Patent Abstract:
A right of way grader that is attached to a Kershaw ballast regulator wing. The grader will be attached to the wing so that it can be moved toward and away from the wing, and in addition, it can be moved up and down and can be rotated from side to side. The grader will allow the device to extend its reach to an area outside the normal ballast area of a railroad track and to clear away brush and small trees which might impinge upon the ballast area. The grader reclaims ballast, drainage, and creates an improved walkway, thus providing a safe working area.

Full Description:
RIGHT OF WAY GRADER  
       [0001]    This is a CIP of Ser. No. 09/304,647, filed May 4, 1999, now pending.  
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates, in general, to graders, and, in particular, to right of way graders that can be used in conjunction with railroad cars.  
           [0003]    Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    In the prior art various types of graders have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,257,744 to Bohler discloses a blade attached to a railway car and which is movable toward and away from the side of the car by means of a line on a pulley system.  
           [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,944 to Speno discloses a side plow which has a blade attached to a railway car and is movable perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the car.  
           [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,347 to Hyman discloses a grader with a wheel that engages a guide member to move the grader perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the car.  
           [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,268 to Yard discloses a ballast box which is attached to a railway car and is moved toward and away from the car by a line on a pulley system and hydraulic cylinders.  
           [0008]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,532 to Muller discloses a device for leveling a railroad right of way by means of a blade which is moved by hydraulic cylinders.  
           [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,081 to Hannes discloses a grader attached to a railway car by means of a ram which cab be vertically adjusted with respect to the railway car.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    The present invention is directed to a right of way grader that is attached to a vehicle such as, but not limited to a Kershaw ballast regulator wing. The grader will be attached to the wing so that it can be moved toward and away from the wing, and in addition, the blade attached to the grader can be rotated. The grader will allow the device to extend its reach to an area outside the normal ballast area of a railroad track and to clear away brush and small trees which might impinge upon the ballast area.  
           [0011]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which can be attached to a railway vehicle to clear brush and small trees from the right of way.  
           [0012]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which can be adjusted with respect to the railway vehicle, and in addition, it can be moved up and down and can be rotated from side to side.  
           [0013]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which clears right of way of brush and other debris for a safer work or walking area.  
           [0014]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which recovers ballast that is too far away for a conventional regulator wing, thereby saving time and money which would be expended in unloading and applying new ballast.  
           [0015]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which would be useful in clearing snow from the right of way.  
           [0016]    These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be fully apparent from the following description, when taken in connection with the annexed drawings.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0018]    Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, the Figure shows the present invention  1  which can be attached to any type of railway vehicle. The grader of the present invention has a base  2 ,  3  which can be attached to a railway vehicle in any conventional manner. The base  2 ,  3  has a pair of side flanges  4  which extend from the base  2 ,  3  at an angle, and a support member  30  is attached to the ends of the side flanges  4 . The support member  30  has an upper rail  5  and a lower rail  6 . A boom support  18  is designed to fit between the upper and lower rails  5 ,  6  so it can slide from one side of the support member  30  toward the other side of the support member  30 .  
         [0019]    The boom support  30  receives an extension arm  20  which is pivotally secured to the boom support  30  by any conventional means such as, but not limited to, a pivot pin  17 , which can be secured through aligned apertures in the boom support  30  and the extension arm  20 . The apertures that receive the pin  17  are not seen in the Figure since they are hidden by other details of the boom support  30  and the extension arm  20 . However, this type of pivoting structure is well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art.  
         [0020]    A first hydraulic cylinder  16  is attached at one end to the boom support  18 , by any conventional means, and the hydraulic cylinder  16  is attached at another end to the extension arm  20  by a bracket  19 . The bracket  19  can be secured to the extension arm  20  by any conventional means. Because of the way the hydraulic cylinder is attached to the boom support  18  and the extension arm  20 , when the conventional hydraulic cylinder arm  31  is extended, it will cause the extension arm  20  to pivot downwardly about the longitudinal axis of the pivot pin  17 . When the hydraulic cylinder arm  31  is retracted, it will cause the extension arm  20  to pivot upwardly about the longitudinal axis of the pivot pin  17 . In this manner, i.e. by extending and retracting the hydraulic cylinder arm  31 , the operator of the present invention  1  can control how close to the ground the blade  26  will be positioned.  
         [0021]    It should be noted that all of the hydraulic cylinders ( 16 ,  21 ,  24  and  15 ) are conventional cylinders that are controlled by hydraulic oil circuits and valves mounted in the railway vehicle (not shown). In the usual manner with such cylinders, hydraulic oil is supplied to the cylinders from either a separate source or from the hydraulic system of the railway vehicle. The oil is supplied to the cylinders ( 16 ,  21 ,  24  and  15 ) by means of separate oil lines which are attached to the individual cylinders in any conventional manner. The oil lines are not shown in the Figure for reasons of clarity, however, since the oil lines are conventional and attached in a conventional manner any person of ordinary skill in the art would instantly know how to attach and use the oil lines and cylinders. Therefore, such a showing is unnecessary and if shown would obscure more important details of the present invention.  
