Abrading – Attachment – To rail
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-27
2001-05-22
Banks, Derris H. (Department: 3723)
Abrading
Attachment
To rail
C125S012000, C125S013010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234889
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cutting machine, for example, a cross-cut machine or the like for elongated metal parts, in particular, for rails of a railway.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is necessary when installing a railway track to carry out length adjustments of the rails which will be laid by cutting the rails. Moreover during the repair of a railway track, it is sometimes necessary, if some railway track sections are damaged, to cut out the damaged portions for replacing them with new portions.
The cutting of the rails is carried out with a cutting machine generally comprising a heat engine driving a grinding wheel which will carry out the cutting work.
The subject of the invention is a cutting machine comprising an engine block associated with a grinding wheel rotatably driven thereby and mounted on a support used for guiding in the plane of the grinding wheel and pivoting transversely with respect to the metal part while being pivotally mounted onto a vise intended to be fastened onto the metal part, wherein the grinding wheel is mounted at one end of an arm connected with its other end to the engine block.
An apparatus of this kind was already known in particular from the publication No 2,267,418 of the French patent No 74 12 377 relating to a cutting machine fitted with an engine block and with a support to be fastened onto a rail to be cut through the medium of a vise. The support of the cutting machine consists of two arms having substantially the same length and pivotally connected to each other and, at their other ends, to the cutting machine and to the vise, respectively, at a point located substantially above the rail. These pivotally connected arms provide good guiding of the grinding wheel in a transverse plane perpendicular to the rail to be cut. However the operator is in an uncomfortable working position because the cutting machine is very close to the ground and because he carries the cutting machine while causing it to move with respect to the rail for avoiding stalling the engine, which phenomenon would occur if the grinding wheel remained in a same position with respect to the rail. Since indeed the engine of the cutting machine has limited power, it is necessary that the contact surface between the grinding wheel and the rail be as small as possible to avoid engine labouring and to ensure effective cutting. The operator therefore is in an inconvenient position and in a zone in which he undergoes the harmful effects or nuisances of the smoke of the heat engine and of the sparks which result from the cutting operation. Moreover when the rail has been cut partially on one side thereof, it is necessary to stop the cutting operation, to disconnect the engine block from the pivotally connected arms, removing it from its support, to tilt or swing the support to the other side of the rail, to pivot the engine block by 180° about a vertical axis located in the plane of the grinding wheel and passing through its centre for pivoting the engine block about this vertical axis and to mount again the engine block back onto the pivotally connected arms forming the support on the same initial side thereof in order to be able to carry out the second part of the cutting operation for completing it. Thus during the first phase of the cutting operation, the engine block is located, with respect to the plane of the grinding wheel, on that side of this plane which is opposite to the side where the vise is located and the aforesaid turning up causes the engine block to pass on the other side of the plane, i.e., on the side where the vise is located.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a cutting machine for elongated metal parts, in particular for rails, which is more practical and more comfortable or more convenient to be handled or manipulated by the operator by moving him away from the zones of production of smoke of the engine and of generation of sparks and by moving him away from the zone producing vibrations while allowing him to exert a much lesser force for carrying out the cutting operation. Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting machine which permits the complete cross-cutting of a rail without even partial removal of the cutting machine and without turning up the engine block in relation to its support.
To solve this technical problem, in the cutting machine according to the invention the grinding wheel carrying arm is pivotally mounted with one end onto the engine block about a pivot axis parallel to the pivot axis on the vise and to the direction of longitudinal axis of the metal part to be cut across, whereas the engine block is permanently connected to the vise in such a manner that it may not be turned up or over about a substantially vertical axis and may not be reversed or turned upside down about a substantially horizontal axis while always being located on a same side of the plane of the grinding wheel with respect to the vise. For carrying out the cutting of a rail, the operator has thus available a double possibility of movement of the grinding wheel with respect to the rail, on the one hand by pivoting the support of the engine block with respect to the rail and on the other hand by pivoting the grinding wheel with respect to the support of the engine block. The fact that the engine block may not be reversed or turned upside down avoids any possible leakage of fuel and therefore any fire hazard.
According to another feature of the invention, in the working condition or configuration, the longitudinal axis of the drive shaft of the engine block is selectively lying in any present or instantaneous relative angular position, variable between two limiting angles of inclination of 45° on either side of the vertical longitudinal middle plane of the rail. This arrangement avoids any risk of leakage of gasoline through the closure plug or cap of the fuel tank of the engine block and through the carburetor of the engine and accordingly any danger of fire caused by the sparks from the cutting operation.
Advantageously the support of the engine block is connected to the vise by an oscillating arm pivotally connected with one of its ends to the vise about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation for opening and closing the latter and with its other end to the support of the engine block about an axis parallel to the foregoing one, locking means being provided between the oscillating arm and the support of the engine block for rigidly connecting the latter to each other in a selectively unlockable manner in a relative angular position in which the arm forms an acute angle with the support of the engine block.
When the vise in fastened onto the rail, the grinding wheel is located on one side thereof. The grinding wheel may then operate for carrying out the transverse cutting of the rail across the latter over a certain portion of its width. It is then necessary to unlock the oscillating arm and the support of the engine block for disconnecting them from each other for carrying out a movement of raising or lifting the engine block and for passing the grinding wheel to the other side of the rail. Once this motion has been carried out, the oscillating arm and the engine support are locked together and it is possible to proceed with the transverse cutting of the other portion of the width of the rail. This feature is very interesting because it avoids, for carrying out a complete cutting of the rail, having to disconnect the support of the engine block from the vise as this was the case with the cutting machine described for illustrating the state of the art.
According to another feature of the invention, the oscillating arm is pivotally mounted onto the vise by being pivotally connected with one end to the intermediate portion of the vise jaw or chap which is relatively stationary with respect to the rail and is bearing upon the top and upon the underside of the rail head. The other end of the oscillating arm is pivotally connected to the support of the engine block towards one end thereof a
Banks Derris H.
Leydig , Voit & Mayer, Ltd.
Societe Turripinoise de Mecanique Stumec
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