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US3459136A - Automatic control for track surfacing machines - Google Patents

Automatic control for track surfacing machines Download PDF

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Publication number
US3459136A
US3459136A US636949A US3459136DA US3459136A US 3459136 A US3459136 A US 3459136A US 636949 A US636949 A US 636949A US 3459136D A US3459136D A US 3459136DA US 3459136 A US3459136 A US 3459136A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
track
hydraulic
lifting
lift
valve
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US636949A
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English (en)
Inventor
Colin St John
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Conquip Ltd
Original Assignee
Conquip Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from AU5458/66A external-priority patent/AU294222B2/en
Application filed by Conquip Ltd filed Critical Conquip Ltd
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3459136A publication Critical patent/US3459136A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
    • E01B—PERMANENT WAY; PERMANENT-WAY TOOLS; MACHINES FOR MAKING RAILWAYS OF ALL KINDS
    • E01B27/00—Placing, renewing, working, cleaning, or taking-up the ballast, with or without concurrent work on the track; Devices therefor; Packing sleepers
    • E01B27/12—Packing sleepers, with or without concurrent work on the track; Compacting track-carrying ballast
    • E01B27/13—Packing sleepers, with or without concurrent work on the track
    • E01B27/16—Sleeper-tamping machines
    • E01B27/17—Sleeper-tamping machines combined with means for lifting, levelling or slewing the track
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
    • E01B—PERMANENT WAY; PERMANENT-WAY TOOLS; MACHINES FOR MAKING RAILWAYS OF ALL KINDS
    • E01B35/00—Applications of measuring apparatus or devices for track-building purposes
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
    • E01B—PERMANENT WAY; PERMANENT-WAY TOOLS; MACHINES FOR MAKING RAILWAYS OF ALL KINDS
    • E01B2203/00—Devices for working the railway-superstructure
    • E01B2203/16—Guiding or measuring means, e.g. for alignment, canting, stepwise propagation

