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US 10,060,078 B2Granted
Stoneblower for rail applications
AssigneeHarsco Technologies LLC
InventorsVictor Vargas, Chris Larsen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure generally relates to a railroad chassis vehicle having independently operable workheads for carrying out rail maintenance operations on non-uniform sections of railroad tracks. Related methods of operation of the railroad chassis and associated maintenance of ballast beds underlying railroad tracks are also described.
Claims17
A railroad chassis comprising:
- a supply of ballast stones disposed on the railroad chassis;
- a plurality of workheads coupled to the railroad chassis, each workhead being independently operable and capable of receiving ballast stones from the supply of ballast stones;
- and
- at least one air compressor coupled to the railroad chassis and capable of blowing ballast stones through one or more of the workheads to dispense ballast stones into a bed of ballast stones underlying a railroad track;
- wherein each workhead comprises a blowing tube configured to be inserted into the bed of ballast stones for dispensing ballast stones, the blowing tube being coupled to the workhead via a housing, and wherein a motor is disposed within the housing and is configured to rotate the blowing tube relative to the workhead based on a signal received from a computing system associated with the railroad chassis.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a railroad chassis on a railroad track, wherein the railroad chassis is operable to move along rails of the railroad track;
- determining, using a computing system associated with the railroad chassis, an amount of ballast stones to be dispensed into a bed of ballast stones underlying a rail tie of the railroad track at a first location to achieve an optimal height of the rails at the first location;
- providing a plurality of workheads coupled to the railroad chassis, each workhead having a blowing tube coupled thereto;
- independently positioning one or more of the plurality of workheads comprised in the railroad chassis to position the blowing tubes at the first location;
- rotating one or more of the blowing tubes relative to the workheads in response to a signal received from the computing system;
- and
- blowing, using an air compressor comprised in the railroad chassis, an amount of compressed air through the one or more blowing tubes to dispense the amount of ballast stones into the bed of ballast stones underneath the rail at the first location.
4 more elements
A railroad chassis comprising:
- a supply of ballast stones disposed on the railroad chassis;
- at least one air compressor coupled to the railroad chassis;
- and
- a plurality of workheads coupled to the railroad chassis, wherein each workhead is independently operable, wherein each workhead is coupled to a blowing tube via a housing, and wherein the blowing tube is independently operable and configured to dispense ballast stones from the supply of ballast stones into a bed of ballast stones underlying a rail tie of a railroad track,
- and wherein a motor is disposed in the housing and is operable to rotate the blowing tube relative to the workhead based on a signal received from a computing system associated with the railroad chassis.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.