US3457660A - Ballast undercutting mechanism - Google Patents

Description

July 29, 1969 M. J.' sPENo BALLAST UNDERCU'I'TING(l MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. l. 1966 INVENTOI( /V/AFT/N J. SP5/v0 flludfu/ ATTORNEYS July 29, 1969 M. J. SPI-:No

BALLAST UNDERCUTTING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. l. 1966 INVENTQR /MeJ/A/ J. SPE/v0 MII-,

BY Zjdm, aywz Mw ATTORNEYS N ...BQ

M. J. SPENO BALLAST UNDERCNUTTING MECHANISM July 29, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. l. 1966 INVENTOR /VA/fr/A/ j SP5/vo ATTOR NI'YS July 29, 1969 M. J. SPENQ 3,457,660

BALLAST UNDEHCUTTING MECHANISM Filed Sept. l. 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 H6. /f n b L INVENTQR BYZ/ 5M, MyWz/a Mdm ATTORNEYS July 29, 1969 M. J. sPENo 3,457,660

' BALLAST UNDERCUTTING MECHANISM Filed sept'. 1, 196e 5 sheets-sheet s f/To DOUBLE-Acum@ HYDRAUUC POWER mms m5 /W'l NOS ./5 O4 FREQUENCY I GO O1 Czhsxhxe HYDRAUMC (TO PUMP O5 SYNCH oNouS MOTO s INvEN'nLm, /V/l/r/A/J SP5/v0 a* Hyg/dim, Myawza ,faam/sw ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,457,660 BALLAST UNDERCUTTING MECHANISM Martin J. Speno, Syracuse, N.Y. (P.0. Box 33, Ithaca, N.Y. 14851) Filed Sept. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 576,587 Int. Cl. E02f 5/22; F16h 21/18; E01b 27/04 U.S. Cl. 37-105 6 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A railroad ballast loosening and digging apparatus including a series of ballast digging assemblies carried by a vehicle mounted frame for movement along the roadbed, the assemblies extending along the side of the vehicle and each including a digging blade positioned for digging engagement with the ballast. Each digging blade includes a base portion and an elongated shank portion mounted for telescopic adjustment in the direction of its length with respect to the base portion, together with power means for swinging the respective digging plates about vertical axes from inoperative positions in which they extend generally parallel with the roadbed to operative positions in which the project toward the center of the roadbed and underneath the ties thereof, Each successive blade is longer than the previous blade so that the blades remove successive substantially equal cross-section of ballast. Further, there are provided driving means for the respective shank portions for imparting to each a generally lengthwise reciprocating movement to thus facilitate the ballast removing action.

The present invention relates to railway ballast digging devices and, more particularly, to apparatus for loosening and directing the loosened ballast to a desired position for pick up and cleaning.

It is well known in the railway art that the crushed stone ballast that supports the railway tracks and ties must be cleaned periodically to maintain the desired resiliency and drainage properties. This operation is accomplished most enconomically by picking up the ballast along the shoulders of the track bed with a scoop and endless conveyor arrangement, then directing the ballast into the supporting railway car for cleaning whereby to free the ballast of all foreign matter and for screening of the ballast as to size; the cleaned and sized ballast being then returned to the roadbed.

First, in order for the ballast to be picked up by this equipment, it must be loosened since the collected mud and foreign matter in the ballast tends to render the same rigid over a period of time` Additionally, the ballast must be directed to the shoulder of the roadbed so as to be in the path of the scoop and conveyor as the car moves along the track. To perform these functions it has heretofore been conventional to use various shaped plow devices which are placed in a position below the surface of the roadbed and moved forwardly to break up the ballast as the railway car is pulled along the track.`These prior art plow devices have been found to require a large amount of driving force to properly breakup the ballast so that previously large amounts of driving power have been necessary to move the car upon which the plows are mounted.

Further, in prior devices used to undercut the ballast that underlies the track, it has been suggested to raise the track during the operation, which, of course, has the obvious disadvantage of requiring extra equipment and in many cases results in destroying portions of the track when the same is removed from the bed. It has also been suggested in the prior art to employ pivotally mounted and actuated undercutting arms that are capable of reaching ice under the ends of the ties to remove a small portion of the ballast underlying the tracks. However, these latter devices have been found to be generally incapable of eicient removal of the extremely hard packed ballast underlying the inwardly extending portions of the track since from all indications the amount of driving force needed to drive these prior art blades in such an operation would be prohibitive.

