Apparatus and method for straightening crane rails

In a traveling bridge crane having a bridge including opposite ends and a width spanning first and second rails having a parallel position and spaced apart lengths, the crane traveling along and in a position generally parallel to the rails and being subject to forces causing skew of the crane, the combination comprising:

• a first pair of wheels comprising first and second wheels respectively mounted opposite each other on the opposite ends of the bridge and each engaging a different one of the rails;
• a second pair of wheels comprising third and fourth wheels mounted opposite each other on the opposite ends of the bridge and each engaging a different one of the rails;
• each of the first and second rails have rail heads including outward laterally facing sides facing away from each other and inward laterally facing sides facing toward each other;
• the first wheel and the third wheel both engage the first rail at a spaced apart distance from each other in the direction of the length of the first rail, the first wheel having radially extending inside and outside flanges respectively facing the laterally inward and the laterally outward facing sides of the first rail head, the outside flange of the first wheel having a first outside spacing distance from the laterally outward facing rail head side and the inside flange of the first wheel having a first inside spacing distance from the laterally inward facing rail head side, the first inside spacing distance being less than the first outside spacing distance, the third wheel having radially extending inside and outside flanges respectively facing the laterally inward and the laterally outward facing sides of the first rail head, the outside flange of the first wheel having a first outside spacing distance from the laterally outward facing rail head side and the inside flange of the first wheel having a first inside spacing distance from the laterally inward facing rail head side, the first inside spacing distance being less than the first outside spacing distance, the inside flange of the first wheel (intermittently) bearing against the inward facing rail head side during travel of the crane due to said lesser first inside spacing distance and the outside flange of the third wheel (intermittently) bearing against the outward facing rail head side during travel of the crane due to said lesser second outside spacing distance whereby any lateral deviations of the first rail are straightened by the bearing of the first and third wheels against the first rail in opposite directions.

A method of straightening in a lengthwise direction one rail of a pair of spaced apart generally parallel rails, the one rail having a plurality of lateral deviations from its parallel position with the other rail, which extends both inward toward and outward from the other rail, the pair of rails supporting a bridge crane travelable along the rails on a plurality of wheels, the one rail having inward and outward facing sides relative to the other rail, the steps comprising:

• positioning first and second ones of the wheels on the crane at spaced apart locations along the length of the one rail;
• providing a radially extending inside flange on the first wheel at a position facing an inward facing side of the one rail at a clearance distance such that the inside flange bears against at least a portion of the plurality of lateral deviations of the one rail extending toward the other rail during travel of the crane along the first and second rails;
• providing a radially extending outside flange on the second wheel at a position facing an outward facing side of the one rail at a clearance distance such that the outside flange bears against at least a portion of the plurality of lateral deviations of the one rail extending away from the other rail during travel of the crane along the first and second rails;
• and
• driving the crane along the first and second rails to cause the inside flange of the first wheel and the outside flange of the second wheel to bear against the respective inward and outward lateral deviations of the one rail and straighten the one rail.