         [0022]    The position of the extension arm  20  with respect to the support member  30  is also controlled by a second hydraulic cylinder  15 . The second hydraulic cylinder  15  is connected to a support member side flange  12  by means of a bracket  14 , and the hydraulic cylinder arm  32  of the second hydraulic cylinder is secured to the extension arm  20  in any conventional manner. Therefore, when the extension arm  32  is retracted into the cylinder  15 , the extension arm  20  will move toward the side flange  12 . When the extension arm  32  is extended out of the cylinder  15 , the extension arm  20  will move away from the side flange  12 . In this manner the operator can control the position of the blade  26  with respect to the support member  30 . It should be noted that the second hydraulic extension arm  32  is shown in the Figure to be attached to the extension arm, however, it could instead be attached to the boom support  18  which would result in the same type of operator control.  
         [0023]    Also, it should be noted that the length of the second hydraulic cylinder  15  and arm  32  can be varied to provide more or less movement of the extension arm  20  with respect to the support member  30 . Since the second hydraulic cylinder  15  and arm  32  are mounted at an angle to the extension arm  20 , they will hold the extension arm  20  and the boom support  18  against the support member  30  due to the force vectors created by the second hydraulic cylinder  15  and arm  32 . Since force vectors are a well known engineering concept no further description is necessary or will be given.  
         [0024]    In addition, the support member side flange  12  has a chain  13  attached thereto in any conventional manner. Only a portion of the chain  13  is shown in the Figure, for purposes of clarity, however, it should be noted that the length of the chain would be selected so it can be wrapped around the extension arm  20  and secured thereto in any conventional manner to hold the extension arm while the railway vehicle (not shown) is being moved from one job site to another. This will lessen any strain on the hydraulic system which would normally be used to hold the extension arm in a selected position.  
         [0025]    As shown in the Figure, the lower portion of the support member  30  has a pair of lower side flanges  7  which are pivotally attached to the support member  30  by hinges  33 . The lower side flanges  7  are connected together by a pair of telescoping rods  9 ,  10  which are attached to the lower side flanges  7  by brackets  8 . The side flanges  7  can be adjusted by adjusting the length of the telescoping rods  9 ,  10  to engage and collect ballast.  
         [0026]    A blade support bracket  22  is attached to the end of the arm  20  by a pivot pin  34 . A third hydraulic cylinder  21  is secured to the extension arm  20  by means of a bracket  19 , and a third hydraulic extension arm  35  is secured to the blade support bracket  22  by a bracket  19 . When the third hydraulic extension arm  35  is extended from the third hydraulic cylinder, this will cause the blade support bracket  22  to pivot about the pivot pin  34 .  
         [0027]    The blade support bracket  22  receives a blade support column  23 . The column  23  is attached to the blade support  25  by any conventional means. The column  23  is inserted through apertures in the bottom and top of the blade support bracket  22  and a pin  36  is passed through apertures in the blade support column  23  to prevent the blade support column from passing back through the apertures in the blade support bracket  22 .  
         [0028]    A fourth hydraulic cylinder  24  is attached at one end to the blade support bracket  22  by any conventional means. A fourth hydraulic extension arm  37  is connected to the blade support  25  by means of a bracket  19 . The blade support  25  has side wings  29  attached at opposite ends of the blade support. The side wings  29  are for creating a box blade and can be removable by any conventional means. Side wings  29  make it possible to evenly distribute fine materials, ballast, mounds of dirt, etc.  
         [0029]    When the fourth hydraulic extension arm  37  is retracted into the fourth hydraulic cylinder  24 , this will cause the blade support  25  to pivot about the vertical axis of the blade support column  23  in a counterclockwise direction. When the fourth hydraulic extension arm  37  is extended from the fourth hydraulic cylinder  24 , this will cause the blade support  25  to pivot about the vertical axis of the blade support column  23  in a clockwise direction. This will give the operator control over the angle of the blade  26  with respect to the extension arm  20 .  
         [0030]    The blade  26  is attached to the blade support  25  by means of threaded fasteners  27 . The blade  26  is double sided so when one side (the side closest to the ground in the Figure) becomes dull, the blade can be removed from the blade support  25 , by removing the threaded fasteners  27 , flipped over and reassembled on the blade support  25  by reinserting the threaded fasteners  27 . This will allow the blade to last longer before it has to be resharpened, thereby prolonging the useful life of the blade. In addition, teeth  28  can be attached to the blade support  25  in order to increase the cutting or scraping power of the blade  26 . The teeth  28  are detachably attached to the blade and can be attached in the down position (the position shown in the Figure) or the teeth can be reversed and put in an up position, i.e. a position where the teeth will not be used, so they will be out of the way when doing normal grading.  
         [0031]    Although the Right of Way Grader and the method of using the same according to the present invention has been described in the foregoing specification with considerable details, it is to be understood that modifications may be made to the invention which do not exceed the scope of the appended claims and modified forms of the present invention done by others skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be considered infringements of this invention when those modified forms fall within the claimed scope of this invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 4