US2061110A - Track laying and picking-up machine and method - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 17, 1936. R'. STAUFFER 2,061,110

u TRACK LAYING AND'PICKING-UP MAGHINE AND METHOD 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 16, 1955 u HHPHW Y Nov. 17, 1936. l'2,061,110

TRACK LAYING AND PICKING-UP MACHINE AND METHOD R. STAUFFER 5 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Sept. 16, 1935 Fys.

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Nov.V 17, 1936. R. sTAUr-'FER l 2,061,110

TRACK'LAYING AND PICKING-UP MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Sept. 16, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Mfrs/rra?,

Patented Nov. 17, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TRACK LAYING AND PICKING-UP MACHINE AND METHOD This invention is an apparatus to expedite the handling and laying of railway ties and tracks, that is, rails, along a more or less graded bed.

It is an object to provide a simple, practical and ecient apparatus for spotting stacks of tiers of close, parallel ties along the bed and for bodily lifting individual tiers of ties from the spotted stack and laying the ties on the bed in conventional pitch or spacing to receive the steel rails, and to provide for placement of the rails on the laid ties of a transferred tier.

An object is to provide means for the presentation of a stack in which the ties are compactly and uniformly arranged in tiers with as many ties in a tier as are ordinarily used in one length of rail; the ties being arranged transversely to the line of the track Way being laid, and that being the meaning of the words transverse ties where hereinafter occurring. And concurrently with the presentation or spotting of each stack of ties rails, lying parallel to the trackway, are also presented in a stack to be readily pulled onto the ties as fast as they are laid in corresponding bed length.

A further object is to provide for individual gripping of each tie in a tier uppermost of the stack and the concurrent lifting of the whole tier and its transfer to the road bed and for the individual release of each tie, and, further, means are provided to effect the shift of the tie gripping apparatus bodily so as to cause the ties to be uniformly spaced along the bed in an amount or pitch according to the length of the rail being employed.

It is also an object to provide a fixed set of tie gripping devices in the form of individually operable tongs adapted to drop over and receive a full tier of the stacked ties, and further, to provide tongs which have means to compensate for reasonable variation in the length of the ties.

The invention consists in certain advancements .in the method and apparatus of this art as set forth in the ensuing disclosure and having, with the above, additional objects and advantages as hereinafter developed, and whose manner of operation and construction, combination and detail of means, will be made manifest in the description of the herewith disclosed and illustrative embodiment; it being understood that modications, variations and adaptations may be resorted to within the scope, principle and spirit of the invention as it is more directly claimed hereinbelow.

Figure 1 is a schematic plan of apparatus used in the method,

Figure 2 is an elevation of apparatus in a step of the method.

Figure 3 is a sectional plan of the tie handling, tong frame, showing, in part, a gang of tie tongs, one of which is illustrated, in full, in open position, and ready to be closed on the ends of a tie.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of a dolly with a full load of ties in orderly transverse arrangement, and above it the tie pick-up frame.

Figure 5 is a detail plan of one of the tie tongs in tripped, tie-gripping position, and

Figure 6 is a side elevation thereof, the tie frame being shown in cross section.

Figure 7 is an end elevation of one of a pair of trucks forming a tie dolly, with a part of its cross-connection to its companion truck, and

Figure 8 is a detail of the hinged connection as attached to the companion dolly truck.

Figure 9 is a detail plan of means attached to a suitable tractor for effecting the timed discharge of the ties individually from placed tie frame with its tier of ties.

Figure 10 is a perspective of a running tappet for manipulating the tie tongs, and a clutch control device associated therewith.

An important object of the invention is to eliminate the requirement of a railroad locomotive and its operating cost and crew for the mere spotting of fiat cars, with rails and ties, for the erection of temporary tracks in various fields of operation, of which only the cutting and transporting of lumber from the woods will be here mentioned. Another object is to reduce the ordinary track handling crew and to greatly facilitate the work of laying the track on grade bed and its subsequent removal for use on another spur from the main line of the job. Particularly it is an object to provide a method and apparatus in which a free running tractor provides the power and constitutes an important element of the machinery of the apparatus.

