Railroad track profile spacing and alignment apparatus

In combination with a rail along which a railroad car or the like moves and having a light reflecting planar surface and a railroad car mounted for movement along said rail, the improvement in range sensor apparatus mounted on said railroad car for measuring the distance between a given point on said railroad car and said rail, said apparatus comprising:

• image projection means for focusing the image of a light source on said rail, light image responsive means upon which a focussed reflected image is to be directed, diffuse reflected light image receiving means including reflected image focusing means for receiving the image reflected from said rail surface and for focusing the rail reflected image onto said reflected light image responsive means, the position of the focussed diffuse light image on said light image responsive means being a measure of the distance between said image projection means and said rail surface, and means supporting said image projection means and image receiving means relative to one another and said surface wherein the axis along which said image is focussed on said rail surface and the axis along which said image receiving means receives a focussed diffuse reflected image from said rail surface are in a plane making an oblique angle to said surface.

Range sensor apparatus for measuring distance variations to a surface between given minimum and maximum limits, said apparatus comprising:

• projection means for focusing the image of a light source at or adjacent to said surface along a projection axis, the focussed image having its maximum or near maximum sharpness at said surface when the spacing between said range sensor apparatus and said surface is at or adjacent to one of said limits;
• and optical sensing means for receiving the image reflected from said surface along an optical axis making a given angle to said first given axis and intersecting the same at or near said surface, said optical sensing means including focusing means for focusing said reflected image of the light source onto a projection plane where the light image has a miximum or near maximum sharpness when the spacing between said range sensor apparatus and said surface is at or adjacent the other of said limits, an array of light responsive means mounted on said projection plane positioned so that different ones of the light responsive means are struck by the focused light image as the spacing between said image projection means and said surface varies over given limits, each of said light responsive means producing a given signal output when said light image impinges thereon.

Apparatus for measuring the distance between a given point on a railroad car and the top and lateral side surfaces of a rail upon which the railroad car is mounted for rolling movement, said apparatus comprising first and second range sensor units mounted on a common frame, one of the range sensor units including image projection means for focusing a light image upon the top surface of said rail along a first given axis and the other range sensor unit including image projection means for focusing a light image upon the lateral side surface of said rail along a second given axis, said range sensor units including respectively reflected light image receiving means for receiving the associated reflected images along third and fourth given axes respectively making a substantial angle with said associated first and second given axes and intersecting the same at or near the associated top and lateral side surfaces of the rail, each of said reflected light image receiving means having focusing means for focusing the associated reflected image upon a projection plane, and light responsive means on each of said projection planes arranged so that the particular portion of the light responsive means struck by the light image projected on said projection plane varies with the spacing between the range sensor unit involved and the related top or lateral side rail surface.

In combination with a railroad car mounted for movement along a track, the improvement along in range sensor apparatus mounted on said railroad car for measuring the distance between a given point on said railroad car and said rail, said apparatus comprising:

• image projection means for focusing the image of a light source and directing the same along a first given axis intersecting a surface of said rail, light image responsive means upon which a reflected image is to be directed, reflected light image receiving means including reflected image focusing means for receiving the image reflected from said rail surface along an optical axis making an angle to said first given axis and intersecting the same at or near said rail surface, and for focusing the rail reflected image onto said reflected light image responsive means, the position of the reflected light on said reflected light image responsive means being a measure of the distance between said image projection means and said rail surface, and said projection means focusing said light image at or near one limit of the range variation to be covered by the angle sensor apparatus and said reflected image focusing means focusing said light source image on said reflected light image responsive means at or near the other limit of said range variation.