US1547854A - Splice bar - Google Patents

Description

Patented July 28, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT oer-ice- WOODINGS, OF OAIKONT, PmSYLVAN IA, ASSIGNOR TO WOQDINGS EO'RGE AID TOOL COMPANY, OF VERONA, PHWNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- BYLVANIA.

Application filed January 10, 1925; Serial No. 1,552.

e To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMANUEL Woonmcs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakmont, county of Allegheny, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in- Splice Bars, of i which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates broadly to. metal working, and more particularlyto the problem either of making splice bars of the character adaptedto be utilized with rail.- way rails, or of reclaiming splice bars of this type after they have served a predetermined period of usefulness.

At the present time it is customary in the art to which the present invention relates to apply splice bars in pairs to the joints be i tween rail ends to tie the rails together, the

bars being applied on opposite sides of the rail joints and bolted to the rail ends. Due to the pounding action of the rails on the. splice bars underthe action of the rollingstock, the upper faces of the splice bars which engage under the rail heads are gradually hammered down or worn away. To compensate for this; the boltsare taken up at intervals to draw the splice bars inward- 1y. This operation is repeated from time to time until all of the play is taken up and the splice bars engage the webs of the jrails. When this occurs, further adjustment to SPLICE BAR.

insured.

essence for the reason that the hammering action which destroys the splice bars also effects a hammerin down. and wearing away of the railen s, thereby leaving spaces between the under side of the rail heads and v the tops of the splice bars. In order to obviate this, it has heretofore been considered advantageous to crop the ends of the rails,-

to thereby. eliminate the worn portions.

The cropping, however, has been a laborious operate either with new or worn rails, and

so constructed that not only is the necessity for croppm obviated, but that a greater length 0 li e of the rails and splice bars is It is a further object of the present invention to provide a splice bar either as a new article of'maniifacture, or as a reclaimed article, of such COBStIllOtlOTI that highly eflicient rail engagin surfaces are provided.

In the accompdnyin' drawin there is shown, for purposes; 0 illustration. only, a

preferred embodime'ntgof the present inventiore and a method of 1 rrying out the same, it not de ne the limits of my invention as changes in the constructiomand operation compensate for wear is not possible, and the-disclosed therein may be made without departing eitherfrom the spirit of the invenperiod f usefulness of the splice bars being over, it is necessary to replacethe same.

Heretofore such worn splice bars have customarily either been discarded, or they have been planed down in a milling machine jected to such-heavy usage, and consequen ly there has not been an outlet for all of the. splice bars rendered unfit for usage on the main lines. This has represented 'a' considerable loss each year, not only inthe scrap-;

ping of the bars, but in the handling thereof.

I have also found by careful observation that new splice? bars, irrespective of the. method in accordance with which they are manufactured, are not adapted to most efiectively cooperate withold rails. This is true tion or the sco In the drawings of my broader claims.

Figure 1 is a' side elevation illustratin my' improved splice bar in position at a rai understood" t t the drawings do but showingslhe relative positions of the rail 1 and splice rs after the latterhave been worn tosuch an extent that they engage-the web-ofthe rail;

In illustrating thepresent invention, I

have shown a splice bar of the so-calledcontinuous type, it-heing understood,,how- Y 'splice bars of any particular construction. 7

ever, that the invention is not limitedto the present drawings being for purposes of illustration only. [his ,type of splice bar is furthermore shown for the reason that there are at the present time hundreds of thousads of pairs of such bars which are now considered as scrap, for the reason that they have completed their period of \useful- 'ness' The improved splice 'bar whethef as originally constructed or as renewed after a period of use comprises a slotted base 2 adapted to embrace one edge portion of. the

verse section a pair of the'improved splice bars in position on a rail, the inner side faces 6 of the splice' bars being spaced from 'splice bars and the rail heads.

the web of the rail. Under the action of' the rolling stock, however, the upper faces ofthe splice bars and the underside of the headsot'the rails are worn away, there by providing room for play between the To overcome this play, and compensate for the decrease in the eifective height of the splice bars,'the bolts 9 are tightened from time to time to draw the splice bars inwardly, thereby causing the inclined upper faces 5-to again come into, snugengagement with the under side 10 of the rail heads, thereby Thereafter,

maintaining'the upper surfaces of the rails flush at the joint and in line with the main rail body at all times.

When the faces 5 and 10 have become worn away or hammered down to such an extent that the tightening of the bolts 9 causes the splice bar heads to bear against the webs of the rails, as indicated in Figure 3, further adjustment ofthe splice bars to compensate for wear is'not possible. The splice bars have then about reached the end of their service and must be replaced by new ones.

The wearingof the splice bars is accompanied by the wearing of the under-Surifaces 10 of the ends of the rail heads, so that these rails have slightly recessed portions 10' adjacent to theirends, as shown in Pig. 1.

, tions of the rail heads will not bear on the upper edges of the, splice bars and thereforethe rail heads will tend to hammer down adjacentto joints,

and lower edges of the bars will bear respectively "agams't' the underside of the heads and the upper surfaces of. the flanges of the if new splice bars as at present. constructed, areapplied, the recessed por-- rails. In other words, the end portions do ends of the bar. While the greater height' of the-central portions will prevent-such portions from assing under the heads of the rails when t 10 latter and the splice bars are new, as in the resent-practice the inclinations of the un ersides of the railsand the upper surfaces of the bars will permit the bars passing under the rail heads sufii- ,ciently far-to afiord eflicient support. It has been found, however, that there is sullicient resilience in the bars longitudinally to permit vthe end portions being forced in. towards the'railsa greater distance thanthe middle portions when the nuts are screwed onto the bolts. By reason of the stress under which the central portions are placed, they will be pressed in as wear occurs. When the splice bar having this increased height at the center is utilized with worn rails, there is an immediate compensation for the wear which has-taken place in the rails, thereby making it possible to hold the tread of the rails in alignment at the joints.

It will be understood that by the employ ment of suitably designed dies, splice bars as at present constructed, i. e., of uniform height for their entire lengths may be reshaped to embody the novel features shown and described herein. Byactual tests the reclaimed or reformed bars have been found tobe betterthanthe original product by reason of the improved quality of the matterial in the head due to vthe additional The central portions of 4 working in the dies as well as the trueing of arait engaging surface. In new bars as well as in the reclaimed bars the provision of the greater height at the center of the bars' gives both a longer period of usefulness by reason of greater adjustability and enables the bars to be used with either new orworn rails. v

I claim:

l. A splice bar-for rails having its endportions of sufficie'nt'height to bear when applied on the under side of the rail head and the upper surface of the rail flange and having its central portion substantially higher than the end portions.

2. A splice bar for rails havingits 'endportions of suiiicient heightto bear when applied on the underside of the rail head and the upper'surface of the rail flange and hav-- ing portions intermediate the ends inclined upwardly towards the center of the bar.

In testimony whereof I have'hereunto set my hand.

EMANUEL WOODIN GS.

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