U.S. patent application number 11/632814 was filed with the patent office on 2007-08-23 for sleeper with adjuster for track switch.
Invention is credited to Frank Meyer, Karl-Heinz Schwiede.
Application Number | 20070193200 11/632814 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35241285 |
Filed Date | 2007-08-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070193200 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Schwiede; Karl-Heinz ; et
al. |
August 23, 2007 |
Sleeper with adjuster for track switch
Abstract
In a sleeper having an actuator for switch tongues (3a and 3b),
designed as a hollow box sleeper (1) open at the top, for
installation in a railway line, in particular in the vicinity of
switches, the linkages for the movable switch tongues (3a and 3b)
and other functional elements such as drive and locking means,
monitoring devices, or the like being housed in the hollow box
sleeper (1), the hollow box sleeper (1) is provided with a floor
trough (8; 8a; 8b) for housing the functional elements or parts
thereof.
Inventors: |
Schwiede; Karl-Heinz;
(Kreuzlingen, CH) ; Meyer; Frank;
(Stockach-Wahlwies, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
K.F. ROSS P.C.
5683 RIVERDALE AVENUE
SUITE 203 BOX 900
BRONX
NY
10471-0900
US
|
Family ID: |
35241285 |
Appl. No.: |
11/632814 |
Filed: |
July 7, 2005 |
PCT Filed: |
July 7, 2005 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP05/07331 |
371 Date: |
January 18, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
238/29 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E01B 7/22 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
052/730.6 |
International
Class: |
E04C 3/30 20060101
E04C003/30 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 20, 2004 |
DE |
10 2004 035 110.4 |
Claims
1. A sleeper having an actuator for switch tongues (3a and 3b),
designed as a hollow box sleeper (1) open at the top, for
installation in a railway line, in particular in the vicinity of
switches, linkages for the movable switch tongues (3a and 3b) and
other functional elements such as drive and locking means,
monitoring devices, or the like being housed in the hollow box
sleeper (1), characterized in that the hollow box sleeper (1) is
provided with a floor trough (8; 8a; 8b) for housing the functional
elements or parts thereof.
2. The sleeper according to claim 1, characterized by a floor
trough (8) having a rectangular cross section.
3. The sleeper according to claim 1, characterized by a floor
trough (8a) having a trapezoidal cross section.
4. The sleeper according to claim 1, characterized in that the
floor trough (8; 8a) is provided centrally on the hollow box
sleeper (1).
5. The sleeper according to claim 1, characterized in that the
floor trough (8b) is provided off-center on the hollow box sleeper
(1).
6. The sleeper according to claim 1, characterized in that a drive
(6) is provided in the floor trough (8; 8a; 8b).
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a sleeper having an actuator for
switch tongues, designed as a hollow box sleeper open at the top,
for installation in a railway line, in particular in the vicinity
of a switch, the linkages for the movable switch tongues and other
functional elements such as drive and locking means, monitoring
devices, or the like being housed in the hollow box sleeper.
[0002] Such a transverse or hollow box sleeper is known from DE
4,315,200. To allow a cross-sectional width and cross-sectional
height that is matched to, for example, a standard concrete or
wooden sleeper despite housing of the necessary equipment, the
pawls, cam rods, and cam-rod guides are positioned at the upper
open side of the sleeper while the lower part of the sleeper holds
the tongue-actuating rod and the monitoring rod. For support of the
tracks, this hollow box sleeper made of steel has laterally
projecting support flanges on its top side. The drive for the
locking elements or their linkages is located laterally adjacent
the hollow box sleeper, projecting longitudinally from it. Such
drives that are flanged or provided on the side or end of a sleeper
are also known from DE 42 229 014 and CH 621 168.
[0003] Since they conform in shape to a concrete or wooden sleeper,
the known sleepers, i.e. hollow box sleepers, designed as locking
sleepers ensure uniform tamping capability of both hollow box
sleepers and the adjacent concrete or wooden sleepers. However,
despite the compact housing of functional elements and parts known
from DE 4 315 200, the installation space is very limited if a
drive or parts thereof, a hydraulic lock, for example, are to be
additionally integrated therein. As a result of this spatial
limitation, the drive or the drive parts or linkage parts of the
lock project beyond the upper side of the hollow box sleeper. Such
projection is particularly critical due to the minimum clearance,
i.e. the ground clearance from the track sleepers, prescribed for
railway vehicles. Thus, if the projecting parts come up to the
minimum clearance, undesired collisions with downwardly hanging
vehicle parts are frequently unavoidable.
[0004] The object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a
sleeper of this type that allows integration of a drive means, or
at least parts thereof, without the stated disadvantages.