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to railway track surfacing machines of the type having a rail-mounted track lift- "ing and tamping unit which moves along the rails lifting the track at spaced intervals and tamping the ballast under the lifted track, and wherein the amount of lift applied is determined from reference planes or lines provided between the lifting and tamping unit and an associated trolley.
  • Machines of the type to which this invention relates normally comprises a lifting unit which moves along the track lifting the rails at spaced intervals, e.g. at each sleeper or set multiples of sleepers, and tamping the ballast under the lifted sleeper or sets of sleepers to hold the track in its new position.
  • the amount by which the rails are lifted at each point where lift is applied is determined from reference planes or lines provided from a trolley which is normally situated in advance of the lifting unit but which could be at the rear of the lifting unit or, alternatively, trolleys could be placed both in front of and behind the lifting unit.
  • These reference planes or lines can either comprise tensioned cables stretched between the trolley and the lifting unit or beams of light or infrared rays which are projected from the trolley and provide a line of sight lift relative to:
  • the reference planes are first set, by adjustment of the height of the cables or the beam projectors on the trolley, to a position which will provide the minimum lift necessary to eliminate all the irregularities in the track, or to minimise the irregularities if it is not practicable to entirely eliminate them, and the track is then automatically lifted at each lifting point until the cut-off position is reached, i.e., until a shadow board on the lifting mechanism cuts the beam or until a contact plate touches the tensioned cable to complete a circuit and stop the lift. The track is then held at this position until the ballast under the lifted sleeper has been tamped when the machine advances to the next lifting station and repeats the same process.
  • the manual control system was diflicult to operate at close to minimum lift and required an extra operator to calculate and com stantly re-set the amount of lift or, where the one operator worked both the surfacing machine and the manual controls, the machine was slowed down considerably.
  • the object of the present invention is to overcome the abovementioned difiiculties is known types of railway track surfacing machines by providing an automatic control which constantly adjusts the height of reference levels or planes to compensate for variations in the levels of the untreated track.
  • a railway track surfacing machine of the type having a rail-mounted track lifting and tamping unit, said track lifting and tamping unit having an electrically controlled lifting mechanism, a rail-mounted trolley spaced from said track lifting and tamping unit, reference planes above the rails between said trolley and said track lifting and tamping unit, and sensing elements mounted on said lifting mechanism, said sensing elements cooperating with said reference planes to determine the height to which the track is lifted, characterized by a control unit operatively connected to height adjusting means for altering the distances between said reference planes and said sensing elements, said control unit receiving electrical signals from the electrical circuit of said lifting mechanism indicating the positions of said sensing elements relative to said reference planes and operating said height adjusting means in response to said signals to thereby automatically adjust the height to which the track is lifted independently of variations in the unsurfaced track ahead of the machine.
  • the height adjusting means are hydraulically operated, and in a particularly preferred form of the invention, the hydraulic circuit therefor includes a metering valve to control the rate at which the height adjustment is effected.
  • a metering valve which comprises a metering cylinder having a self-centering spring-loaded piston mounted therein, said metering cylinder receiving high pressure oil when the control unit is set to increase the height to which the track is to be lifted, with said high pressure oil displacing said spring-loaded piston from its central position to thereby transmit a predetermined amount of oil from said metering valve at a controlled rate to the hydraulically operated height adjusting means.
  • the present invention also provides a control unit for a railway track surfacing machine of the type wherein an electrically controlled lifting mechanism lifts the track to a height determined by sensing elements carried on said lifting mechanism cooperating with reference planes provided above the track and wherein hydraulically operated height adjusting means are provided for altering the distances between said reference planes and said sensing elements, said control unit comprising electrical contact means connected to a source of electric current, a hydraulic control valve operatively connected to said contact means and a hydraulic metering valve, said electrical contact means being adapted to receive electrical signals from the electrical circuit of said lifting mechanism indicating the positions of said sensing elements relative to said reference planes and to actuate said hydraulic ocntrol valve in response to said signals, said contact means actuating said hydraulic control valve in response to a first set of signals to transmit hydraulic fluid through said metering valve to said hydraulically operated height adjusting means and actuating said hydraulic control valve in response to a second set of signals to withdraw hydraulic fluid from said hydraulically operated height adjustment means through said metering valve, said
  • FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a track levelling machine and an advance trolley, viewed from ahead of the advance trolley;
  • FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the machine and trolley illustrated in FIGURE 1;
  • FIGURE 2A is a schematic perspective view depicting infrared ray transmitter and receiver means for establishing reference planes, similar to the general illustration of FIG. 4.
  • FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the control circuit of this invention illustrating the adjustment of the reference planes by adjustment of the trolley crossarm;
  • FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a modification of the invention wherein the adjustment of the reference planes is achieved by adjustment of the trolley cross-arm and/or the contact plates (or shadow boards) and/or the rear measuring stanchions; and
  • FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a preferred form of oil metering valve for use with the control unit of this invention.
  • the track surfacing machine consists of a trolley 6 situated in advance of a lifting unit 7.
  • the lifting unit 7 is of known construction and need not therefore be described in detail for the purposes of explaining the present invention.
