US1650551A - Convertible rail-joint structure - Google Patents

Description

1,650,551 MCLEOD THOMSON A CONVERTIBLE ARAIL JOINT STRUCTURE Filed June 16. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 abbot mm1 UNITED STATES y 1,650,551 PATENT OFFICE.

mamon THoiusoN, or ATLANTIC cITY, NEW JERSEY, AssIGNon To THE RAIL JOINT GQMPANY, F NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION oF NEW Yomz.

QONVERTIBLE RIL-JOINT STRUCTURE.

Alpplicatolrled June 16, 1927. Serial No. 199,321.

This invention relates to an improvement in rail joint structures, and more particularly to a structural formation adapting the joint bar for the usual flat head-fishing engagement, and also adapting it to function as a head-freev type of bar wherein the bearing and loading engagement is focused in and at the head fillet lof the rail.

To that end the present invention contemplates what may be termed a convertible rail 'oint structure which, in its preferred use, llas an initial head-fishing bearing, and, as wear progresses and the bar is adjusted under the tightening action of high tensile bolts, it ultimately assumes and takes a permanent head-free bearing and loading engagement at the head-fillet of the rail.

Also, the present invention provides a rail joint bar adaptable to two rails of different 20 fishing or to the difference in fishing of a new rail and a worn rail of the same sect-ion.

This assures a proper lit under different conditions of shing.

' A general object of the invention is to provide a convertible rail joint structure satisfactori-l meeting the requirements for an initial cad-fishing bearing preliminary to taking on the desirable. functions of a headfree rail joint with all of the attendant advantages thereof both with res ect to satisfactory maintenance and 4dura ility of the joint.

The special feature of the invention is' necessarily susceptible of structural modification without` departing from the spirit or scope thereof, but a preferred and practical embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view illustrating the primary or initial position of the joint bar when it is first applied to the rail and takes a Hat fishing engagement with the head-fishing bearing at the underside of the rail head.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the ultimate seating of the bar in the head fillet of the rail, under wear and adjustment, thereby .functioning entirely as a head-free raiBl` joint.

and illustrating by full and dotted lines the progressive actionv of the bar as it is rotated under adjustment from a head-fishing engagement toa rail fillet engagement.

to the angle of the head-1ishing surface of re 3 is a cross-sectional view of a comp ete ra1l joint embodying the invention Figures 4 and 5 are a pair of similar views illustrating the adaptability of the convertible -bar to rails of dierent fishing height.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several 1i ures of the drawin s. j

n carrying forwar the present invention no alteration is required inthe shape ofthe standard rail designated' in the drawing by the numeral 1 and including the usual head 2, the base flange 3 and the connecting web 4. The rail head is provided at its underside with the usual flat head fishing surface 5 and at the juncture of such surface with the web of the rail the latter is formed with 4the usual rounded fillet 6 which, in the present invention may be utilized as a bearing socket when the structure functions as a head-free rail joint of the general typedis'- closed in the reissue patent of W. P. Thomson N o. 15,773, granted February 19, 1924:. The convertible joint bar havingthe dual function contemplated by the present invention is designated generally by the reference letter B and includes as rincipal elements thereof a head member the foot flange member 8 and the connecting bar. web 9. These are the usual elements of a joint bar ofthe angle type, and it is the purpose of the present invention to rovide a joint bar of this type, or of any otlier acceptable type, with bearing elements adapting it for a head-fishing engagement with the rail, or for a head-fillet engagement with the rail to provide, in the latter case, a`- head-free type of rail joint. To that end the head member 7 of the joint bar is provided at its upper face with an inclined flat headfishing bearing 10 whose angle corresponds the rail head when it engages such surface.

In addition, the said head member 7 of the bar is further rovided, at its inner corner, with the rounded or curved fillet engaging element of ball 10a adapted to have an an- 100 chorage in and against the fillet bearing 6 of the rail when the foot of the bar has been rotated a Vsufficient distance inward b the tightening ofthe high-tensile joint bo ts 11 to take up the wear.

In the embodiment of the invention shown kin Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings the lower member 8 of the joint bar is shown provided with a fiange bearing surface 12 which is adapted, under wear and adjustment, to

move inwardly and upwardly on the rail base flange 3 and as material wear will occur, in the use of the joint, in and over that portion of the rail fiange engaged by the foot member of the joint bar, the latter ultimately, as plainly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, will accommodate itself to the wear in the rail base flange so that the fillet engaging element 10a of the joint bar will firmly seat or anchor itself in the fillet bearing socket 6 of the rail. This makes a headfree rail joint having the functions and advantages of that type of joint originating with the Thomson reissue patent referred to. Thus, it will be seen that the dual characteristic ofv the rail joint bar B renders the same convertible from one type of joint to another.

