GB2077675A

GB2077675A - Railway vehicle arrestor

Info

Publication number: GB2077675A
Application number: GB8112174A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-05-21
Filing date: 1981-04-16
Publication date: 1981-12-23
Also published as: GB2077675B

Abstract

Runway rail vehicles such as trucks speeding downhill in a mine are slowed and arrested by the provision of an apparatus including a trolley (7) which is movably mounted on support means (3') which support shearable members (5). The trolley (7) has contact members which, when abutted or engaged by a part of a runaway rail vehicle, enable the trolley (7) to move with the rail vehicle. As the trolley (7) moves in such manner, a shearing member provided thereon shears through the shearable members (5) one by one. Energy is used in the process of shearing and eventually the kinetic energy of the rail vehicle is reduced to zero at which point the vehicle is arrested. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Railway vehicle arrestor The present invention relates to a slowing/arresting apparatus and method and more particularly relates to an apparatus for and a method of slowing and/or arresting a rail vehicle.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of slowing and/or arresting a rail vehicle which comprises abutting or engaging a part of the rail vehicle with at least one contact member provided on a trolley which trolley is movably mounted on support means which support a series of shearable members whereby the trolley travels with the rail vehicle, and then shearing at least some of the shearable members with a shearing member provided on said trolley.

In a further aspect the present invention provides an apparatus for slowing and/or arresting a rail vehicle which comprises a series of shearable members, support means for supporting the shearable members, and a trolley movably mounted on the support means and having a shear member and an apparatus for slowing and/or arresting a rail vehicle which comprises a series of shearable members, support means for supporting the shearable members, and a trolley movably mounted on the support means and having a shear member and a contact member, the contact member being such as to be able to abut or engage a part of the rail vehicle when said rail vehicle is travelling in a given direction and whereby the trolley travels with the rail vehicle and causes the shearing member thereof to contact and shear successive shears shearable members in the series.

The trolley for use in the present invention is movable with respect to the support means and is conveniently provided with wheels which constrain the trolley to run along the support means. The contact member is preferably movable between a first and a second position wherein the contact member is movable between a first and a second position, the first position permitting passage of the rail vehicle over the trolley and the second position being such that the rail vehicle abuts or engages therewith and when travelling in the given direction.

When the rail vehicle is travelling in a direction opposite to the given direction, the first position of the or each contact member may allow passage of the rail vehicle over the trolley whilst the second position thereof causes the contact member to abut or engage the rail vehicle whereby the trolley moves with the vehicle.

The contact member may be biassed to its second position by suitable biassing means, preferably by a pivoting and weighting arrangement and the contact member may be so designed that a rail vehicle travelling in the direction opposite to the given direction will trip the contact member to its first position to permit passage of the vehicle and the contact member will then return to its second position by virtue of the biassing means.

Advantageously the support means comprises two generally parallel elongate members defining a channel therebetween the shearable members extending across the channel between said elongate members.

Most preferably, each elongate member is of U-shaped channel section, the two channel section members being arranged in back-toback fashion. Normally, the elongate members are mounted on the sleepers upon which the rails themselves are mounted.

The trolley may be provided with wheels which engage the upper and lower surfaces of the upper flanges of the U-shaped channel sections whereby the trolley is constrained to run along the support means.

The shearable members may be any members which may be sheared by the shearing member of the trolley when the trolley is travelling with the rail vehicle in the given direction. The shearable members may be pins, preferably of brass, which are held at both their ends by passing through the elongate members defining the channel. Such pins may optionally be necked at their ends and may be designed so that the parts thereof not removed by the shearing member are self ejecting from the support member.

The present invention finds application in circumstances where it is desired to halt a runaway, especially unmanned, rail vehicle for example on a downhill section of railway in a mine. One apparatus according to the present invention may be provided on short gradients but on longer gradients a plurality of spaced apparatus may be provided along the length of the gradient.

A runaway rail vehicle will either be stopped by the first apparatus due to the reduction in kinetic energy thereof caused by the energy needed to cause shearing of the shearable members or else will be successively slowed being each apparatus until it is stopped. In one specific example, on a 1 in 4 gradient, an apparatus of the present invention having a length of 1 5.2my (SOft) having shearable pins with 5.1 mm (2") centres will be spaced every 54. 7m (soys) and the shearable pins will be desirably such that a runaway rail vehicle weighing 10.2 tonnes (10 tons) travelling at 32.2 k.p.h. (20 m.p.h.) will be arrested in 1 5.2m (SOft) or less.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic, partly broken-away side-view of an apparatus of the present invention installed upon a gradient having a track for rail vehicles thereon; Figure 2 is a transverse cross-section of a track including an apparatus of the present invention; and Figure 3 is a perspective view on a iarger scale of a preferred trolley for use in the present invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a rail vehicle 1 is mounted upon inclined rails 2, 2'. In between the rails 2, 2' are positioned two elongate support members 3, 3' in the form of back-to-back U-shaped channel section members. The longitudinal axes of the members 3, 3' are parallel to each other and to the longitudinal axes of the rails 2, 2'. As may be seen from Figs. 1 and 2 the rails 2, 2' and the members 3, 3' are mounted on sleepers 4, the rail 2' of Fig. 1 having been cut away between the lines A-A' to show clearly the horizontal positioning of the member 3'. Fixed across, and supported by the members 3, 3', is a series of shear pins 5. Each shear pin 5 is held in position by two screw-on nuts 6 and 6a.As may be seen from Fig. 1, there is a zone at the uphill end of the members 3, 3' where no shear pins are present, and in that zone a trolley 7 is movably mounted on the flat topped flanges 11 and 11' tops of the members 3 and 3'.

