Ballast cleaner

Claim 2

A BALLAST CLEANER FOR TRANSPORT BY A RAILROAD CAR ALONG THE RAILS OF A RAILROAD TRACK COMPRISING: AN INFEED CONVEYOR FOR DIRTY BALLAST SUPPORTED ON SAID CAR AND HAVING AN OPERATIVE RUN AT AN ELEVATION SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE SAID CAR, MOVING LONGITUDINALLY OF THE CAR IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE SAID RAILS: MEANS FOR REMOVING DIRTY BALLAST IN LATERAL DIRECTIONS CONTINOUSLY AND IN SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL STREAMS FROM SAID CONVEYOR AT LOCATIONS SPACED APART LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF, A LONGITUDINAL ROW OF SHAKER SCREENS BENEATH THE INFEED CONVEYOR AT THE RESPECTIVE SAID LOCATIONS FOR RECEPTION OF THE RESPECTIVE INCREMENTS OF DIRTY BALLAST, SAID SCREENS ALL HAVING DISCHARGE ENDS BENEATH SAID INFEED CONVEYOR FOR DISCHARGE OF CLEANED BALLAST, TRANSVERSELY TO THE INFEED CONVEYOR MOVEMENT, A LONGITUDINALLY RECEPTION OF CLEAN BALLAST FROM THE DISCHARGE ENDS OF THE RESPECTIVE SAID SHAKER SCREENS AND FOR CONVEYING SAID CLEAN BALLAST TO A PREDETERMINED DISCHARGE POINT, AND A DIRT CONVEYOR EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY BENEATH ALL OF THE SCREENS OF MOVING A CLEAN BALLAST CONVEYOR DISPOSED FOR SIMULTANEOUS SAID ROW FOR RECEPTION AND REMOVAL OF THE DIRT SIFTED THROUGH

Claim 3

A ballast cleaner as defined in claim 1 including two said rows of shaker screens beneath said infeed conveyor both discharging clean ballast onto said clean ballast conveyor, and a pair of said dirt conveyors disposed respectively beneath the said rows of screens on opposite sides of said clean ballast conveyor.

Claim 4

A ballast cleaner as defined in claim 2 in which said clean ballast conveyor and said dirt conveyors are all disposed at a common horizontal level.

Claim 5

A ballast cleaner to be carried by a railroad car along a railroad track for treating the ballast from the road bed of said track, comprising: an infeed conveyor supported on said car for receiving and transporting dirty ballast from the road bed, said conveyor having an operative run at an elevation above the car and moving longitudinally thereof in a direction parallel to the railroad track; means for simultaneously deflecting the conveyed dirty ballast in opposite lateral directions from said conveyor at each of a plurality of predetermined longitudinal locations on opposite sides thereof; two rows of longitudinally aligned shaker screens, said rows of shaker screens being located respectively beneath the opposite sides of said infeed conveyor at said respective predetermined longitudinal locations for simultaneous reception of said dirty ballast; each of said shaker screens discharging clean ballast beneath said infeed conveyor; and a longitudinally moving clean ballast conveyor disposed beneath said infeed conveyor and between said rows of shaker screens for reception of clean ballast from the respective said shaker screens and for conveying said clean ballast longitudinally to a point of discharge.

Claim 6

A ballast cleaner to be carried by a railroad car along a railroad track for treating the ballast from the road bed of said track, comprising: an infeed conveyor supported on said car for receiving and transporting dirty ballast from the road bed, said conveyor having an operative run at an elevation above the car and moving longitudinally thereof in a direction parallel to the railroad track; means for simultaneously deflecting the conveyed dirty ballast in opposite lateral directions from said conveyor at each of a plurality of predetermined longitudinal locations on opposite sides thereof; two rows of longitudinally aligned shaker screens, said rows of shaker screens being located respectively beneath the opposite sides of said infeed conveyor at said respective predetermined longitudinal locations for simultaneous reception of said dirty ballast; each of said shaker screens discharging clean ballast beneath said infeed conveyor; and a longitudinally moving clean ballast conveyor disposed beneath said infeed conveyor and between said rows of shaker screens for reception of clean ballast from the respective said shaker screens and for conveying said clean ballast longitudinally to a point of discharge.

Claim 7

A ballast cleaner as defined in claim 4 including longitudinally moving dirt conveyors disposed on opposite side of and parallel to said clean ballast conveyor beneath the respective shaker screens for reception and removal of the dirt sifted through said screens.

Claim 8

A ballast cleaner as defined in claim 5 in which said dirt conveyors move in an opposite direction from said clean ballast conveyor.

Claim 9

A ballast cleaner for transport along the rails of a railroad track comprising: an infeed conveyor for dirty ballast having an operative generally horizontal run moving longitudinally in a direction parallel to the said rails; means for simultaneously deflecting the dirty ballast laterally from the infeed conveyor in substantially equal streams at longitudinally spaced locations along the infeed conveyor; a row of longitudinally aligned shaker screens beneath said infeed conveyor at the respective longitudinally spaced locations for simultaneously receiving the streams of dirty ballast from said infeed conveyor; said shaker screens sloping downwardly transversely to the said infeed conveyor and having discharge ends aligned longitudinally at a common level; and a longitudinally moving stone conveyor disposed for reception of the cleaned ballast from all of said screens and for conveying saiD cleaned ballast to a predetermined discharge point.

Claim 10

A ballast cleaner for transport along the rails of a railroad track comprising: an infeed conveyor for dirty ballast having an operative generally horizontal run moving longitudinally in a direction parallel to the said rails; means for simultaneously deflecting the dirty ballast laterally from the infeed conveyor in substantially equal streams at longitudinally spaced locations along the infeed conveyor; a row of longitudinally aligned shaker screens beneath said infeed conveyor at the respective longitudinally spaced locations for simultaneously receiving the streams of dirty ballast from said infeed conveyor; said shaker screens sloping downwardly transversely to the said infeed conveyor and having discharge ends aligned longitudinally at a common level; and a longitudinally moving stone conveyor disposed for reception of the cleaned ballast from all of said screens and for conveying saiD cleaned ballast to a predetermined discharge point.

Claim 11

A ballast cleaner as defined in claim 7 including a dirt conveyor having an operative run beneath said row of shaker screens and moving parallel to said clean ballast conveyor for reception and removal of dirt sifted through said screens.

Claim 12

A ballast cleaner as defined in claim 8 in which all of said conveyors and said row of shaker screens are substantially longitudinally coextensive, said clean ballast conveyor and said dirt conveyor being at a common horizontal level, whereby to achieve a compact arrangement of said ballast cleaner.

Claim 13

A ballast cleaner as defined in claim 8 in which said clean ballast conveyor is spaced beneath and parallel to said infeed conveyor, the discharge ends of said shaker screens projecting between the said dirty ballast and clean ballast conveyors.

Claim 14

A ballast cleaner as defined in claim 10, wherein said discharge ends of the shaker screens project between the said dirty ballast conveyor and stone conveyor from opposite lateral sides of the respective conveyors.