Apparatus for end-plating elongate members such as railroad ties

Apparatus for pressing nailing plates or the like into opposite ends of elongate members, such as wooden railroad ties, thereby to end-plate the ties, comprising:

• a press;
• infeed conveyor means for conveying said ties forwardly one after another in generally horizontal position and with the ties extending generally transversely of the direction of conveyance to a first station, constituting a feed station;
• means engageable by each tie as it is conveyed forward on said infeed conveyor means for stopping the tie at said feed station;
• walking beam feed means movable from a lowered position to a raised position in which it lifts the tie at said feed station and feeds it to a second station, constituting an end-plating station, in the press;
• power means for moving the walking beam feed means between its raised and lowered positions;
• said press comprising upper and lower platen means engageable with the top and bottom faces of a tie adjacent the ends of the tie, said lower platen means being movable through an upstroke for raising the tie while generally horizontal from a lowered position to an elevated position and for pressing the tie against said upper platen means thereby to apply a vertical compressing force to the tie adjacent the ends thereof, and a downstroke for lowering the tie, side platen means engageable with opposite side faces of said tie adjacent the ends thereof when the tie is in said elevated position, said side platen means being movable toward and away from one another whereby a horizontal compressing force can be applied to and removed from opposite side faces of the tie adjacent the ends thereof, and a pair of end platents engageable with nailing plates on opposite ends of the tie for pressing the plates into the tie ends when the tie is in said elevated position and while said compressing forces are being applied to the tie by said upper, lower and side platen means;
• walking beam discharge means movable between a lowered position and a raised position for discharging the tie from the press prior to the next tie being fed to said end-plating station;
• power means for moving said walking beam discharge means between said raised and lowered positions;
• and
• means responsive to movement of said walking beam discharge means from its lowered to its raised position for actuating said power means to move said walking beam feed means from its lowered to its raised position, said walking beam discharge means, when raised, being disposed for engagement by a tie being fed forwardly by said walking beam feed means thereby to block the tie from moving to said end-plating station prior to discharge of an end-plated tie from the press.