Apparatus for enabling an excavator to mount, demount and travel on railroad tracks

Abstract

A glyde-rail apparatus removably attached to a carrier such as an excavator to enable the excavator to mount and demount at any point along a railroad track and to travel along the railroad track without damaging the railroad track. The glyde-rail apparatus comprises a front swing arm assembly having a pair of rail wheels which removably attaches to one end of a frame of the excavator and a back swing arm assembly having a pair of rail wheels which removably attaches to a second end of the frame of the excavator. A pair of hydraulic cylinders positioned on the front swing arm assembly and another pair of hydraulic cylinders positioned on the back swing arm assembly enable the rail wheels to be raised or lowered onto the railroad track. A hard rubber cover attaches to the track of the excavator.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of Provisional Application No. 60 / 841,625, filed Aug. 30, 2006 which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]This invention relates generally to a vehicle having rail wheels attached to operate on a railroad track and, in particular, to a glyde-rail apparatus that enables an excavator having rubberized tracks to mount on and demount from railroad tracks at any point along the track, and travel on the railroad tracks.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]The clearing of vegetation along railroad tracks is a serious responsibility for the owners of railroad tracks for the safety of trains traveling on the tracks. Further, there are Federal laws which provide for fines to the track owners if vegetation is not controlled outside a certain distance from the tracks.[0006]Heavy mobile equipment exists having a boon support column pivotally attached...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]Accordingly, it is therefore an object of this invention to provide a removable glyde-rail apparatus on a vehicle, such as an excavator, to enable the vehicle to mount and demount on a railroad track at any point along the railroad track without having to find a section of the railroad track where the top of the track is level with a roadway, and to enable the vehicle travel along the railroad tracks.

[0011]It is another object of this invention to provide a glyde-rail apparatus for removably mounting on an excavator used to travel along the railroad tracks without damaging the tracks by covering the track of the excavator with rubber material.

Problems solved by technology

When the mobile equipment is moved along a track to a work area, the equipment cannot be removed from the track to allow a train to pass without being moved to a crossing somewhere along the track, which takes time and requires leaving and returning to a work area.

However, the relaying train does not disclose an ability to remove trucks from the rails of any point along the tracks.

However, the vehicle cannot access and egress from the railroad tracks without requiring the presence of a siding.

However, the track repair apparatus does not have rubber pads replacing track grooves whereby the apparatus could be self-propelled along the track.

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