Thus, it is one object of the present invention to provide an improved ballast digging apparatus which is particularly adapted to overcome the foregoing objections of the prior art.

It is anofher object of the present invention to provide an apparatus of the type described which is capable of eiciently loosening hard packed or deteriorated ballast and particularly adapted to loosen such ballast positioned underneath the ties and for directing said ballast into. a position for easy pickup by a conveyor.

To accomplish these objectives, the apparatus of the present invention employs digging blades which are individually supported for rapid reciprocating or oscillating type movement generally in the direction of their length as the car upon which they are mounted is moved along the track during the ballast cleaning operation. In the preferred embodiment this in-and-out :motion takes the form of high frequency, low amplitude movement that may be either reciprocating or oscillating as desired; this rapid vibrating action being such as to advantageously cause the hard packed ballast to be loosened for easy removal. Y

The digging blades of the preferred embodiment of the invention are rapidly moved as described, by employing synchronous motors which are connected to the blades by suitable eccentric mountings, said motors `being mounted directly on the support for the blades to give uninterrupted reciprocating action and to simplify construction by eliminating complicated drive mechanisms. With this synchronous drive motor arrangement, the digging blades are controllable to a precise speed during both load and no-load condition, said speed being dependent upon the frequency of the supply of alternating current. Further, as is well known, a synchronous motor is capable of momentary slippage if necessary under unusual load conditions so as to prevent injury to the driving mechanism.

Another aspect of the present invention concerns the use of different length point attack digging blades which project so as to undercut the roadbed in steps or increments to give a more efficient digging action and to reduce the load on any one digger blade. Related to this, the shank portion of these blades are telescopically mounted in housings that form the base of the blade and the housings are pivotally mounted to the frame structure so as to make the blades adapted to be positioned to attack the roadbed at an angle of approximately 60 with respect the longitudinal axis of the track. With this combination telescoping and pivotal arrangement, the blades are ca- -pable of being projected gradually to the final digging position under the track by hydraulic power cylinders which cause concurrent pivotal movement of the blades to the 60 angle and extensible movement of the shank portion to the full blade length. With the blades being given the constant high frequency reciprocating type movement as described above, the blades can assume their final Working position with ease. When the operation has been completed, the blades can be rapidly retracted and pivoted to a nonworking position free of the ballast along the shoulder of the roadbed, and thence shifted to a traveling position above the roadbed, preferably adjacent the underframe of the vehicle upon which the apparatus is mounted so as not to adversely affect the center of gravity of said vehicle during this mode.

To provide for this final shifting movement, the ballast digging apparatus is provided with a supporting frame having dual transverse telescopic supports fixed to the bed of the vehicle which in turn carry a pair of elongated vertical collars; the telescopic supports being operated by hydraulic power cylinders mounted on the bed of the vehicle. The elongated collars carry sliding rods to which additional hydraulic power cylinders are attached for imparting movement in a vertical direction to said rods. The blade assemblies are carried by the lower end of the rods whereby it will be realized that they may be shifted to the traveling position free of the roadbed by the combined actuation of the extensible parts 4of the transverse and vertical supports.

In an alternative form of mounting the blade assemblies, there is provided a supporting subframe that is adapted for vertical movement to an operative position just above the tracks. This subframe includes telescopic members extending transversely to the vehicle to give the horizontal shifting movement. The individual digging blades are supported on a single longitudinally extending angle mounting bar so that all of the digging blade assemblies are capable of movement in unison to and from a traveling position. In accordance with this embodiment, the mounting bar is, in addition, mounted for swinging movement about a longitudinal axis by depending arms which are carried by the extensible portions of the transverse supports. With this arrangement, the blade assemblies may be moved to a traveling position under the vehicle to provide additional clearance of the roadbed.

Thus, it is another object of the present invention to provide a ballast digging apparatus wherein the digging blades are driven with a rapid, reciprocating or oscillating type movement to loosen the ballast and to encourage the feeding of the same backwardly along the blade to the shoulder of the roadbed.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a ballast cleaning device wherein the digging blades are driven by synchronous motors through eccentric drives whereby the digging blades are caused to attack the ballast with a rapid vibrating motion under all load conditions.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a ballast digging device wherein there is provided a plurality of reciprocating digging blades of increasing length to cause progressive undercutting of the roadbed whereby a minimum amount of forward driving power is required for the car to loosen the ballast and direct the same to the shoulder of the roadbed for pick up.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a ballast undercutting apparatus in which the digging blades are telescopically movable to and from a working position so as to provide for convenient storage for said blades when the same are moved to the nonworking or traveling position.

Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description, wherein I have shown and described only the preferred embodiments of the invention, simply by way of illustration of the best modes contemplated by me of carrying out my invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiment, and its several details are capable of modification in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

In the drawings: l

FIGURE 1 is a side view of a portion of a railroad car with the digging apparatus of the present invention mounted thereon;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2 2 of FIGURE 1 showing the digging blade assemblies in two different positions;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3 3 of FIGURE 1 illustrating the shifting movement of the digger blade assemblies;

FIGURE 4 is a detailed view of the digger blade assembly constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5 5 of FIGURE 4 showing the end view of the digger blade assembly;

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6 6 of FIGURE 5 showing one form of operating mechanism for the preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 7 7 of FIGURE 5 showing the operating mechanism for moving the digger blade into operating position for undercutting the ballast;

FIGURE 8 is a detailed view of a modified form of the digger blade assembly;

FIGURE 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 9 9 of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE l0 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 10 10 of FIGURE 8 showing the slidable mounting of the reciprocating digging blade of this embodiment;

FIGURE l1 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 11-11 of FIGURE 8 showing the synchronous drive motor and its mounting for the digger blade assembly;

FIGURE l2 is a schematic showing of still an additional modification of the apparatus of the present invention with a simplified mounting arrangement for the digger blades on a single longitudinal beam;

FIGURE 13 is an end view of the embodiment of FIGURE 12 showing the `swingable kick-in feature of the digger blade assemblies;

FIGURE 14 is a side view of the blade looking in the direction of the arrows of FIGURE 12; and

FIGURE l5 is a schematic diagram of a power system for use with the apparatus of the present invention.

Referring now specifically to FIGURES 1-3 of the drawings, there is illustrated a ballast loosening and digging apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention and generally designated yby the reference numeral 10, said apparatus 10 being suitably mounted for movement along relatively spaced railroad tracks T, which are supported by crossties C, by a conventional railway car, generally represented by the reference numeral 11. As shown in these figures, the apparatus 10 is thus positioned by the railway car 11 for operation on the roadbed B, which consists of conventional crushed stone ballast.

The railway car 11 comprises a flatbed 15 having side sills 15a (FIGURES 1 and 3), which flatbed 15 is supported by conventional wheeled trucks 16, only a portion of one being shown in FIGURES 1 and 3. Although the apparatus 10 of the invention is thus associated with a railway car 11 supported on the tracks T, it should be understood that said apparatus 10 could be conveniently mounted on other types of vehicles which are capable of advancing movement along the roadbed B.

As best shown in FIGURE 3, the loosening and digging apparatus 10 comprises a supporting frame 20 which takes the form of plurality of horizontal telescopic support members 21 securely fixed to the top of the bed 15 and a plurality of similar telescopic support members 22 securely fixed to the underneath side of said bed 15. Extensible rods 23, 24 of the telescopic support members 21, 22, respectively, have fixed to their ends relatively spaced elongated collars 25', which extend in a vertical direction (See FIGURE 1).

The elongated collars 25 are thusly supported in pains along the side of the railway car 11 and interconnecting said pairs of collars 2S are upper and lower connecting plates 26, 27 which perform the purpose of maintaining the spaced parallel relationship between said collar 25. Passing through the vertical collars 25 are a pair of vertical extensible rods 28 having stopcollars 28a at their upper ends; and purpose of said rods 28 being to carry a digging blade assembly, generally represented by the reference numeral 29, at their lower ends.

The digging `blade assemblies 29 are adapted to be positioned in a nonworking position along the shoulder of the roadbed B in the extended position of the support frame 20, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 3. In this nonworking position, the shoulders of the roadbed B preferably take the form of a longitiudinal ditch D that has previously been formed by a conventional scoop and endless conveyor arrangement which may be mounted on the front of the railway car 11 but which does not form any part of the present invention and will accordingly not be discussed further herein. In this position, the digging blade assemblies 29 are in opposed relationship to the roadbed B and are in readiness to perform their loosening and digging operation underneath the crossties C, as shown in these figures.

