Railway rolling stock – Special car bodies – Shock absorbing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2001-09-25
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railway rolling stock
Special car bodies
Shock absorbing
C105S394000, C404S006000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293205
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for use with a train for reducing the severity of impact between the train and a land vehicle or pedestrian.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Collisions between trains and road vehicles such as cars or trucks and between trains and pedestrians kill hundreds and injure thousands of people in the United States each year. In order to reduce these casualties, many prevention methods have been deployed. Such methods include warning signage, median barriers, active barrier crossing, grade separation, illegal crossing monitoring and ticketing, public awareness campaigns, as well as other methods. While these prevention methods appear to have an effect in reducing the number of train and land vehicle/pedestrian collisions and the resulting deaths and injuries, such collisions still occur. Many car and truck drivers and pedestrians ignore the barriers or attempt to “beat” the train, while some pedestrians continue to walk along the tracks and may never hear the train that hits them. A train that is moving at 45 miles per hour has little chance of avoiding an object that is 250 yards away. Furthermore, a collision with a larger object such as a car or a truck may result in the train derailing, thereby causing collateral deaths and injuries to passengers on the train and to people in the area surrounding the point of derailment caused either by impact with the train itself or as a result of the train releasing a hazardous cargo such as toxic fumes or flammable substances that ignite.
In order to further reduce the deaths and injuries that result from train and land vehicle/pedestrian collisions, it must be assumed that such collisions will still occur regardless of the prevention methods that are undertaken. Accordingly, the severity of the actual collision must be reduced in order to reduce the deaths and injuries from the collisions.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a train collision system that reduces the resulting deaths and injuries from a train and land vehicle and/or pedestrian collision. Such a system must absorb the energy that results from the collision without a substantial portion of that energy being imparted on the object which the train strikes. The train collision system must reduce the likelihood that a train will derail when it strikes an object in its right of way. Ideally, the system must be utilizable with current trains without requiring that the trains by modified in any fashion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The train collision system of the present invention addresses the aforementioned needs in the art. The train collision system provides a device which is added to the front of an existing train and which absorbs a substantial portion of the energy that results when a train hits an object which is in the train's path. The system either deflects the object being hit or accelerates the object to the train's speed and carries the object until the train stops, thereby reducing the potential for train derailment.
The train collision system of the present invention is comprised of a flatbed rail car having a top surface, a bottom surface, a first end and a second end separated by a medial portion, the rail car coupled to the front of a train by a standard rail car coupler. A plurality of first barrels each having a first height are each attached to the top surface of the rail car at the medial portion. A first inert material at least partially fills each of the first plurality of first barrels, the inert material being water, sand, high density foam or the like. A second barrel is attached to the top surface of the rail car and is disposed between the plurality of first barrels and the second end, the second barrel having a second height that is greater than the first height A second inert material, similar to the first inert material, at least partially fills the second barrel. A third barrel is attached to the top surface and is disposed between the plurality of first barrels and the second barrel, the third barrel having a third height that is greater than the first height and lesser than the second height. A third inert material, similar to the first inert material and the second inert material, at least partially filling the third barrel. A rigid frame member extends upwardly from the top surface of the rail car proximate the second end. A cover, made from an appropriate material such as canvas, plastic, sheet metal, etc., may be attached to the flatbed rail car and positioned so as to cover the various barrels. A first arm is attached to the first end and extends outwardly therefrom, the first arm having a first portion that is disposed diagonally downwardly relative to the top surface and a pointed end. A second arm is attached to the first end and extends outwardly therefrom in generally coextensive fashion to the first arm, the second arm having a second portion that is disposed diagonally downwardly relative to the top surface and a second pointed end. Cross arms extend between the first arm and the second arm while respective risers are used to attached each arm to the top surface of the rail car. A resilient covering may be attached to the top of each arm. A net member may be provided, the net member having a first side, a second side, a third end, and a fourth end, the first side attached to the first arm and to the top surface, the second side attached to the second arm and to the top surface, the third end attached to the first arm and the second arm, and the fourth end positioned over top at least one of the plurality of first barrels. A first bracket is pivotally attached to the first arm and to the second arm, and attached to a portion of the first side, a portion of the second side and to the third end while a second bracket is pivotally attached to the first arm and to the second arm, and is attached to a portion of the first side, a portion of the second side and to the fourth end. Means are provided for pivotally moving the first bracket toward the second bracket and the second bracket toward the first bracket.
In use, the second end of the rail car of the train collision system is coupled to the front end of a train. If the train collides with an object, the pointed ends of the first arm and the second arm either deflect the object out of the way of the moving train or scoop the object up and onto the rail car. The inert material filled barrels decelerate rearward movement of the object, with the third and second barrels, by being increasingly higher, provide relatively greater deceleration as the object moves toward the train proper. If the object has sufficient force so as not to be fully decelerated by the various barrels, the frame member helps prevent the object from striking the train proper. If the train collision system makes impact with a relatively small object, such as a human, the first arm or the second arm help deflect the human out of the train's path, the resilient coverings helping to reduce the severity of injury that results from the impact. Alternately, the human may be positioned between the two arms, wherein the person is caught in the net member, in which case the first bracket and the second bracket come toward one another and capture the human within the basket that is formed by the net member and the two brackets. In this case, the resilient coverings, by being relatively soft, are broken away as the third bracket articulates toward the fourth bracket.
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patent: 5908123 (1999-06-01), Huggins
patent: 6092959 (2000-07-01), Leonhardt et al.
Jules Frantz F.
Loffler Peter
Morano S. Joseph
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