US2538366A - Quenching device for quenching the ends of abutting rails in a track joint - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 16, 1951 D. G. KERWIN 2,538,355

Y QUENCHING DEVICE EOE QUENCHING THE ENDS 0E BUTTING RAILS IN A TRACK JOINT Filed July 20, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l .CJOKL WMELMM Jan. 16, 1951 2,538,366

D. G. KERWIN QUENCHING DEVICE FOR QUENCHING THE ENDS OF' ABUTTING RAILS IN A TRACK JOINT 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 20, 1945 l INVENTOR. afzje/' /efzazz Patented Jan. 16, 1951 QUENCHING-DEVICE FORQUENCHING THE ENDS 0F ABUT'IING RAILS.. IN A QTRACK MJ OINT Daniel G. Kenwin; Chicago, Ill.,:assignor toI Weld- .ingservica 1Inc.;ChicagoIll.,fa corporation;of y

-K California Application 31115120; 1945;,'SerialNo.` 606,242

1 -This inventionl relates-to quenching apparatus usedl in rail end hardening.

Inf the performance of thequenching step in a rail endhardening process performed Vonlaloutting rail ends lying in track, it is necessary to'liow equalquantities of i water concurrently inopposite directions' from the rail joint for a selected periodfof time. The principal object oi'this invention is-to provide a nozzle and companion equipment thatwll provide such allow.

A secondobject of this invention is to combine in a single waterbox designed to span a trackrail jointfa centrally` positioned opposed direction `lnozzle l while at the Sametime preventing substantial loss of fluid through the gap betweenf the tWo rail ends. In existing'practiee, two spaced- Water boxes have been used, see Figure-6` of U. S. Patent No. 2,070,889 to Frickey, dated'February-l, 1937. vThe gasketthat provides'the=seal between the inside of the waterboX and the top of the rail, numbered-61 inthe same gure, prevents the' ow of' cooling fluid to the Avery tips of therafil, and there has been a suggestion thatfthe desiredhardness 'has not beenattainedat these points of the-rail tread. In the present invention, a single water fboxwith a continuous seal or packing around its-lower periphery is used and means are provided *for substantially blocking the flow of fluid through the opening between the railends.

Anothervobject of this invention is to relate theY adapter frame (which itself is old in the art, see Fig. 1 of Frickey patent, 2,143,347) to accommodate the rail end quencher to various sizes of rails and to an associated opposed directional nozzle. Each sizeadapter carries guides for a nozzle suitable for use on a rail of a given size.

Another object of this invention. is to hold the quenching apparatus tightly tothe railduring the performance of the quenching step. The process invention4 contemplates the ilo-wing of uid onto the rail at comparatively high ,pressure, and thiswiththe effects of :steam formation causes undesirable vibration and movement of thewaterbox. Features'of this apparatus are magnets for holding the waterbox tightly tothe rail during the quenching step.

Another object of this linvention is to enable the operator to center z the directional nozzle directly over the opening. between the rail ends by feel rather than observation. One of the features of the invention is the mounting of a downwardly kdirected wedge on the bottom of the nozzle and transversely tothe rail length.

IByV setting the: lquencher. on .they two rail :endsl -2 and movingit-longitudinally until the wedge uropsinto-the gapebetween'ithe railA ends, the

operator can exactly-center the quencher over the joint withoutlgetting downon his 4hands and knees: for vvisualeexamination.

i There-.are other features which will appear in the` description-that follows. lThe invention is Villustratedv inA twof-sheets of drawings comprising the following gures:

EFigure 1 is a side yelevation ofthe quencher;

Figurel 2v is. an end y elevation thereof;

"Fig-ure' A3' Ais .along-itudinal sectional View ofv the quencher;

Figure'll` isv a transverse, sectional viewtaken on the linen-L4 oflFigurel;

Figure 5 isfa View of :a portion .off the top of the adapter .frame showing its relationship tothe nozzle and taken' onrapproximately the line' 5-5 of i Eig-ure 3;

A`Figure'-6is1an enlargementof `one faceof the nozzle; and

Figure?? is anfenlargement-.of the nozzle showingthe use of ztheapositioning wedge.

