Patent ID: 7849748

Claim:
An ultrasonic railroad rail inspection system for in situ rail inspection comprising: a carriage capable of travelling on a railroad rail; a wheel assembly suspended from the carriage and having a fluid-filled tire for rolling contact with a head of an underlying rail of the railroad rail on which the carriage travels, the tire forming a contact patch with the head of the underlying rail; and an ultrasonic transducer being supported within the tire for propagating an ultrasonic beam along a beam axis through the fluid and the tire into the head of the underlying rail, the beam axis passing into the rail at a first angle greater than 0 (zero) degrees to a vertical longitudinal median plane of the rail and a second angle greater than 0 (zero) degrees to a vertical transverse plane of the rail, the transducer being supported such that the beam axis crosses the vertical longitudinal median plane prior to intersecting the head of the rail within the contact patch at a position offset from the vertical longitudinal median plane of the rail on the same side of the head penetrated and inspected by the ultrasonic beam.