WO2003066964A1 - Device for adjusting the width of a track - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device (10) for adjusting the width of a track (11). Said device is characterised by a track alignment gauge (21) having contact surfaces (22) on the ends thereof which, in the mounted state, rest against the inner stop faces (19) of the rail heads (20) of the two rails (12,13) of the track. The ends of said track alignment gauge are provided with holding means (23) which enable the gauge to be blocked on connection elements in the region of the foot or the stem of the rails, preferably on tensioning clamps by which means the rails are fixed to sleepers (15,16).

Description

 Title: Device for setting the track of a track

The invention relates to a device for adjusting the track of a track for rail vehicles, in particular for a track to be laid on a solid track.

In the manufacture of tracks for rail vehicles, especially those on solid carriageways, the correct setting up of the rail grid, which essentially consists of sleepers and rails, is of particular importance before it is fixed and the filler receiving the sleepers, usually concrete, is used on solid carriageways. Not only must the correct height and side adjustment of the track be observed, but the rails must also be aligned at the correct distance from each other, namely the desired track width, from each other and at the required rail inclination.

A device for adjusting the height and temporarily supporting rails of a track is known from DE 197 39 671 C2. With this device alone, however, it is not possible to set the exact track of the track before it is fixed on the supporting body by pouring filling concrete.

Therefore, devices for adjusting the track width have been used in the past, which consisted essentially of heavy cross members, which were inserted under the rails of the track from the side and from below were connected to the rail feet. These cross members had stop surfaces at a predetermined distance from one another, on which the rail feet rested with their inner edges in order to obtain the desired track width between the rails. The crossbeams were used to adjust the track, the rail inclination as well as the adjustment of the track height and track direction, for which purpose they could be adjusted in height with removable supports. For the lateral adjustment as well as for the inclination of the rails, the cross members were provided with adjusting devices in the area of the rail feet resting on them. Since the cross members in the known devices have to bear the entire weight of the track without being allowed to deform, they were regularly comparatively solid.

The known devices have the disadvantage that they are very difficult to handle laterally under the rails because of their great weight and the complicated assembly and disassembly. It is particularly disadvantageous in the known devices that when adjusting the rail inclination the track required between the contact surfaces of the rail heads always changed, which made the adjustment work very difficult, since it was always necessary to readjust the track width and rail inclination until the desired ones Values were preserved.

In order to reduce the difficulties in the assembly and disassembly of the crossmember, it has also been proposed to design the crossmember so that it can be folded about a vertical axis, so that it is inserted from above between the rails of the track in the folded state and then the two halves into an extended one Position of the carrier are pivoted apart, with support plates arranged on the end of the crossmember underneath the rail feet. The problems with setting up the track and the rail inclination could not be solved with this device. The object of the invention is to provide a device for adjusting the track of a track, which is not only particularly simple and quick to assemble and disassemble, but which also enables problem-free and precise adjustment of the track width and preferably the desired rail inclination without frequent readjustment.

This object is achieved with the invention by means of a track gauge which contacts the inner contact surfaces of the rail heads of the two track rails with contact surfaces and which is provided with end-side holding means for locking to connecting elements arranged in the region of the rail foot and / or the rail web of the rails.

In contrast to the known devices, the track width is no longer set in the area of the rail foot according to the invention, but rather on the rail head of the track rails, where the track gauge with its contact surfaces arranged at the correct, calibrated distance from one another is located on the contact surfaces for the wheel flanges of the rail vehicle wheels invest. The holding means, which can preferably be connected to the track sleeper blocks arranged on the rails or to the fastening means locking them, for example to the tension clamps of the sleepers, ensure that the tie rod is securely seated between the rail heads during the adjustment of the track and the subsequent installation of the filling concrete, asphalt or ballast.

A particularly advantageous embodiment of the holding means is obtained if they are provided with tensioning hooks arranged obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the track gauge, which keep the track gauge tensioned against the rail heads in its longitudinal axis as well as pulling it downward against the sleepers. It is particularly advantageous if the tensioning hooks are adjustable by means of a tensioning screw, thereby opening them changing conditions when installing the device can be set quickly and easily. For simple and correct assembly of the track gauge, it is also expedient if the tensioning hooks are guided near the point of application on the connecting elements of guides. These ensure that the distance between the clamping hooks and the contact points between the track gauge and the rail heads is always correct and effectively prevent the track gauge with its contact surfaces from slipping up or down from the contact point with the rail heads.

