variant of a guide rail arrangement 100, which with respect to the fastening of the guide rail 12 or guide rail strip corresponds to the guide rail arrangement of figures 1 to 4, so that the same reference symbols are employed for identical elements. In addition, the design illustrated in the sectional views in figures 6 and 7 is substantially the same as well. In other words, the guide rail 12 is fastened by bolts 68, which pass through the guide rail and engage into square nuts 66, which below cover plates 34 are secured non-rotatably between the filler plates 42, 44 of filler ele-ments 36. In accordance with the sectional views A-A and B-B, this allows the option of adjusting the guide rail 12 to the desired extent relative to the lip 24 in order to achieve the desired groove width. Regardless, a secure fixed positioning is ensured by the fact that in accordance with figure 8 one or several adjusting devices are provided outside of the filler elements 36 in the region of the guide rail arrangement 100, in which the groove width is to be reduced and the face 40 of the guide rail 12 is to extend in parallel to the inner surface of the rail head 16. Figure 5 purely schematically indi-cates this region using the points 20, 22.

In the respective region it is possible by means of one or several adjusting devices 102, which are illustrated in figure 8, to affect a continuous adjustability of the guide rail 12 relative to the rail head 16. For this purpose, the adjusting device 102 is embodied as follows: from the lower side 104 of the guide rail 12 projects a block 106 with a cuboid shape that is welded to the guide rail 12. The block 106 possesses on its side facing the side rail a supporting surface 108, which extends along the side rail 26 and in parallel to the longitudinal axis 110 of a screw element 112, using which the guide rail strip 12 is tightened and consequently fastened or released. The longitudinal axis 110 of the screw element 112 extends in parallel to the vertical axis of the grooved rail 14 or the side rail 26.

The bolt 112, i.e. its exterior thread, engages into the interior thread of a cube-shaped wedge element 114, which with a face 116 running on the rail-side is in areal contact with - and extends geometrically equidirectional to - the supporting surface 108. The opposing face 118 extends obliquely relative to the longitudinal axis 110 of the screw element 112, whereby the distance to the guide rail 12 decreases as one approaches the bolt 112. The face 118 is supported in a sliding manner on a geometrically equidirec-tional supporting surface 120 of the side rail 26. An appropriate geometry facilitates a continuous adjustability of the guide rail 12 relative to the rail head 16. If the wedge element 114 is shifted towards the guide rail 12 by twisting the bolt 112, the guide rail 12 of the embodiment example will correspondingly travel in the direction of the rail head 16. If on the other hand, the wedge element 118 is lowered, then this distance in-creases.

The supporting surface 120 changes into a retaining surface 122, which ensures - in the event that the bolt 112 is screwed out of the wedge element 114 - that the latter will re-main between the block 106 and the supporting surface 120.

As illustrated in the sectional view, the supporting surface 120 and the retaining surface 122 exhibit the shape of an unequal-sided V, whereby the extent of the retaining surface 122 perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the side rail 26 is less than that of the sup-porting surface 120.

The variant illustrated in figures 5 to 8 thus allows the option of a continuous adjustabil-ity of the guide rail 12, whereby outside of the adjusting device 102, the fastening of the guide rail is accomplished via filler elements, which have been described in connection with figures 1 to 4. However, the corresponding filler elements do not possess any cov-er plates with an exterior structure. Rather, the guide rail 12 with its smooth bottom side rests upon cover plates 34 with smooth or plane top surfaces.

Even though the invention has been explained above using the example of grooved rails, this is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. The invention is also applicable to tracks with Vignoles rails, for example. The elements are to be embodied accordingly.
In so far, the chosen terms are to be seen as carrying a universally applicable content.

Claims (26)

1. A guide rail arrangement (100) for a set of points or a crossing, comprising:
a first rail (14) with a rail head (16);

a side element (26) running along the first rail (14), the side element having a supporting surface (120);

a guide rail (12), the guide rail being adjustable relative to the rail head;

at least one adjusting device (102) for adjusting the guide rail (12), the adjusting device comprising a screw element (112) that passes through and fastens the guide rail (12), the screw element (112) having a longitudinal axis (110);

a supporting element (106) extending outwards from the guide rail (12), the sup-porting element having a supporting surface (108);

a wedge element (114), the wedge element having a first face (118) extending obliquely relative to the longitudinal axis (110) of the screw element (112), the first face (118) facing, being slidable along and being geometrically equidirec-tional to the supporting surface (120) of the side element (26), the distance be-tween the first face and the screw element decreasing towards the guide rail, and the wedge element having a second face (116) running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the screw element, the second face (116) facing the first rail (14), the se-cond face (116) being slidable with and geometrically equidirectional to the sup-porting surface (108) of the supporting element (106), and the wedge element hav-ing an internal screw thread, the screw element (112) engaging into the internal screw thread of the wedge element (114).

