Rehabilitation of discarded wooden railroad ties having disabling cracks in the ends of the ties
Apparatus and methodology by which used and discarded end cracked wooden railroad ties are reclaimed so as to close the end cracks allowing long term use of the reclaimed tie to support rails of a railroad.
This invention relates generally to railroad ties and more specifically to methodology and apparatus for rehabilitating wooden railroad ties, in salvage condition, having one or more disabling cracks in one or both ends of the tie.
BACKGROUNDHundreds of thousands if not millions of spent and discarded wooden railroad ties clutter the American Continent and other locations as well. A principal cause of such railroad ties no longer being serviceable is due to disabling end cracks in the ties. After being discarded, the disabled wooden ties have only nominal value for constructing pig pens, supports for landscaping, fence posts and conversion to sawdust for compost, filler material or fuel.
Discarded split wooden railroad ties has been a long term problem and, heretofore, no way has been found to reclaim or rehabilitate these ties for later use to support the rails of a railroad.
BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTIONIn brief summary, the present invention overcomes and/or alleviates problems of the past concerning end split discarded wooden railroad ties. Apparatus and methodology of this invention repairs, reclaims and rehabilitates used and discarded end cracked wooden railroad ties so as to close the end cracks for subsequent long term use to support rails of a railroad.
It is a primary object of this invention to overcome and/or alleviate problems of the past concerning end split discarded wooden railroad ties.
It is another significant object to provide apparatus and methodology for repairing, reclaiming and rehabilitating discarded used end cracked wooden railroad ties so as to close the end cracks for subsequent long term use to support rails of a railroad.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description taken with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the past, there has been no railroad technology by which discarded and disabled wooden railroad ties with split ends have been reclaimed, refurbished or rehabilitated for subsequent use to support the rails of a railroad track. Because it is commonplace for wooden ties to significantly split at one or both ends and, as a result, be discarded, there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of these type of discarded wooden railroad ties across this continent and in other places. Some of these discarded wooden railroad ties are left as ugly accumulations at various salvage locations. Others are used to construct pig pens, to do terraced landscaping, as fence posts and others are converted to sawdust for compost, filler material or fuel. Use as fuel is restricted, however, because typically wooden railroad ties are treated with Creosote, which, when burned, produces undesired and perhaps prohibited air pollution.
The present invention consists of apparatus and methodology by which used and discarded end cracked wooden railroad ties are repaired, reclaimed and rehabilitated so as to close the end cracks on a permanent basis for subsequent long-term use to support spaced rails of a railroad track. Compression is applied to one or both ends of the railroad tie to close all of the significant end cracks. While held in the crack-closing compressed condition, a retainer is applied to a permanently hold the crack or cracks in the closed condition, after which the compression force is removed. The retainer, thereafter, holds the crack or cracks at the end of the tie permanently in a closed condition for use to support the rails of a railroad track. The force applied to one or both cracked ends of a tie is preferably in a transverse direction involving a stop contiguous with one side of the tie end and a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder contiguous with the other side. The retainer permanently holding the cracks closed may consist of cup-shaped end caps, end cletes, circumferential bands or any other suitable type of retainer by which the cracks at the end of the tie are retained in a closed condition. Filler material, such as adhesive, bonding agent, glue, wood filler or the like may be placed in the cracks prior to closure where, in the judgment of those skilled in the art, such would be helpful in rehabilitating the tie. The retainers may be applied using power-driven applicators.
Reference is now made to the drawings wherein like numerals are used to designate like parts throughout.
Prior to the procedure described in conjunction with
Once the end caps 40 and 42 have been properly placed over and securely attached to the ends 12 of the tie so as to be held against inadvertent removal, the tie is reconditioned and rehabilitated as illustrated in
It is the intention, in further reference to
In lieu of end cap retainers 40 and 42, a clete, generally designated 60 may be utilized. See
In lieu of retainers 40, 42 and 60, a steel band 64, tightened to compressively hold an end of the tie so as to retain the cracks closed may be utilized. See
The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.
Claims
1. A method of repairing a used wooden railroad tie in salvage condition having at least one: disabling crack in an end of the tie comprising the acts of:
- applying compression to the disabling crack at the end of the tie to close the crack;
- applying a retainer to the end of the tie to permanently hold the crack in a closed condition;
- withdrawing the compression to accommodate later collectively placement of the tie and the retainer in use to support rails of a railroad.
2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the first applying act comprises extension of at least one automated cylinder.
3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the cracked end is transversely compressed between a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder and a fixed stop.
4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the second applying act comprises constraining the compressed end of the tie to retain the crack in its closed condition using a retainer selected from the group consisting of cup-shaped end caps, end cletes and circumferential bands.
5. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the act of placing a filler material in the end crack prior to the applying compression act.
6. In combination:
- a used wooden railroad tie in salvage condition having at least one disabling crack in at least one end of the tie;
- at least one force applying mechanism for applying transverse force to the cracked end of the tie to temporarily close the crack;
- at least one retainer for attachment to the cracked end of the tie to permanently hold the crack in a closed condition;
- at least one mechanism for attaching the retainer to the cracked end of the tie;
7. A combination according to claim 6 wherein the used wooden tie comprises at least one disabling crack in each end of the tie, the at least one force applying mechanism comprises two force applying mechanisms one for closing each cracked end of the tie and the at least one retainer comprises two retainers one for each end of the tie.
8. A combination according to claim 7 wherein the at least one mechanism for attaching comprise two mechanisms for attaching one mechanism for each cracked end of the tie.
9. A combination according to claim 6 wherein the at least one force applying mechanism comprises at least one stop to engage one side of the cracked end of the tie and a two-way cylinder for engaging a second side of the cracked end of the tie.
10. A combination according to claim 6 wherein the at least one retainer is selected from the group consisting of cup-shaped end caps, end cletes and circumferential band fasteners.
11. A combination according to claim 6 wherein the at least one mechanism for attaching is selected from the group consisting of end cap applicators, clete applicators and band fastener applicators.
12. A method of rehabilitating a used wooden railroad tie in salvage condition having at least one disabling crack in one or both ends comprising the acts of:
- forcibly temporarily closing all disabling end cracks in the tie;
- applying a retainer to one or both ends of the tie with each disabling end crack temporarily closed to permanently close each disabling end crack;
- removing the force which temporarily closed each disabling end crack.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 20, 2006
Publication Date: Dec 20, 2007
Inventor: David Ollendick (Ogden, UT)
Application Number: 11/471,317