Continuing" toi refer A.to the drawings,and particularlytoFigure 1,the numeral I0 generally identities a rail joint inv track and this comprises a. pair. ofabutting ra'il ends I2 and ill heldtogetherbyjoint bars .alii and `litogetlfier with suitable!boltscsuchfas nuts and :bolts It. The numerals 2t andi 22 f identifythe :respective rail ballswwhile 4the-,numerals 24. and25 identify the rail.' treads. Between'theftwo rail balls isa Agap 28 whichrvaries `in size from more'than oneeighth of'an inch in cold weather to nothing whenthel rails arenushengagement in eX- ceedinglyi vhot sweather. @Applicants quent-herv is ordinarily.` usedfon rails into which-are cut' the lcClary notchP-:seelniuneral2i in Figur-cl2 of ReissuePatent 2fl8387,A dated March 15, 1932 to. A.'-ii/rMcllary. Thisxnotch -is 'illustrated by the sloping::walls:28.iand ilin Figure 7. The notcheszactuallyused today are not quiteas large asthose illustrated-Lin theiMcClary patent.

Applicants quencher consists of a frame 232 made @of sa :noneconductive material `such as aluminium, and 1intoithez,toprof this 'are `cut three circular openings 34, .3e-.and 38, Areferring to Figure 3. #,Thezframeg32 carriesfat either end` two. uprightzmembersrzfd .and i12 connected.by.f a handlel. Theiframe is supported. on the: rail' -by two magnets, each of. .,vyfhicli, kreferring .to

Eigurefl istseenffto :comprise `twofpole pieces itt and disconnected Aby aiico'il 50. mounted -on a core E tially tangent to the line on the rail ball which each pole piece would normally engage. The bottoms of these two pole members 46 and 48 may be shaped transversely of the rail along a curve conforming to the top transverse cross section of the rail, but the flat tangential :11rfacing is easier and about as effective. The pole pieces are fastened to the non-magnetic frame member 32 by bolts such as 53.

Returning to Figure 3, 54 identies a water box which is suspended from the frame 32 by four bolts 56, 58 and 60, the fourth bolt not appearing in any figure. These four bolts have a slide fit in the frame 32 so that the water box may be reciprocated vertically with respect to the frame. A spring such as 62 positioned around each of these bolts, thrusts the water box E4 downwardly away from the frame 32. Mounted at each inside end of the water box is an outlet pipe, being 64 and 66, each of which carries a check valve 68. These outlet pipes Vare rigidly xed in the water box so that their bottoms are in approximately the plane that passes through an adapter frame l0, shortly to be described. The two outlet pipes project upwardly through the openings 34 and 38 in the frame member and have connected to their upper ends flexible delivery lines 12 and 14 which lead to a circulatory pump.

Centrally of the top of the water box is an opening 'I6 in which is mounted an inlet pipe 'I8 which carries a shoulder 80. This shoulder limits downward movement of the pipe, the pipe having a slide t in the opening |6. The bottom of the pipe 18 is threaded (see Fig. '7) and to it is attached a small box, which will be referred to herein as the nozzle 82. The nozzle 82 is oblong in shape with a central chamber 84. An elongated downwardly directed passageway 86 opens into a horizontal passageway 88, see also Figures 4 and 6. Transversely of the bottom of the nozzle 82 is a wedge 9D, see Figure 7, which has on each side of it substantially horizontal shoulders 92 and 94. These horizontal shoulders are important in that they hold the delivery openings 96 and 98 at a selected point above the rail, it being desirable to cool the tip of the rail a little less decisively than the adjacent portions. What is desired is a rail tip a little harder than what is obtained where the packing (see numeral 61 of Figs. 6 and 7 of Frickey et al., No. 2,070,889) rests on the tip and prevents any substantial flow of uid thereagainst and the other extreme of flowing the fluid directly onto the rail tip which, because it has a smaller adjacent portion from which to withdraw heat than other parts of the rail ball, becomes excessively hard. But for the horizontal shoulders 92 and 94, in the case of a joint where the rails are widely separated and this Separation is accentuated at the tread by the McClary notch, the nozzle might drop well down in so that the discharge openings 96 and 98 would flow directly onto the rail tips.

Returning to Figure 3, a spring urges the nozzle downwardly so that when the quencher is lifted clear of the rail, the shoulder 80 will engage the top of the water box. The upper end of the inlet pipe 18 projects through the opening 36 in the frame 32 and has connected thereto a flexible water-oil delivery line |02.

Continuing to refer to Figure 3, fastened to the bottom of the water box 54 is an adapter frame 'l0 which is held in position by bolts such as |06. Directed downwardly from the adapter frame 10 is a perimetric packing gland or seal |08 which, referring to Figure 6, embraces substantially the entire tread of the rail. Returning to Figure 3, interiorly of the adapter frame 'I0 are two sets of shoulders, the first set bearing numerals ||0 and ||2, and now referring to Figure 5, the second set bearing numerals ||4 and ||6. These shoulders are adapted to provide a loose t for vertical movement of the nozzle 82, so that the adapter frame cooperates with the water box 54 to maintain the nozzle 82 in proper position. 'I'his is to be contrasted with the arrangement illustrated in Frickey Patent No. 2,143,347 where the incoming uid is dropped from the top of the box so that it flows onto the rail and there is no need for exactly positioning the delivery nozzle with respect to the rail.