2. A guide rail arrangement (10) for a set of points or a crossing, comprising:

a first rail (14) having a rail head (16) and a longitudinal direction;
a side element (26) running along the first rail;

a guide rail (12), the guide rail being adjustable relative to the rail head, the guide rail (12) having a lower side with a contour profile (74) which runs along the lon-gitudinal direction of the first rail (14);

at least one adjusting device (102) for adjusting the guide rail (12), the adjusting device comprising a screw element (66, 68) that passes through and fastens the guide rail (12), the screw element including a screw nut (66);

a filler element (28) which supports the side element (26) against the rail (14) and which accommodates the screw nut (66) in a substantially non-rotatable manner, the filler element (28) is configured such that the screw element (68) passes through the filler element (28), the filler element having a contour profile (48), the contour profile (74) of the guide rail (12) being used to operatively support the guide rail on the contour profile (48) of the filler element.

3. The guide rail arrangement of claim 1, wherein the supporting element (106) has a cuboid shape.

4. The guide rail arrangement of claim 1, wherein the supporting element (106) is connected to the guide rail (12).

5. The guide rail arrangement of claim 1, wherein the side element (26) has a retain-ing surface (122) which extends obliquely relative to the supporting surface (120) of the side element and the side element has an inner lateral surface, the retaining surface (122) of the side element extending between the supporting surface (120) of the side element and the inner lateral surface of the side element.

6. The guide rail arrangement of claim 5, wherein the side element has an inside sur-face facing the first rail and wherein the supporting surface (120) of the side ele-ment (26) and the retaining surface (122) of the side element are formed by ma-chining the inside surface of the side element, said inside surface facing the first rail.

7. The guide rail arrangement of claim 5, wherein the supporting surface (120) of the side element (26) and the retaining surface (122) of the side element (26) form an oblique-angled V-shape.

8. The guide rail arrangement of claim 2, wherein the contour profile (48) of the fill-er element (28) and the contour profile (74) of the guide rail (12) are gear-tooth profiles.

9. The guide rail arrangement of claim 8, wherein the gear-tooth profiles have a spacing between teeth of between 3 mm and 8 mm.

10. The guide rail arrangement of any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the guide rail (12) has a side facing away from the first rail, and wherein the side element has a step-shaped notch (32), said side of the first rail being supported by the step-shaped notch (32) of the side element.

11. The guide rail arrangement of claim 2, wherein the first rail (14) has a finishing surface and wherein the filler element (28) comprises two spaced-apart plate ele-ments (42, 44) and a cover plate element (34), the plate elements extending across the first rail (14) between the fishing surface of the first rail and the side element (26).

12. The guide rail arrangement of claim 11, wherein the cover plate element (34) is u-shaped and includes lateral legs (52, 54) and a transverse leg (50) that extends along the guide rail (12).

13. The guide rail arrangement of claim 11, wherein the cover plate element (34) is u-shaped and includes lateral legs (52, 54) and a transverse leg (50) that extends along the lip (24) of the first rail (14).

14. The guide rail arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 13, wherein the nut (66) has an effective extent and is situated non-rotatably between the plate el-ements (42, 44) and wherein the cover plate element (34) has a clearance between the lateral legs (52, 54) of the cover plate element (34) that is, at least in some sec-tions, less than the effective extent of the nut (66).

15. The guide rail arrangement as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 13, wherein the filler element (28) has a slot (56) extending between the lateral legs (52, 54) of the cover plate element (34), the slot having an inner section (58) and an outer section (60), and wherein the inner section of the slot has an inner width smaller than that of the outer section (60).

16. The guide rail arrangement of claim 15, wherein the plate elements (42, 44) have surfaces (64, 66) that face each other, and wherein the outer section (60) of the slot (56) merges flush into said surfaces (64, 66) of the plate elements (42, 44) that face each other.

17. The guide rail arrangement of claim 14, wherein the filler element (28) has a slot (56) extending between the lateral legs (52, 54) of the cover plate element (34), the slot having an inner section (58) and an outer section (60), wherein the inner section of the slot has an inner width smaller than that of the outer section (60) and wherein the screw nut (66) is arranged below the inner section (58) of the slot (56).

18. The guide rail arrangement of claim 2, wherein the guide rail arrangement (10) comprises several filler elements (28), and whereby at least one cover plate ele-ment (34) of one of the filler elements possesses the contour profile (48).

19. The guide rail arrangement of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the first rail is a Vignoles rail.

20. The guide rail arrangement of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the first rail is a grooved rail, the guide rail having a groove (18) and a lip (24), wherein the rail head (16) is grooved, and wherein the guide rail (12) rests upon at least the lip (24).

21. The guide rail arrangement of any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein said side ele-ment is a side rail (26).

22. The guide rail arrangement of any one of claims 1 to 21, wherein the guide rail is strip-shaped.

23. The guide rail arrangement of claim 4, wherein the supporting element (106) is connected to the guide rail (12) by welding.

24. The guide rail arrangement of claim 6, wherein the supporting surface (120) of the side element (26) and the retaining surface (122) of the side element (26) are formed by milling the inside surface of the side element.

25. The guide rail arrangement of claim 2, further including another element (34) ex-tending from the filler element (28), said another element (46) having a contour profile (50), the contour profile (74) of the guide rail (12) being used to support the guide rail on the contour profile (50) of said another element (34).

26. The guide rail arrangement of claim 25, wherein said another element (34) is a cover plate.