Pad for positioning under a railway rail and an assembly including the pad

Claim 2

A pad for interposition between the bottom of a railway rail and rail foundation upon which the rail stands, the pad comprising a single piece of elastomeric material in the form of a substantially rectangular sheet comprising an upper major face, a lower major face, portions defining two substantially rectangular recesses extending right through the pad substantially at the centers of first and second opposite sides of the pad, first and second walls each extending transversely with respect to said major faces and providing third and fourth opposite sides of the pad, and first and second sloping surfaces extending from respective ones of said walls to said upper major face, each of said sloping surfaces having a gradient substantially less than that of the wall from Which it extends.

Claim 3

A pad according to claim 1 made of material having a hardness of at least 80 International Rubber Hardness Degrees.

Claim 4

A pad according to claim 1 having further portions defining further recesses in said lower major face.

Claim 5

A pad according to claim 3 in which said further recesses are grooves extending parallel to said first and second opposite sides.

Claim 6

A pad according to claim 4 in which the grooves are of rectangular cross-section.

Claim 7

A pad according to claim 1 comprising additional portions defining chamfering of said upper major face between said recesses adjacent the innermost extremities of said recesses, this chamfering being such in each case that there is a wall extending transversely with respect to said upper major face, parallel to the first and second sides of the pad and at the innermost extremity of one of said recesses and a sloping surface extending from this wall to the upper major face of the pad and having a gradient substantially less than the gradient of said wall.

Claim 8

A railway rail and fastening assembly comprising a rail foundation, two projections extending upwardly from the rail foundation, a pad according to claim 1 laid on the rail foundation with parts of the projections in said recesses and with said upper major face facing upwardly, a rail laid on the pad between said projections, the arrangement being such that the projections impede movement of the pad along the rail, and means engaging said projections and holding the rail down.

Claim 9

An assembly according to claim 7 in which the shortest distance between said two recesses is less than the distance between the two projections by at most a quarter of an inch.

Claim 10

An assembly according to claim 7 in which the pad further comprises additional portions defining chamfering of said upper major face between said recesses adjacent the innermost extremities of said recesses, the chamfering being such that in each case there is a wall extending transversely with respect to said upper major face and parallel to the first and second sides of the pad and a sloping surface which extends from this wall to th upper major face of the pad, this surface having a gradient substantially less than that of said wall, said assembly further comprising two elongate members of electrically insulating material of substantially L-shaped cross-section on opposite sides of the rail, each member having one limb of the L lying on the top of the rail flange and the other limb of the L lying between the outer edge of the rail flange and one of said projections and also having two portions extending on opposite sides of said projection for abutting said projection in the event of there being any tendency for said elongate member to move in a direction parallel to the length of the rail, the said members being spaced from the pad by virtue of said camfering.

Claim 11

An assembly according to claim 7 in which said means engaging said projections and holding the rail down comprises two clips each made by bending a length of resilient metal of rod form so that it has, progressing from one end of the length of metal to the other, a first portion which is a substantially straight leg driven into one of said projections and lying substantially parallel to the rail, a second portion, a third portion, a fourth portion and finally a fifth portion, the third and fifth portions, when viewed from above, appearing to lie on opposite sides of the first portion and one of them bearing downwardly on the rail flange.