Track Raising, Lowering, and Ballasting Machine. Page: 2 of 3
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UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.
WALTER F. SPARKS, OF SINTON, TEXAS.
TRACK RAISING, -LOWERING, AND BALLASTING MACHINE.Specification of Letters Patent.
Patented Aug. 9, 1910.
Application filed May 24, 1910. Serial No. 563,139.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, WALTER F. SPARKS, a
citizen of the United States, residing at
Sinton, in the county of San Patricio and
5 State of Texas, have invented certain new
and useful Improvements in Track Raising,
Lowering, and Ballasting Machines; and I
do declare the following to be a full, clear,
and exact description of the invention, such
10 as will enable others skilled in the art to
which it appertains to make and use the
same.
This invention relates to improvements in
machines for raising and lowering railway
15 tracks and applying ballast thereto.
One object of the invention is to provide
a machine of this character adapted to be
drawn along the road bed under the ties
thereby lifting the latter and the tracks and
20 having means whereby when the ties and
rails are thus lifted for forcing ballast be-
neath the same.
Another object is to provide a machine of
this character having means whereby the
25 road bed or ballast may be scooped out from
beneath the ties between the rails.
With these and other objects in view, the
invention consists of certain novel features
of construction, combination and arrange-
30 ment of parts as will be more fully de-
scribed and particularly pointed out in the
appended claims.
In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1
is a plan view of a section of a railway track
35 showing. the application of the invention
thereto; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the ma-
chine as shown in Fig. 1, parts being broken
away. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of
the machine on an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is
40 a transverse sectional view on the line 4-4
of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a similar view on the
line 5-5 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a perspective
view of the machine arranged for scooping
out the road bed or ballast from between the
45 rails.
In the embodiment of the invention a base
frame or member 1 is provided which may
be of any suitable construction and is pref-
erably of skeleton form as shown. At suit-
50 able positions intermediate the ends of the
frame 1 are secured track raising bars 2 the
forward ends of which are formed at a suit-
able inclination for engaging the under sides
of the ties thus raising the latter and the
55 rails secured thereto as the machine is drawn
along the road bed beneath the ties andtracks as shown. In order to cause the ties
to more readily ride up the inclined forward
ends of the bars 2 said inclined ends are pref-
erably provided with a series of tie engag- 60
ing rollers 3 of .which there may be any
suitable number arranged as shown in the
drawings.
In order to increase the height of the
track raising bars 2 and to thus regulate the 65
height at which the ties and rails are raised
I provide adjusting bars 4 which are pivot-
ally connected at their forward ends to the
outer sides of the bars 2 adjacent to the for-
ward inclined portions of the bars 2 whereby 70
when said adjusting bars are swung up-
wardly a continuation of the inclined tie
engaging surface is provided. The adjust-
ing bars are secured in their elevated posi-
tions by any form of fastening mechanism 75
said mechanism being here shown in the
form of bolts 5 which are adapted to be en-
gaged with series of alined bolt holes 6
formed in the bars 2 and 4 whereby the lat-
ter may be bolted and thus securely fastened 80
in their adjusted positions on the bars 2.
In order to force the ballast inwardly
beneath the ties and rails when elevated
by the raising bars 2 ballast applying wings
or blades 7 are provided which are remova- 85
bly secured to the outer portions of the base
frame 1 by bolts or other suitable fasten-
ing devices. The wings or blades 7 are ar-
ranged obliquely on the frame 1 or at suit-
able angles to the line of the tracks as 90
shown thus forcing the ballast back beneath
the ties while the latter are in a raised
position.
This improved track raising machine may
also be employed for lowering the tracks 95
or for removing the ballast or road bed
from beneath the ties and when so employed
the ballast applying blades 7 are removed
and a deflecting plow or scraper 8 coupled
onto the rear side of .the frame 1 midway 100
between the track raising bars as clearly
shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The plow
or scraper 8 is constructed in the form of
blades 9 which are arranged in V-shape
or diverge from their forward ends toward 105
their rear ends as shown. On the inner
edges of the blades 9 are formed upwardly
projecting flanges 10 which throw the dirt
or ballast scooped up by the blades 9 out-
wardly toward or beyond the tracks thus 11c
hollowing out the road bed or removing
the ballast from beneath the ties which will966,613.
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Sparks, Walter F. Track Raising, Lowering, and Ballasting Machine., patent, August 9, 1910; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth508396/m1/2/?rotate=90: accessed June 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.