Patent ID: 6978718
Filing Date: 2005-12-27
Classification: E01B

Abstract:
1. A tamping device for compacting ballast beneath the intersection of a tie and a rail of a railroad track, said tamping device comprising: at least one pair of tamping units, each said pair of tamping units defined by a first tamping unit having a first tool blade and a second tamping unit having a second tool blade; and said first tamping unit and said second tamping unit each including means for respectively moving said first tool blade and said second tool blade in respective counter rotational first and second orbital paths wherein, when said first tool blade and said second tool blade are in ballast on either side of the tie along one side of the rail that is supported by the tie at the intersection of the tie and the rail, said first tool blade and said second tool blade are angled towards the intersection of the tie and the rail throughout said first orbital path and said second orbital path, respectively, so that forces generated in the ballast by said first tool blade and said second tool blade cooperate to compact the ballast beneath the intersection of the tie and the rail.