Referring to Fig. 3, the trolley is provided with wheels which engage the flanges 11 and 11', two pairs of wheels 1 2 each being mounted on common axles 14 which are supported in a vertically disposed plate 1 5. In addition a further pair of wheels 20 engage the undersurface of the flanges of the channel members 3 and 3' at a position intermediate the axes of the wheels 1 2 to constrain the trolley to run along the channel members 3 and 3'.

As can be seen from Fig. 3, the plate 1 5 extends downwardly into the channel defined by the two members 3 and 3' to below the level of the pins 5 and the leading edge 1 spa thereof serves as the shearing member of the apparatus.

Two carrier arms 1 3 extend from the plate 1 5 and carry a pivot member 1 7 upon which are mounted a pair of contact members 1 8 and 1 9 having respective contact faces 1 8 a and 1 9a. The contact members can pivot about the pivot member 1 7 and are both biassed into the second position shown in Fig.

3 by means of a weight 21. In order to limit the pivotal movement a stop 22 extends from the arm 1 3 and engages with a co-operating recess 23 on the contact member. If desired a second stop (not shown) can be provided to reduce or eliminate the load on the pivot member 1 7 when the contact member is contacted by a vehicle.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows.

When the rail vehicle 1 is travelling out of control downhill in the direction of arrow V, the leading portion 9 of the rail vehicle 1 will eventually contact the contact faces 1 8a, 1 9a of the trolley 7. Thereafter, the trolley 7 travels with the rail vehicle 1 whereby the first pin 5 of the series will be contacted and then the series of pins 5 will be sheared one by one until enough energy has been used in shearing the pins 5 to stop the vehicle 1 completely.

If the rail vehicle is travelling in the same direction as referred to above but in a controlled manner, the rail vehicle will be stopped adjacent the trolley 7 and the contact members 18 and 1 9 will be lowered by rotation about their pivots in a clockwise sense to their first position and held in that position whereupon the rail vehicle can pass over the trolley 7 without contacting it and thus also without causing shearing of the pins 5. After passage of the rail vehicle, the force used to hold the contact members 18, 1 9 in their first position is removed whereupon, because of the unsymmetrical weighting about their pivotal axis, the members 18, 1 9 will automatically return to their second position in readiness of slowing any runaway rail vehicles which may follow.

When a rail vehicle is travelling in the opposite direction, the vehicle will contact the reverse side of the members 1 8 and 1 9 to that having the faces 1 8a and 1 9a and the members will be depressed by pivoting into their first position whereby the vehicle may pass thereover. After passage of the vehicle the contact members 18, 1 9 automatically return to the second position.

Claims

1. An apparatus for slowing and/or arresting a rail vehicle which comprises a series of shearable members, support means for supporting the shearable members, and a trolley movably mounted on the support means and having a shear member and a contact member, the contact member being such as to be able to abut or engage a part of the rail vehicle when said rail vehicle is travelling in a given direction and whereby the trolley travels with the rail vehicle and causes the shearing member thereof to contact and shear successive shears shearable members in the series.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the contact member is movable between a first and a second position, the first position permitting passage of the rail vehicle over the trolley and the second position being such that the rail vehicle abuts or engages therewith and when travelling in the given direction.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the contact member is normally biassed to its second position

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein the contact member is pivotally mounted on the trolley.

5. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 wherein the support means comprises two elongate members defining a channel therebetween, the shearable members extending across the channel between said elongate members.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the shearing member is a plate which extends into the channel.

7. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6 wherein the shearable members are shearable pins.

8. An apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 7 in which the trolley is provided with wheels to constrain the trolley to run along the support means.

9. An apparatus for slowing and/or arresting a rail vehicle substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

10. A method of slowing and/or arresting a travelling rail vehicle which comprises abutting or engaging a part of the rail vehicle with at least one contact member provided on a trolley which trolley is movably mounted on support means which support a series of shearable members whereby the trolley travels with the rail vehicle, and then shearing at least some of the shearable members with a shearing member provided on said trolley.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9 wherein the shearable members are shearable pins.

1 2. A method as claimed in claim 9 substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.