The perimetric seal |08 should close for a given sized rail just that area which experience has demonstrated produces the desired hardness gradient by the use of the particular equipment. Over or under heating and over or under quenching for comparatively small portions of time, a matter of seconds, may produce an unwanted hardness gradient. It has been found desirable to maintain proportionate the areas of the rail ball treads that are actually quenched with water-oil for respective sizes of rails. For this reason, the adapter frames are of various sizes,

and because it is desirable to flow the sheet of` water-oil away from the rail end for substantially the full width of the ball tread, applicant provides a nozzle having a width proportionate to the width of the rail ball, with complementary guide elements in the adapter frames,

Referring to Figure 6, it will be appreciated that there will be certain leakage of uid down into the gap between the rail ends at a point such as II8. The wedge 90 together with the associated shoulders 92 and 94, see Figure 7, stops much of this, but in actual use the generation of steam seems to assist the applicant in obtaining the low loss of fluid that is desired. At the point ||8, the fluid is a recirculated fluid which has either owed back of the sides of the stream coming out of the opening 88 or back over the top of it. It has been considerably heated and when it reaches the very hot partof the rail adjacent the edge it forms a steam which tends to keep the liquid itself in the box.

It is important to understand that this apparatus operates with comparatively little wateroil in the box 54. Whereas existing equipment quite frequently operates with the box nearly full, it is intended that the fast moving streams do a great deal of the cooling here and that the cooling eiect be graduated downwardly from the` rail end inversely proportional with the rising temperature of the cooling stream as it moves,

toward the two outlets 64 and 66.

It will be appreciated that the above structure obtains the major object of this invention because it uses a single inlet pipe which delivers the flow into a single collection chamber 84, from which leads the delivery opening 86 which in turn divides into the two delivery openings, 96 and 98.

The liquid from each opening is directed slightly vdownwardly so as to impinge upon the surface of the rail at points quite close to the nozzle.

In positioning the quencher over the rail joint,

the operator simply seats it on the rail ball, andv erator then nieves-thef- -quencher y vlongitudinally ofr the: rail-.untiL-the wedge S-:engages-r the notch 23, 30, at which time by merely ieelftheoperator knows that the nozzle is in exactly the right position. Y*lheswitch'energizing'the magnets is thenthrown and the quenching operation perfor-med; ordinarily under the' control of Ian automatic timer. Y. Y'

eMounted on the opposite sides of thelwater box '5&2 arejpairs. of .positioning fingers: l2', V22, and 'referring to Figureli, ld, the. last iingernot being shown. At thebOttOm ofeachlnger is a little lug. |26. The4 radii onwthe vupperl edgesoi therail .bal-ls cam the. lugs l 2 outwardlyj against the-compressing spring actionifof the lingers; l2@ to I2@ which iingersthereby-perform the lateral positioning function while the longitudinal positioningifunction is performedfley the wedgefil.'

{Hav-ing thus describedmyinventioiL-what I claim as newand wislito secure by-United'states Letters Patent is:

l. A rail end quencher comprising a frame, means connected to the frame for supporting said frame on the balls of two abutting rail ends in a track joint, a single liquid delivery nozzle having oppositely, outwardly directed, substantially equally sized orices aligned longitudinally of the rails and mounted on the frame with said orices slightly above a line connecting the bottoms of the supporting means, and means on the nozzle for engaging the gap between two rail ends for quickly and accurately positioning the nozzle with respect to the rail ends.

2. A rail end quencher comprising a frame, means connected to the frame for supporting said frame on the balls of abutting rail ends in a track joint, a nozzle having oppositely, outward- 1y directed orices aligned longitudinally of the rails and mounted on the frame with said orices slightly above a line connecting the bottoms of the supporting means, and means for raising or lowering said nozzle with respect to the frame.

3. A rail end quencher comprising a frame, means connected to the frame for supporting said frame upon the balls of abutting rail ends of a track joint, a liquid delivery pipe mounted on said frame with its axis substantially vertical and reciprocable axially, a nozzle mounted on the delivery pipe and having two oppositely, outwardly directed orices aligned longitudinally of the rails and mounted on the frame with said orices slightly above a line connecting the bottoms or" the supporting means, and a spring urging the nozzle downwardly against the rail, whereby the nozzle may freely engage the ball of the rail without being alected by the frame supporting means.