[0005] This object is achieved according to the invention by
providing the hollow box sleeper with a floor trough for housing
the functional elements or parts thereof. Several advantages may
thus be realized at the same time. On the one hand, it is
recognized that the floor trough has little or no adverse effect on
automatic or manual tamping of the hollow box sleeper. On the other
hand, the recessing of the floor trough produces a lower
installation space such that preferably the drive or parts thereof
may be housed without impairment by any other installed parts
situated thereabove in the hollow box sleeper. The floor trough is
provided in such a deeply recessed location that in any case, no
component projects into the minimum clearance of the railway car.
In addition, the floor trough increases the weight of the hollow
box sleeper that stabilizes its position.
[0006] The floor trough, which for hollow box sleepers manufactured
from steel may be provided either by casting and cold/hot working,
may advantageously have a rectangular or trapezoidal cross section.
As the result of its angled and upwardly flaring end walls, a
trapezoidal floor trough facilitates tamping of the hollow box
sleeper.
[0007] According to proposals of the invention, the floor trough
may be provided centrally or off-center on the hollow box sleeper.
In either case, the hollow box sleeper thus acquires additional
positional stability with respect to its longitudinal and/or
transverse displaceability.
[0008] It lies within the scope of the invention to make use of the
considerable advantages of a floor trough, such that for a hollow
box sleeper the drive is provided or installed on the end so that
the usual length of a switch sleeper is exceeded. For this purpose,
the floor trough is displaced off-center to one side only until it
is beneath the drive, and even for such a long hollow box sleeper
then provides improved positional stability, i.e. support from
beneath and from the sides in the ballast.
[0009] Further features and particulars of the invention result
from the claims and the following description of shown embodiments
of the subject matter of the invention shown in the drawings.
Therein:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hollow box sleeper
together with running rails and the associated movable switch
tongues in reduced scale;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a top view of the hollow box sleeper according to
FIG. 1 in larger scale;
[0012] FIG. 3 shows the hollow box sleeper of FIG. 2 in a section
along line III-III;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a cross section of the hollow box sleeper
according to FIG. 2.;
[0014] FIGS. 5 through 8 are views like FIGS. 1 through 4, but with
another design of the underside of the hollow box sleeper; and
[0015] FIGS. 9 through 12 are views like FIGS. 1 through 4, but
with a further design variant of the underside of the hollow box
sleeper.
[0016] A hollow box sleeper profile 1 shown in FIGS. 1 through 12,
referred to below as a hollow box sleeper, is known per se. In the
construction of railroad track systems, the hollow box sleeper is
is used for producing the railway track from sleepers and rails, in
the vicinity of switches, and is positioned in the ballast bed.
Running rails 2a and 2b are fixed on the hollow box sleeper, and
juxtaposed inside the running rails are movable switch tongues 3a
and 3b having slide chair plates 4a and 4b are provided.
[0017] The interior of the hollow box sleeper 1 accommodates the
functional and movable elements for adjusting the switch tongues 3a
and 3b and the locking means therefor that secure the tongue end
positions. Of these, for the sake of simplicity only the lock
linkages 5a and 5b that branch off from the respective switch
tongues 3a and 3b are schematically indicated in the figures. On
their ends facing away from the switch tongues 3a and 3b the lock
linkages are connected to a drive 6 (electric or hydraulic
actuator) (see in each case the longitudinal sections of the hollow
box sleeper).
[0018] A special feature of all the embodiments of the hollow box
sleeper 1 is that on the lower wall 7 thereof a floor trough 8, 8a,
or 8b is provided. This enables the drive 6 and/or other functional
parts to be recessed down into the depression in the floor trough
8, 8a, or 8b inside the hollow box sleeper 1 without the required
functional and movable elements projecting unnecessarily beyond the
upper edge or side 9 of the hollow box sleeper 1. The recessed
installation space in the floor trough 8, 8a, or 8b thus makes it
possible for the elements in question to have little or no
projection beyond the upper side 9, and in every case ensures that
sufficient distance is maintained from a prescribed minimum
clearance 10 (indicated by a dashed-dotted line in the longitudinal
sections of the hollow box sleeper 1) of a railway car traveling on
the running rails 2a and 2b.
[0019] For the hollow box sleepers 1 according to FIGS. 1 through 4
and 5 through 8, the floor trough 8 or 8a is centrally positioned
in the floor 7 of the hollow box sleeper 1, relative to the
longitudinal extension thereof. Whereas the floor trough 8 has a
rectangular shape, the floor trough in FIGS. 5 through 8 has a
trapezoidal shape. The laterally flaring, angled end walls 11 of
the trapezoidal floor trough 8a form an enlarged installation
space.
[0020] In the installed operating position, the floor troughs 8,
8a, and 8b result in improved positional stability, and counteract
longitudinal and transverse displacement forces. The same applies
for the hollow box sleeper 1 according to FIGS. 9 through 12, in
which the floor trough 8b is shifted sufficiently off-center and
outward so that it houses the drive 6 and linkage means in an end
extension of the hollow box sleeper 1, and thus project
therefrom.
* * * * *