Device for demarcating an area laterally from railway tracks

Abstract

Device for demarcating an area laterally from railway tracks (1), comprising at least one substantially L-shaped and substantially vertically oriented cantilever (6, 7) which can be attached to the railway track (1) by means of a substantially horizontal leg (9) by means of a bracket (11) which engages the railway track (1) at a lower chord (12), wherein the horizontally extending leg (9) is associated with at least one height adjustment (16) by means of which it is supported in a height-adjustable manner on a sleeper (2) supporting the railway track (1), characterized in that the substantially horizontally extending leg (9) is further provided with a counter element (18) for the height adjustment (17).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a device for demarcating an area laterally from railway tracks, comprising at least one substantially L-shaped boom lying substantially in a vertical plane, which can be fastened to a railway track with a substantially horizontally extending leg by means of a coupling element according to the preamble of the appended main claim.

[0002] When working next to the track or within the track, for example, on a multi-track railway line with ongoing traffic, it is important to ensure that a demarcation is maintained between the work area and the track next to which work is being carried out, or between the track on which work is being carried out and the adjacent track(s), to prevent people from entering a cross-section that must be kept clear for train passage. This cross-section that must be kept clear is referred to either as the "clearance" or, from the perspective of occupational safety or health, as the "danger zone."

[0003] A device of the type used in this case is known, for example, from DE 10 2021 107 421 A1. This shows a corresponding track protection fence in which L-shaped brackets are attached to a railway track. Flat mats are suspended between two essentially vertical legs of adjacent brackets, thus spatially demarcating the area required for train passage. There are also embodiments in which the mats are arranged continuously in a plane extending essentially along the vertical legs.

[0004] Passing trains at a construction site generate pressure and suction waves, which will be referred to collectively as pressure waves. These pressure waves can not only endanger people on adjacent tracks, but also, of course, place strain on the barriers.

[0005] To stabilize the barrier device, the aforementioned publication therefore proposes equipping it with supports attached at an angle. Such supports, which can be designed as either rods or cables, can be used to divert the tensile or compressive forces resulting from the pressure waves of passing trains on the barrier device.

[0006] The supports transfer such forces acting on the booms into the ballast bed supporting the tracks. To achieve this, the supports are pressed into the ballast bed at the end facing away from the boom.

[0007] However, it has now been discovered that the compressive and tensile forces generated by passing trains through pressure and suction waves, which act on the barrier and thus on the outriggers, can shake the supports loose in the ballast bed and cause their ends to slide further or further down the ballast bed.

[0008] This causes the vertical legs of the booms to tilt out of their intended vertical position, either inward or outward. This can either restrict the clearance required for train passage or endanger people working outside the danger zone.

[0009] In order to circumvent this problem, it is known, for example, from EP 1 081 286 A1 that in a device as indicated above, the horizontally extending leg of the L-shaped boom is assigned at least one height adjustment, with which it is supported in a height-adjustable manner directly on a sleeper carrying the railway track.

[0010] This eliminates the need for separate support for the boom in the ballast of the trackbed, allowing the support to be erected more quickly in a straight position. Instead of aligning each boom separately and then supporting each one individually in this aligned position in the ballast of the trackbed, it is possible to install the booms of the demarcation device along the already aligned track and orient them accordingly.

[0011] In addition, the installed demarcation device is then also more stable because it engages directly with the sleeper supporting the railway track, which is already firmly incorporated into the ballast bed during the track laying process.

[0012] Furthermore, each sleeper is firmly connected to the rail, usually by securing the rail to the sleeper with its foot using tension clamps. This connection to the rail also ensures that the forces acting on the cantilevers are distributed across several adjacent sleepers, thus further improving the stability of the barrier structure as a whole.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the coupling element with which the boom is fastened to a railway track has a bracket which engages underneath this railway track at its rail base.

[0014] This enables particularly quick assembly of the coupling element.

[0015] The object of the present invention is to develop a device as described so far in such a way that it is equally stable both in pressure and suction waves.

[0016] This object is achieved in one embodiment of the invention in that the short leg of the boom is provided with a locking element in a section adjacent to the bracket or clamping device, which is located on the side of the bracket facing away from the height adjustment. This locking element can be used to fix the boom in its aligned position. This locking element is then designed like the height adjustment, i.e., either as a screw or as a hook. This allows the boom to be fixed in its final position relative to the adjacent sleeper.

