GB2327230A

GB2327230A - Resilient railway rail fastening clip and rail fastening clip anchoring device

Info

Publication number: GB2327230A
Application number: GB9714899A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Barry Marshall; Brian George Conroy
Original assignee: Pandrol Ltd
Current assignee: Pandrol Ltd
Priority date: 1997-07-15
Filing date: 1997-07-15
Publication date: 1999-01-20
Also published as: GB9810241D0; MY122114A; HK1016669A1; GB2329921A; GB9714899D0; KR100587828B1; KR20010021925A; EP1273709A2; EP1273709A3; GB2329921B

Abstract

A resilient railway rail fastening clip, for fastening a railway rail to an underlying foundation, of the type having an anchoring leg whereby the clip is retained by a rail fastening clip anchoring device has means for resisting unauthorised removal of the clip from such an anchoring device comprising first locating means (21c, 31a), provided on the said anchoring leg (21,31) at a region spaced from a free end A thereof, for cooperating with second locating means (203a, 303b, 403a) provided inside the housing (202, 302, 402) of such an anchoring device when the anchoring leg (21, 31) of the clip is inserted therein.

Description

RESILIENT RAILWAY RAIL FASTENING CLIP AND RAIL FASTENING CLIP ANCHORING DEVICE The present invention relates to a resilient railway rail fastening clip and rail fastening clip anchoring device. In particular, the present invention relates to a rail clip provided with means for resisting unauthorised removal of the clip from an associated anchoring device.

A common system for fastening a railway rail to an underlying foundation, such as a concrete or wooden railway sleeper, comprises a pair of anchoring devices secured to the foundation on either side of the rail when it is in position, which devices retain the anchoring legs of respective resilient rail fastening clips which bear down on the rail. Such an arrangement is disclosed in GB 1510224, which relates particularly to a railway rail fastening clip (known as an "e"-clip) comprising a rod of resilient material bent so as to have, proceeding from one free end of the rod to the other free end thereof, firstly a straight anchoring leg, secondly a reverse bend portion, thirdly a "heel" portion beside the anchoring leg, fourthly another reverse bend portion and finally a "toe" portion beside the anchoring leg.

Although the "e"-clip, and its predecessor the "PR" clip disclosed in GB-861473, provide safe and secure rail fastenings, in some areas of the world it has been known for thieves or vandals to remove the clips from the anchoring devices, which is obviously undesirable. In order to prevent such unauthorised tampering with such rail fastenings the present applicants suggested in GB-2085057B providing on the "heel" portion of the clip a step for butting up against a stop provided on an exterior portion of the anchoring device past which the heel of the clip is driven when installed in the anchoring device. This arrangement was such that the clip could not be removed so readily from the anchoring device by an unauthorised person. However, such an arrangement has not proved completely effective as it has been found that, although resistant to attempts to remove the clip by hammer blows alone, the clip can still be removed if a crowbar (or even a rock) is first used to lever the heel of the clip away from the stop on the anchoring device. The applicants therefore wish to provide a more secure rail fastening assembly than that disclosed in GB-2085057B.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a resilient railway rail fastening clip for fastening a railway rail to an underlying foundation, the clip being of the type having an anchoring leg whereby the clip is retained by a rail fastening clip anchoring device, the clip having means for resisting unauthorised removal of the clip from such an anchoring device, wherein the said means comprise first locating means, provided on the said anchoring leg at a region spaced from a free end thereof, for cooperating with second locating means provided inside the housing of such an anchoring device when the anchoring leg of the clip is inserted therein.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a rail fastening clip anchoring device for retaining a resilient railway rail fastening clip according to the first aspect of the present invention, which anchoring device comprises a housing having a passageway therein for receiving the said anchoring leg of the clip, wherein second locating means are provided inside the passageway for cooperating with the said first locating means provided on the said anchoring leg of the clip.

Unlike the assembly disclosed in GB-2085057B, in the present invention the means for resisting unauthorised removal of the clip are provided out of sight, within the housing of the anchoring device, so that it is far less obvious to an opportunistic thief or vandal how the clip may be removed.

The clip to which the invention is applied is preferably, but not essentially, an "e"-clip or "PR" clip. It should be noted that there is no need to make any adjustments to the overall shape of such clips, for example to lengthen the anchoring legs thereof, in order to apply the invention thereto.

Preferably, the first locating means comprise an abutment surface, such as the inclined face of a recess, in which case the second locating means comprise a projection. Alternatively, the second locating means may comprise an abutment surface, such as an inclined face of a recess, in which case the first locating means comprise a projection.

