Railways – Suspended
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2001-09-04
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railways
Suspended
C104S093000, C104S109000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283038
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a profile rail joint for use for example in light crane systems, the joint comprising connecting ends of profile rails to be joined, provided with jointing sleeves arranged on side surfaces of the rails, the sleeves comprising through holes for locking means of the joint, and at least two of the sleeves being situated in profile recesses of the rails, the joint further comprising guide elements extending over the joint surface for aligning the connecting ends.
Swedish Patent 505,892 discloses a substantially similar profile joint as described above. In this publication, control means consist of interacting guide surfaces, such as conical male and female surfaces, provided at the ends of jointing sleeves of the profile rails to be arranged one against the other. This Swedish Patent also discloses a separate annular guide element provided between the ends of the jointing sleeves, and the guide surfaces are arranged between the end of the sleeve and the end of the guide element.
The aforementioned Swedish Patent does not describe in greater detail the formation of the guide surfaces. In fact, interacting guide surfaces cannot be formed in a joint that is made without a separate connecting piece, at least not after the jointing sleeves have already been mounted in place at the ends of the rail. For example, it is virtually impossible to form afterwards a male cone that would protrude from the joint surface, let alone other possible shapes of the guide surface. Therefore the guide surfaces must be formed in the sleeves before they are welded in place. Unless the sleeves are exactly aligned, it is also likely that only conical guide surfaces will work satisfactorily. On the other hand, the use of separate connecting pieces requires four guide surface to be provided in each joint surface to be arranged against another surface. This, in turn, requires a great deal of work and accuracy. Furthermore, separate short connecting pieces tend to fall off when a joint is being made.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,717 discloses a connection arrangement comprising welded alignment bushings and aligning pins inserted into the bushings to achieve proper alignment of the connection. However, the bushings are not used, nor can they be used to provide lead-throughs for fastening bolts or, in general, to tighten the connection. To form a connection, the lateral surfaces of the profiles are provided with separate fastening flanges.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,151 discloses a similar arrangement as described above, but alignment grooves corresponding to the alignment bushings are provided in an aluminium alloy profile already during the manufacture thereof and not afterwards through welding, as in the case of the alignment bushings. Also in this patent, the alignment grooves are entirely separate from the fastening bolts, since here, too, the fastening means are mounted afterwards in web sections of the profiles.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to improve the profile rail joint described at the beginning so as to solve the aforementioned problems related to the alignment of the rails. This is achieved by means of a profile rail joint according to the invention, which is characterized in that at least two jointing sleeves provided in the profile recesses are arranged such that the bottom of the recess and the side wall of the jointing sleeve are spaced apart at least over a section of the sleeve's length, and that the guide elements for the joint are placed in resulting intermediate spaces.
The basic idea of the invention is to provide a space for separate guide elements while mounting the jointing sleeves in place or forming them in the profile recesses. The only requirement is that a sleeve is not arranged at the bottom of the recess as in the prior art arrangements, but it is placed such that a space is formed in the recess for a separate guide element to be placed therein. Naturally, the rear part of the sleeve may comprise an enlargement facing the recess and extending all the way to the bottom thereof. Such an enlargement would require a special sleeve but it would also set the sleeve at a correct distance from the recess. The space for the guide element could also be provided by forming an additional hollow at the bottom of the profile recess or in the wall of the jointing sleeve. However, wall thicknesses do not usually allow this.
The present invention provides important advantages for example over the arrangement of Swedish Patent 505,892. In the novel arrangement according to the invention, the jointing sleeves do not have to be shaped or changed in any way, but existing sleeves can be used. The only requirement is that a space of a suitable size is provided between the bottom of the profile recess and the jointing sleeve for the guide element to be used, which can be for example a folded sheet-like or pin-like piece. Consequently, the arrangement according to the invention achieves alignment with minimum costs, since the space for the guide element is formed at the same time when the jointing sleeve is being mounted in place, and the only additional part that is required is the simple guide element described above. It is also easy to align the joint, since the elongated guide element can be inserted into a space provided in the other profile to be joined such that it cannot fall off. A transverse protrusion or enlargement that is preferably formed in the middle of the guide element also tightens the ends of the rails be joined so that they are exactly aligned in the cross direction.
Further scope of the applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3974777 (1976-08-01), Monne
patent: 5400717 (1995-03-01), Hoehn
patent: 5443151 (1995-08-01), Taylor
patent: 5598784 (1997-02-01), Kubsik et al.
patent: C2505892 (1997-10-01), None
patent: 505892-C2 (1997-10-01), None
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Jules Frantz F.
KCI Konecranes International PLC
Morano S. Joseph
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