SUPPORT FOR RAILWAY TRACK RAILS

Abstract

A support for railway track rails includes a central core of parallelepipedal appearance, formed of at least two juxtaposed slats of solid wood or wood-based materials, and a protective sheathing encasing the central core. The protective sheathing is made in one piece and formed by a peripheral wall having at least two opposite upper and lower faces and two opposite lateral faces to fit at least the four longitudinal faces of the central core, as well as at least one internal partition extending between two opposite faces or two contiguous faces of the peripheral wall and delimiting with the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing of at least two cells, each having a shape complementary to a slat of the central core. The slats has a plurality of through-holes, and the through-holes are connected to the through-holes of the adjacent slats by pins of plastic material filling the through-holes.

Claims

1. A support for railway track rails of a railway sleeper type, comprising: a central core of parallelepipedal appearance being comprised of at least two juxtaposed slats of thickness e, made of solid wood or wood-based materials, and a protective sheathing covering said central core, said protective sheathing being in one piece, and being formed by a peripheral wall having at least two opposite upper and lower faces and two opposite lateral faces to fit at least the four longitudinal faces of the central core as well as at least one internal partition extending between two opposite faces or two contiguous faces of the said peripheral wall and delimiting with the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing at least two cells each having a shape complementary to a slat of the said central core, wherein said slats have a plurality of through-holes formed through their thickness, and wherein the through-holes of each slat are connected to the through-holes of the adjacent slats by pins of plastic material filling said through-holes.

2. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said protective sheathing is comprised of plastic material.

3. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said protective sheathing further comprises a pair of caps adapted to cover the left and right end faces of said central core.

4. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein the upper face of said protective sheathing comprises at least two recesses extending symmetrically on either side of a plane passing through the center of said protective sheathing and extending perpendicular to its longitudinal axis.

5. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 4, wherein the recesses comprise threaded holes.

6. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral wall of said protective sheathing has a structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses extending over at least a portion of the lower face of its peripheral wall.

7. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 6, wherein the structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses also extends over at least a portion of the opposite lateral faces of the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing, said portion extending from the lower face of the peripheral wall, in the direction of its upper face.

8. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said slats are each formed of a series of abutting strips.

9. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said slats extend parallel to each other and parallel or perpendicular to the upper and lower faces of the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing.

10. The support for railway track rails, according to claim 1, wherein said slats extend parallel to each other and at an angle to the upper and lower faces of the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0030] FIG. 1 corresponds to a perspective view and in transparency of an embodiment of a support for rails according to the invention, defined here by a railway sleeper.

[0031] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the central core of the railway sleeper of FIG. 1.

[0032] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the railway sleeper of FIG. 1, taken at an alignment of through-holes that the slats of the central core comprise, along one of their transverse edges.

[0033] FIG. 4 shows a partial side schematic view of the railway sleeper of FIG. 1.

[0034] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the support for railway track rails according to the invention.

[0035] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a third embodiment of the support for rails according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0036] In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, the support for rails according to the invention is defined by a railway sleeper 1 comprising, on the one hand, a central core 2 of parallelepipedal appearance, and, on the other hand, a protective sheathing 4 enveloping said central core 2. The latter is formed here of four slats 3, of thickness e, made of solid wood. However, other configurations can be envisaged, in which the slats 3 are each formed from a series of wooden strips, assembled for example by their respective lateral edges, or by their respective longitudinal edges or face to face after superposition. Furthermore, according to still other configurations, to optimize the cost of the wood material, the mechanical properties, and the durability of the support for rails according to the invention, the different slats 3 of the central core 2 may each be made from different types of wood. For example, it may be possible to produce a central core 2 comprising three inner slats of beech, sandwiched between two outer slats 3 of oak, a material which is by definition more durable and resistant than beech. In other cases, it may be possible to insert the central core 2 between two outer slats made at least partially of polymeric material, and to coat this assembly by the outer sheathing 4.

[0037] In accordance with the invention, the protective sheathing 4 is advantageously in one piece, and is made of plastic or thermoplastic material, reinforced or not with fibers and/or talc, by means of a process known per se, such as, for example, a plastic injection, extrusion or “exjection” process (registered trademark).

[0038] More precisely, the protective sheathing 4 is formed by a peripheral wall preferably having a thickness e1 of between 5 mm and 15 mm. It has two opposite upper and lower faces 6 and 7, and two opposite lateral faces 8, 9, designed to match at least the four longitudinal faces of said central core 2, as well as two left and right end faces 11, 12, designed to cover the left and right end faces of the central core 2.

[0039] Furthermore, the protective sheathing 4 also comprises three internal partitions 13 parallel to each other, extending between its two opposite lateral faces 8, 9, parallel to its upper 6 and lower 7 faces. Preferably, the internal partitions 13 have a thickness e2 of between 3 mm and 10 mm and, together with the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing 4, delimit four cells 14 each having a shape complementary to a slat 3 of the central core 2.