4. A rail end quencher comprising a frame, means connected to the frame for supporting said frame upon the balls of abutting rail ends in a track joint, a nozzle mounted on said frame and capable of Vertical movement with respect thereto, said nozzle having a pair of oppositely, outwardly directed orifices aligned longitudinally of the rails and having like sized rectangular openings with the long side substantially parallel to the transverse top of the rail tread and the ilow directed along the rail tread, and a wedge with its edge directed downwardly positioned on the bottom of the nozzle with said edge transverse to the length of the rails.

5. A rail end quencher comprising a frame, means connected to the frame for supporting said frame upon the balls of abutting rail ends in a track joint, a nozzle mounted on said frame so thatl'iti can 1niovefverticallylandfiiavingltwol op-l the! respective rails, a .substantiallyi:latfrbottom' onlt'henozzle havingi'a width dsuiiicient toisspan the l gap between two abutting rail ends iin ma standard track jointf-and' a downwardly Spro-` jecting -l-ug onthe bottom .ofi the nozzle' forlloosely'engagingthe gap between theltwol rails, wherebythe-nozzle 'will actasla damlagainstthe nov/ing of liquid down.` thef'vgap between thel two rail ends.

f6.- A rail end quencher' comprising a rectangular box havingfanopen bottom-.meansfraround the periphery `of the bottom'y for sealing -thexbottomf ofthe box to a'selected portioncfi the'. tread of each of two abuttingrail endsl in afrailE-joint within the plan dimensions -oftheboxga vertically movable nozzle disposed within-said'boxf, oppositely,v'outwardly directed, like sized orices in the base of said nozzle aligned longitudinally of the rails 'and cooperating with the rail for directing equal sized streams of water in a plane substantially parallel to that of the rail treads, and a liquid outlet at each end of the box at a level above the bottom of the box approximating that of the two orifices.

7. A rail end quencher comprising a box having an open bottom and a closed top, a liquid inlet line mounted on said box, an adapter frame removably attached to the bottom periphery of said box and having a downwardly directed seal, a vertically movable nozzle mounted on said liquid inlet line, and guide means on the adapter frame for engaging said nozzle.

8. A rail end quencher comprising a box having an open bottom, means for sealing the bottom periphery of the box to a selected portion of the tread of each of two abutting rails in a rail joint, means within the box and cooperating with the rails for directing oppositely, outwardly two substantially equal streams of Huid substantially parallel to the rail treads toward the respective box ends, means for removing the fluid from the box, and electromagnetic means mounted on the box and engageable with the rail balls for compressing the sealing means between the bottom periphery of the box and the rail balls to avoid loss of fluid.

9. A rail end quencher comprising a frame, electromagnets suspended from said frame and adapted to support said frame on the ball of a rail, a box having an open bottom and mounted movably in a vertical line beneath said frame, sealing means around the open bottom periphery of said box for engaging the tread of each of two abutting rails in a rail joint, a vertically movable nozzle having oppositely, outwardly directed oriiices aligned longitudinally of the rails and mounted Within said box, and means at each end of the box for withdrawing uid therefrom.

' 10. A rail end quencher comprising a frame, electromagnets suspended from said frame and adapted to support said frame on the ball of a rail, a box having an open bottom and mounted movably in a vertical line beneath said frame, sealing means around the open bottom periphery of said box for engaging the tread of each of two abutting rails in a rail joint, a vertically movable nozzle having oppositely directed orices mounted within said box, means at each end of the box for withdrawing iiuid therefrom, and a pair of downwardly projecting iingers, each fastened on one side of the box, and having their lower ends engageable with the side walls of the rail balls for centering the box laterally with respect to the rail.

11. A rail end quencher comprising a frame, electromagnets suspended from said frame and adapted to support said frame on the ball of a rail, a box having an open bottom and mounted movably in a vertical line beneath said frame, sealing means around the open bottom periphery of said box for engaging the tread of each of two abutting rails in a rail joint, a vertically movable nozzle having oppositely directed orices mounted within said box, means at each end of the box for withdrawing the fluid therefrom, a pair of downwardly projecting fingers, each fastened on one side of the box, and having their lower ends engageable with the side walls of the rail balls for centering the box laterally with respect to the rail, and means mounted on the bottom of the nozzle for engaging the gap between the rail ends.

f DANIEL G. KERWIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

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