Title of Invention	POINT BLADES
Abstract	With a device for switching point blades whose tip of the point lies on a roller plane of a slide plate,the point blade can be switched more easily when the front roller (7a) of the roller pair (6)is set lower than the rear roller (7b).

Full Text

Schwihau Gesellschaft fur Eisenbalinoberhau mhH. Lebermti. .T CH-8274 Tagerwilcn Point Blade The invention relates to a device tor switching point blades with The rip of'the switches King on a roller plane of a slide plnre With prior art switching devices for point blades, the switch blades slide with their movable. i,e, horizontally swivelling areas on sliding surfaces of the slide plate. In order 10 anain minimal switching forces, the eliding surfaces must be lubricated at certain intervals to maintain the operability of point switching. At higher temperatures, e.g. in the summer or due to a point heater used in the winter, the lubricating grease often becomes eummv relatively quickly and dries up so that the point blade can be switched onlv with difficulty or not at all If the point device can no longer be switched, operations must he interrupted until the problem is eliminated - mostly by lubricating. With rain, for example the lubricating grease is often washed into the track ballast by the ram water and reaches the groundwater, leading ro contamination of drinking water which is nor ecologically acceptable To prevent both an interruption in operations and ecological pollution of the groundwater, the prior art configures the movable areas of the point on rollers or on ball bearings in order, on the one hand, to effect a rolling friction instead of eliding friction and on the other hand, to dispense with disadvantageous lubrication. Most prior art point setting systems employ roller bearings having one or more rollers. The roller bearings are pinched against a space between (he sleepers on a stock rail foot or integrated into a slide plate which is mounted on a sleeper cover The rollers themselves ma\ run rigidlv or elasticallv on hearings, e.e. in a fixine frame Rollers running risidly on bearings, with their bearing plane for the bearine surface of the blade foot are usually positioned 1 to 2 nim above the sliding surfaces of the slide plates. The correct height of the rollers is attained, depending on the position of the rollers in the switching device, by inserting sheet metal either between the stock rait foot and the mounting area of the roller seating or of the sleeper cover and a base frame, so that nearly all rollers come to hear. In spite of this very arduous adjustment requiring a relatively great amount of time, there is vet another disadvantage, namely that the sliding surface and also the seating of the stock rail foot is no longer parallel to the sleeper coven which is practically the equivalent ot a jamming 01 the driving surface of the stock rail in The transverse direction. The sliding surfaces cannot be lubricated there due to the very small an gap between the poini blade and sliding surface of the slide plate and the minimal horizontal movement of the heel or the point in the vicinity of point Wade fixing point. Therefore, they are coated wttn molybdenum, for example, or similar coating, materials If this coating is corroded or rubbed off. the sliding surfaces designed as entire plates must be replaced, which is connected with high costs, With rollers running elastically on bearings, the point blade not only lies on the rollers when switching, but also while being traversed. The great disadvantage to this is that a smaller or larger resulting air gap appears between the sliding surface and the raised blade, Which may be up to 5 mm in size. Therefore, while being traversed, there is a corresponding impact ot the blade foot on the sliding surface of the slide plate due to, depending on the speed, the greater or lesser resulting kinematical forces, so that the sliding surface is damaged due to plastic deformation. This plastic deformation of the bearing sliding surface ol the slide plates oftentimes also leads to breakage of the points. It is the object of the invention to create a generic point blade switch without the above-mentioned disadvantages, which, in particular, is easier to switch According to the invention this object is solved in that the front roller of the roller pair is arranged lower than the rear roller. The front roller - referring to the roller upon which the point blade bumps first of all with horizontal shifting - is seated such that it alone with ~ roller apex lies only slightly above the sliding surface of the slide plate. On the one hand, this allows the blade foot to slide onto the front roller more easily, on the other hand, the horizontal force acting on the front roller upon lifting the blade foot is reduced by approx. 50% as compared to prior art rollers placed just as high. Furthermore, the front roller promotes smooth sliding of the blade foot upon the higher placed back roller. An easv. largely continuous sliding ot the blade foot upon the rollers is improved further in that the area of the blade foot closest to the front roller is chamfered A further configuration of the invention provides that a roller is also arranged m the vicinity of the heel of the point whereby, according to the invention, the roller at the heel of the point is at a different height than the front roller pair. This enables a reduction of the deflection of the points - which vertically deforms similar to a cubic parabola between the tip of the switch and the heel of the point so that there is no possibility for vertical gaps from the bearing surfaces of the slide plate to the beanng surfaces of the blade foot. This reduced deflection of the points prevents the heel of the point from lying on the sliding surface in the vicinity of its fixing point. As a result, fewer sliding surfaces need to be coated in the vicinity of the fixine point on the one hand. and. on the other hand, the points can also be switched more easily supported bv the sliding friction in the vicinitv of the fixing point of the heel of the point, A preferred configuration of the invention provides that at least one roller is seated with eccentric roller bearing axle boxes, namely, in any case. The front roller of the roller pair, m order to set the lower position of the front roller for easier sliding onto the second, back roller Via the eccentric roller beanng axle box attained b\* an eccentric axle, the height of the roller can be adjusted continuously and locked in the set position. If preferably, also the