In order to remove the clip from the anchoring device an authorised person would desirably use a purpose-made tool to apply downwards pressure to the free end of the anchoring leg of the clip visible at the end of the passageway in the anchoring device housing, so as to disengage the first locating means on the anchoring leg of the clip from the second locating means provided inside the housing, and simultaneously to pull the clip free of the anchoring device. Use of such a tool would be facilitated if the housing is such that at least a part, other than the end face, of the free end of the anchoring device of the clip is exposed when installed in that housing.

Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1A shows in plan view a prior art resilient railway rail fastening clip; Figure 1B shows a part sectional side view of a railway rail fastening assembly incorporating the clip of Figure lA; Figure 2 shows a sectional end view of parts of a resilient railway rail fastening clip and anchoring device embodying the present invention; Figure 3 shows a sectional side view of parts of another resilient railway rail fastening clip and anchoring device embodying the present invention; and Figure 4 shows a sectional view of parts of a further railway rail fastening clip and anchoring device embodying the present invention.

The prior art resilient railway rail fastening clip 10 shown in Figure 1 is a type of "e"-clip. The clip 10 is made by bending a metal rod so as to have, proceeding from one end A of the rod to the other end B, a substantially straight first portion or anchoring leg 11, then a second reverse bend portion 12, then a third portion 13, then a fourth reverse bend portion 14, and finally a fifth portion 15. When the clip 10 is in the configuration shown, such that the lowermost points on the third and fifth portions are in the same plane and the clip 10 is viewed from directly above or below that plane, the third and fifth portions appear to lie on opposite sides of the first portion 11.

Although not shown in this application, the so-called "PR" rail clip is of a similar shape.

Both the "e"-clip and the "PR" clip may be retained, such that the "toe" of the clip (either the third portion 13 or the fifth portion 15) bears on an adjoining rail, by a cast metal rail fastening clip anchoring device or shoulder 100 such as shown in Figure 1B. Only one of the pair of anchoring devices 100 which would be used in the rail fastening assembly is illustrated in Figure 1B. The anchoring device 100 is secured to a rail foundation, in this case a concrete sleeper 2, by means of a leg 101 embedded in the concrete. The leg 101 is joined to a housing 102 of the anchoring device 100, which housing 102 has a passageway 103 therethrough. A rail 1 having a foot la is positioned on a cushioning rail pad 4 between the pair of shoulders 100 and a rail insulator 3 is placed on the rail foot la. The anchoring leg 11 of the rail clip 10 is then driven into the passageway 103, deflecting the clip 10 such that the "toe" portion of the clip (in this case the fifth portion 15) exerts a desired force on the foot la of the rail 1 through the rail insulator 3. The "heel" portion (in this case the third portion 13) of the clip 10 comes to rest on a ledge portion 104 of the housing 102. An upper surface of the anchoring leg 11 is held in contact with the roof of the passageway 103.

Although not shown in Figure 1A the anchoring leg 11 of the clip 10 may be chamfered at its free end so as to facilitate insertion of the anchoring leg 11 into the passageway 103 of the anchoring device 100.

The invention will now be described with reference to its application to an "e"-clip, although it can also be applied to any other form of resilient railway rail fastening clip having an anchoring leg whereby the clip is retained by an anchoring device.

Figure 2 shows an anchoring leg 21 of a rail fastening clip 20 embodying the present invention. The rail fastening clip 20 is not shown in its entirety, but other than its anchoring leg 21 could be similar to, for example, an "e"-clip, a "PR clip" or the like.

The anchoring leg 21 has a chamfer 21b at its free end A and, spaced from the free end A, first locating means comprising a detent or recess 21a having an abutment surface 21c. An anchoring device or shoulder 200 (not shown in its entirety) for retaining the rail fastening clip 20 has a housing 202 formed therethrough with a passageway 203. Inside the passageway, on the roof thereof, are second locating means comprising a projection 203a. The first and second locating means cooperate together to provide means for resisting unauthorised removal of the clip 20 from the anchoring device 200. The remainder of the anchoring device 200 could be similar to the anchoring device 100 shown in Figure 1B. The detent 21a may be stamped onto the anchoring leg of the clip 20, during or after forming of the clip, and the projection 203a is formed during casting of the anchoring device 200.

The embodiments shown in Figure 3 differ from those of Figure 2 in that the rail fastening clip 30 (not shown in its entirety) has an anchoring leg 31 with chamfer 31b having first locating means comprising a projection 31a and the anchoring device 300 (not shown in its entirety) has a housing 302 with a passageway 303 formed on a roof thereof with second locating means comprising a recess 303a having an abutment surface 303b.

Upon insertion of the anchoring leg 21 (31) of a clip 20 (30) embodying the present invention into the passageway 203 (303) of an anchoring device embodying the present invention, pressure either of the projection 203a on the anchoring leg 21, and in particular on the chamfer 21b, or of the roof of the passageway 303 on the projection 31a, causes the clip to be deflected downwards slightly until the anchoring leg 21 (31) reaches a point where the first and second locating means snap into engagement with one another (see Figure 4).