In Fig. 1 broken-joint rails l and 2 have been laid and bridled on a spread of ties 3, on the last of which the rail 2 terminates. According to the method hereof a flat car 4, of any suitable length has been spotted on the end of rail l by means of a spotting cable 5 hitched at E to the flat car and has been unhitched at 'l from a suitable selfpropelled tractor 8 and laid along the grade bed or right-of-way.

The flat car 4 is provided with a track 9, laid off-center, on which is a plurality of trucks IU connected cross-wise in pairs by rods Il hinged at one end to one truck, Fig. 8, and detachably connected, as by hooking at I2, to its companion truck, each pair forming a dolly readily movable along the flat car tracks 9 toward the front end of the fiat car, that is, toward the end of the dead end of road track I.

Each dolly (I0- lt I) has a set of inwardly folding posts I3, Fig. 4, whose upper ends are provided with suitable holding means I4 securable across and removable from the top tier of a stack I5 of ties 3, these latter all laid transverse to the line of the grade bed, for a purpose later disclosed. When a dolly at the spotting position IS, Fig. 1, has b'een fully unloaded the posts and hold-down means are compacted along the relative truck II), the related trucks are disconnected at the rods I I and the trucks are dropped over into the space between the tracks 9, on the flat car. The next following dolly-is then pushed up to the spotting position I6, is unloaded and is then pushed back on its tracks to clear the iirst tumbled dolly and is itself knocked down and tumbled between the tracks 9 so as to allow its following dolly to be pushed ahead to spotting position I6 and unloaded, and pushed back and tumbled clear of the last tumbled dolly, and so on for each loaded dolly on the flat car 4.

Preferably each tier Il of ties 3 in a stack I5 is suiicient for the laying of one rail I, and a suitable supply of rails is provided by a rack of rails laid longitudinally on the flat beside the oiset flat car track 9. It will be seen that a very considerable length of trackage can be laid on the grade bed from the supply of ties and rails on one flat car 4.

An important feature of the invention is the method and means for picking up a full tier of ties from the stack I5 on the spotted dolly, on the flat car, and for transferring the tier over to the dead end of the rail 2, Fig. l, (and repeating) and for the automatic dropping of the ties of the tier in succession and at given spacing or pitch of the ties for reception of a rail, or rather, rails I and 2, in continued broken-joint fashion along the grade bed.

A tier pick-up frame consists of a pair of side members 20 having pendant side anges 2| spaced in parallel to drop over the opposite ends of the ties of the uppermost tier in the stack and clear the same, for reasons stated later. The side members 20 are cross-connected in rigid manner by suitable means such as cross-plates 22-23; the latter having a pair of forwardly directed horns 24 to engage with and form guide and positioning means on the legs of a boom 25 whose lower end is pivoted at 26 on a hanger incorporated with or attached suitably to the tracvidually release the ties in timed and spaced order and includes a gang of parallel tongs operatively mounted on the frame. Each tong includes a pair of shanks 21 whose outer parts are slidably mounted in bearings 28 beyond which they have down turned bows 29 with sharp pointed n'ibs 30 passing inwardly throughrespective flanges 2l at the opposite sides of the frame and spaced along the flanges so as to be in a position at about opposite the center of opposite ties of the tier down onto which the frame is adapted to be lowered above a spotted dolly.

The Shanks 2'I of a pair of tongs extend inwardly from their bearings 23 and have sliding collars v3| engaging expansion springs 32 supported. by

nuts 33 on the near ends of the shanks. The collars 3| are suitably connected to arms of levers 34 pivoted at 35 to swing about a vertical aXis on a frame piece 3S, of which there is one for each row of tong levers 34. The tong levers 34 of a pair are connected at their inner ends to links 37, which in turn are connected to the near ends of a master lever 38swinging on a vertical pivot 39, of which a gang is provided on the gang plate 43 of the pick-up frame.

A prominent feature of the invention is a means to eiect the mechanical actuation of the several tongs in closing on or releasing theV ties. In this instance each lever 38 is provided with a see-saw tumbler 4I with bearing ends, one on each side of the pivot 39 of the lever and adapted for cooperative engagement with opposite inclined faces of a travelling tappet 42, Fig. 10, from the opposite ends of which extend a suitable cable 43 or its equivalent by which the tappet is pulled back and forth in a guide track 44 xed to or formingr a part of the pick-up frame.