[0040] In other words, thanks to such a configuration of the railway sleeper 1, each wooden slat 3 of which the central core 2 is made up is housed in an individual protective sheath, defined in each case by a cell 14, and is thus completely separated from the other slats 3. Thus, in the event of any deterioration of the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing 4, leading to the exposure of a wooden slat 3 to external agents, only the latter will gradually decompose, without any risk of the phenomenon spreading to the remaining slats 3. Such a characteristic makes it possible to significantly improve the longevity of the railway sleeper 1. Moreover, the alternation of wood and plastic leads to a structure in which the incidence of a possible creep phenomenon of the plastic material is minimized, thus ensuring the solidity of the anchoring of the tie rods intended to fix the rails to the sleeper 1.

[0041] It should also be noted that in order to create a permanent connection across the railway sleeper 1, the slats 3 have a plurality of through-holes 30, formed through their thickness e, and, in the alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 2, such that each through-hole 30 of a slat 3 is aligned with a corresponding through-hole 30 of the adjacent slat(s) 3. These through-holes 30 fill with the plastic or thermoplastic material used to encapsulate the slats 3 of the parallelepipedal core 2 with the protective sheathing 4, during the manufacture of the railway sleepers 1, for example by a plastic injection, extrusion or “exjection” process (trademark). After the plastic material has hardened, the slats 3 are therefore not only each encased in an individual protective sheath, but also connected to each other by pins 31 of plastic material filling the through-holes 30. This last feature prevents the slats 3 from moving relative to each other within the protective sheathing 4, particularly under the effect of the weight of trains travelling on the tracks.

[0042] It should also be noted that, in accordance with the invention, the through-holes 30 are preferably aligned along the longitudinal edge 18 and the transverse edge 19 of each of the slates 3 and in such a way as to be located at a distance d0 of between 5 mm and 40 mm from the longitudinal edge 18, and at a distance d1 of between 5 mm and 70 mm from their transverse edge 19. Furthermore, the through-holes 30 of a same slat 3 are regularly spaced apart, preferably by a distance d2 of between 50 mm and 200 mm.

[0043] On the other hand, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, the upper face 6 of the protective sheathing 4 comprises two recesses 15 extending symmetrically on either side of a plane passing through the center of the protective sheathing 4 and extending perpendicular to its longitudinal axis X. The two recesses 15 are, for example, machined and are each designed to accommodate a metal plate (not shown) for mounting a rail. For this purpose, they are provided with threaded holes 16, extending through the slats 3 and the internal partitions 13 of the protective sheathing 4, intended to receive screws for fixing the metal plate in the recesses 15.

[0044] It should also be noted that in the illustrated embodiment, the bottom 17 of each recess 15 has an inclination suitable for receiving a mounting plate in accordance with current French standards. Of course, the bottom 17 of the recesses 15 could have an inclination different from that illustrated and extend horizontally, for example, in order to be able to accommodate other types of mounting plates.

[0045] As is clear from the above, the rail support according to the invention, such as a railway sleeper 1, defines an alternative solution to those existing to overcome the problems linked to the putrescible nature of the wood of which they were originally made. Indeed, the watertight protective sheathing 4 which covers the material of which the slats 3 are made makes it possible to preserve it and thus guarantees its durability in accordance with the regulations. Moreover, the rail support according to the invention is simple, economical and ecological to manufacture. It also has the advantage of a longer service life compared to known rail supports in the state of the art, independently of any use of potentially toxic and polluting substances.

[0046] Furthermore, other embodiments than the one illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 can also be provided. Thus, a variant of a support for rails defining a railway sleeper 10 has been designed (see FIG. 4), in which the slats 3 form a central core 20, extending parallel to each other and perpendicular to the upper 6 and lower 7 faces of the protective sheathing 4. The alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 5, in which the railway sleeper 100 comprises a central core 200 having two groups of slats 3 extending parallel to each other and at an angle to the upper 6 and lower 7 faces of the protective sheathing 4, the two groups being arranged symmetrically therein with respect to a plane passing through the center of the protective sheathing 4 and extending parallel to its longitudinal axis X, is also in accordance with the spirit of the present invention.

[0047] It should also be noted that according to the manufacturing process used to manufacture the rail support according to the invention, the protective sheathing 4 can be completed with a pair of caps (not illustrated) designed to cover the left 11 and right 12 end faces of the central core 2, 20, 200.

[0048] On the other hand, in order to improve the integration of a support for rails according to the invention, such as a railway sleeper 1, 10, 100, into the ballast of a railway track, the peripheral wall of the protective sheathing 4 can advantageously be designed in such a way that it has a structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses extending over at least a portion of its lower face 7 or even, where appropriate, from its lower face 7 in the direction of its upper face 6, and also over at least a portion of its opposite lateral faces 8, 9.