Railway ballast cleaning apparatus

In a railway ballast cleaning apparatus including, in combination, means mounted on a railroad car for removing dirty ballast from the vicinity of the track along which said car is movable, ballast cleaning means mounted on said car, and means on said car for conveying the dirty ballast from said removing means to said ballast cleaning means, the improvement wherein said ballast cleaning means includes a drum comprising a cylindrical wall having perforations therein and being open at opposite ends, a spiral conveyor mounted on an inner surface of said wall and extending between said opposite ends, an open tank mounted on a horizontal surface of said car and containing a quantity of cleaning liquid, said tank being disposed beneath said drum, said drum being mounted for rotation about an axis inclined relative to said horizontal surface, one of said drum ends constituting an inlet end lying at least partially within said tank, the other of said ends constituting an outlet end lying wholly outwardly of said tank at a higher elevation relative to said inlet end, and means provided in contact with the outer surface of said drum wall for unclogging any ballast from said perforations which may extend therethrough during drum rotation, whereby dirty ballast which includes spoils particles may be deposited by said conveying means into said drum through said inlet end so as to be cleaned as it is tumbled by said spiral conveyor during drum rotation into and out of the cleaning liquid for cleaning the ballast by separating the spoils particles therefrom, said drum perforations being of such a predetermined size as to allow only the spoils particles to move through said perforations and into said tank, the cleaned ballast remaining in said drum being conveyed by said spiral conveyor outwardly of said drum through said outlet end.

In a railway ballast cleaning apparatus including a rail car, means on said car for removing dirty ballast from the railway track along which said car travels, dirty ballast cleaning means on said car, and hopper means on said car for receiving clean ballast from said cleaning means and for discharging the clean ballast onto the track, said hopper means comprising a pair of hoppers of identical capacity spaced transversely of said car, a transversely extending support beam mounted on said car for pivotal movement about a longitudinal axis of said car lying in the direction of travel thereof, said hoppers being mounted on said beam outwardly of said longitudinal axis for discharging clean ballast toward opposite sides of said car, said hoppers being capable of up-and-down movement relative to each other depending on the relative loading of clean ballast therein, and said hopper means further comprising means including a deflector plate diverter disposed between said hoppers and capable of pivotal movement toward each of said hoppers for directing clean ballast into one or into the other of said hoppers or into both said hoppers, means interconnecting said diverter with said one hopper for causing said diverter to move away from said one hopper upon downward movement thereof and for causing said diverter to move toward said one hopper upon upward movement thereof, whereby the clean ballast is directed by said diverter into either or both said hoppers depending on the relative amount of clean ballast therein.