It is particularly expedient if the tensioning hooks can be pretensioned by means of at least one spring element. The spring element, which preferably consists of one or more disc springs, ensures that the tensioning hook always remains firmly locked on the connection element provided, for example the threshold clamp, during the adjustment of the rail inclination without the tensioning screw or the like having to be readjusted for this purpose.

In order to facilitate the disassembly of the device, it has proven to be expedient if the holding means has a return spring which, when the tensioning screw is opened, ensures that the tensioning hook pushes or pulls as far away from the track gauge that it easily moves away from it Connection means releases and the track gauge can then be lifted out of the track in its entirety.

For the adjustment of the rail inclination, the track gauge is expediently provided with setting elements, even if adjustment to a small extent is already possible with the aid of the holding means. The adjusting elements preferably consist of adjusting screws arranged at a distance from the rails, arranged at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the track gauge, which act against the sleepers mounted on the rails or against auxiliary setting plates which can be mounted on the rail feet of the rails are employable. By screwing in and unscrewing the set screws, the rails with the sleepers or adjustment plates attached to them are pivoted around the point of contact between the contact surfaces of the rail heads and the contact surfaces of the track gauge, thereby changing the rail inclination without the track, i.e. the distance, being changed the contact surfaces of the two rails would change from each other. If the adjusting screw is screwed out in the direction of the threshold or the auxiliary setting plate, it presses it down against the action of the spring element, e.g. the plate spring assembly, so that the rail attached to it is pressed outwards in the area of its rail foot while the rail head is in its position largely retained and does not change its distance from the rail head of the other rail. When the adjusting screw is screwed in, the threshold or the auxiliary setting plate remains pivoted inward about the contact point between the track gauge and the rail head due to the spring preload exerted by the spring element in contact with the adjusting screw and the rail foot.

It is advantageous if the track gauge consists of a rigid sheet metal profile. This has only a low weight and is particularly easy to handle during assembly and disassembly of the device. The track gauge can have an approximately U-shaped cross-section open at the top, the holding means being able to be supported on holding webs arranged between the projecting legs. It is expedient here if the tensioning hooks and / or their tensioning screws project obliquely downwards from the track gauge through passage windows arranged in the area of the holding webs in the lower connecting web of the U-shaped track gauge.

It has proven to be particularly advantageous that the track gauge is designed in such a way that its contact surfaces in the lower region of the contact surfaces on the rail head of the rails lies. The contact point between the track gauge and the rail head can, for example, be only a little - about 5 mm - above the lower edge of the rail foot, so that starting from the top of the rail head, a sufficiently high contact surface remains uninterrupted over the length of the rail to guide a wheel provided with a wheel flange to ensure a rail vehicle that travels along it while the track is being installed. For this purpose, the track gauge can have recesses above the contact surfaces, which extend a bit into the interior of the track.

The length of the track gauge can be adjustable in order to be able to correctly adjust different track gauges in accordance with the requirements of the various regional or national regulations. For the adjustment of the length, insert elements are preferably used which can be mounted on the contact surfaces, in particular can be clamped, screwed or glued on.

In a configuration which is advantageous for the installation of the filling concrete, the track gauge is designed in connection with the adjusting auxiliary plates in the intermediate threshold compartment in such a way that it is bent downwards in the intermediate space between the rails in such a way that its upper edge lies lower there than on the contact surfaces with the rails and on Level is set, which corresponds to the level of the filled concrete after the track has been set up. With this design, the filling concrete can be installed through a drawing box, which can then be pulled over the track gauge, as described in the older EP 00 120 724.

The auxiliary setting plates can preferably be mounted on the rail feet from below, for which purpose they have, for example, a receiving groove adapted to the cross-sectional shape of the rail foot, with which they are hung on the rail foot. Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the drawing, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail using an example. It shows:

Figure 1 shows a device according to the invention in its installed in the track state in cross section.

FIG. 2 shows a detail of the device shown in FIG. 1 in the region of the left rail; and

Fig. 3 shows a modified embodiment of the device according to the invention in a representation corresponding to FIG. 2.

The device designated 10 in its entirety in the drawing serves to adjust the track and the rail inclination of a track 11 laid in a solid carriageway for rail vehicles.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the track essentially consists of the two rails 12, 13, which are fastened with their rail feet 14 to individual sleeper blocks 15, 16. The rails with their threshold blocks connected to them are supported on a support layer 17 with the aid of support bodies 18 and are aligned in their correct height, as is known, for example, from DE 197 39 671 C2, which hereby makes the disclosure content of the present application and its description reference is made to avoid repetitions. The support bodies 18 support the rails with the interposition of lifting straightening wedges in the spaces between adjacent sleeper blocks.

