Gantry Crane and Method for Laying a Track
A gantry crane is equipped with devices for transporting old and new ties and with pads, which are provided for spacing the new ties. The device for transporting the pads is provided in the form of pincers having two pincer parts that can be displaced relative to one another in a manner that is normal to a longitudinal direction of the frame. The device for transporting the new ties is located between the device for transporting the pads and the device for transporting the old ties.
The invention relates to a gantry crane having a crane frame with traveling gears for displacement on crane rails, and having apparatuses for transporting old and new sleepers and rail pads provided for spacing apart the new sleepers, and also relates to a method.
Such a machine is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,659. The gantry crane can be displaced on the crane rails, irrespective of the continuous forward travel of the machine, in order to deliver new sleepers to a transporting arrangement. Parallel to the sleeper-transporting operation, it is also possible to use a crane boom, connected to the gantry crane, for transporting away rail pads used for spacing apart the new sleepers.
The object of the present invention, then, is to provide a gantry crane of the generic type by means of which rail pads can easily be removed.
This object is achieved according to the invention by a gantry crane of the type mentioned in the introduction having the features cited in the characterizing part of claim 1 and by a method according to claim 3.
This design allows the rail pads advantageously to be removed without the gantry crane having to be converted in any way or its performance being adversely affected. This removal operation can be automated by straight-forward design outlay without the transfer of the new sleepers or pick-up of the old sleepers being adversely affected.
Further advantages and embodiments of the invention can be gathered from the rest of the claims and the drawing.
The invention is described in more detail hereinbelow with reference to an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawing, in which:
A machine 1, which can be seen in
As can also be seen, in particular, in
An apparatus 22 for transporting rail pads 23 is located between the crane frame 14 and traveling gears 12, as seen in the vertical direction. These rail pads extend in the longitudinal direction of the machine and are used for spacing apart two adjacent layers of new sleepers 6. The abovementioned apparatus 22 is arranged at the front end of the gantry crane 7, as seen in the direction of forward travel 20 of the latter, so that the apparatus 16 for transporting the new sleepers 6 is positioned between the apparatus 22 for transporting the wooden rail pads 23 and the apparatus 16 for transporting the old sleepers 17.
As can be seen in
Parallel to this operation, the adjacent apparatus 16 deposits new sleepers 6 at the transfer end 8 of the new-sleeper conveyor 9 and the corresponding apparatus 16 picks up old sleepers 17.
Claims
1. A gantry crane having a crane frame with traveling gears for displacement on crane rails, and having apparatuses for transporting old and new sleepers and rail pads—provided for spacing apart the new sleepers—wherein the apparatus for transporting the rail pads is designed as grippers, with two gripper parts which can be moved in relation to one another by a drive in a direction normal to a longitudinal direction of the frame, and is arranged between the crane frame and traveling gear, and in that the apparatus for transporting the new sleepers is positioned between the apparatus for transporting the rail pads and the apparatus for transporting the old sleepers.
2. The gantry crane as claimed in claim 1, wherein the provision of a total of two pairs of grippers which are spaced apart from one another in a direction normal to the longitudinal direction of the frame and are each made up of two grippers spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction of the frame.
3. A method for continuously laying a track formed from sleepers and rails, it being the case that new sleepers are transported to a transfer end of a new-sleeper conveyor, and are deposited thereon, by the forward travel of a gantry crane, while, at the same time, old sleepers are picked up, in order to be transported away, by the return travel of the gantry crane, wherein, as the new sleepers are deposited, the two rail pads—resting on new sleepers deposited in the previous operating cycle of the gantry crane—are picked up by grippers connected to the gantry crane, and in that, parallel to the operation of the old sleepers being deposited and the new sleepers being picked up by the gantry crane, the rail pads gripped by the grippers are dumped into a container.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 11, 2005
Publication Date: Mar 19, 2009
Inventor: Jorg Ganz (Etoy)
Application Number: 11/660,425
International Classification: E01B 29/06 (20060101);