Patent ID: 8876457

Claim:
A railroad tie stacker, comprising: a conveyor defining a left side, a right side, an upstream end and a downstream end and including a tie accumulation deck at the downstream end having means for supporting a plurality of ties in a parallel arrangement to form a layer of ties; a stack accumulation lift located downstream from the tie accumulation deck, said stack accumulation lift having a top surface and including means for lowering the elevation of the top surface as successive layers of ties are deposited on the stack accumulation lift; and transport means for moving a layer of ties from the tie accumulation deck to the stack accumulation lift; wherein said means for supporting a plurality of ties in a parallel arrangement to form a layer of ties includes means for supporting the ties arranged in a parallel arrangement with a first end of each of said parallel ties on the left side and a second end of each of said parallel ties on the right side, and further comprising: means on the left side of said conveyor for placing a first perpendicular tie on top of the first ends of said layer of ties supported on the tie accumulation deck before depositing said layer of ties onto the stack accumulation lift, said first perpendicular tie extending in the upstream-downstream direction; and means on the right side of said conveyor for placing a second perpendicular tie on top of the second ends of a layer of parallel ties supported on the tie accumulation deck before depositing said layer of ties onto the stack accumulation lift, said second perpendicular tie extending in the upstream-downstream direction.