US3461810A - Rail lifter - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 19, 1969 3,461,810 RAIL LIFTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 lllllllllllll lllllllllllll lllllllllllll Filed Nov. 21. .1967

Aug. 19., 1969 Run:

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 21, 1967 N QNRN 1 x, mm

W. JPYARD RAIL LIFTER Aug, 19, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 21, 1967 3,461,810 RAIL LIFTER William J. Yard, Cavan, South Australia, Australia, assignor to Australian Railway Equipment Supply Company Proprietary Limited, Adelaide, South Australia, and Trak Chief Manufacturing Proprietary Ltd., Cavan, South Australia, Australia.

Filed Nov. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 684,702

Int. Cl. 1301!) 29/22 US. Cl. 104-7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rail lifter for the lifting of a rail from a tie to thereby break the grip of a spike in the tie, the rail lifter having a clamp to engage the rail beneath its head and hydraulic rams to urge downwardly on the tie thereby lifting the rail from the tie.

This invention relates to a machine suitable for lifting a rail from a sleeper by an amount sufiicient to break the tie spikes securing the rail to the sleeper.

When the rails are to be removed from sleepers much difficulty is encountered in breaking the joint between the tie spikes and the sleepers, partly because of the growth in dimension as the tie spike surface rusts and the consequential tight grip of the timber of the sleeper, and sometimes due to the spike head being so driven as to make it impossible to secure a grip under the spike head. Time consumed in removing or easing out such:spikes is considerable. Once the joint is broken however and the tie spikes are moved, say, one quarter of an inch, it is a relatively. easy matter to lever them out of their retaining apertures in the sleepers with simple lever means or with a spike puller. The main object of this invention therefore is to provide a simple and effective machine which will lift a rail from a sleeper or in the alternative to press the sleeper from the rail, so that the tie spike is broken from the sleeper and is then readily removable. It is a further object to provide a machine which will completely extract spikes from sleepers, if desired for say a complete line re-lay.

The invention may be said to consist of a rail lifter having rail engaging wheels, a rail engaging clamp arranged to engage a rail when supporting the rail lifter, and hydraulic lifting rams arranged to urge downwardly on a sleeper when the rail is engaged by the clamp thereby lifting the rail from the sleeper.

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 side elevation of a rail lifter with the clamps in their disengaged position,

FIG. 2 is a similar view but showing the clamps engaging the rail and the rams engaging the sleeper to lift the rail from the sleeper, and

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the machine.

According to this embodiment a rail lifter has two main portions, namely a main frame and a sub-frame 11. The main frame 10 has a pair of brackets 12 extending vertically, and the sub-frame 11 is pivotally carried etween the brackets 12 on the pin 15. A sub-frame positioning ram 16 which in this embodiment is a single acting hydraulic ram and is trunnion mounted at its top end between upwardly extending brackets 18 while its lower end carries a pin 19 in swinging arms 20 disposed between and pivotally carried by brackets 21 on the frame 10 and arranged to bear downwardly on the frame 10 as the sub-frame is lifted by the cylinder 16.

The main frame 10 is provided with an engine and hydraulic pump (designated collectively as 22), and also 3,461,810 Patented Aug. 19, 1969 has a pair of arms 23 hinged thereto the outer ends of the arms carrying land wheels 24 on them. The arms are carried on a plate which is hinged between two spaced plates 25 and the land wheels can be raised from the ground or lowered to the ground and locked in either one of these two positions by insertion of a pin (not shown). The main frame also has two pairs of rail wheels 27 which are arranged in a direction transverse of the direction of the land wheels and are adapted to engage rails 28 of a track.

The sub-frame is arranged to be controlled in its pivotal movement by the ram 16, (which may be spring loaded upwardly) but the hydraulic pump when operated is arranged to drive the ram so that the sub-frame can be lifted from or lowered to a rail of a track (FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively The sub-frame 11 is provided with a bracket 29 and releasable coupling means (in this embodiment a shackle 30) couples the sub-frame 11 to abridge 31 forming part of the main frame 10.

The sub-frame 11 has depending therefrom a pivoted link 32 which suspends a rail clamp frame 34.

This rail clamp frame 34 pivotally supports two pairs of claw-like clamp members 36 and these are each operated by a trunnion mounted clamping cylinder 37 operable to close them together or withdraw them apart. The rail clamp frame 34 also has on it a pair of hydraulic lifting rams 39 the moving elements of which carry feet 40 arranged to engage the upper surface of a sleeper (or tie) 41 as shown in FIG. 2 when it is desired to lift the rail from the sleeper.

The existence of a pivoted coupling 32 makes the device operable under adverse conditions, for example when the rail clamp frame 34 engages an uneven surface of a sleeper. The pin 19 on the movable arm 20 allows the device to be used on rails of varying sizes without straining the frame. If desired the clamping cylinder 37 and the lifting rams 39 may be operated from a single valve, or they may be separately operated.

In order to reduce pressure build-up in the conduits (not shown) which supply pressure fluid to the cylinder 37 when the rams 39 operate, the cylinder 37 is provided with a pressure responsive pilot holding valve 45 in a conduit 46 which extends between the ends of the cylinder 37 and closes to lock the cylinder when (as shown in FIG. 2) the jaws 36 are closed and pressure is released.

If drive for the rail engaging wheels is used (as shown in this embodiment) the main frame 10 supports a seat 50 and a post 51 which carries the operating valves 52.

What I claim is:

1. A rail lifter comprising a main frame, rail engaging wheels supporting the main frame, a sub-frame, hinge means coupling the sub-frame to the main frame, for pivoting about a substantially horizontal axis disposed substantially parallel to the rails, a sub-frame positioning ram operatively coupling the sub-frame to the main frame and being operative to effect relative pivotal movement therebetween', a clamp frame having a rail engaging clamp thereon, a pivoted link suspending the clamp frame from the sub-frame, means on the rail engaging clamp operative to urge the clamp into engagement with a rail when supporting the rail lifter, and hydraulic lifting rams disposed one on each side of a rail and operative between the sub-frame and a sleeper or tie and arranged to urge downwardly on the sleeper or tie when the rail is engaged by the clamp to thereby lift the rail from the sleeper or tie.

2. A rail lifter according to claim 1 wherein the hydraulic lifting rams are carried by the rail clamp frame.

3. A rail lifter comprising a main frame, rail wheels supporting the main frame and adapted to guide it for movement along a railroad track, a sub-frame hinged to the main frame, a sub-frame positioning ram operable between the sub-frame and the main frame, a rail clamp frame hinged to the sub-frame, rail engaging clamps hinged to the rail clamp frame, clamping cylinders operable to open or close the rail engaging clamps, lifting rams carried by the rail clamp frame, a swinging arm pivotally connected at one end to the sub-frame positioning ram and at its other end to the main frame, and arranged to bear against the main frame as the sub-frame is lifted by the positioning ram.

4. A rail lifter according to claim 3 further comprising a pivoted link coupled to the rail clamp frame and to the sub-frame, the rail clamp frame being suspended from the sub-frame by the pivoted link.

5. A rail lifter according to claim 3 further comprising foot members on the movable elements of the lifting rams, the foot members being engageable against the upper surface of a sleeper or tie when the clamps engage a rail carried on the sleeper or tie beneath its head.

- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1956 Sublett, l047 5/1968 Plasser et al.' 104--7 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner

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