The position and size of the locating means should be chosen such that significant displacement of the anchoring leg is required in order to remove the clip, but without permanent distortion of the clip resulting from such displacement.

Figure 4 illustrates a further embodiment of the present invention, based on the embodiment of Figure 2 but having a modified housing 402, with passageway 403 and projection 403a, having a cut-away portion 404 adjacent to the free end A of the anchoring leg 21, whereby the upper surface of the free end A of the anchoring leg 21 is exposed to facilitate access thereto by a purpose-made clip removal tool. It can be seen from Figure 4 how the projection 403a abuts the abutment surface 21c of the anchoring leg 21, thereby resisting removal of the clip. In contrast to some prior art clips, a clip 20(30) embodying the present invention cannot readily be removed from an anchoring device 200 (300, 400) embodying the present invention by hammer blows applied in the direction R. Instead, according to the present invention in order to remove a clip 20(30) it is necessary to deflect the anchoring leg 21(31) downwardly by applying pressure to the free end A thereof so as to disengage the projection 403a (203a, 31a) from the abutment surface 21c (303b), whilst simultaneously driving the clip in the direction R.

Since the means by which the clip is secured are not visible nor readily accessible, the likelihood of removal by an unauthorised person is very much reduced as compared to the prior art. Indeed, if any attempt were made to remove a clip embodying the present invention from an anchoring device embodying the present invention using a crowbar, or a rock, such as have been used in the past, this would cause the clip to be held even more securely within the anchoring device.

An added advantage is that a clip embodying the present invention, provided on its anchoring leg with a detent such as shown in Figure 2 (rather than a projection such as shown in Figure 3), can be used with existing anchoring devices, not embodying the present invention, thereby avoiding the need for anybody laying or repairing track to have clips not embodying the invention to hand in addition to clips which do embody the invention when anchoring devices which do not embody the invention as well as those which do are to be used.

A further advantage is also envisaged where corrosion of clips in shoulders is a problem. If corroded, prior art clips cannot easily be removed from the shoulders, but if a shoulder having a cut-away portion such as shown in Figure 4 is used, downwards pressure could readily be applied to the free end of the anchoring leg of the clip, breaking the adhesion between the clip and the shoulder more easily. This would be most advantageous if the shoulder is of the type having a passageway with a D-shaped (rather than circular) cross-section, since this provides more space into which the anchoring leg of the clip can be deflected.

Claims

1. A resilient railway rail fastening clip for fastening a railway rail to an underlying foundation, the clip being of the type having an anchoring leg whereby the clip is retained by a rail fastening clip anchoring device, the clip having means for resisting unauthorised removal of the clip from such an anchoring device, wherein the said means comprise first locating means, provided on the said anchoring leg at a region spaced from a free end thereof, for cooperating with second locating means provided inside the housing of such an anchoring device when the anchoring leg of the clip is inserted therein.

2. A clip as claimed in claim 1, comprising a rod of resilient material bent so as to have, proceeding from one free end A of the rod to the other free end B thereof, a substantially straight first portion constituting the said anchoring leg, then a second portion bent through approximately 1800, then a third portion beside the said first portion, then a fourth portion bent through approximately 1800 and finally a fifth portion beside the said first portion, the configuration of the clip being such that, when the clip is in an orientation in which the lowermost points on the third and fifth portions are in the same plane and the clip is viewed from directly above or below that plane, the third and fifth portions appear to lie on opposite sides of the said first portion.

3. A clip as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the said first locating means comprise an abutment surface.

4. A clip as claimed in claim 3, wherein the said abutment surface is provided by an inclined face of a recess.

5. A clip as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the said first locating means comprise a projection.

6. A resilient railway rail fastening clip substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 2 or Figure 3 or Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A rail fastening clip anchoring device for retaining a resilient railway rail fastening clip as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, which anchoring device comprises a housing having a passageway therein for receiving the said anchoring leg of the clip, wherein second locating means are provided inside the passageway for cooperating with the said first locating means provided on the said anchoring leg of the clip.

8. An anchoring device as claimed in claim 7, for use with a clip as claimed in claim 3 or 4, wherein the said second locating means comprise a projection.

9. An anchoring device as claimed in claim 7, for use with a clip as claimed in claim 5, wherein the said second locating means comprise an abutment surface.

10 An anchoring device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the said abutment surface is provided by an inclined face of a recess.

11. An anchoring device as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the housing is such that, when the clip is installed in the device, at least a part, other than the end face, of a free end of the anchoring leg of the clip is exposed to allow pressure to be applied thereto by a purpose-made clip removal tool.

12. A rail fastening clip anchoring device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 2 or Figure 3 or Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.