One end of the cable 43 leads off to a control drum 45 on and powered by the tractor 8 (that is, from its motor plant) and by which drum the cable is hauled in to cause the tappet 42 to run to the left hand (in this embodiment) and swing the tumblers 4I so as to close the tong nibs 35 onto the adjacent ends of ties of the uppermost tier of the stack at the spotting position, after the pick-up frame has been lowered thereonto.

The handling of the pick-up frame is accom-l plished by means including a suitable hitch plate 46 bridled to the frame and having a pulley 41 receiving aA cable bight 48 connected to the boom` 25 and running over a sheave 49 thereon and thence to a control drum 50 on the tractor. A conventional rig 5I controls vertical swing of the boom on its basal pivot 26 in its actions toward or from the spotted flat car.

As so'on as the frame tongs have been closed on a tier of ties the frame is hoisted by its cable 48 as needed to clear the'posts I3 of the spotted dolly and then the boom is pulled up and the frame (Z2- 20) is drifted over toward the legs of the boom to place the horns astride the outside faces of the legs of the boom; the width of the lower portion of the boom being complementary' to the spacing of the horns so that the boom and horns coact to lguide the frame as it is lowered toward the basal pivot of the boom and bring it into register with a means which is provided for the purpose of successively dropping the ties from the frame and to effect the spacing of them along the grade bed to receive the rails with the minimum of manual attention and labor in their placement.

One end of the tappet cable 43, Fig. 10, has an eye 52 which is pre-positioned in and by a box 53 on the front frame member 23, Fig. 9, as the tappet is run to its limit to the left when closing the tongs on the ties. The lower edges of the horns 24 are recessed at 54 to receive stop andr `registering lugs 55 on the sides of the boom legs 25 so that the eye is automatically brought into place to receive one or another of a series of hooks 56 xed in a row around the surface of a drum 5'I having a drive shaft 58 here shown as coaxial with the boom pivot 26, and being rotative freely therein by a drive means which is preferably so connected to the tractor traction means that as the tractor is backed away from the position shown in Fig. 2, the tappet cable is hitched to the drum 51 due to its rotation (in this adaptation clockwise).

,The drive means for'the drum'51 ishere shown as a sprocket and chain device 59 connecting the drive shaft 60 `of the tractor andthe shaft .58 of the drum 51. Selective drive or free run of the drum is had by means of a suitable clutch 6I on the shaft 58. It is understood that the drive device 59 will have such ratio to the speed of the tractor that the drum will wind up the tappet cable at such rate as to properly release the ties from the tongs and approximately correctly space them n the grade bed. The right hand travel of the tappet 42 across the frame and along the gang of tongs will cause the latter to open and release the ties in successionnbeginning at the left of. the frame and dropping the rst tie near the dead end of rail 2, Figf2, and so on until the last tie in the frame is dropped about `rail length away to the right.

As the last tie is dropped from the pick-up frame the tappet 42 hits a clutch lever 62,`Fig. 10, and throws open the clutch 6I thus freeing the drum 51 and allowing this to free the eye 52 of the ta-ppet cable 43 so that this can be shifted over to the left when the frame is swung over for the pick-up of. the next tier of ties from a -dolly presented on the hat car 4. The clutch lever 262 is held open by a manually releasable hook latch 63, which is set by the tractor operator'in time for the next tier of ties to be dropped.

The springs 32 of the tong Shanks 31 provide for effective gripping of the ties and compensate in reasonable variations in their lengths. Ihe tongs are locked in gripping position vby automatic action of springs 64 which act through levers 34 to press respective link joints 65 past center line between the pivots 3Q, Vof levers 38, and the outer end pivots of the links 31; this locking action taking place as the tappet 42 trips the tumblers 4I to close the tongs. Stops 66 limit locking swing of the lever train of a tong.

Thev method is, therefore, as follows: Stacks of transverse ties in tiers are laid upon movable dollies lll on a flat car 4 and a rack of rails is built up with the rails lengthwise along the row of dollies. The flat car is then shifted to or spotted at the dead end of laid track I, Fig. 1, by means of hitch cable attached to the tractor `8. The cable is then thrown off the tractor and this is moved up to the dead end of track 2.

