US3451349A - Sleeper positioning machine - Google Patents

Description

' June 24,1969 W.J.YARD 3,451,349

SLEEPER POSITIONING MACHINE Filed June 2, 1967 sheet of 4 f/ gig" l June 24, 1969 Filed June 2, 1967" FIE Z W. J. YARD SLEEPER POSITIONING MACHINE Sheet of`4 June 24, 1969 A w1. YARD 3,451,349

SLEEPER POSIUONING MACHINE Filed Junfz, 1967 sheet 3 of 4 Jude 24, 1969 W, J YARD 3,451,349

SLEEPER POS ITIONING MACHINE UnitedStates Patent O 3,451,349 SLEEPER POSITIONING MACHINE William J. Yard, Cavan, South Australia, Australia, assignor to Australian Railway Equipment Supply Cornpany Proprietary Limited, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia and Trak-Chief Manufacturing Proprietary Ltd., Cavan, South Australia, Australia Filed June 2, 1967, Ser. No. 643,216

Int. Cl. E01b 27/17 U.S. Cl. 104-9 4 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A sleeper positioning machine having rail clamps to clamp a pair of rails and sleeper grips movable forwardly to engage a sleeper, hydraulic rams operatively connected between the rail clamps and sleeper grips to move a sleeper beneath lthe rails when clamped.

This invention relates to a machine which is suitable for positioning a sleeper (or tie) beneath a railroad track.

When sleepers become displaced beneath the rails of the track, or when the spacing between the sleepers is to be reduced, for example to allow the track to support heavier locomotives, it becomes necessary to move the sleepers beneath the rails. Heretofore this has been done mainly by hand, and although machines have been proposed which will achieve this hydraulically, these machines have been very cumbersome and inefficient, and in some cases they have been discarded in preference to the hand operation. The main object of this invention therefore is to provide a machine which will be eicient and quick in moving sleepers beneath rails, and which will not require the attention of more than one or two operators.

In its simplest form the invention may be said to consist of a main frame, rail engaging wheels supporting the main frame, a rail clamp on each side of the main frame, the rail clamps being adapted to firmly clamp a pair of rails when the rail engaging wheels are supported thereby, a pair of sleeper grips one on each side of the main frame, each sleeper grip being movable downwardly to engage a sleeper or upwardly to a retracted position, and hydraulic rams operatively connected between respective rail clamps and sleeper grips adapted to move a sleeper beneath the rails when clamped.

An embodiment of the invention is described hereunder in some detail with reference to and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a machine,

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the sleeper moving means,

FIG. 3 is a central longitudinal section through the machine, somewhat simplified,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a rail clamp, and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a sleeper grip. A

According to this embodiment a main machine frame has on it bearings which support transverse shafts 11, 'the transverse shafts carrying rail engaging wheels 12. Disposed centraly on the main machine frame is an upstanding ram 13 which may be designated main frame lifting ram, and the piston rod 14 of this ram 13 terminates in a thrust and radial bearing 15 on a pivot supporting frame 16. A seat 17 is disposed on top of the ram 13, and the engine 18 for driving hydraulic pump means is disposed to the rear of the seat 17, and the control valves 19 close to the front of the seat. The arrangement is such that upon operation of the elevating ram beneath the seat the pivot supporting frame 16 moves down wardly and lifts the main machine frame 10 from the rails 24 of a railroad track, this then enabling the main machine frame to be swung around so that the machine can be handled on to or away from a railroad track in a direction transverse thereof.

On each side of the main machine frame 10 a pair of parallel lifting links 25 are pivoted, each link in this embodiment being the shape of a the other ends of the links on each side engage pivotally between a pair of parallel channels which are secured together to constitute a clamp frame 26.

The front end of the clamp frame 26 carries on it a rail clamp 27, and this consists of a pair of spaced parallel plates, the upper plate 28 extending outwardly further than the lower plate 29, the upper plate 28 carrying on its outer end a xed jaw 30 with serrated teeth, while the lower plate has disposed between it and the upper plate a pivoted arm 31 also carrying a jaw with serrated teeth. A clamp cylinder 32 is trunnion mounted between the upper and lower plates, and operates the pivoted arm in a manner which enables the clamps to firmly grip the sides of a rail 24.

The frame channels carry between them a sleeper grip 37, and this includes a pair of spaced vertical slides 38 in a frame 39 supported by rollers which engage the webs of the channels of the clamp frame 26. The guides have a sleeper grip block 40 vertically movable between them, and the lower surface of the sleeper grip block has a pair of depending ngers 41 spaced from each other so that the grip block 40 when urged downwardly will engage over a sleeper 42. The movable frame 39 which guides the sleeper grip block 40` has an upstanding sleeper grip lift cylinder 45, and this is connected through its piston rod to the sleeper grip block and arranged to raise and lower the sleeper grip block relative to the movable frame, and thereby relative to the clamp frame. The movable frame 39 is direct-coupled to the piston rod of a sleeper shift cylinder 46 which is disposed horizontally between the channels of the clamp frame 26 in each case.

