Apparatus and method for measuring the wear of railroad rail

Claim 2

Apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail comprising: a chassis adapted for travel along said railroad rail; at least four bearing points positioned between said chassis and said railroad rail for supporting said chassis on said rail and for allowing movement of said chassis over said rail, said bearing points being aligned so as to collectively define a reference line with any space between said bearing points being in an asymmetrical pattern to establish the reference line substantially between the highest points encountered by the bearing points by, whereby the distance between a sensing point on the reference line and said running surface represents substantially the actual wear of the running surface; sensing means at the sensing point for continuously sensing the vertical distance between the reference line defined by the bearing points and the surface of the rail as the chassis travels along the rail, the sensing means having an output wheich is a function of the sensed distance between the reference line and the rail surface; and means responsive to the output of said sensing means to indicate the corrugation and undulation in the rall surface.

Claim 3

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 1 wherein said plurality of bearing points are the points of contact between said rail and rollers mounted on said chassis, said rollers being variably spaced along the length of said chassis.

Claim 4

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 2 wherein a total of at least eight rollers in employed with at least four rollers being positioned on each side of said sensing means.

Claim 5

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 1, wherein said sensing means includes a plurality of discrete sensors positioned substantially transverwely to said rail.

Claim 6

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railraod rail as set forth in claim 4, wherein a total of at least three sensors are employed with each of said sensors sensing a point on the transverse profile of the rail.

Claim 7

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 4 wherein each of said plurality of discrete sensors comprises: a resiliently supported sensing roller which travels along the surface of the rail at the sensing point, the plurality of the sensing rollers being spaced transversely across the profile of the rail; and transducer means associated with each of said sensing rollers for sensing the movement of said sensing roller substantially normal to the surface of said rail.

Claim 8

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 6, wherein each of said sensing rollers in mounted to a bracket hinged to said chassis and said transducer means are fixed to the chassis, said transducer means sensing the movement of said brackets relative to said chassis and each generating an output corresponding to the movement of one of said sensing rollers.

Claim 9

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 7, wherein at least one of said brackets is mounted on the opposite side of said sensing point relative to the others of said brackets.

Claim 10

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 1 wherein a total of at least eight bearing points is employed with at least four bearing points being positioned on each side of said sensing means.

Claim 11

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 1 wherein the sensing means comprises at least one resiliently supported sensing roller for traveling along the surface of the rail and contacting the rail at the sensing point and transducer means for sensing the vertical movement of said sensing roller.

Claim 12

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 10 wherein the sensing roller is mounted to a bracket hinged to said chassis and said transducer means is fixed to the chassis, said transducer means sensing the movement of said bracket relative to said chassis to generate said output.

Claim 15

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations as set forth in claim 12 wherein the bearing points are points on rollers which come in direct contact with said rail and which collectively define said reference line.

Claim 16

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations as set forth in claim 13 wherein a total of at least eight rollers in employed with at least four rollers being positioned on each side of said sensing means.

Claim 17

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the surface of railroad rails as set forth in claim 6 wherein said means for supporting said chassis over said railroad rail defines a reference line along the points of contact between said means and said rail surface; and said means preventing said reference line from being excited into oscillation by the corrugations and undulations in said rail which would otherwise prevent detection of the corrugations and undulations having a wavelength of the order of two inches to fifty inches.

Claim 18

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations as set forth in claim 12 wherein a total of at least eight bearing points is employed with at least four bearing points being positioned on each side of said sensing means.

Claim 19

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations as set forth in claim 16 wherein the four bearing points on one side of said sensing means are spaced substantially 27.95, 19.94, 13.56 and 7.93 inches from said sensing means and the four bearing points on the other side of said sensing means are spaced substantially 27.95, 20.22, 13.48 and 7.66 inches from said sensing means.

Claim 20

Apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail comprising: a chassis adapted for travel along said railroad rail; a plurality of bearing points positioned between said chassis and said railroad rail for supporting said chassis on said rail and for allowing movement of said chassis over said rail, said bearing points being aligned so as to define a reference line and at least variably spaced on opposite sides of a sensing point, at least one bearing point on each side of the sensing point contacting the rail surface as the chassis travels along the rail; sensing means at the sensing point for continuously sensing the distance between the reference line and the surface of the rail as the chassis travels along the rail, the sensing means having an output which is a function of the sensed distance between the reference line and the rail surface; means response to the output of said sensing means to indicate the corrugation and undulation in the rail surface; and said plurality of bearing points are the points of contact between said rail and at least one endless belt with a portion of said endless belt is held in a planar configuration between two axes of rotation and along said plurality of bearing points by a guide plate located within the closed loop formed by said endless belt.

Claim 21

Apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail comprising: a chassis adapted for travel along said railroad rail; a plurality of bearing points positioned between said chassis and said railroad rail for supporting said chassis on said rail and for allowing movement of said chassis over said rail, said bearing points being aligned so as to define a reference line and at least variably spaced on opposite sides of a sensing point, at least one bearing point on each side of the sensing point contacting the rail surface as the chassis travels along the rail; sensing means at the sensing point for continuously sensing the distance between the reference line and the surface of the rail as the chassis travels along the rail, the sensing means having an output which is a function of the sensed distance between the reference line and the rail surface; means response to the output of said sensing means to indicate the corrugation and undulation in the rail surface; and said plurality of bearing points are the points of contact between said rail and at least one endless belt with a portion of said endless belt is held in a planar configuration between two axes of rotation and along said plurality of bearing points by a guide plate located within the closed loop formed by said endless belt.

Claim 22

An apparatus for measuring corrugations and undulations along the running surface of railroad rail as set forth in claim 18 wherein said guide plate includes a planar surface adjacent to and interfaced with the inside surface of said endless belt in which the corresponding outside surface describes said planar configuration and said apparatus further comprises means for cooling the interface between said guide plate and said endless plate.