roller assigned to the heel of the point is to have an eccentric roller beanng axle box. it is possible to raise the heel of the point, if necessary, only a fraction of a mm so that it does not lie on the sliding surfaces in the vicinity of the fixing area of the heel of the point. According to a further configuration of the invention, the roller bearing axle boxes have a stop. The stop limits the highest and the lowest stroke end of travel of the rollers in that tt sits closely to corresponding stop surfaces of the slide plate or of the fixing frame. A further configuration of the invention provides that the rollers are arranged in a linear movable fixing frame. The shiftable fixing frame integrated into the slide plate makes it possible to slide the front roller up so close to the blade foot when setting the roller pair that the rolling motion sets in as soon as possible Further details and advantages of the invention are evident from the claims and the following description, wherein embodiments of the invention shown in the drawings are described m more detail. Fig. 1 shows the top view of a stock rail bracing plate of a point with a slide plate for a point blade, a clamp clip arrangement of bearings and two rollers arranged in an adjustable fixing frame fig. 2 shows the side view of a schematic representation of the stock rail bracing plate m accordance with Fig. 1 with a stock rail braced in it and with one of the pomt blades sitting, adjacent fig, 3a show in fine detail a roller arranged in the fixing frame above an eccentric axle in to 3c accordance with Fig. 1 at various height setting; as seen from the setting side. Fie. 4 shows the general view of an eccentric axle in fine detail of The roller seating and Fig. 5 shows in fine detail a schematic representation of the roller seating of the first ot the front rollers as seen from the side opposite the setting side In Fig- I, a stock rail bracing plate 1 is shown which is mounted on a points sleeper 2 - e.g. made of wood or. as shown in the embodiment, of concrete. A stock rail bracing device 4 ana a clamp clip arrangement of bearings 5 are 'arranged on the one side of a stock rail bracing plate 1 with a slide plate 3. and a roller pair 6 is arranged the other side of a stock rail bracing plate 1 with a front roller 7a and a rear second roller 7h which, being adjustable in height, is seated in a fixing frame 8. The fixing frame 8 is linearly movable upon a slide plate 9 In order to adjust the fixing frame 8, the screws 10 must be released- » Fig. 2 shows the stock rail bracing plate 1 in accordance with Fig, 1 with a stock rail 11 braced in it. A point blade 12 with its tip of the switch is adjacent to the stock rail 11. the point blade 12 rests with its blade foot 14 upon the slide plate 4. The roller pair 6 is shitted by moving the fixing frame 7 so far in the direction of the blade foot 14 that the front roller 7a nearly touches the blade foot 14 through which a rolling motion sets in as soon as possible when switching the point hlade 12. If the front roller 7a - in deviation from the setting of rollers 7a and 7b shown in Fig. 2 is set lower than the rear roller 7b by means of an eccentric avJe 13 shown tn hig, 3. the blade foot 14 can slide nearly continuously onto the front roller 7a and still slide smoothly onto the higher positioned rear roller 7b. This effect is - namely with the rollers set at the same height as well - also attained and/or fostered when the end of the blade toot facing the idlers 7a, 7b has a chamfer 22 (Fie. 2)- As long as a roller adjustable in height above the eccentric axle 15 is also arranged in The vicinity of the heel of the points - not shown here - which require only one roller due to the minimal adjusting range, this area can also be raised slightly off of the sliding surface so that the rolling friction facilitates the shifting of the blade in this case as well. The roller 7a is represented at different height settings in Figures 5a to 3c*. Fig 3a shows the lowest position (initial position), Fig, 3b shows the middle position and Fie. 3c shows the highest position. Both the shown positions of the roller 7a and the possible intermediate positions are indicated to operating personnel via a position marker 17 arranged on the setting side 16 of the eccentric axle 15. The highest and the lowest position of the roller 7a is limited by a stop 18 (see Fig. 1 and Fig. 5). which is arranged on the side 19 opposite the setting side 16 of the eccentric axle 15 and assigned to the stop surfaces 20 on the fixing frame 8 1. Device for switching point blades with the tip of the switch King on a roller plane of a slide plate, characterized in that. the front roller (7a) of the roller pair (6) is set lower than the rear roller (7b). 2. Device according to claim L characterized in that. the area of the heel of the point is arranged on a roller which has a difference in height from the front roller pair (6). 3. Device according to claim I, characterized in that. at least one roller (7a) is seated with eccentric roller hearing axle boxes (15). 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that. the roller bearing axle boxes (15) have a stop (18). 5. Device according to one of the claims I through 4, characterized in th a i. the rollers (7a. 7b) are arranged in a linear movable fixing frame (&). 6 Device according to claim 5. characterized in that, the fixing frame (8) is an integrated component of the slide plate (4). 7. Device in particular according to one of the claims 1 through 6. characterized in that, the area of the blade foot (14) facing the front roller (7a) is chamfered. 8. Device for switching point baldes with the tip of the switch lying on a roller plane of a slide plate, substantially as herein described witn reference to the accompanying drawings. Schwihag, Gesellschaft fur Eisenbahnoberban mbH. Lebenstr. 3. CH-8274 Tagawilen Summary ■ With a device for switching point blades whose tip of the point lies on a roller plane of a slide plate, the point blade can be switched more easily when the front roller (7a) of the roller pair (6) is set lower than the rear roller (7b)-

Documents:

1241-mas-1997- abstract.pdf

1241-mas-1997- claims duplicate.pdf

1241-mas-1997- claims original.pdf

1241-mas-1997- correspondence others.pdf

1241-mas-1997- correspondence po.pdf

1241-mas-1997- description complete duplicate.pdf

1241-mas-1997- description complete original.pdf

1241-mas-1997- drawings.pdf

1241-mas-1997- form 1.pdf

1241-mas-1997- form 26.pdf

1241-mas-1997- form 3.pdf

1241-mas-1997- form 4.pdf