GB2035105A

GB2035105A - Toy railway track

Info

Publication number: GB2035105A
Application number: GB7846458A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: PLAYART Ltd
Current assignee: PLAYART Ltd
Priority date: 1978-11-29
Filing date: 1978-11-29
Publication date: 1980-06-18
Also published as: GB2035105B; HK63283A

Abstract

This invention relates to the joining of toy railway track sections 10 to form toy railway track. Each section comprises two spaced rails 12 supported on a plastics base simulating sleepers which are joined to one another by integrally formed continuous strips which extend beneath the rails. Adjacent ends of aligned rails are joined by fishplates 30 which fit over the ends of the lower flange of a rail. A clip 40 fits over the end sleepers of adjacent track sections to hold the two sections together, the clip comprising a substantially flat portion extending over the top of the two end sleepers and having lugs which project downwardly and inwardly and which cooperate with and engage in recesses in the end sleepers. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in and relating to toy railway track This invention relates to toy railway track and in particular the joining of track sections to form a length of track.

One conventional form of track section has two spaced rails over which the rolling stock run. These rails are supported and held spaced apart by a plastics base simulating sleepers, the spaced sleepers being joined to one another by integrally moulded continuous strips which extend along the track section beneath the rails. The rails are normally of metal such as brass or aluminium and can carry electric current to power the rolling stock.

Such track sections are normally joined to one another by small fish plates or shoes which fit over and grip the lower flange of adjacent ends of the rail. The fishplates also carry the electric current from rail to the next, in the case of electric trains. Such fishplates give good mechanical and electrical connections when the track is mounted on a solid baseboard. However this is not the case when the track is roughly handled, subjected to repeated assembly and disassembly or laid on a non-solid base such as a carpet.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved method of joining such track sections.

According to the invention there is provided toy railway track comprising at least two track sections joined to one another, each track section comprising two spaced rails held spaced apart by a plastics base simulating sleepers joined to one another by integrally formed continuous strips which extend beneath the rails, fish plates which fit over the ends of the lower flange of a rail and join adjacent ends of aligned rails, and a clip which fits over end sleepers of adjacent track sections to hold the two track sections together, the clip comprising a substantially flat portion extending over the top of the two end sleepers and having lugs which project downwardly and inwardly and which cooperate with and engage in recesses in the end sleepers.

With such an arrangement the clip ensures that adjacent track sections are mechanically joined to one another very securely. Indeed with the clips in place it is often possibie to lift up a length of the track by grasping solely one track section and so the joined track is mechanically sound and can be operated on non-rigid bases, such as carpetting, without the track sections coming apart during use.

The conventional fishplates are still used to ensure that the adjacent ends of aligned rails are correctly aligned for smooth running of the rolling stock and good electrical connections between adjacent rails.

The invention also extends to the clip for use with this toy railway track and to individual track sections which have the re cesses in the underside of their end sleepers.

Each clip is preferably in the form of a substantially flat and thin top member which can rest on and can pass over the top of the end sleepers so that it does not project upwardly too far and impede the passage of the rolling stock along the track. The clip has near the ends of the flat member downwardly projecting lugs which are approximately of a length equal to the thickness of a sleeper.

They should not be of greater length than the thickness of a sleeper so as to project downwardly beyond the sleepers so preventing the sleepers from resting flush with flat surfaces.

Preferably each downwardly projecting lug has a pair of inwardly projecting ears which engage in corresponding recesses formed in the undersides of the end sleepers. In order to enhance the joining of adjacent track sections, the ears on the clip member preferably taper so that, if adjacent track sections tend to pull apart, the ears of the clip progressively bite into the edge of the end sleepers and so make the joint more secure.

The clip is preferably made by moulding from synthetic plastics material.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a track section according to the invention; Figure 2 is an underplan view of that track section; Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional detail taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.1; Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a clip used to join two track sections; Figure 5 is a plan showing parts of two adjacent track sections joined according to the invention; and Figure 6 is an underplan view showing the joining of the two track sections shown in Fig.

5.

The track section 10 according to the invention and shown in Figs.1 to 3 includes a pair of metal rails 12 and a base 14 moulded from synthetic plastics material. The base is made up of a number of transverse sections which simulate sleepers 1 6 holding the two rails 1 2 apart. As best shown in Fig. 2, the base 1 2 also includes integrally moulded strips 1 8 formed between adjacent sleepers 1 6 which extend beneath rails 1 2 and hold the adjacent sleepers 1 6 together.

The end sleepers 1 6a are slightly different from the remainder of the sleepers 1 6. These end sleepers include a central portion 20 joined by two lengthwise-extending portions 22 to the penultimate sleeper 1 6. In this way, there is defined between the central portion 20 of the end sleeper 16a and the penulti mate sleeper 1 6 a rectangular opening 24.

Also integrally joined to the penultimate sleeper 1 6 are two projecting portions 26 which constitute the outer ends of the end sleeper 16a. Between the central portion 10 and the end portions 26 are defined U-shaped openings 28 for accommodating fish plates 30 for joining the rails 1 2 of adjacent track sections.

