Method and apparatus for treating ballast
AssigneeSouthern Railway Company
InventorJohn R. Miller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Ballast is removed from beneath railroad ties in accordance with a ballast treating method and apparatus without disturbing the ballast in the cribs between adjacent ties, and is deposited into a trench formed along the railway. The crib ballast is likewise removed and deposited in the trench. A plow structure used for the ballast removal operation has cutting blades curved toward the trench and disposed with their leading ends lying along a line sloping rearwardly away from the trench. The rail vehicle which supports the plow structure is stabilized against transverse forces imposed on the vehicle during the ballast removal operation, and the plow itself is likewise stabilized against such forces.
Claims27
A plow structure for removing ballast from beneath the rail ties of a railway, comprising, a flat, rigid and imperforae plate disposed for movement beneath the rail ties in a forward direction of travel along the railway, said plate having a leading edge sloping rearwardly in one direction relative to the longitudinal axis thereof, a plurality of spaced depending blades fixedly mounted on the underside of said plate along said leading eedge and extending toward a side edge of said plate, a portion of each said blade being curved toward said side at said leading edge for cutting and shifting the ballast toward said side upon plate movement, the remainder of said blades each being substantially straight and sloping rearwardly toward said side edge for conveying the cut ballast outwardly of said side, and a depending scraper blade spaced from said plate and mounted thereto along the trailing edge thereof for defining an opening, said scraper blade sloping rearwardly toward said side edge, whereby said imperforate plate prevents any separation of said ties and ballast located therebetween during plate movement, and whereby said opening permits the ballast between the ties to fall forwardly of said scraper blade to be thereby conveyed outwardly of said side of said plate.
Apparatus for removing ballast from beneath railroad ties, comprising, a vehicle having a flatbed support and being movable in a forward direction along rails mounted on the ties, a horizontally disposed undertrack ballast removal device mounted for movement about a vertical axis to said vehicle, said device comprising an imperforate plate which prevents shifting of the ties by maintaining ballast therebetween during plate movement, a plurality of depending blades mounted on said plate with leading ends thereof spaced along a line sloping rearwardly from one side of said car, said blades curving toward said one side, a scraper plate mounted a distance from the trailing edge of said plate to thereby present at least one opening into which the ballast from between the ties may fall, said scraper plate sloping rearwardly toward said one side, and vehicle stabilizer means mounted on said car forward of said device and extending outwardly of said one side, said stabilizer means including a pontoon extending below the rails for engaging a side of a trench formed for the reception of ballast removed by said blades, said stabilizer means thereby resisting forces imposed on said vehicle which are directed toward said one side during a ballast removal operation.
A ballast treating method carried out wiith the use of an apparatus moving along a railway track having rails mounted on ties supported by underlying ballast and having ballast in the cribs between the ties, comprising:
- forming a trench along one side of the railway adjacent the ties;
- removing the ballast from beneath the ties without disturbing the ballast in thhe cribs therebetween so as to avoid separation of the ties during ballast removal, the removal being carried out gradually with a plow structure from one end to the other end of said ties, said plow structure being mounted at a side of the apparatus;
- depositing the removed ballast into said trench;
- subsequently removing the ballast from the cribs between the ties and depositing same into said trench;
- picking up the removed ballast from the trench and conveying it to a cleaning station;
- cleaning the picked up ballast at said station;
- and
- conveying the cleaned ballast back beneath the ties through the cribs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.