Railroad car positioning apparatus
AssigneeSvedala Industries, Inc.
InventorsErnest W., Lobb, Bruce A. Robbins, David L. Depew
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A railroad car positioning apparatus for positioning a railroad car along a track. The railroad car positioning device apparatus includes a carriage member and first and second dog members mounted on the carriage member. The apparatus includes a device for positioning the dog members and for extending the dog members from the carriage member to an axle height of a railroad car for contacting one of the axles on opposite sides thereof. The apparatus further includes a plurality of hydraulic cylinders for moving the carriage member in a forward or reverse direction to acquire an axle and for exerting a force between one of the dog members and the acquired axle to position the railroad car along the track.
Claims21
A method of acquiring and positioning railroad cars in a train of cars along a railroad track, comprising:
- providing a guideway means situated between a pair of rails of the rails of the railroad track;
- providing a carriage member for travel along said guideway means and dog means mounted on the carriage member;
- providing means for selectively moving the dog means between a lowered position beneath an axle height of the railroad cars to a raised position at the axle height for acquiring an axle of a railroad car;
- providing a plurality of axially aligned, double acting hydraulic cylinders, each cylinder having an axially aligned piston rod therein for selectively moving the carriage member in one of a forward or reverse direction along the guideway means as said piston rods are extended or retracted under hydraulic fluid pressure for exerting a force between the dog means and an acquired axle for moving an acquired railroad car a selected distance and for thereafter indexing the carriage member in an opposite direction for acquiring an axle of a next railroad car;
- providing means for counting a number of axles passed as the carriage member indexes and means for stopping the carriage member when a predetermined number of axles has been counted;
- conducting the steps of:
- (a) moving the dog means to the lowered position;
- (b) indexing said carriage member along said guideway and counting axles as the carriage member moves past the axles;
- (c) stopping said carriage member when a predetermined number of axles has been counted;
- (d) moving the dog means to a raised position to acquire an axle of a railroad car;
- (e) moving the acquired railroad car a selected distance;
- and
- (f) repeating steps (a)-(e) to position other railroad cars.
Apparatus for automatically acquiring and positioning railroad cars in a train of cars along a railroad track;
- said apparatus comprising:
- a guideway means situated between a pair of rails of the railroad track;
- a carriage for travel along the guideway means;
- dog means mounted on said carriage;
- means for selectively moving the dog means between a lowered position beneath an axle height of the railroad cars and a raised position at the axle height for acquiring an axle of a railroad car;
- a plurality of axially aligned, double acting hydraulic cylinders, each cylinder having an axially aligned piston rod therein for displacing the carriage in one of a forward or reverse direction along the guideway means as said piston rods are extended or retracted under hydraulic fluid pressure for exerting a force between the dog means and an acquired axle for thereby moving an acquired railroad car a selected distance and for thereafter indexing the carriage in an opposite direction for acquiring an axle of a next railroad car;
- means for producing a signal when said carriage is indexed past an axle and for counting the number of axles passed;
- means for cumulatively storing a counted number of axles;
- and
- means for stopping said carriage when a predetermined number of axles has been counted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.