Before proceeding with a detailed description of the digging blade assemblies 29, attention is directed to the fact that these assemblies 29 can be conveniently shifted to a traveling position clear of the roadbed B, as indicated by the dotted line position of FIGURE 3. This shifting movement is accomplished by actuation of horizontally disposed double acting hydraulic cylinders 30, which are connected between the bed 15 and the upper connecting plate 26, and by the vertically disposed double acting hydraulic cylinders 31, which are connected between the lower connecting plate 27 and a cross plate 32 fixed to the sliding rods 28, as illustrated in FIGURE 1. It will be realized that the digging blade assemblies 29 can thus be shifted to the dotted line traveling position by supplying the cylinders 30, 31 either concurrently or sequentially with uid pressure to retract their respectively piston rods. With this arrangement, it will be relaized that during traveling between stations of operation, the apparatus 10 will not affect the normal operation of the car 11 and when the station is reached the digger blade assemblies 29 may be quickly brought to the lowered position of FIGURES l and 3 in readiness for the digging operation by actuation of the cylinders 30, 31 to their extended position.

Proceeding now with the description of the digger blade assemblies 29a-29e (FIGURES l and 2), which are identical except as will be noted, reference is made to FIGURES 4-7 wherein it can be seen that the assembly 29 basically comprises a -baseplate 35 which is securely welded or otherwise fastened in a vertical position at the base of the vertical rods 28. An extensible blade, generally represented by the reference numerals 36u-36e (FIGURE 2) is pivotally mounted on said baseplate 35 l of the respective assemblies 29a-29e by a suitable Pivot pin 37. In this first embodiment, the blade 36 includes a holder 40, a sliding housing portion 41, a shank portion 42, and a working tip 43.

It will be remembered that one of the features of the present invention is that the balde 36 is capable of movement to a working position underneath the crossties C by both a pivotal movement and concurrent extensible movement along its axis. For the former purpose, that is, for pivoting the blade 36 about the pivot pin 37 to the dotted line position of FIGURE 4, there is provided a hydraulic power cylinder 45, which is mounted on the baseplate 35. The piston rod of the cylinder 45 acts through a yoke 46 (FIGURE 7) to drive a transversely extending drive pin 47 along a pair of slots 48 formed in relatively spaced guide members 49. Pivotally connected to the center of the drive pin 47 is a drive link 50 which is connected at its opposite end to the holder 40 whereby movement of the pin 47 in response to actuation of the power cylinder 45 will serve to pivot the blade 36 about the pivot pin 37. As a result, when the car 11 is advanced forwardly for the digging operation to be explained subsequently, the blades 36u-36e can assume an angle of approximately 60 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the roadbed B, as indicated in FIGURE 2.

To perform the latter function mentioned above, that is, to extend each of the telescopic blades 36u-36e to its full length, a second hydraulic cylinder 55 is positioned on the top of the holder 40 as can best be `seen in FIG- URES 5 and 6; the piston rod of the power cylinder 55 having a yoke 56 connected to an upstanding ear 57 which is formed integral with the sliding housing 41. Thus, upon actuation of the cylinder 55, the housing 41 and the shank portion 42 of the blade 36 will be moved axially along the holder 40 so as to reach the blade extended position, which is illustrated in dotted line outline in FIGURES 2 and 4. i

For the purpose of rapidly moving the shank portion 42 and the tip 43 in a low amplitude, oscillatory path, as indicated by the dashed line arrows of FIGURE 6, a pair of eccentric members 60, 61 are journaled for rotation at spaced points along the shank portion 42 of the blade 36, as shown in FIGURE 6; said eccentric members 60, 61 being fixed for rotation with the pair of shafts 62 of a pair of synchronous motors 63 that are advantageously carried -directly on the extensible housing 41 for movement therewith, thus eliminating the need for complicated drive transmission elements. This oscillatory movement of the blade shank 42 and the working tip 43 serves the important function of setting up vibrations in the rigid ballast so as to loosen the same and render it more susceptible to removal upon the advancing plowing action of the blade 36, as indicated by the dashed line arrows in FIGURE 2.

