Patent Abstract:
A rail support assembly for mounting and supporting the rail of a railroad system, the assembly including a plate disposed under the rail and including a shoulder hole, a shoulder arranged and constructed to fit in said shoulder hole without rotation with respect to the plate, and a clip having an end received by said shoulder and arranged to bias the rail toward the plate.

Full Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     None 
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
     This invention pertains to a rail support assembly including a shoulder and a clip engaging the shoulder and arranged to hold a rail in place, the shoulder being shaped to prevent it from rotating with respect to a supporting plate. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     Trains running on rails are the most efficient way of transporting all industrial, agricultural as well as consumer products. Typically rails are supported on ties by support assemblies including a bottom plate disposed on ties, a pair of shoulders disposed on top of the plate on either side of a rail and clips made of a steel bar formed into a predetermined shape and arranged to secure the rail. One end of each clip engages a respective shoulder and the rest of the clip rests on top of a rail flange and biases the flange (and therefore the rail) downward toward the plate. 
     This assembly has been found to be working reasonably well, however one problem with it is that typically railroad cars are extremely heavy and apply tremendous pressure and torsional forces on the rails, especially when rails curve. As a result, sometimes whole sections of rails separate from the ties because the support assemblies are not able to resist these effects. 
     The present invention provides a solution to this problem. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A rail support assembly for supporting a rail of a railroad track constructed in accordance with this invention includes a plate having a shoulder hole, a shoulder having a boss sized and shaped to fit through said shoulder hole, the boss and shoulder having matching non-rotational shapes selected to prevent the shoulder to rotate with respect to said plate, the plate having a clip receiving member; and an elastic clip having a first end received in the clip receiving member and a rail retaining portion, the elastic clip being positioned by the shoulder to retain the rail on the plate. 
     In one aspect of the invention, the railroad track includes a tie and The plate includes a mounting member mounting the plate on the tie. 
     In one aspect of the invention, the plate includes spike holes receiving spikes to attach said plate to said tie. 
     In one aspect of the invention, the boss and the shoulder hole have a generally square shape with rounded corners. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an isometric view of a section of a rail and its supports; 
         FIG. 2  shows a top view of a rail support assembly constructed in accordance with this invention; 
         FIG. 3  shows a side sectional view of the rail support assembly; and 
         FIG. 4  shows an exploded view of the rail support assembly. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring first to  FIG. 1 , a railroad track  10  includes a track bed  12  with a plurality ties  14 . Ties  14  are typically made of treated wood, or concrete. A rail  16  is supported on the ties  14  by a support assembly  18 . The rail  16  includes a bottom flange  20 , a vertical web  22  and a top  24 . A second rail identical to rail  16  extends in parallel thereto but has been omitted for the sake of clarity. 
     As shown more clearly in  FIGS. 2-4 , rail support assembly  18  includes a plate  30 . Plate  30  is generally rectangular having a width substantially equal to the width of tie  14  and extending along the top surface of the tie  14 . The plate  30  is formed with two transversal ridges  32 A  32 B. Each ridge includes a vertical wall  36 A,  36 B and a sloping wall  38 A,  38 B. The distance between the two vertical walls  36 A,  36 B is equal to the width W of the flange  20  of rail  16 . Therefore the rail  16  can be seated solidly on top of the plate  18  with the flange  20  firmly seated between the ridges  32 A,  32 B. 
     Optionally, a pad (not shown) may be provided between the rail  16  and the plate  30 . 
     The plate  20  has two segments  34 A,  34 B disposed between the ridges  32 A,  32 B and the short edges of the plate  20  as shown. Segment  34 A is formed with two smaller holes  40 ,  42  and a large hole  44 . Importantly, large hole  44  has a generally square shape with rounded corners, as at  46 . 
     Referring back to  FIG. 2 , four conventional spikes  50  pass through holes  44  and secure the assembly  18  to the tie  14 . 
     Attached to plate  30  is a shoulder  52 . This shoulder  52  includes a base  54  having a somewhat square configuration with sloping sides, as at  56 . The base  54  also has a flat bottom surface  58  with a boss  60  extending downwardly from the surface  58 . The boss  60  has the same shape and size as hole  44 . The boss  60  has an outer surface with a circumferential groove  64 . 
     The shoulder  52  further includes a clamping wall  70  having a somewhat cylindrical outer surface  72  terminating in a sloping edge  74 . The clamping wall  70  is sized and shaped so that when the shoulder  52  is attached to the plate  18 , the slopping edge  74  abuts an upper portion of sloping wall  38 A on the plate. The clamping wall  70  also includes an inner surface  76 . This inner surface  76  has a partial cylindrical shape and forms with wall  38 A a horizontal hole  78 . 
     In one embodiment, the clamping wall  70  is provided with an end portion  80  on the inner surface  76 . The end portion  80  is formed with a semicircular cutout  82 . This cutout forms an opening  84  for hole  78 . 
     In an alternate embodiment, shoulder  52 A (also shown in  FIG. 4 , end portion  80 A extends across inner surface  76 A so when the shoulder is attached to the plate, there is no opening into the hole  78 . 
     Assembly  18  further includes a clip  90 . The clip  90  has one end  92  that is straight, an intermediate portion  94  and another straight portion  96 . The clip  90  preferably has a constant cross section. Its first end  90  is sized and shaped to fit into the hole  78  as shown. In this position, the rest of the clip is positioned so that its other end  94  biases the flange  20  downwardly towards the plate  18 . The clip  90  is made of steel or other high strength, somewhat flexible material to insure that the rail is firmly attached to the tie  12  through assembly  18 . The flexibility of the clip  90  allows the rail to move up and down slightly as a car goes by on the rail  16 . In the embodiment on the right side of  FIG. 3  rocks or other undesirable objects trapped in hole  78  are pushed out through opening  84 . 
     The shoulder  52  is preassembled with the plate  20 , for example by press-fitting the boss  62  through hole  44 . During this operation, pressure is also applied to the bottom portion of the plate  20  causing some of the material of the plate  20  to enter into and even fill slot  64 , as shown at  66  in  FIG. 3 . As a result, the shoulder  52  is firmly mounted and secured to plate  20  and cannot be dislodged easily. Moreover, because the boss  60  and hole  44  are both non-circular, the boss does not rotate with respect to plate  20  but remains firmly attached to it even while the assembly is subjected to extremely high pressures and torsional forces due to a train of several wheels passes by. Since the shoulder is securely mounted, the clip  90  is secured and remains secured to the plate  20  and will not rotate even under strong forces thereby permanently engaging clip  90 , and therefore the rail  16 . 
     Numerous modifications may be made to the invention without departing from its scope as defined in the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 4