Movable Sand Plow For Locomotive
AssigneeElectro-Motive Diesel, Inc.
InventorsAlexander Shubs, JR., Michael Colarossi, Tim Kohler, Xiaoying Ma
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A moveable plow for a locomotive suitable for operating in sandy environments is provided. The moveable plow comprises a body and a wearable lip. The body forms a curl at its top edge along substantially the entire body width to channel the flow of sand outwardly. The lip is removably affixed to the body and contacts a rail. The moveable plow is attached to a bogie by a pneumatically operated height adjusting mechanism that can raise or lower the moveable plow. The moveable plow and rail define a sweep angle equal to or greater than an angle of repose of the sand in the surrounding environment.
Claims12
A moveable sand plow 16 for removing sand from a rail 50, the moveable sand plow 16 comprising:
- a body 20 having a width and defining a plane substantially orthogonal to a plane defined by the rail 50, the body 20 extending from an inner vertical edge 30 inward of the rail 50 to an outer vertical edge 32 outward of the rail 50 and from a lower edge 36 to a top edge 38, the body 20 forming a curl 28 at its top edge 38 along substantially the entire body width to channel the flow of sand 40 outwardly, the curl 28 being most pronounced at the outer vertical edge 32;
- and
- a lip 22 removably affixed to and extending downwardly from the body 20, the lip 22 having a substantially linear first edge 24 and a parallel, opposing substantially linear second edge 26;
- wherein
- the lip 22 is moveable between a first position in which the first edge 24 is facing down and a second position in which the second edge 26 is facing down.
A method of positioning a height of a plurality of forward facing moveable sand plows 16, each of the moveable sand plows 16 being mounted to one of a series of connected wheeled locomotives 100, the method comprising the steps of:
- activating a plow system 10 using a single switch;
- the plow system 10 determining which direction the locomotives 100 are moving;
- and
- the plow system 10 automatically adjusting the height of each of the moveable sand plows 16 until each of the moveable sand plows 16 contacts a set of rails 50.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.