The synchronous motors 63 are preferably of the electrical type wherein the frequency of the alternating current supplied to the motors 63 determines the rate of rotation of the same and thus, the frequency of reciprocation or oscillation of the shank portion 42 of the blade 36. By thus using electricity to drive the synchronous motors 63, the frequency may be easily adjusted to the conditions under which the apparatus 10 is operating, as will be apparent later in the discussion of the preferred power system of the present invention. Further, this type of motor rotates at a constant speed under varying load conditions so that the required vibration action is always present while at the same time these motors 63 are capable of momentary slippage to protect the working parts under maximum load conditions. However, it should be understood that in the present invention it is contemplated that fluid operated motors can also be used if desired, the only requirement in either case being that the working tip 43 of the blades 36 be given movement of a frequency suicient to vibrate the `ballast being attacked by the working tip 43 so as to loosen the same for removal by the forward plowing action of said blades 36.

Furthermore, `as will be remembered and as can be seen in FIGURE 2, each of the successive blades 36a- 36e is longer than the previous blade so that each of said blades 36 removes substantially the same amount of ballast as the car 11 advances in the direction of said arrows 65. This can be readily understood by viewing the dashed line ballast increments a, b, c, d, e, of FIGURE 3, which represent the portion of the lballast to be removed by the corresponding blades 36u-36e respectively. In the operation of the apparatus 10 of the present invention, it will be apparent that the blade assemblies 29 are first shifted to the readiness position within the ditch D that has been previously dug in the shoulder of the roadbed B, as indicated by the full lines in FIG- URE 3. This is accomplished by the individual or concurrent actuation of the hydraulic cylinders 30, 31 with the normal position being determined by the limit of movement of said units 30, 31. After the blade assemblies 29 have reached the readiness position, the hydraulic cylinders y45, 55 are actuated to bring the iblade 36 into engagement with the side of the roadbed B so that the blades 36u-36e are in position to be inserted into the roadbed B to undercut the same along the dotted lines a-e shown in FIGURE 3. Preferably, the motors 63 are activated at this same time to begin their point attack digging action illustrated in FIGURE 6.

Thus, with the blades 36u-36e engaging the sides of the roadbed B, the power units 45, 55 aided by the oscillating movement of the shank portions 42 gradually project the blades 36 under the crossties C; the dotted line position of the blades 36u-36e being the final plowing position reached after this initial insertion operation.

Upon continued advancing movement of the car 11 in the direction of the arrows 65, the ballast will be removed from the sections a-e of FIGURE 3 by the respective blades 36u-36e. During this plowing operation, the synchronous motors 63 continuously cause the working tip 43 of the blade shank 42 to attack the ballast at the inner limit of the corresponding section and the ballast in each section is then directed along the leading face of the blades 36 and deposited in the ditch D for easy pick up for cleaning by a conventional scoop and endless conveyor arrangement. The constant in-and-out movement of the shank portion 42 serves to aid the outward ow of ballast along its leading face and thus to prevent stalling or piling up of said ballast as it moves to the ditch D.

Referring now to FIGURES 8-11, there is shown an alternative arrangement of the digger blade assembly 29; it being understood that like elements in these figures are referred to by the like reference numerals as in the foregoing figures. Thus, the hydraulic power cylinder 45 is effective through the link 150 to pivot the digger blade 36 into the dotted line position of FIGURE 8. Likewise, a hydraulic power cylinder 55 is utilized to shift the blade 36 between its extended position, as also shown by the dotted line outline in this gure, and its retracted position (full lines). More particularly, the motor 63 is mounted on a slidable ibase 70 adapted for movement along the -dovetail track 71 and, as shown, the shaft 62 of the motor 63 has mounted thereon a wheel 72 having an eccentrically located pin 73 that serves to drive a link 74 and thereby reciprocating shank portion 75. As will be noted in FIGURES and 1l, a slot 76 is provided in housing 77 that carries the shank portion 75 so that upon actuation of the power cylinder 55 to move the base 70, the entire driving mechanism is thus moved into or out of the extended position with said shank portion 75` As before, this arrangement of mounting the driving motor 63 for shifting movement with the telescopic blade 36 lends itself to desirable simplicity in construction.

As illustrated in FIGURE 8, working tip 79 of blade shank portion 75 has a pure reciprocating movement, and in this case it may be desirable in certain cases to design said working tip 79 so as to extend forwardly at an angle of approximately As thusly formed, the working tip 79 tends to aid in urging the ballast outwardly along the forward face of the blade 36 with each working stroke of the shank portion 75.

