Railroad Spikes and Methods of Making the Same
AssigneeNorfolk Southern Corporation
InventorHayden W. Newell
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to improved designs of railroad spikes and improved methods of manufacturing the same. According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for manufacturing a railroad spike may comprise the steps of: preparing a metal blank having a substantially circular cross-section; subjecting the metal blank to at least one cold heading process and at least one cold extrusion process to form a railroad spike having (a) a circular head with a fillet at its bottom side that is angled to engage a railroad tie plate or rail base and (b) a non-threaded shank with a substantially square cross-section and a chiseled tip; and coating the railroad spike with an anti-corrosion material.
Claims6
A railroad spike, comprising:
- a circular head formed in a cold heading process, the head having a fillet at its bottom side that is angled to engage a railroad tie plate or rail base;
- and
- a non-threaded shank formed in a cold extrusion process from a round stock, the shank having (a) a substantially smooth surface, (b) a substantially square cross-section having a symmetric shape, and (c) a chiseled tip with a sufficiently sharp cutting edge to cut wood fibers in a crosstie, wherein the cutting edge is substantially in parallel with a diagonal of the substantially square cross-section to avoid splitting the wood fibers in the crosstie, and the shank being further coated with an anti-corrosion chemical such that the coated chemical is directly exposed to the crosstie into which the railroad spike is inserted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.