Patent Publication Number: US-2021172125-A1

Title: Spike driver cab enclosure

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/001,217, filed on Jun. 6, 2018, which claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/516,197, filed on Jun. 7, 2017. These applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to railroad spike driving equipment and, more particularly, and without limitations, the present disclosure relates to modifications designed to protect the machine operators from the environment. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The typical railroad spike driving machine currently has an open operator cab with two relatively large openings in the front revealing the adjacent spike driving units. The operator cab is open to the environment by these two relatively large openings in front of the spike handling workheads which allow for the spike trays to be loaded from inside of the cab during complete workhead movement. The openings are required for transportation of the generally vertically aligned spikes from the bulkbin to the spike driving units in front. A typical railroad spike holding tray for a spike driving machine has a fixed angle and moves directly with the spike driving workheads. This configuration generally precludes the operator cab openings from being reduced in size and thus increasing the operators&#39; exposure to the environment (cold, heat, rain, snow, etc.) and also outside noise and dust which may be hazardous to the health of the operators. The present invention includes two enclosures mounted on the relatively large openings on the front of the spike driving machine. The enclosures are generally transparent and each are designed with two relatively small openings to which four pivoting spike trays extend. The enclosures greatly improve the air conditioner, heating, and cab pressure effectiveness and generally eliminate the need for operators to wear respirators. The quick change cab enclosure windows protect the operators from the outside environmental hazards and noise and can be field installed with minimal modifications to the existing machines. A prior art railroad spike driving machine is shown at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-KqWCwyVeU. Youtube videos qualify as prior art. See HVLPO2, LLC v. Oxygen Frog, LLC, et al., 4-16-cv-00336 (FLND 2018 May 28, Order) (Mark E. Walker). Prior art spiking machines are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,191,840; 5,487,341; 4,493,202; and 8,857,344. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the invention is to provide a system and method to reduce the environmental exposure to the operator(s) of the spike driving machine in operation. In particular, the two large openings in the front of the spike driving machine are substantially reduced in size by the use of a transparent window or shield which provides visibility for the operators. Each window has two relatively small openings which allow the spike trays to deliver the spikes to the spike handling workheads which drive the spikes into the ties. The spike trays can be manually loaded from the inside of the cab by the operator and deliver the spikes to the adjacent workheads. The spike handling trays  20  and  22  are moveable so that the vertical pivot of the spike trays maximizes the distances between the operator&#39;s knees and the inner end of the spike tray and the horizontal pivot and offset of the spike trays improves visibility of the work area over traditional spike trays. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Exemplary embodiments are illustrated in the referenced drawings. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive. 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective schematic view of a currently available spiker cab enclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is the operator&#39;s view of the spike trays from inside the cab; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the left spike tray assembly; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the right spike tray assembly; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the enclosure shield assembly; 
         FIG. 6  is a close up perspective view of one side of the cab enclosure; 
         FIG. 7  is the operator&#39;s view of the spike trays with the shield installed; 
         FIG. 8  is top view of the distal end of the spike tray showing the left/right pivot of the spike tray head; 
         FIG. 9  is a side view of the distal end of the spike tray showing the up and down pivot of the spike tray head. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIG. 1  is a generally schematic, perspective view showing the design of a railroad spike driving machine, generally designated  10  in  FIG. 1 . Many commercially available spike driving machines can be adapted for use with the present invention. Personnel operating the spike driving machine ride within a cab  12  which is accessible through a door  14 . On the front side of the cab, there are two generally large, rectangular openings  16  as shown in  FIG. 2 . A pair of pivoting spike trays  20  and  22  as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4  extend from the cab  12  through the aperture  16  toward a spike driving unit/workhead  18  in front of the cab. The cab  12  and the spike driving unit  18  are mounted on the railroad tracks and move along the tracks to drive the spikes into the ties. 
     The spike trays  20  and  22  are shown in more detail in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . Each spike tray includes a slot  25  on the top for manually loading the spikes in a generally vertical orientation from within the cab  12 . The slots  25  are less than the width of the spike heads so that the spikes slide down the track toward the distal end to the spike driving unit/workhead. In a typical installation, there are two outside pivot trays  20  as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3  and two inside pivot trays  22  as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4  to allow for a full range of motion of the spike driving unit and transportation of the spikes downwardly from the cab. 
     More particularly, a translucent or transparent panel  26  as shown in  FIG. 5  is provided to close off the large opening  16  in the front of the cab and the transparent design is preferred to maintain visibility of the spike driving unit by the operator. The plastic shield  26  which provides the enclosure for most of the opening  16  can be made of any suitable, tough material. In order to permit delivery of the spikes to the slots  25  in the spike trays  20  and  22 , each of the two shields  26  has a pair of openings  28  through which the spike trays extend to the spike trays, two apertures  28  are provided in the shield  26 . As can be seen in the operator&#39;s view of  FIG. 7 , the operator can load the spikes into the slots  25  from inside the cab. In this way the shield  26  substantially cuts off the environment from the interior portion of the cab  12  preventing dust and other hazards from entering the cab. 
     As can be seen in the enlarged view of  FIG. 6 , the two spike trays extend through the apertures  28  at an angle that permits the spikes to travel downwardly in the respective slots  25  to the lower, distal end of each one of the spike trays. Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , each one of the spikes trays are guided by a single guidance rod  30  that is captured at the bottom of each opening  28  within an aperture  32 . The aperture  38  and the rods  30  permit the spike trays to pivot upwardly and downwardly as desired by the operator.  FIG. 8  shows a pair of arcuate arrows  21  showing the spike tray left to right pivot from above about the pivot point  34  around a vertical axis.  FIG. 9  shows the same pivoting spike tray in a side elevation where the horizontal pivot point  36  permits rotation as shown by the arrows  23 . The pivot about the pivot point  34  allows the tray to pivot each way from center which allows the spike tray to stay in the same spot relative to the cab enclosure during left and right movement of the spike driving unit. In  FIG. 9 , the side view, the pivot point allows the tray to pivot each way as shown by the arrow  23  allowing the spike tray to stay in the same spot relative to the cab enclosure during fore and aft movement of the spike driving unit. 
     In this way, the shield enclosure  26  protects the operators from the environment while the smaller apertures  28  allow the pivoting spike trays to deliver the spikes to the spike driving unit  18 . As can be seen in  FIGS. 5 and 7 , the shield  26  is held in position by a plurality of peripheral screws or bolts  40  attached to a generally rectangular frame  42 . 
     The operating manual for the spike driving machine of the present invention in conjunction with the spike driving workheads is shown in detail at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=OBwzQVB1oqSdaHl4djBjRjEONkU. Also, a video file of the spike driving unit  14  moving along the railroad tracks with the workhead is shown in the file IMG_0746.MOV. 
     The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom.