Rail Mount Connections for Railroad Point Machine Apparatus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current railroad switch equipment faces issues with point rail lift, bounce, and thermal expansion, leading to binding and damage of shaft connections, requiring complex and costly setups that are difficult to adjust and are specific to different-sized stock rails.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a point machine, point lug, and rail mount connections that include a yoke with adjustable slots and a point lug assembly made of steel, allowing for flexible alignment and adjustment to accommodate different-sized stock rails, and a stock rail mount with adjustable clips to prevent binding during rail movement and thermal expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional drop down logs, balls, swivels and rods are used to connect point machine to point rails, then the connections can accommodate point rail lift, bounce and run, but the equipment becomes heavy, complex and difficult to adjust
Solution Approach 1:
The connection system is divided into separate functional components: a point lug assembly with adjustable slots for accommodating rail movement, and a shaft connection with swivels for handling bounce and run. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently while simplifying the overall assembly compared to traditional integrated connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection system incorporates dynamic elements including adjustable slots that can shift position, swivels that can rotate, and rods that can extend or contract. These dynamic features allow the connection to adapt to point rail lift, bounce, and thermal expansion without requiring a complex fixed structure.
2Manufacturing precision
If dedicated point machine hardware is used for each stock rail size, then the connections can be optimized for each rail size, but the equipment becomes costly and requires substantial manpower for setup and alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The point lug assembly features adjustable slots that can be repositioned to accommodate different stock rail sizes and configurations. This universal design allows a single connection system to work with multiple rail types, eliminating the need for dedicated hardware for each size while maintaining precise alignment through the adjustable slot mechanism.
3Ease of operation
If traditional connection systems are used, then point rail lift and bounce can be accommodated, but the shaft connections become bound or damaged over time
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft connection incorporates swivels that can rotate freely to accommodate point rail bounce and thermal expansion. This dynamic rotation capability prevents the shaft from binding or becoming damaged, while still maintaining the necessary connection between the point machine and point rails during operation.
Data Source
AI summary
New and improved point machine, point lug and rail mount connections for a railroad point machine apparatus. The new point machine and point lug connections overcome the problems associated with point run, lift and bounce of a point rail. Moreover, the rail mount provides for a generic, common platform that can be used with different sized stock rails.