'I'he pick-up frame 2li-22 is now lowered onto the stack of ties on the dolly at the front end of the at car; the hold-down I4 having been thrown off as the dolly is spotted. The tongs are now set by action of line 43 to drum 45 and the left shift of the tappet 42, each tong taking a single tie by the ends. The tong carrying frame is now hoisted by its bight 48 and the upswing of the boom and the tractor is backed away enough to allow the pick-up frame to be lowered close to dead end of track .2 and position the first tie in the transferred tier near the dead end. The lowered frame registers the tappet cable eye 52 with an apposite hook 55 of drum 51 and at the same time the horns 24 conn-ect with the foot of the boom.

The tractor is now backed away with the hitched frame and the drum 51 is turned in timed relation to tractor travel with the result that the ties are dropped successively from the frame by shift of the tappet 42 to the right as cable 43 is wound onto drum 51; the ties being spaced apart on the grade to a distance about equal to the length of the rail section being used on the spur.

As the last tie is dropped the clutch lever 62 is .thrown `by the tappet `42 Yand the drum is freed from its clutch 6I.

At the time that the pick-up frame is positioned on the dolly stack to get a tier of ties sets of tongs 10, on cable 1I from drum 12, are then .hitched to two rails in the rack on the flat car 4, and after the last tie hasbeen placed on grade bed drum 61 is driven to haul in cable 66 until one rail is dropped at the dead end of rail track I and until the other picked-up rail is laid at the dead end of track rail 2, Fig. 1.

The flat car 4 is moved ahead on the fresh placed rails as soon as these are temporarily bridled in conventional manner without waiting for them to be spiked to the ties.

As the flat car is now again spotted the empty dolly is tumbled onto the floor of the ilat car and the next full dolly is moved up to the front, the hold-down I4 is thrown olf the stack, and the boom 25 is lowered for a repeat of the operation.

By a reversal of several steps of the operation the rails and ties of a spur can be readily and quickly pulled up, placed in rack and stacks on `a flat car, and hauled to a new site of operation.

What is claimed is:

1. Rail track laying apparatus including means for spotting a stack of parallel ties, and a tractor movable on grade bed ahead of the stack and having a gang of tongs for concurrently picking up a full tier of the ties from the presented stack, and means including a control on the tractor for successively opening the tongs while the tractor is in motion to drop the ties.

2. Rail track apparatus including means for spotting a stack of tiers of parallel ties transverse to a road bed, a tractor movable on the road bed ahead of the stack and having a gang of tongs complementary to the stack tiers and bodily shiftable as a. unit to transfer the tiers one by one from the stack, and means including controls on the tractor for closing the tongs on the tier ties and for individually opening the tongs while the tractor is in motion to release the ties.

3. Rail track laying apparatus including means to spot a stack of tiers of ties transverse to a road bed, a tractor having means to pick up a full tier of ties from the stack and to transfer the tier to a given point in such transverse order, and means connected to and operative by the tractor to drop ties successively while the tractor is moving.

4. A tractor for operating on a railroad grade bed and having means to pick up a full tier of ties from a stack and to bodily transfer the tier to a given point near the end of laid tracks and `including tongs for the individual ties, and means to individually open the tongs to drop the ties .to and along grade bed and being connected to,

.and operative by movement of, the tractor;

whereby to place the ties in given pitch.

5. Rail track laying apparatus including a tractor, and means carried by, and operatively connected to, the tractor for picking a full tier of ties from a stack and including tractor actuated -means to individually release successive ties from the tier to drop them to grade bed, while the tractor is moving from the spotted stack; whereby to space the ties for rail support.

6. Rail track laying apparatus including a `tractor having a boom, means carried by the boom and having controls on the tractor for picking up the topmost tier of a spotted stack of parallel ties, and means controlled by movement of the tractor for releasing the ties in succession from the pick-up means and causing them to be laid on grade in spaced relation.

7. Rail track laying apparatus including a tractor and means for spotting a stack of parallel ties in superposed tiers; said tractor having means to individually grip ak full tier of ties from the stack, means on the tractor for swinging the gripped ties to position above grade, and means operative by, and controlled by movement of, the tractor to individually release the ties at spaced positions along the grade.

8. Track laying apparatus including a boom and its controls, a gang of tongs carried by the boom for picking up a full tier from a stack of ties to be bodily shifted by the boom, and means carrying the boom and having control means operative to open the tongs one at a time for the release of the ties.