With attention now being directed to FIGURES 12- 14, there is illustrated a simplified alternative arrangement for applying certain teachings of the present invention. In this arrangement, the digging blade assemblies 29 -are all mounted on la single longitudinally extending beam 80 which is adapted to be disposed along the ends of the crossties C, as well illustrated in FIG- URE 12. As in the above embodiment, the power cylinders 45 serve to pivot the housing 77 about the rear pivot 37 through a suitable link 50. For simplicty, the motors 63 are mounted on a xed extension 81 (FIGURE 12) of the housing 77 and is not capable of sliding movement `as in the previous embodiment so that the blade shank 42 is not extensible to a projected position. As before, the motor 63 provides a rapid, low amplitude reciprocating movement along the longitudinal axis of the shank portion 75 (as indicated by the arrows in FIG- URE 12), which blade shank 7=5 is provided with a conventional point attack working tip 85; this tip 85 serving to transmit the vibrating action to the ballast so as to loosen the same for easy removal as in the previous embodiments. For still further simplicity, it may Ibe desirable that the reciprocating feature be eliminated on the lead blade assembly 29 since near the ends of the ties the ballast is usually not packed as hard as in the inner portions of the roadbed B, In this case the blade 36 may be formed of a single pivotal element, as depicted in this ligure.

A modication of the supporting frame 20 for the digger blade assemblies 29 is illustrated in FIGURE 13 wherein is disclosed stationary vertical collars which receive in sliding relationship extensible rods 91 at the lower extremity of which are rigidly secured horizontal support members 92 having extensible members 93 (only one of which is shown in FIGURE 13), which horizontal support members 92 form a movable subframe, as generally represented by the reference character S in this figure, In this configuration, it is to be understood that there are provided hydraulic power units corresponding to the hydraulic power units 30, 31 (FIGURES 1 and 3) to operate the extensible members 91, 93 within the respective support members 90, 92. Thus, it will be understood that the subframe S is movable between the full line position and the dotted line position of FIG- URE 13 by the operation of these power units 30, 31.

The blade assemblies 29 are capable of still another type of shifting movement in this embodiment so as to provide -additional clearance under the railway car 11 and to bring the center of gravity of the subframe S as close to the center of gravity of the car 11 as possible. To do this, there are provided a series of depending arms 95 capable of swinging movement about pivots 96 at the remote ends of the extensible members 93. A longitudinally extending beam 80 supporting the blade assemblies 29 is attached to the lower end of the depending arms 95, and as will tbe clear from viewing FIGURE 13, after the subframe S has been brought to the dotted line position, the actuation of additional cylinders 97 acting through connecting links 98 serve to kick in the longitudinal beam 80 under the railway car 11 to thereby bring the blade assemblies 29 to a position well within the contines of said car 11.

The power for operating the synchronous motors 63 and the hydraulic power units `30, 31, 45, 55, and 97 can be of any conventional design and the schematic diagram of FIGURE 15 is merely for the purpose of illustrating one such operative system. Thus, assuming that D.C. electric current is available, a D.C. motor 100 is provided to drive a hydraulic pump 101 and an A C. current generator 102 through its output shafts. The pump 101 is provided with a pressure line 103 having a suitable valve 104 for operating each of the individual hydraulic power units mentioned above; it being understood that only one such outlet is shown in FIGURE l5 for simplicity. Similarly, the A.C. generator is supplied with output lines 105, 106 for connection through an adjustable frequency changing circuit 107 to each of the synchronous motors 63; it being understood that the circuit 107 may be of any conventional design and thus need uot be discussed in detail herein. It is contemplated that the usual frequency of alternating current, that is 60 cycles per second, could be used to drive the motors 63, 1n which case, of course, the shank portions 42, 75 of the blades 36 move back and forth 60 times a second; however, other high frequencies could be selected to gain acceptable results as long as the ballast is vibrated properly to loosen the same. Of course, a suitable switch 108 may be provided for selective on-oif operation of the motors 63, preferably in concert.

'Ihe results and advantages gained from the loosening and digging apparatus 10 of the present invention should now lbe evident to those skilled in this lart to include a concept that allows the hardened ballast to be loosened and then directed in a desired direction along the roadbed with a minimum amount of power being supplied to drive the railway car in an advancing movement. AS has been shown, one important aspect of the invention relates to the rapid movement of the shank portions `42, 75 of the blades 36 in such a manner as to set up ballast loosening vibrations at the working tips 43, 79, 85 of said blades 36. Furthermore, it has been illustrated that the blades 36 can be made to project to an extended length underneath the crossties C to eiiiciently remove the hardened ballast in this area, which has heretofore been impossible. Finally, the blade assemblies 29 have been mounted on a conventional railway car 11 in a novel manner by a supporting frame so that the digger blade assemblies 29 can selectively assu-me a retracted position during the traveling from one location to another or an operative position in the ditch D.

