Patent ID: 8668788

Claim:
Handling machine for handling a rail, provided with a head and a flange, the machine comprising: a plurality of tilting means for tilting the rail from a first position inclined on a side thereof to a second position wherein the rail head is turned upwards; a plurality of handlers provided with clamping means adapted to clamp the rail at the flange, wherein each of said clamping means are provided with two jaws, pivotable around respective pivoting pins and configured so that the rail clamping occurs by contacting portions of internal surface of the jaws only with the sides of the flange of the rail, wherein each of said tilting means comprises leverages adapted to actuate a respective first plate and a respective second plate, each pair of first and second plates being hinged to a same pin, characterised in that the handlers are adapted to move the rail from said second position wherein the rail head is turned upwards to a third position wherein the rail head is turned downwards, and the first and second plates of each pair are configured so as to tilt the rail from the first position inclined on a side thereof, where said first and second plates of each pair are aligned so as to define a L-shaped cross section as a whole, to the second position wherein the rail head is turned upwards, where said first and second plates of each pair define a C-shaped cross section as a whole, and wherein the second plates in said second position are adapted to cooperate with the handlers whereby, before the clamping of the rail, a straightening of the rail occurs by rotating the handlers starting from a resting position thereof in order to raise up the rail to reach a contacting position between the rail head and the second plates.