-9. Track laying apparatus including a boom and its controls, a gang of tongs and a support therefor carried and bodily shiftable by the boom, means mounted on said support and operative to close the tongs individually on ties of a tier in a stack, and mechanical means for actuating the aforesaid means to open the tongs one at a time to release the ties concurrently with movement of the boom along a grade bed.

10. Track laying apparatus including means to pick up a tier oi ties, means to bodily shift the pick-up means and its load, and including a free tractor having means to effect individual release of, the ties in sequence from,fand concurrently with movement of, the tractor means.

11. Track laying apparatus including means to individually grip parallel ties of a tier and to bodily shift the gripped tier to a given point on a track grade, means to advance the gripping means along the grade, and means including a timing device to effect individual release of the ties from the tier during such advance.

12. Tie handling means including a frame having a set of tongs, each adapted to engage an individual tie at its ends in a tier of parallel ties spaced identically with the spacing of the tongs, means mounted on the frame for successively setting the tongs on the ties, and a control mechanism for actuating said engaging mechanism.

13. Tie handling means for track laying including a frame having a set of tongs each spaced to engage contiguous ends of complementally arranged, parallel ties in a tier, means mounted on the frame for successively actuating the tongs and having a control mechanism to eiect either the closing or the opening of the tongs by said means.

14. Tie placing means for track laying including a portable frame, a set of parallel tongs on the frame adapted to close upon the adjacent ends ci parallel ties laid complementally to the tongs in a tier, means movable in one direction to close the tongs and in the opposite direction to open them in succession, and a control mechanism for actuating said means.

15. Tie placing means for track laying including a portable frame, a set of tongs on the frame for gripping the ends of ties of a tier, means on the frame for closing or for opening the tongs individually on ties, and means for timing opening action of the tongs during movement of the frame to effect spacing of the ties in a row.

16. Structure as set forth in claim 15, and including means for locking the tongs in tie gripping position.

17. Track laying means including a unitary frame having a set of tongs mounted therein with grip ends sliding in the frame, and means operatively mounted on the frame to close the tongs on a tier of ties; said tongs including means to compensate for tie length variation.

13. Means to impale and transport a tier of parallel ties including a portable frame having a set of parallel tongs having gripping shanks sliding in the frame and each adapted to grip an adjacent tie by its ends, a mechanism on the frame to close or to open the tongs in succession, means to individually lock each tong in closed position, and means in each tong tc compensate the tongs to length Variation.

19. A gang of tongs having yieldable, connected hooks in pairs adapted to impale ends of a tier of parallel ties, means for closing all the pairs of hooks to provide for concurrent lift of the tier, and a control mechanism including means for effecting successive individual opening of the hook pairs to release their ties by the aforesaid means.

20. Track laying apparatus including a boom, a pick-up frame suspended by the boom, means on the frame to grip a tier of ties, means to close the gripping means, means to effect releasing action of the gripping means, and guide means for positioning the frame on the boom and interlocking it therewith for interconnection of the grip closing means and the said release effecting means.

21. The track laying method including building a stack of tiers of close, parallel ties and building a rack of rails contiguous to the tie stack, spotting the rack and the stack on a laid track end, hitching a cable onto a plurality of the rails in the rack, bodily picking up a tier of the ties from the stack, moving the picked-up tier bodily over to rail grade at said track end and suspending the tier above and moving it along the grade and dropping one tie at a time during such movement in spaced relation along the grade to receive rails, and lifting and moving forward and then dropping the hitched rails in broken joint relation onto the dropped ties.

22. Spotting a rack of parallel rails and a stack of tiers of close, parallel ties at the dead end of a laid track, moving a vehicle up to the dead end and hitching a cable from the vehicle onto a pair of the rails, lowering a pick-up means from the vehicle onto and picking up the topmost tier of ties from the stack, positively positioning the picked-up tier as to the vehicle, backing the vehicle from the said dead end while suspending the tier above grade, successively dropping by vehicle actuated mechanism the suspended ties along grade from the dead end, and then pulling the hitched rails over and dropping them in broken joint relation onto the dropped rail receiving ties.

23. In a track laying method, picking up a tier of parallel ties, moving it to and suspending it over grade bed at the dead end of a laid track, bodily moving the suspended tier along grade and successively dropping its ties in spaced, transverse relation along grade from the said dead end during said second movement.

ROY STAUFFER.

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