Railroad bracket

Abstract

The non-ferrous anticorrosive railroad bracket 10 includes a stainless steel threaded shaft 50 for preventing oxidation on moving parts. A sliding clamp plate mechanism 36 is for mounting to virtually any common rail 54 in use throughout the world. The bracket 10 includes a pointed wedge end 14 for providing under-rail installation by displacing stone gravel base underneath. It also includes a tool-less clamping rail attachment mechanism 32 requiring only hand-tighten for installation. There is a large knob-nut 34 for tightening and securing to the rail 54 by easily hand-tightening. A simple folded kick-plate 12 is utilized for kicking by foot, pushing by hand, and hammering so as to easily displace gravel, stones, slag, and other material. Lastly, the folded kick-plate 12 acts as a handle to carry the bracket 10 and an attached sensor detector unit 30.

Claims

1. A railroad bracket, comprising: an adjustable, sliding clamp plate mechanism for mounting to a rail having a common rail size; a pointed wedge end for providing under-rail installation by displacing stone gravel base underneath the rail; a tool-less clamping rail attachment mechanism requiring only hand-tighten for installation; means for preventing said railroad bracket from being easily removed by providing a lockable padlock attachable to said railroad bracket; an electronic RFID (radio frequency identification) tag to uniquely identify each railroad bracket and placement thereof; and a nearly folded end kick-plate for permitting kicking by foot, pushing by hand, and hammering to displace gravel, stones, slag and other material while sliding into place said railroad bracket.

2. The railroad bracket of claim 1, comprising: a large knob-nut for tightening and securing to the rail by easily hand-tightening.

3. The railroad bracket of claim 1, further comprising means permitting the attachment to fit an inside bottom part of the rail.

4. The railroad bracket of claim 3, wherein the attachment includes a handle to carry the bracket and attached sensor detector unit.

5. The railroad bracket of claim 1, wherein the railroad bracket being constructed of non-ferrous and anticorrosive metals, such as steel.

6. The railroad bracket of claim 1, wherein the railroad bracket being constructed with a stainless steel threaded shaft for preventing oxidation on threaded moving parts of said tool-less clamping rail attachment mechanism.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of a railroad bracket according to the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is a side view of a railroad bracket according to the present invention.

(3) FIG. 3 is an environmental, perspective view of the railroad bracket with a sensor detection unit mounted thereon and the bracket being securely attached to a rail according to the present invention.

(4) FIG. 4 is an environmental side view of the railroad bracket according to the present invention.

(5) FIG. 5 is an environmental side view of the railroad bracket being manually installed by foot according to the present invention.

(6) Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(7) With reference to each of the FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, a railroad bracket according to the present invention is illustrated and is generally indicated by the numeral 10. The railroad bracket 10 is non-ferrous anticorrosive material and includes a perpendicular end forming a folded kick plate and handle 12. At the other end of the railroad bracket 10 is pointed wedge end 14. The flat bar 16 between the two ends 12 and 14 includes a number of mounting holes 20, 22, 24, and 26. These mounting holes 20, 22, 24, 26 receive a Sensor Detection Unit, generally indicated by the numeral 30 and illustrated specifically as a box in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5.

(8) It is contemplated the Sensor Detection Unit 30 could be for example a product such as a TPASS, which is an industry-standard motion sensing ma down alarm device. The TPASS is capable transmitting or receiving various signals by radio, indicating an emergency condition, such as evacuate or distress alarm, regardless if this condition was initiated by a remote sensor device or the worker themselves. The TPASS has been available for over 15 years and the device is widely used by industry and fire fighters as their best, last defense against a dangerous scenario where a may-day or panic alarm signal must be sent.

(9) The pointed wedge end 14 provides under-rail installation by displacing stone gravel base underneath. Near the pointed wedge end 14 is an adjustable tool-less clamping rail attachment or mechanism, generally indicated by the numeral 32. The mechanism 32 includes a knob nut 34 for securing in place a sliding clamp plate 36. The tool-less clamping rail attachment mechanism 32 requires only hand-tighten for installation. The large knob-nut 34 provides the ease to hand-tightening. The sliding clamp plate 36 includes a number of fitting holes 40, 42, 44 and 41, 43, 45 are located on either side of the knob nut 34. Each of these holes can be align with any of the similar formed holes on the flat bar 16. These fitting or aligning holes receive a padlock 46, as illustrated in FIG. 3. The knob nut 34 is received on a stainless steal threaded shaft 50. Part of the tool-less clamping rail mechanism 32 includes a raised lip 52, which extends toward the pointed wedge end 14. These two members 14 and 52 when functioning together will secure the railroad bracket 10 on a rail 54, as illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5.

(10) In fact, the railroad bracket 10 is a universal rail bracket that easily attaches to the rail 54, typically the railroad track used by trains, locomotives, railcars or any other hi-rail vehicle. A hi-rail vehicle being defined as any other maintenance or inspection vehicle aside from a locomotive or railcar that rides on the rails of the track. The railroad bracket 10 was initially designed as part of a larger track-watch rail worker safety system for mounting a sensor-detector device to the rail for detecting the presence of a passing rail car, locomotive or other hi-rail vehicle including maintenance vehicles. Thus, the railroad bracket contains several unique features, which are valuable to the railroad industry.

(11) As shown in FIG. 5, the railroad bracket 10 is a rapidly installed device that attaches to a rail 54 and is designed to accommodate sensing or other signaling, detection or counting devices that can be used. The simple folded kick-plate 12 is utilized for kicking by foot, pushing by hand, and hammering so as to easily displace gravel, stones, slag, and other material.

(12) It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.