  • the lifting unit 7 comprise a rail-mounted car 8 which is progressively moved, under its own power, along the track lifting each sleeper or set of sleepers in turn, by means of lifting arms 9, to a predetermined height (as will hereinafter be described) and tamping the ballast under the lifted sleeper or sets of sleepers, by means of tamping arms 10, to hold the track in its new position.
  • the trolley 6 carries a cross-arm 11 which has a central pulley 12 and outer pulleys 13 and 14, respectively.
  • central pulley 12 carries a tensioned cable which provides reference lines and 16 to indicate the amount of lift available above the right hand rail 17 and the left hand rail 18, respectively, at the point of lift at the front of the car 8.
  • the tensioned cable could be passed around outer pulleys l3 and 14 so that reference lines 15 and 16 would be above the rails 17 and 18, respectively, throughout their length.
  • tensioned cable could be replaced by infrared transmitters IRT on the trolley projecting beams of infrared rays onto receivers IRR in car 8 mounted above rails 17 and 18, respectively, as shown schematically in FIG. 2A, which includes other apparatus as depicted and described in conjunction with FIGS. 1 and 4.
  • the present invention provides an automatic control for adjusting the height of reference planes 15 and 16, and therefore of the amount of lift provided at each point where lift is applied to the track.
  • the cross-arm is carried on a vertical column 21, which is hydraulically operated by means of hydraulic cylinder 22, and which has a manual adjustment 23 for the initial adjustment of the basic minimum lift.
  • the control circuit (which is diagrammatically illustrated in FIG- URE 3) operates at the end of each forward movement of the lifting unit 7 and serves to raise or lower vertical column 22 to thereby raise or lower reference planes 15 and 16, where necessary, towards the exact height necessary for imminent cut-off on one or both planes.
  • the control circuit receives current from the automatic tamp switch of the lifting unit 7, which is fed to terminal 24, and also receives current from the lifting control circuit of unit 7 when current is flowing therein i.e., when lift is available above one or both of the rails 17 and 18.
  • current will be fed to terminal 25
  • lift is available above rail 18, i.e., when contact plate 20 is clear of reference plane (or cable) 16
  • current will be fed to terminal 26.
  • the control circuit is brought into operation by depressing switch 27, which is depressed by means of the operator depressing a foot control pedal to move the lifting unit 7 forward.
  • the control circuit has an off/ automatic control switch consisting of interlinked switches S S and S the control switch being shown in the off position in FIGURE 3.
  • Relays R and R operate a 4-way oil control valve 27 to respectively raise and lower vertical column 21 by pumping oil through pipe-line 28 to bydraulic cylinder 22 to raise column 21 or by withdrawing oil from hydraulic cylinder 22 to lower column 21.
  • a needle valve 29, control valve 30 and check valve 31 are provided in pipe-line 28.
  • the control circuit also includes a manual raise/lower/hold switch S to enable the operator to manually control the height of vertical column 21 Where necessary.
  • Indicator lights L and L are also provided to give a visual indication of when lift is available above the left hand rail 18 and the right hand rail 17, respectively.
  • the control system will always sense and change the plane at which minimum lift is available on both rails but not necessarily equal lift.
  • the automatic control enables the track surfacing machine to ramp the track where necessary for surfacing operations and at the same time retains near minimum lift on the high rail enabling and achieving perfect rail cant control.
  • control circuit which is indicated generally at C, can be used to adjust the amount of lift obtained by adjusting the heights of the rear measuring stanchions and/or of the heights of the contact plates (or shadow boards) in addition to, or instead of, adjusting the height of the vertical column on the trolley.
  • oil from control valve 27 flowing through pipeline 28 instead of, or in addition to, being passed to hydraulic cylinder 22 to raise vertical column 21 can be by-passed to either or both of pipe-lines 32 and 33.
  • Pipelines 32 and 33 when used, pass oil to hydraulic cylinders 34, 35 and 36, 37, respectively to thereby adjust the heights of contact plates 19, 20 and rear measuring stanchions 38, 39, respectively.
  • hydraulic cylinders 34 and 35 would be used to adjust the heights of the shadow boards while hydraulic cylinders 36 and 37 would be used to adjust the heights of the receivers in car 8.
  • FIGURE 5 illustrates a preferred form of metering valve for controlling the rate of lift and lower of vertical column 21 and/ or contact plates 19, and/ or rear measuring stanchions 38, 39 so as to avoid any sudden oil surges to or from the hydraulic cylinders and thereby obtain a more gradual adjustment of the lift.
  • the metering valve, and the hydraulic circuit therefor comprises a metering cylinder 40, having a piston 41 therein, a 4- way impulse control valve 42 operated by an oil pilot valve 43, throttle valve 44, by-pass valve 45, shuttle valve 46, pilot operated check valve 47 and a normally closed by-pass valve 48.
  • Metering cylinder 40 which is selfcentering, has a heavy spring 49 and a light spring 50 to control the rate of movement of piston 41, and adjustable stops 51 and 52 to adjust the amount of travel of piston 41 in each direction.
  • the low pressure oil could be passed via line 62 to either or both of hydraulic cylinder 34, 35 and 36, 37 so as to adjust contact plates 19, 20 and/or rear measuring stanchions 38, 39.
  • the oil metering valve illustrated in FIGURE 5 operates to alter the lift height by a pre-set amount at a precise point of time during each working cycle of the track surfacing machine.
  • the valve operation is almost instantaneous regardless of temperature and operating conditions, i.e., it is independent of factors such as changes in the viscosity of the oil. It is these special features which distinguish this metering valve from other hydraulic metering devices.
  • both planes or lines 15, 16 are raised or lowered simultaneously by exactly the same height relative to the plane through the rear measuring stanchions and are not dependent on the varying rail elevation ahead of the machine.
  • This control unit consequently always provides sufiicient lift on the low rail (either left or right) to match exactly the height of the high rail and will continue to operate in the same plane either horizontal, on straight stretches, or at any required angle to the horizontal on curved stretches.
  • the control circuit will operate whenever the line of sight at the middle (or lifting point) cuts below the head of the rail or rails and will raise the reference planes, or reduce the heights of the measuring or cut-off stanchions, simultaneously and equally until the pulsating or constantly reversing point of cut-olf/cut-on is achieved above the rail which is high relative to the rear lifting plane through the rear terminals of the two reference planes.