So that the two rails that are not connected to one another by continuous sleepers are also arranged at the correct lateral distance from one another, so that the required track, ie If the distance between the inner contact surfaces 19 of the rail heads 20 is correctly maintained over the length of the track, a plurality of devices 10 according to the invention arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the track are mounted on the track. These consist essentially of a track gauge 21, which is provided at its left and right ends with contact surfaces 22 with which it bears against the contact surfaces 19 of the rail heads 20. The track gauge is provided with end-side holding means 23 with which it is fixed in the shown, assembled state to the tension clamps 24 which lock the rails 12, 13 to the sleeper blocks 15, 16.

As can best be seen from FIG. 2, each holding means 23 essentially consists of a tensioning screw 25 which is provided at its lower end, which projects obliquely from the track gauge, with a tensioning hook 26 which engages over the tensioning clamp 24. In the exemplary embodiment, the track gauge 21 consists of a sheet metal profile 27 with a U-shaped cross section, which has a passage window 29 in its lower connecting web 28 at the two ends of the gauge. Obliquely above the passage window 29, a retaining web 31 is welded between the two upstanding lateral legs 30 of the U-shaped sheet metal profile 27, which has a central bore 32 through which the clamping screw projecting from below through the passage window is inserted and at its rear end is secured with a clamping nut 33. A spring washer is placed on the tension screw between the tension nut and the retaining web. On the opposite side of the retaining web, which points towards the passage window, a helical compression spring 36, which is placed over the tensioning screw 25 and is pressed with its other end against an unlocking web 35 on the tensioning screw, is supported.

In addition to the holding means described above, the track gauge 21 is provided on both sides with adjusting elements 37 for the slide provided inclination, which consist essentially of spaced a from the rails, arranged at a right angle to the longitudinal axis 38 of the track gauge 39, which are accessible from the top of the track gauge or from its connecting web 28 and in which in Fig. 1 and 2 shown embodiment press with its lower end 40 against the threshold blocks 15, 16.

It can be seen that the device according to the invention can be easily mounted from above by using the track gauge between the rail heads 20 of the two rails 12, 13. The contact surfaces 22 only touch the rail heads in the lower region of the contact surfaces 19, i.e. the contact point 41 is located at such a large height distance b from the upper running surface 42 of the rails that a wheel of a rail vehicle with its wheel flange can roll freely on the rails while the track gauge is mounted. For this purpose, the track gauge above the contact surfaces 22 is provided with recesses 42 which extend a little into the interior of the track.

To lock the track gauge 21 placed between the rails from above, the clamping nut 33 is tightened, the tension hook 26 engaging behind the tension clamp 24 and thereby pressing the track gauge 21 with its contact surface 22 firmly against the lower region of the contact surface 19. As a result of the oblique arrangement of the holding means, this at the same time ensures that the set screw 39 is also pressed firmly down against the sleeper block. A guide 46 arranged near the point of application 47 of the tensioning hook on the respective tensioning clamp on the track gauge, which consists of a profile iron arranged at the bottom of the sheet metal profile, ensures that the tensioning hook moves freely in the axial direction of the tensioning screw when it is actuated, but neither upwards can still be deflected downward, so that the distance between the contact point 41 between the track gauge and the rail head and the approach Grip point 47 of the clamping hook on the clamp in the assembled state of the track gauge can not change and therefore there is no danger that the contact point changes in its height on the rail head or the track gauge even slips from it. The clamping nut 33 is tightened so firmly during assembly of the device that the plate spring assembly 34 comes under pretension, but without being completely compressed.

It can be seen that after the device has been appropriately locked to the rails or the associated threshold blocks, the track width between the two rails in the decisive region, namely in the region of the rail heads, is automatically set to the correct dimension predetermined by the length of the track gauge 21. By gluing or clamping (not shown) inserts on the contact surfaces 22 of the track gauge, the track width can be varied slightly, so that one and the same device can be adapted to the requirements of different railway administrations. For example, the length of the track gauge 21 can be designed in a basic version for a track width of 1,435 mm required by the Swiss Federal Railway and by gluing one or two 1 mm thick inserts for the requirements of the Deutsche Bahn (1,436 mm) or the Austrian Federal Railway (1,437 mm) can be adjusted.