[0017] In an alternative embodiment of the invention, it is also possible to mount the height adjustment and the locking element on the same side of the clamping device. In this case, a screw is combined as the height adjustment and a hook as the locking element, or vice versa.

[0018] However, such a construction is less intuitive to use than the variant discussed first.

[0019] Preferably, the holder mentioned above is designed as a clamping device that grips the rail foot from both sides with clamping jaws.

[0020] The clamping device can be changed in its clamping length via at least one screw that moves the clamping jaws and / or via at least one spring that contracts the clamping jaws.

[0021] This allows the clamping device to be mounted on the rail very quickly.

[0022] The clamping device essentially determines a pivot point for the boom at the base of the railway track.

[0023] By arranging the height adjustment mentioned above between the clamping device and the longer leg of the boom, the height adjustment can be supported on the threshold.

[0024] For this design, the height adjustment can be achieved, for example, by a screw that is screwed onto a sleeper from above. This allows the boom to be easily pivoted around the aforementioned pivot point, particularly from above. This allows the essentially vertical leg of the L-shaped boom to be easily aligned.

[0025] In a similar way, the height adjustment can also be mounted on the other side of the clamping device in a section facing away from the longer leg of the L-shaped boom.

[0026] Here, the height adjustment can be carried out, for example, by means of a hook that grips under the sleeper at its lower end, where the L-shaped bracket is attached to the railway track.

[0027] The hook can then, for example, be provided with a thread at its upper end, which is guided through a tab located on the side of the leg, so that by turning a nut sitting on this thread the lower end of the hook is pulled under the threshold.

[0028] Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of an embodiment. Fig. 1 the schematic diagram of a demarcation device in a perspective view, Fig. 2 a coupling element in the detailed view, Fig. 3 the coupling element according to Fig. 2 in a view from the opposite direction

[0029] In the Fig. 1 shows a railway track 1, shown only in sections here. This track is attached to several sleepers 2, which are also only partially shown, using fastening elements not shown in detail. These sleepers lie in a ballast bed (not shown) or on a solid track (not shown).

[0030] The sleepers 2 carry, on their part not shown here, another railway track that runs parallel to the railway track 1 shown. Trains run over the track thus formed.

[0031] To ensure that people can work safely adjacent to this track, a barrier device 3 is attached to the railway track 1. This barrier device consists, for example, of a flat net (or grid) 4, shown here only in sections. This net is attached to crossbars 5, which are supported by brackets 6, 7.

[0032] The booms are essentially L-shaped and extend in a vertical plane.

[0033] The L-shaped arms 6, 7 consist of a substantially vertical or upwardly extending, usually longer leg 8 and a substantially horizontal or transversely extending, usually shorter leg 9.

[0034] It should be noted at this point that the length of the two legs can, in principle, be equal or, in principle, reversed. For the sake of ease of reading, however, this application assumes a short, essentially horizontal leg and a longer leg extending upwards, essentially vertically. It should also be noted that, in the context of this application, references to horizontal and vertical are intended to indicate the essential direction of extension, i.e., one leg 9 extends essentially transversely and the other leg 8 essentially upwards.

[0035] Minor deviations, such as those resulting from design considerations, should be disregarded. This also includes cases where a vertical reference plane normally aligned with a horizontal track bed is inclined transversely when a track cant is provided, for example, in a curve, and the L-shaped cantilever is inclined in line with the reference plane.

[0036] The two legs 8, 9 can be connected to each other by struts 10, which fix them in a substantially perpendicular position to each other. In this regard, it should also be noted that the angle between the legs 8 and 9 does not have to be precisely 90°, but that this formulation should encompass all angles at which one, preferably short, leg 9 extends substantially transversely and the other, preferably long, leg 8 extends substantially upwards.

[0037] At its end facing away from the vertical leg 8, the horizontal leg 9 is connected to the Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 shown coupling element can be attached to the railway tracks 1.

[0038] This coupling element is provided with a bracket 11 that grips a lower chord 12 of the rail 1. For this purpose, the bracket 11 is provided with a hook portion 13, which is slid over the side edge of the lower chord 12 via a recess provided therein.