  • the automatic control will return the reference planes to the preset basic minimum lift and the machine will then surface the track normally until another hump tends to cut above the reference planes.
  • control units of this invention can be used with either a fixed or movable target, i.e., with the trolley fixed in position and the lifting unit being gradually moved toward the trolley or with the trolley moving with the lifting unit and thereby being maintained a fixed distance from the lifting unit.
  • a railway track surfacing machine of the type having a rail-mounted track lifting and tamping unit, said track lifting and tamping unit having an electrically controlled lifting mechanism, a rail-mounted trolley spaced from said track lifting and tamping unit, reference plane means for establishing reference planes above the rails extending between said trolley and said track lifting and tamping unit, and sensing elements mounted on said lifting mechanism, said sensing elements cooperating with said reference plane means to determine the height to which the track is lifted, characterized by a control unit including means operatively connected to height adjusting means for altering the distances between said reference planes and said sensing elements, said control unit including means for receiving electrical signals from the electrical circuit of said electrically controlled lifting mechanism indicating the positions of said sensing elements relative to said reference planes and including means for operating said height adjusting means in response to said signals to thereby automatically adjust the height to which the track is lifted via said lifting and tamping unit independently of variations in the unsurfaced track ahead of the machine, and wherein said reference plane means comprise tensioned cables
  • a railway track surfacing machine as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that a metering valve means is inserted into the hydraulic circuit between said hy draulic control valve and said hydraulic cylinder, said metering valve means comprising a metering cylinder having a self-centering spring-loaded piston mounted therein, said metering cylinder including means for receiving high pressure hydraulic fluid from said hydraulic control valve when said control unit is set to increase the height to which the track is to be lifted, said high pressure hydraulic fluid displacing said spring loaded piston from its central position to thereby transmit a predetermined amount of hydraulic fluid from said metering cylinder at a controlled rate to said hydraulic cylinder.
  • a railway track surfacing machine of the type having a rail mounted track lifting and tamping unit, said track lifting and tamping unit having an electrically controlled lifting mechanism, a rail mounted trolley spaced from said track lifting and tamping unit, reference plane means for establishing reference planes above the rails and extending between said trolley and said track lifting and tamping unit, and sensing elements mounted on said lifting mechanism, said sensing elements cooperating with said reference plane means to determine the height to which the track is lifted, characterized by a control unit including means operatively connected to height adjusting means for altering the distances between said reference planes and said sensing elements, said control unit including means for receiving electrical signals from the electrical circuit of said electrically controlled lifting mechanism indicating the positions of said sensing elements relative to said reference planes and including means for operating said height adjusting means in response to said signals to thereby automatically adjust the height to which the track is lifted via said lifting and tamping unit independently of variations in the unsurfaced track ahead of the machine, and wherein said reference plane means comprise spaced beams of
  • a railway track surfacing machine as claimed in claim 6 characterized in that said height adjusting means comprises a pair of interconnected hydraulic cylinders, each of which is connected to one of said shadow boards, whereby actuation of said hydraulic control valve will serve to raise and lower said shadow boards in response to said signals.
  • a railway track surfacing machine as claimed in claim 6 characterized in that a metering valve means is inserted into the hydraulic circuit between said hydraulic control valve and said hydraulic cylinder, said metering valve means comprising a metering cylinder having a self-centering spring-loaded piston mounted therein, said metering cylinder including means for receiving high pressure hydraulic fluid from said hydraulic control valve when said control unit is set to increase the height to which the track is to be lifted, said high pressure hydraulic fluid displacing said spring loaded piston from its central position to thereby transmit a predetermined amount of hydraulic fluid from said metering cylinder at a controlled rate to said hydraulic cylinder.
  • a railway track surfacing machine as claimed in claim 6 characterized in that said height adjusting means comprises a first pair of interconnected hydraulic cylinders, each of which is connected to one of said receivers, whereby actuation of said hydraulic control valve will serve to raise and lower said receivers in response to said signals.
  • a railway track surfacing machine as claimed in claim 9 characterized in that said height adjusting means comprises a second pair of interconnected hydraulic cylinders, each of which is connected to one of said shadow boards, whereby actuation of said hydraulic control valve will serve to raise and lower said shadow boards in response to said signals.
  • a control unit as defined in claim 11 characterized in that said metering valve comprises a metering cylinder having a self-centering spring loaded piston mounted therein, said metering cylinder including means receiving high pressure hydraulic fluid from said hydraulic control valve when said electrical contact means receives said first set of signals, said high pressure hydraulic fluid displacing said spring loaded piston from its central position to thereby transmit a predetermined amount of hydraulic fluid from said metering cylinder at a controlled rate to said hydraulically operated height adjusting means.
  • a control unit as claimed in claim 12 characterized in that said metering cylinder has adjustable stops for adjusting the amount of travel of said spring loaded piston from its central position to establish a predetermined minimum amount of lift or lowering of said reference plane establishing means.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Architecture (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Machines For Laying And Maintaining Railways (AREA)
US636949A 1966-05-12 1967-05-08 Automatic control for track surfacing machines Expired - Lifetime US3459136A (en)

