Method and facility for railway construction The present invention is concerned with a method and a device for use in the installation of railway track, consisting of a number of rollers which are each mounted in a yoke which is adjustably and detachably mounted in a special beam.
Background to invention Rails are obtainable today in considerable lengths (currently 360 metres). During track installation, a large quantity of rails may need to be transported together to the desired location on the formation to be laid on the sleepers. Rails lying side by side on e.g. rail-bound trucks can be difficult to unload to the desired point on the formation. The position of the rails on the truck has to be corrected as unloading proceeds. The converse applies when rails are to be taken up for removal and perhaps reuse elsewhere. There is a lack of equipment which meets this need in a simple manner. The present invention achieves this.
Purpose and principal characteristic of the invention The purpose of the invention is to simplify and streamline the installation of railway tracks. A number of rail-bound trucks are disposed at equal distances along e.g. an existing railway track. The trucks are linked together with e.g. a tensioned chain of suitable length for the equal spacing of the trucks and the correct total length in relation to the rails to be transported. The trucks are restrained from moving freely on the track. Each truck is equipped with at least one unit of the present invention. Before the rails are loaded onto the trucks, all the rollers are adjusted in relation to that roller which is correctly positioned in relation to the point on the formation to which the rails are to be unloaded. The latter roller is the discharge roller for all the rails (until another position of the rails on the formation is desired), and said roller is set to attitude (B) according to Fig. 1. The remaining rollers are set to any of the attitudes (C), (D), (E) and/or (F) in Fig. 1. On completion of loading, there is a maximum of one rail on each roller. The rollers are restrained from moving freely by e.g. locking. In this way the rails are prevented from rolling off the invention e.g. in the case where the
track used for transportation of the loaded rails is on a gradient. The rails are unloaded by pulling them off in a direction parallel to the track. Unloading begins with the rail that is supported on the discharge roller. The rail most nearly adjoining the discharge roller is pulled off next, and because the attitude of its roller is set differently, the rail automatically shifts off this roller onto the discharge roller. One rail after another is unloaded in this way. This greatly promotes the rapid and efficient installation of a railway track. The principal characteristic of the invention is that the adjustment of the rollers in relation to each other causes the rail to shift automatically from one roller onto another and thus as close as possible to the desired point on the formation.
Description of drawings Fig. 1 shows the invention in elevation and in plan.
Description of an embodiment of the invention The invention consists of a special beam (5) fitted with a number of units, each consisting of a roller (1), yoke (2) and axle (3). Each unit is mounted in the beam by means of a hole and bush (4) so as to be adjustable and detachable. The attitude of the roller in relation to the beam can be locked by means of a suitably designed mechanism (6 and 7). The roller (1) has somewhat rounded edges to facilitate the movement of rails between two rollers. The mechanism (6 and 7) includes some form of pin, stop etc. for locking the roller (1) in the desired attitude. The roller (1) has some form of locking to restrain it from moving freely during rail transportation.