[0039] The bracket 11 is supplemented by a movable angle section 14, forming a clamping device with an adjustable clamping length. The angle section 14 can be moved, for example, by a spindle-like screw 15 as shown, or alternatively, it can be pulled toward the hook section 13 by a tension spring.

[0040] The lower chord 12 of the rail 1 is clamped between the hook section 13 and the angle section 14, thus securing the boom to the rail 1. It can be pivoted slightly around the side edge of the lower chord 12 via the recess in the hook section 13.

[0041] The horizontal leg 9, which as in the Fig. 2 is slightly angled, is provided with a height adjustment 16 in the section between the holder 11 and the vertical leg 8, which Fig. 2 is attached to the side of the leg 9 facing away from the viewer and is supported on the upper side of the threshold 2. The opposite side is in the Fig.3. By pressing the height adjustment 16 downward against the top of the threshold 2, for example via a thread provided on it, the leg 9 is raised at the point where the height adjustment 16 is attached, which corresponds to a slight pivoting of the leg 9. Due to the rigid connection of the two legs 8 and 9, the pivoting of the leg 9 simultaneously pivots the essentially vertical leg 8 and can thus be brought into a vertical position.

[0042] It is therefore possible to pivot the leg 8 by operating the height adjustment 16 and thus bring it into a desired position in order to align it, for example, with respect to the boundary of a clearance or danger zone.

[0043] In order to fix the boom in this aligned position, the horizontally running leg 9 is provided with a counter element 18 in a section 17 adjoining the bracket 11, which is located on the side of the bracket 11 facing away from the height adjustment 16. In the example shown here, this is a screw that is guided in an angle plate 19 that is guided around the section 17 of the vertical leg 19 and prevents the leg 9 from pivoting when the screw, as a counter element 18, is also lowered onto the top side of the sleeper 2. The boom is then clamped and fixed in position via the height adjustment 16 and the counter element 18 on one side as well as by the bottom chord 12 of the railway tracks 1.

[0044] This makes it possible to have the boom completely supported by the railway track 1 and the sleeper 2 supporting it, without the need for separate support of the boom on the ballast bed supporting the railway track 1 or the sleeper 2.

[0045] It is also possible to align the boom so that its long leg can be positioned at the edge of a clearance or danger zone. List of reference symbols 1 railway track 2 threshold 3 demarcation device 4 Network 5 crossbars 6 booms 7 booms 8 vertical leg 9 horizontal legs 10 struts 11 Bracket 12 lower chord 13 Hook section 14 movable angle section 15 spindle screw 16 height adjustment 17 Section of the vertical leg 18 Counter element 19 Angle plate QUOTES CONTAINED IN THE DESCRIPTION

[0000] This list of documents submitted by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the convenience of the reader. This list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature

[0000] DE 10 2021 107 421 A1

[0003] EP 1 081 286 A1

[0009]

Claims

[1] Device for demarcating an area to the side of railway tracks (1), with at least one essentially L-shaped boom (6, 7) lying essentially in a vertical plane, which can be fastened to the railway track (1) with an essentially horizontally extending leg (9) by means of a holder (11) gripping the railway track (1) on a lower chord (12), wherein the horizontally extending leg (9) is assigned at least one height adjustment (16) with which it is supported in a height-adjustable manner on a sleeper (2) carrying the railway track (1). characterized by that the substantially horizontally extending leg (9) is further provided with a counter element (18) for the height adjustment (17). [2] Device according to claim 1, characterized bythat the counter element (18) is arranged in a section (17) adjoining the holder (11) which is located on the side of the holder (11) facing away from the height adjustment (16). [3] Device according to claim 2, characterized by that the counter element (18) is designed like the height adjustment (16), i.e. either as a screw or as a hook. [4] Device according to claim 1, characterized by that the counter element (18) and the height adjustment (16) are arranged in the same section (17) adjoining the holder (11). [5] Device according to claim 4, characterized by that the counter element (18) is combined as a hook with a height adjustment (16) as a screw, or vice versa. [6] Device according to claim 1, characterized by that the holder (11) is a clamping device that fixes the lower belt (12). [7] Device according to claim 6 characterized by, the clamping device can be adjusted in its clamping length using a screw (15). [8] Device according to claim 6 characterized by , the clamping device can be adjusted in its clamping length via a spring.

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