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU5458/66A AU294222B2 (en) 1966-05-12 Automatic control for surfacing machines

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Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3706284A (en) * 1969-01-22 1972-12-19 Plasser Bahnbaumasch Franz Track working apparatus with laser beam reference
US3799058A (en) * 1971-02-19 1974-03-26 Plasser Bahnbaumasch Franz Track tamping and leveling machine
US4203367A (en) * 1975-04-29 1980-05-20 Canron Corp. Lift and line beam extension
US5090329A (en) * 1989-10-25 1992-02-25 Franz Plasser Bahnbaumaschinen Industriegesellschaft M.B.H. Reference system for track working machine

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3141418A (en) * 1960-01-04 1964-07-21 Pullman Inc Method and apparatus for determining track and road surfaces and the like
US3144834A (en) * 1961-06-30 1964-08-18 Stewart John Kenneth Means for determining roadbed level and super elevation
US3198135A (en) * 1961-03-15 1965-08-03 Plasser Franz Movable apparatus useful in track grading
US3298105A (en) * 1963-02-08 1967-01-17 John K Stewart High frequency surveying device
US3301198A (en) * 1963-12-09 1967-01-31 Messrs Franz Plasser Bahnbauma Device for levelling track
US3334593A (en) * 1965-06-18 1967-08-08 Plasser Franz Track grading method and arrangement

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3141418A (en) * 1960-01-04 1964-07-21 Pullman Inc Method and apparatus for determining track and road surfaces and the like
US3198135A (en) * 1961-03-15 1965-08-03 Plasser Franz Movable apparatus useful in track grading
US3144834A (en) * 1961-06-30 1964-08-18 Stewart John Kenneth Means for determining roadbed level and super elevation
US3298105A (en) * 1963-02-08 1967-01-17 John K Stewart High frequency surveying device
US3301198A (en) * 1963-12-09 1967-01-31 Messrs Franz Plasser Bahnbauma Device for levelling track
US3334593A (en) * 1965-06-18 1967-08-08 Plasser Franz Track grading method and arrangement

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3706284A (en) * 1969-01-22 1972-12-19 Plasser Bahnbaumasch Franz Track working apparatus with laser beam reference
US3799058A (en) * 1971-02-19 1974-03-26 Plasser Bahnbaumasch Franz Track tamping and leveling machine
US4203367A (en) * 1975-04-29 1980-05-20 Canron Corp. Lift and line beam extension
US5090329A (en) * 1989-10-25 1992-02-25 Franz Plasser Bahnbaumaschinen Industriegesellschaft M.B.H. Reference system for track working machine

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Publication number Publication date
CH456669A (fr) 1968-07-31

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