Patent ID: 7707943

Claim:
Rail unloading apparatus for operation on a railway having a railway bed and tracks on the bed, and on a roadway for transport, comprising: a self-propelled vehicle having a frame with opposite sides; a plurality of wheel assemblies on said frame including tires for supporting the vehicle on the roadway; a plurality of railway wheels on said frame applicable to the tracks to support the vehicle thereon, said wheels being movable between a raised position wherein said wheels are above the roadway when said vehicle travels thereon supported by said tires, and a lowered position wherein said wheels are applied to the tracks to support said vehicle thereon with said tires above the railway bed; a rail threading mechanism on said frame through which a rail may be threaded for unloading the rail onto the railway bed, said threading mechanism being movable on said frame between an extended position wherein said threading mechanism projects beyond a side of the frame a selected distance for unloading of rails, and a retracted position wherein said threading mechanism is retracted to extend sidewardly less than said selected distance to exhibit a sideward profile sufficiently narrow for travel along said roadway; an arm assembly carrying said threading mechanism, said arm assembly being connected with said frame for rotational movement about a substantially vertical rotational axis to allow movement of said threading mechanism between said extended position and said retracted position; said threading mechanism comprising, a thread box on the vehicle providing a passage through which a rail may be threaded and having at least one support roller providing a support underlying a rail fed to said thread box, a pair of opposing jaws pivotal on said thread box between open and closed positions, with said jaws cooperating with said thread box to close said passage around the rail in said closed position and exposing said passage from the top in the open position to accommodate application of a rail to said support roller, and at least one jaw roller on each of said jaws applicable to a rail in said passage in said closed position, at least one of said rollers being driven to thread the rail through said passage when said jaws are in the closed position; and a rail feed device on said frame operable to feed the rail into said threading mechanism.