Each rail 1 2 is substantially conventional and consists of a strip of metal of upright Ishaped cross-section. The fishplates 30 slide over and grip the lower flanges of this Ishaped section. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 each rail has permanently clipped to it one fishplate 30 and on each individual track section there is one fishplate 30 at each end of the section. As is also conventional, the sleepers 1 6 have small upstanding ears 34 which fit over and grip the lower flange of the rails so holding the rails upright and spaced apart.

As best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a pair of recesses 36 are formed in the underside of the central portion 20 of the end sleeper 16a.

The function of these recesses will be described below.

In order to hold adjacent track sections together a clip 40 which is shown enlarged in Fig. 4 is provided between adjacent track sections. The clip 40 comprises a thin flat strip 42 from near the ends of which are downwardly projecting lugs 44. In turn from the near lower ends of each of these lugs are a pair of inwardly projecting ears 46. Each of these ears is tapered in the direction from where it joins the lugs 44 to its free end. As can be seen from Fig. 4 the ends 48 of the strip 42 extend slightly beyond the lugs 44 and the ends 48 are slightly wider than the central portion of the strip. The whole clip is conveniently moulded in one piece from synthetic plastics material.

Figs. 5 and 6 show a pair of track sections 10 joined together and held together by a clip 40. The clip extends over the top of the central portions of the end sleepers 1 6a and the lugs 44 extend downwardly into the openings 24. The ears 46 then engage in the recesses 36 and secure the clip in place.

Because the ears are tapered, if the two track sections tend to move apart, so these ears 46 bite more deeply into the recesses 36 and so hold the two track sections together more securely.

The strip 42 of the clip 40 can be quite thin and so, when in position, the clip does not extend upwardly above the sleepers 1 6 a to a great extent and so does not interfere with the passage of rolling stock along the rails. Equally the lugs 44 do not extend downwardly beyond the lower ends of the sleepers 1 6 a and so the track sections are able to rest flush on flat rigid baseboards which would not be the case if the clip had extended beneath the end sleepers 1 6 a rather than over the top of them.

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the adjacent ends of aligned rails 1 2 are joined by the conventional fishplates 30 so as to ensure good alignment of the rails and good electrical contact between them.

When two track sections are to be joined their ends are aligned and the two rails are joined by sliding the fishplates over the ends of the lower flanges of the rail. Then a clip 40 is placed over the top of the central portions 20 of the end sleepers 1 6a and pressed downwardly. As a result, the lugs 44 pass down into the openings 24 and the ears snap into the recesses 36. When the two track sections are to be separated then they are pushed together as far as possible and one end 48 of the strip 42 is pressed downwardly so causing the whole clip to pivot about that end whereupon it can be removed and the two track sections pulled apart in the normal way.

Important advantages of the invention are its simplicity the fact that only small changes have to be made to the track sections, and these changes are not visible when looking down on the track in the event that a clip 40 is not used for a particular layout.

Claims

1. Toy railway track comprising at least two track sections joined to one another, each track section comprising two spaced rails held spaced apart by a plastics base simulating sleepers joined to one another by integrally formed continuous strips which extend beneath the rails, fish plates which fit over the ends of the lower flange of a rail and join adjacent ends of aligned rails, and a clip which fits over end sleepers of adjacent track sections to hold the two track sections together, the clip comprising a substantially flat portion extending over the top of the two end sleepers and having lugs which project downwardly and inwardly and which cooperate with and engage in recesses in the end sleepers.

2. Toy railway track as claimed in Claim 1 in which the clip is in the form of a substantially thin and flat top member having lugs near its ends which project downwardly and inwardly projecting ears extending from adjacent the lower ends of the lugs.

2. Toy railway track as claimed in Claim 1 in which the clip is in the form of a substantially thin and flat top member having lugs near its ends which project downwardly by an amount no greater than the thickness of a sleeper, and inwardly projecting ears extending from adjacent the lower ends of the lugs.

3. Toy railway track as claimed in Claim 2 in which there are a pair of ears extending from each lug and each end sleeper has a pair of recesses for accommodating the ears.

4. Toy railway track as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which the ears are tapered in the direction from where they join the lugs to their free ends.

5. Toy railway track substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.

6. A toy railway track section substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A clip for use in joining toy railway track sections substantially as herein described with reference to Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings.

CLAIMS (9 Jul 1979)

1. Toy railway track comprising at least two track sections joined to one another, each track section comprising two spaced rails held spaced apart by a plastics base simulating sleepers joined to one another by integrally formed continuous strips which extend beneath the rails, fishplates which fit over the ends of the lower flange of a rail and join adjacent ends of aligned rails, and a clip which fits over end sleepers of adjacent track sections to hold the two track sections together, the clip comprising a substantially flat portion extending over the top of the two end sleepers and having lugs which project downwardly and inwardly by an amount no greater than the thickness of a sleeper, and which cooperate with and engage in recesses in the end sleepers.