The manner in which the machine is used is as follows:

The machine is carried over the -iirst of a pair of rails constituting a railroad track and is lowered down on to the pivot supporting frame which is in its extending lowered position, The machine is then swivelled around until the rail engaging wheels are disposed above the rail, and the main frame lifting ram 13 beneath the seat is operated to lift the pivot support frame thereby lowering the main machine frame on to the rails to be supported by the rail engaging wheels. The machine is then driven to the desired position, and stop pins 48 which retain the clamp frames 26 upwardly off `the rail are removed, and each clamp frame 26 is lowered over a respective rail by clamp frame lift cylinders 49. The two rail clamps 27 are then engaged on the side walls of the rails, and each sleeper shift cylinder 46 is operated independently until the sleeper grip block 40 is disposed above a sleeper 42 to be moved. The sleeper grip lift cylinder is then lowered to engage the depending fingers 41 of the sleeper grip block 40 fore and aft of a sleeper, and the sleeper shift cylinder is operated to drive the sleeper to the newly required position. The sleeper grip cylinder is then lifted away from the sleeper, the rail clamps released, and the machine is driven forwardly by the spacing of one sleeper. The operation is then repeated, moving the next sleeper to its new position, which can be marked on the rails, for example.

In order to avoid the danger of slippage, the line clamp cylinder is loaded with extra pressure through a one way hydraulic valve connected to the stroke ram, so that in the event of high pressure building up due to resistance of movement of the sleeper, this high pressure is also transmitted to the line clamp.

I Claim:

1. A sleeper positioning machine having a main frame, rail engaging wheels supporting the main frame, a rail clamp frame on each side of the main frame, a pair of lifting links pivotally joining the rail clamp frame to the main frame, the rail clamp frames each carrying a rail clamp, each rail clamp having a jaw fixed to the rail clamp frame, a jaw pivoted to the rail clamp frame, and a clamp cylinder operatively coupled to the pivoted jaw to firmly clamp a respective rail between the jaws when the rail engaging wheels are supported thereby, a pair of sleeper grips each on a respective clamp frame, each sleeper grip being movable downwardly to engage a sleeper or upwardly to a retracted position, and hydraulic rams operatively connected between respective rail clamps and sleeper grips adapted to move a sleeper beneath the rails when clamped.

2. A sleeper positioning machine having a main frame, a lifting ram on the main frame having a pivot support thereon adapted to engage or be retracted from the ground, rail engaging wheels supporting the main frame, a rail clamp frame on each side of the main frame, a pair of lifting links pivotally joining vthe rail clamp frame to the main frame, the rail clamp frames each carrying a rail clamp, each rail clamp having a jaw fixed to the rail clamp frame, a jaw pivoted to the rail clamp frame, and a clamp cylinder operatively coupled to the pivoted jaw to rmly clamp a respective rail between the jaws when the rail engaging wheels are supported thereby, a pair of sleeper grips each on a respective `clamp frame, each sleeper grip being movable downwardly to engage a sleeper or upwardly to a retracted position, and hydraulic rams operatively connected between respective rail clamps and sleeper grips adapted to move a sleeper beneath the rails when clamped.

3. A sleeper positioning machine having a main frame, rail engaging wheels carried by and arranged to support the main frame and spaced to engage the rails of a railroad track, a pairof clamp frames disposed one on each side of the main frame and connected to the main frame with lifting links disposed at each end, a clamp frame lifting means on each clamp frame adapted to raise or lower the clamp frame, the clamp frame being guided by rotation of the lifting links, a rail engaging clamp on one end of each of the clamp frames, each rail clamp having a jaw xed to the rail clamp frame, a jaw pivoted to the rail clamp frame, and a clamp cylinder operatively coupled to the pivoted jaw, a sleeper grip independently movable along each clamp frame, each sleeper grip having a grip lift cylinder and a sleeper grip block operatively connected thereto and arranged to be raised and lowered thereby, each grip block having a pair of depending lingers arranged to be positioned on each side of a sleeper, and a sleeper shift cylinder between each clamp frame and its respective sleeper grip arranged to move the sleeper grip in the direction of travel of the machine.

4. A sleeper positioning machine having a main frame, bearings in the main frame rotationally supporting axles, rail engaging wheels on the axles spaced to engage the rails of a railroad track, a central main frame lifting ram disposed vertically on the main frame and having a pivot support frame on its depending piston rod adapted to engage the ground or to be retracted from the ground, the pivot support frame having bearings operatively disposed between it and the piston rod whereby the main frame can be swivelled relative to the pivot support frame, a pair of clamp frames disposed one on each side of the main frame and connected to the main frame with parallel lifting links disposed at each end, a clamp frame lifting cylinder between the main frame and each clamp frame adapted to raise or lower the clamp frame, the clamp frame being guided by rotation of the lifting links, a rail engaging clamp on one end of each of the clamp frames, each rail clamp having a jaw tixed to the rail clamp frame, a jaw pivoted to the rail clamp frame, and a clamp cylinder operatively coupled to the pivoted jaw, a sleeper grip independently movable along each clamp frame, each sleeper grip having a grip lift cylinder and a sleeper grip block operatively connected thereto and arranged to be raised and lowered thereby, each grip block having a pair of depending lingers arranged to be positioned on each side of a sleeper, and a sleeper shift cylinder between each clamp frame and its respective sleeper grip arranged to move the sleeper grip in the direction of travel of the machine.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,908,228 10/ 1959 Kershaw 104--9 2,950,687 8/1960 McWilliams 104--9 2,991,725 7/1961 Knippel et al. 104-9 3,260,218 7/1966- Pyke i 104-9 OTHER REFERENCES Railway Maintenance Corporation, tie spacer, received Oct. 7, 1957.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner.

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