In this disclosure, there is shown and described only the preferred embodiments of the invention, but, as aforementioned, it is to be understood that the invention is capable of various changes or modiiications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed by the accompanying claim.

I claim:

1. A ballast loosening and digging apparatus comprising the combination of a vehicle adapted for movement along a roadbed, a supporting frame mounted on said vehicle, a series of ballast digging assemblies carried by said frame and extending along one side of said vehicle, each of said assemblies including -a digging blade positioned for digging engagement with said ballast, each of said digging blades including a base portion and an elongated shank portion mounted for telescopic adjustment in the direction of its length with respect to said base portion, and power means for projecting said shank portion into a Working position underneath the ties on the roadbed, each successive blade being longer than the previous blade whereby substantially equal cross-sections of said ballast are removed by said blades upon advancing movement of said vehicle along the roadbed, and driving means for imparting to said shank portions a generally lengthwise reciprocating movement.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said driving means includes a separate synchronous motor means and eccentric member combination for each of said shank portions.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said supporting frame includes a longitudinally extending support beam for carrying said assemblies, a subframe including telescopic support means for said beam extending transversely to said vehicle and telescopic support means for said subframe extending vertically with respect to said vehicle, power means for individually adjusting each said telescopic support means to position said digging blade, Said support beam being pivotally connected to said subframe by a plurality of support arms and additional power means for causing pivotal movement of said support arms.

4. A ballast loosening and digging apparatus comprising the combination of a vehicle adapted for movement along a roadbed, a supporting frame mounted on said vehicle, at least one digging blade carried by said frame, said blade being positioned for digging engagement with the ballast and driving means for imparting substantially low amplitude, high frequency digging movement to said blade, the frequency of the movement 0f said blade being sufficient to set up ballast loosening vibrations and being substantially constant under varying load conditions, said driving means including synchronous motor means and an eccentric member driven by said synchronous motor means, and linkage means for connecting said blade to said eccentric member, said supporting frame including telescopic support means extending transversely to said vehicle and additional telescopic support means extending vertically with respect to said vehicle, and power means for individually adjusting each of said telescopic support means to position said digging blade.

5. A ballast loosening and digging apparatus comprising the combination of a vehicle adapted for movement along a roadbed, a supporting frame mounted on said vehicle, at least one digging blade carried by said frame, said blade being positioned for digging engagement with the ballast, and driving means for imparting substantially low amplitude, high frequency digging movement to said blade, the frequency of the movement of said blade being sufiicient to set up ballast loosening vibrations and being substantially constant under varying load conditions, said driving means further including synchronous motor means and an eccentric member driven by said synchronous motor means, and linkage means for connecting said blade to said eccentric member, said blade including a hollow elongated base housing pivotally mounted on said frame, power means for pivoting said housing to position said blade in a non-working position free of said ballast, a telescopic shank portion positioned within said housing, a slidable carriage mounting said motor means on said frame, and additional power means for moving said carriage to project and retract said shank portion from a working position.

6. A ballast loosening and diggin-g apparatus comprising the combination of a vehicle adapted for movement along a roadbed, a supporting frame mounted on said vehicle, at least one digging blade carried by said frame, said blade being positioned for digging engagement with the ballast, and driving means for imparting substantially 10W amplitude high frequency digging movement to said blade, the frequency of the movement of said blade being sufficient to set up ballast loosening vibrations and being substantially constant under varying load conditions, said driving means further including a pair of synchronous motor means, an eccentric member carried by the drive shaft of each said synchronous motor means, said blade being carried at spaced axial points by said eccentric members, whereby said blade moves in an oscillatory digging path upon concurrent actuation of both of said synchronous motor means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,030,715 4/1962 Bodine 37-118 3,055,309 9/1962 Moss 37-104 X 3,336,082 8/1967 Bodine 299-14 3,380,180 4/1968 Speno 37-105 ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner EUGENE H. EICKHOLT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 74-45; 171-16

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