US2041828A - Joint for rail ends and splice bars therefor - Google Patents

Description

' 193$ R. F. GREENWOOD 9 9 JOINT FOR RAIL ENDS AND SPLICE BARS THEREFOR Filed Aug. 22, 1932 INVENTOR.

.45 holes to produceintegrallyfrom the metal of the Patented May 26, 1936 ,1; 2,041,828

UNITED" STATES PATENT orrlcs JOINT FOR RAIL ENDS AND SPLICE BARS THEREFOR Richard F. Greenwood, New York, N. Y., assignor to Standard Equipments, Inc., a corporation of Maryland Application August 22, 1932, Serial No. 629,814

2 Claims. (01. 238-243) This invention relates to improvements in oo-act and co-operate with each other in the joints for rail ends and splice bars therefor. performance of the functions and the accom- It has been determined that the apex of the plishment of the results herein contemplated, and strain of the rolling load on a rail occurs in a comprises in one of its adaptions the species or vertical plane extending longitudinally about an preferred form illustrated in the accompanying 5 inch from the center line or middle of the raildrawing, in which:

head and parallel with and closely adjacent to Fig. 1 is a View in elevation of one side of a the web of the rail, and it is one of the objects rail joint embodying my'invention; of this invention to utilize my splice bar to assist Fig. 2 is a. vertical section on the line 2-2 of 1') the railhead in supporting this load-strain more Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows and .0 effectively by providing a bar which will engage showing the bolt before the nut is tightened up beneath the head in the plane of the load-strain on the bolt;

and by positioning the body or web of such bar Fig. 3 is a section similar to Fig. 2 showing the in a position beneath the head which will subnut tightened up on the bolt;

stantially coincide with the plane of such load- Fig. 4 is a section on the line 6-4 of Fig. 1 15' strain,'and with this end in view, I provide for looking in the direction of the arrows; contact of the bar preferably with the entire fish- Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 55 ing area of the rail including the rail-web and of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; upper and lower fillet portions between the web Fig. 6 is a view in elevation similar to Fig. 1

and the head and flange respectively, and the showing a modified form of my invention; 20 areas outside of the said upper and lower fillet Fig. '7 is a section on the line 'l'i of Fig. 6 portions. looking in the direction of the arrows.

Still another object of my invention is to pro- Referring now to this drawing, it will be seen v n r ly n a p i b a n t-l ck spring that one feature of my invention is directed to a washer adapted to enable the tight retention of joint structure in which the web or body of the nuts on the bolts, and to eliminate the use of splice bars will be disposed vertically beneath loose, independent nut-lock washers and the exthe sides of the head of the rail so as to provide Dense c n theretou a support and to reinforce said head directly in Still another object of my invention is to prothe plane through which the major portion or Vide a splice'bal having its middle P01171011 COII- apex of the stress of the load of rolling stock on 30 taming W h the fishing a a of t e i d said-rail is transmitted and which plane is estidi e fi fl pp dfillets d fla e mated to be removed about one inch from the and head sections, and also to provide a bar havmiddle of the head of the rail, known as the vering end portions simi rly c ta n with the tical centroid and also to provide a joint in which Said entire fishing area of the rail ends and p the inner surface of the splice bars have a conticularly with the web section of such fishing t t, area engaging with a major portion of the are fishing area of the rail including a contact be- Stil an e bj of my invention is to utilize tween the web of the bar and the web-section of a splice-bar construction having a web section Said fi hi g area f th m d preferably l 40 contacting with and bearing on the web section of with the head and flange fillets and with 40 the fishing area" the i and provided with faces beneath the rail head and with the flange an integral locahzed seamen struckmp and so throughout its entire length except where struck formed as to be relieved from said web contactup Sections prevail as shown ing section and surrounding one or more bolt Referring now particularly to Figs 1 to 5 of this drawing, lt--IE!' indicates rail ends joined together by splice bars H-l I. In said Figs. 1

bar a nut-lock element spaced or relieved from gggg igg; g gi zfi wgg :32 23: :3? g g g to 5 inclusive, each of the splice bars is provided the bars to cause the nuts when screwed home on with a Web section and prlifembliy Wlth the bolts to be securely locked on the bars by contacting flange 3 co tac ms w1th the under 50 the spring action or efiect of the integral struck- Surface 0 the head d fi t l5 be ween the up portion. head and web It of the rail which I shall here- With these and other objects in view, the ininafter call the head fillet and said bar also vention comprises the combination of members is provided with a bottomflange l1: contacting and arrangement of parts so combined as to with the rail flange I8 and w1th the lower fillet I9 55 between the rail-web and rail-flange, which fillet I shall hereinafter call the flange fillet.