The adjustment of the rail inclination is carried out in a particularly simple manner by screwing in or unscrewing the set screw 39, as a result of which the entire structural unit consisting of a rail and its rail blocks is pivoted about the contact point 41 between the track gauge and the rail head, without the track width between the heads of the two Rails would be changed. The preloaded plate spring assembly ensures that the sleeper block is always pressed firmly against the lower end 40 of the adjusting screw, so that during the insertion Position of the rail inclination a tightening or loosening of the clamping nut 30 is not necessary.

In order to dismantle the track gauge from the ready-cast track after the filling concrete has been poured in, only the tension nuts 33 have to be loosened, the disc spring assembly is relaxed and, when the nut is screwed on further, the helical compression spring 36 of the respective holding means presses against the unlocking web 35 on the tension screw and thereby lifts the tension hook from the tension clamp. The track gauge can then simply be removed upwards from the track.

The modified embodiment shown in FIG. 3 differs from the above-described example only in that the track gauge is not arranged in the area of a sleeper block and therefore cannot be locked on this or its tensioning clamp. An adjustment auxiliary plate 43 is therefore mounted on the rail, which consists of a sheet metal profile which is approximately U-shaped in cross section and has a receiving groove 44 on its upper side, the cross section of which is adapted to the shape of the rail foot. The setting aid plate is suspended with its receiving groove 44 in the rail foot 14 from below and forms a lever arm 45 which projects into the interior of the track up to the set screw 39. In this modified embodiment, the tensioning hook 26 of the holding means 23 is hooked onto a section 45a of the lever covering the rail foot on the inside of the rail. The operation of this modified embodiment of the device according to the invention when adjusting the track and rail inclination is the same as described above.

Claims

claims 1. Device for adjusting the track of a track for rail vehicles, in particular for a track to be laid in a solid carriageway, characterized by an on the inside contact surfaces (19) of the rail heads (20) of the two track rails (12, 13) with contact surfaces (22) bearing track gauges (21), which have end means (23) for locking them in the area of the rail foot (14) and / or the rail web of the rails (12, 13) arranged connection elements (24) is provided. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the holding means (23) on the rails (12, 13) arranged track sleepers (15, 16) or on these locking means (24) can be connected. 3. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the fastening means are tension clamps (24). 4. Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the holding means (23) with angled to the longitudinal axis (38) of the track gauge (21) arranged clamping hooks (26) are provided. 5. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that the clamping hooks (26) by means of clamping screws (25) are adjustable. 6. The device according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the clamping hooks (26) near their point of engagement on the connecting elements (24) of guides (46) are guided. 7. Device according to one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that the clamping hooks (26) can be pretensioned by means of at least one spring element (34). 8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that the spring element (34) consists of one or more disc springs. 9. Device according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the holding means (23) is a return spring (36). 10. Device according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the track gauge (21) with adjusting elements (37) is provided for the rail inclination. 11. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that the adjusting elements (37) from at a distance (a) from the rails (12, 13) arranged, at an angle to the longitudinal axis (38) of the track gauge (21) arranged adjusting screws (39) consist. 12. The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the adjusting elements (37) against the rails (12,13) supporting sleepers (15,16) or against adjustment plates (43) which can be mounted on the rail feet (14) of the rails (12,13). 13. The device according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the track gauge (21) consists of a rigid sheet profile. 14. Device according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the track gauge (21) has an approximately U-shaped cross-section open at the top and that the shark Support means (23) on retaining webs (31) arranged between the upstanding legs (30). 15. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that the clamping hooks (26) and / or their clamping screws (25) arranged in the region of the holding webs (31) in the lower connecting web (28) of the U-shaped track gauge passage window (29) Project diagonally from the track gauge (21). 16. The device according to one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that the track gauge (21) is designed such that it with its contact surfaces (22) in the lower region of the contact surfaces (19) on the rail head (20) of the rails (12, 13). 17. Device according to one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that the track gauge (21) above the contact surfaces (22) has recesses (42) which extend a bit into the interior of the track. 18. Device according to one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that the length of the track gauge (21) is adjustable. 19. The apparatus according to claim 18, characterized in that on the contact surfaces (22) insert elements are mountable, in particular clamped, screwed or glued. 20. Device according to one of claims 11 to 19, characterized in that the auxiliary setting plates (43) can be mounted on the rail feet (14) from below. 21. Device according to one of claims 1 to 20, characterized in that the track gauge (21) in The space between the rails is cranked downwards in such a way that its upper edge lies there lower than at the contact surfaces (22) to the rails (12, 13) and is set to a level which corresponds approximately to the level of the filling concrete introduced after the track has been set up.