Plate gripping assemblies for maintenance
AssigneeTransportation IP Holdings, LLC
InventorsNeil Patrick Creegan, Nichalos Lee Schultz, Gregory Long
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rail plate grasping assembly may include a holder part that may be coupled with a rail vehicle that moves along one or more rails of a track with the one or more rails coupled with rail plates that are coupled with rail ties. The assembly also may include a wear part that may be coupled with the holder part and shaped to engage the rail plates to support the rail plates while the rail ties are removed beneath the rail plates. The wear part may be separated from the holder part and replaced with another wear part.
Claims20
A rail plate grasping assembly, comprising:
- a holder part configured to be coupled with a rail vehicle that moves along one or more rails of a track with the one or more rails coupled with rail plates that are coupled with rail ties;
- and
- a wear part configured to be coupled with the holder part and shaped to engage the rail plates to support the rail plates while the rail ties are removed from beneath the rail plates, the wear part configured to be separated from the holder part and replaced with another wear part.
A maintenance system, comprising:
- plural external rail plate grasping assemblies that are configured to move toward each other to grasp and to pull a rail plate against a rail during removal of a rail tie beneath the rail;
- and
- plural internal rail plate grasping assemblies that are configured to move toward each other to grasp and to pull the rail plate against the rail during removal of the rail tie, wherein each of the rail plate grasping assemblies includes a holder part configured to be coupled with a rail vehicle that moves along the rail and a wear part coupled with the holder part and shaped to engage a corresponding first rail plate or a second rail plate to support the first rail plate or the second rail plate while the rail tie is removed beneath the rail plates, the wear part being configured to be separated from the holder part and replaced with another wear part.
A rail plate grasping assembly comprising:
- an internal grasping tool configured to be mounted to a rail vehicle that moves along one or more rails of a track with the one or more rails coupled with rail plates that are coupled with rail ties, the internal grasping tool configured to be pivotally mounted for movement between an open position and a closed position in which the internal grasping tool is configured to engage a forward edge of a first rail plate of the rail plates and a rearward edge of the first rail plate of the rail plates;
- an external grasping tool configured to be pivotally mounted to the rail vehicle for movement between an open position and a closed position in which the external grasping tool is configured to engage the forward edge of the first rail plate and the rearward edge of the first rail plate;
- and
- one or more spacers configured to be positioned between the internal grasping tool and the external grasping tool, the one or more spacers configured to:
- increase a distance between the internal grasping tool and the external grasping tool in a direction transverse to the route responsive to the one or more spacers being in a first position, or
- decrease the distance between the internal grasping tool and the external grasping tool in a direction transverse to the route responsive to the one or more spacers being in a second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.