Cordless railroad spike puller

A cordless railroad spike puller comprising:

• a drive motor and a threaded drive shaft with a gear train operably coupling the drive motor to the threaded drive shaft;
• spike puller jaws with a non-rotating pull rod coupling the threaded drive shaft to the spike puller jaws;
• a battery mount selectively couplable to a rechargeable battery to provide electric power to the drive motor,
• wherein rotation of the drive motor in a forward direction rotates the gear train and the threaded drive shaft to move the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws toward a retracted position within the cordless railroad spike puller, and rotation of the drive motor in a reverse direction rotates the gear train and the threaded drive shaft to move the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws toward an extended position within the cordless railroad spike puller;
• a control circuit operably coupled to the drive motor, wherein the control circuit comprises a microprocessor and a memory;
• a manually actuatable trigger switch coupled to the control circuit;
• and
• a pull rod position sensor coupled to the control circuit and the pull rod position sensor being operable to provide at least one of an extended position signal to the control circuit in response to the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws being in the extended position, and a retracted position signal to the control circuit in response to the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws being in the retracted position, wherein the control circuit is configured to automatically operate the drive motor in the reverse direction at a return motor speed during an automatic return phase in which the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws move toward the extended position, and the control circuit is configured to ignore any signal from the manually actuatable trigger switch during the automatic return phase.

A cordless railroad spike puller comprising:

• a drive motor and a threaded drive shaft with a gear train operably coupling the drive motor to the threaded drive shaft;
• spike puller jaws with a non-rotating pull rod coupling the threaded drive shaft to the spike puller jaws;
• a battery mount selectively couplable to a rechargeable battery to provide electric power to the drive motor,
• wherein rotation of the drive motor in a forward direction rotates the gear train and the threaded drive shaft to move the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws toward a retracted position within the cordless railroad spike puller, and rotation of the drive motor in a reverse direction rotates the gear train and the threaded drive shaft to move the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws toward an extended position within the cordless railroad spike puller;
• a control circuit operably coupled to the drive motor, wherein the control circuit comprises a microprocessor and a memory;
• a manually actuatable trigger switch coupled to the control circuit;
• and
• a pull rod position sensor coupled to the control circuit and the pull rod position sensor being operable to provide at least one of an extended position signal to the control circuit in response to the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws being in the extended position, and a retracted position signal to the control circuit in response to the non-rotating pull rod and the spike puller jaws being in the retracted position, wherein the single pull rod position sensor includes a sensor body that extends longitudinally along an interior surface of the cordless railroad spike puller, and a wiper that is coupled to the non-rotating pull rod and extends to move along a longitudinal path of wiper engagement with the sensor body as the non-rotating pull rod moves between the extended position and the retracted position.