As illustrated, the web l2 of each of the splice bars has its middle section I2 which bridges the joint disposed in contact with the web portion l6 of the fishing area of the rail and the end sections l2a and l2b at the outer sides of the bolts of the splice bars also have their web portions contacting with the web portion of the rail, and in the preferred embodiment of my invention shown in Figs. 1 to 5, the web portion I20 and H11 also contact with the web portion of the rails as more particularly shown in Fig. 5. In the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 5 therefore, the splice bars will have contact with the fishing area, including the web of the rail, the under surfaces of the rail head, the head-fillets, the top surface of the rail-flange and the flange fillet, said bar being substantially U shaped in cross-section and disposed oppositely to the rail joint design employed in general practice. When a bar is fitted in this position, the Web or body of the bar will reinforce the head and web of the rail and will be disposed vertically beneath the plane in the head through which the major portion of the strain of the load is transmitted during the movement of the rolling stock of the rails in the cycle of positive and negative stress values.

My invention is also directed to the formation integrally in the web portion of a splice bar of a nut-lock washer section localized in said web section so as to surround a bolt hole or bolt holes, whereby independent spring nut-lock washers may be eliminated and the nuts and bolts will be held securely by the spring tension afforded in the localized metal portion constituting said lockwasher section.

Also in accordance with my invention, the splice bars are made of high carbon spring metal and an integral portion 20 surrounding each bolt-hole is struck up from the web of the bar so as to provide an integral spring-washer section, the inner surface of which will be slightly spaced from the normal plane of the inner surface of the bar and will be relieved from contact with the rail-web and the outer surface of which will be slightly raised above the normal plane of the outer surface of the bar, and when a pair of these splice bars are positioned as hereinab-ove described and shown in the drawing, the said outer surfaces will be contacted directly by the bolt head and the nut 22.

The metal of the bar will be of such resilience as to enable the integral Washer to have sufficient springiness or resilience to permit a slight inward springing-movement thereof upon pressure caused by the tightening of the bolts. These integral struck-up washers will thus, under the screw pressure due to tightening up of the nuts on the bolts, resiliently hold and lock the nuts securely in position on the bolts.

Figs. 6 and 7 show a construction which is in all respects similar to that shown in Figs. 1 to 5 except that a single struck-up integral spring washer, instead of surrounding one bolt-hole only, is arranged to include a plurality of bolt holes so that one integral spring washer includes and serves a plurality of bolts, or it may be said that a plurality of integral spring-washers are connected together in one struck up portion. In this construction, however, the web of the bar is arranged to provide contact with the web section of the fishing area of the rail at a plurality of points along its length and preferably has such contact at the middle section l2 and at the ends of the splice bars on opposite sides of the bolt holes. In this way, effective contact is provided between the rail webs and the inner surfaces of the webs of the splice bars to provide a bearing contact for applying pressure to the spring washer portions and also contact is maintained with the major portion of the fishing area of the rail, preferably including contact with the rail-web section, the head and flange fillets and head and flange fishing sections outside of the said fillets.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a rail-joint, a pair of rail ends having bolt holes, a pair of splice bars of channel-formation, each having across the joint and at opposite ends web-sections contacting throughout their entire surfaces with the web-sections of the fishing areas of the rail ends and other web-sections contacting at one portion and offset at portion of their surfaces with said web-section of the fishing areas of the rails, said bars also having outwardly-extending flanges comprising a top-flange contacting with the head-fillet and under surface of the head of the rail and a bottom flange contacting with the flange-fillet and with a portion of the flange of the rail, the major portion of the metal of the splice bars being disposed beneath the overhanging head portions of the rail in longitudinal-vertical parallel planes extending closely adjacent to the web of the rail and one of said planes being closely adjacent to the vertical plane through which the major portion of the strain of the load is transmitted, whereby greater strength of the joint is produced and oifset portions are provided for locking the bar, bolt holes in said offset portions, and bolts passing through the bolt holes of said bars and rail ends.

2. In a rail-joint, a pair of rail ends having bolt holes, a pair of splice bars of channel-formation, each having bolt holes registering with the bolt holes of the rail ends and provided across the joint, at opposite ends and between the bolt holes with web-sections contacting throughout their entire surfaces with the web-section of the fishing are of the rail ends and also provided with web-sections having portions adjacent to the bolt holes offset from said web-section and other portions surrounding said offset portions in contact with the fishing area of the rail, said oiTset portions of said web-sections of the splicebars comprising localized portions surrounding the bolt holes and struck up in relief from the normal plane of the web of the bar to provide integral spring-washers, said splice bars also having outwardly extending flanges comprising a top-flange contacting with the head-fillet and under surface of the head of the rail and a bottom flange contacting with the flange-fillet and with a portion of the flange of the rail, the major portion of the metal of the splice bar being disposed beneath the overhanging head portions of the rail in longitudinal-vertical parallel planes extending closely adjacent to the web of the rail and one of said planes being closely adjacent to the vertical plane through which the major portion of the strain of the load is transmitted whereby greater strength of the joint is produced and localized washer portions are provided for locking the bar.

RICHARD F. GREENWOOD.

Images