Rail joint
OwnerAlan Newtoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Two rails are disposed in a direction of wheel travel and joined at their ends so as to permit continuous rolling of the wheel from one rail to the other. These rails maintain the wheel at a predetermined elevation, and the ends have a gap therebetween. The wheel is supported in a region overlapping the gap at an elevation equal to the predetermined elevation of the rails without any significant drop of the wheel into the gap. The wheel may be elevated to maintain the predetermined elevation by contacting a rolling surface location thereon, differing from that normally contacted by at least one of the two rails. The wheel may also be elevated over the gap by a support positioned along the side of at least one of the two rails that extends outward away from the end of the rail in the direction of wheel travel.
Claims16
A rail joint comprising:
- two rails disposed in a direction of wheel travel joined at their ends so as to permit continuous rolling of said wheel from one rail to the other, said rails maintaining said wheel at a predetermined elevation and said ends having a gap therebetween;
- means for supporting said wheel in a region overlapping said gap at an elevation equal to said predetermined elevation, said means for supporting including means, disposed laterally along one side of said two rails and bridging said gap, for contacting an outer disposed rolling surface of said wheel at a level that maintains said wheel at said predetermined elevation and said means for supporting further including means, disposed laterally along an opposite side of said two rails and bridging said gap, for carrying a guiding flange of said wheel at a level that maintains said wheel at said predetermined elevation over said gap;
- and
- web means passing transversely through said gap and interconnecting said means for carrying and said means for contacting to each other.
A structure for supporting a wheel at a rail joint comprising:
- a pair of rails joined at their ends with a gap therebetween, said rails each supporting a wheel at a predetermined elevation;
- means for supporting said wheel in a region overlapping said gap and substantially at said predetermined elevation, said means for supporting including first support means bridging said gap and disposed laterally on one side of said rails for support of a first portion of said wheel, second support means also bridging said gap and disposed laterally on an opposite side of said rails for support of a guiding flange of said wheel, and web means passing transversely through said gap and interconnecting said first and said second support means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.