The action of the convertible bar, under the influence of the high-tensile bolts 11, is well exemplified in Fig. 3 'of the drawings, wherein the full line positions of the bars show the initial flat fishing engagement thereof respectively with the undersides of the rail heads, and the upper sides of the rail fianges, while the two dotted line positions illustrate the progressivemovement of the bars, under wear and adjustment, by a rocking or oscillation inward of the lower portions of the bar over the rail flanges until the ultimate head-free rail joint results. v

Another phase of the invention, indicating its scope, is that illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, showing the joint bar adapted to a plurality of rails which may differ in fishing height, or in the an les of the fishing bearin s, or both, or to the ference in fishing o a new rail and a worn rail of the same section. To better adapt the joint bar for that purpose the same is rovided in addition to the top head-fis ing bearin 10 and the fillet engaging element 10", with a pair `of separate angularly related flange bearing faces 13 and 14 formed on the lower side of the bar, and either of which fiange bearing faces is adapted to have a. fishing engagement with the upper side of the ra1l flange, according to the use of the bar. In both Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings the outlines of two rails respectively of different fishin height and differing in the angles of the shing bearings are shown by full and dotted lines. This is a condition which occurs not only with new rail, but when a railroad re-rolls some of its rail. The present invention accommodates itself to that condition, and referring to the example shown in Fig. 4 the full line rail is illustrated as having the greater fishing height and the dotted line rail as havin the lesser fishing height. Accordingly, in adapting the invention to either of these conditions it will be observed that with the full line rail shown in Fig. 4 the joint is a headfree joint only, but when the joint bar is used in connection with the dotted line rail of Fig. 4 the bar initially has both headfishing and fillet bearing, and rotates, under wear and adjustment, to a head-free posi- 7U tion.

In Fig. 5 of the drawings the full lines show the rail of the lesser fishing wherein the joint bar has a head-fishing contact initially with a clearance from the rail head fillet. In such use of the bar the same progressively rotates, under wear and adjustment, to a head-free position. Also, Fig. 5 shows by the dotted line rail a condition where the same bar will have a head-free position intially and permanently.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction and use of the improved bar as a rail joint structure will now be readily appreciated by those familiar with the art without further description and it will be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

I claim 1. A convertible rail joint structure including the rail having a head-fishing surface and a bearing-socket at its fillet and a joint bar having a head-fishin bearing adapted to enga e and to be free from the head-fishing sur ace of the rail and with a fillet engaging element adapted to engage said bearin socket.

2. A rai joint structure includin rails 1U" having flat head-fishing bearings an hightensile bolt-clamping means, splice bars having fiat head-fishing bearinvs designed to enga e the flat head-fishing bearings of the rail eads and also having rail-head bearings conforming in contour to those of the head-fillets of the rails, said high-tensile boltclamping means being adapted to rotate the splice bars out of contact with the rail headfishin bearings into contact with the headfillet arings of the rails and operating thereafter to maintain said splice bars in load-bearing contact with said rail headfillet bearin s and out of contact with said fiat head-fis ing bearings.

3. A rail jolnt structure includin rails having flat head-fishing bearings an hightensile bolt-clamping means, splice bars havirig fiat head-fishing bearings designed to a ord loading engagement with the head- 12b fishing bearings of the rail heads and also having rail-head bearin s conformin in contour to those of the cad-fillets o the rails, said high-tensile bolt-clamping means being designed to rotate the splice bars out of contact with the flat rail head-fishing bearings into contact with the head-fillet bearings of the rails and operatin thereafter to maintain -said splice bar 1n loadbearing contact with said rail head-fillet hearings and out of contact with said flat head-fishing bearings.

4. A rail joint structure includin rails having flat head-fishing bearings an hightensile bolt-clamping' means, splice bars having a Hat head-fishing bearings designed to engage the fiat head-fishing bearings of the rail heads and also having rail-head bearings conforming in contour to those of the head-fillets of thel rails, said high-tensile bolt-clamping means being designed to rotate the splice bars out of contact with the hat rail head-fishing bearings into contact with the head-fillet bearings of the rails and operating thereafter to maintain said splice bars in loading engagement with said rail head-fillet bearin s and out of Contact with said Hat head-fishlng bearings.

5. A convertible joint bar provided atits head with a flat head-fishing bearing and with a rounded rail-fillet engaging element, and on its lower member with a pair of separate angularly related flange bearing faces, each of Whichis adapted to engage the flange of the rail. v

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

MCLEOD THOMSON.

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