Patent ID: 7735746

Claim:
A joint assembly for joining together abutting ends of two coaxially aligned rails ( 1 ) between two railway ties ( 25 ), the rails having a head portion ( 52 ), a web portion ( 46 ) and a toe portion ( 48 ), the assembly comprising: first and second elongated metal joint bars ( 7 ) for holding the abutting ends of the rails together, the joint bars spanning the ends of the rails, the joint bars being mounted to each rail on opposite sides of the web portions of each rail, the joint bars configured to mount to the web portions of the rail between the head and toe portion of each rail, first ( 60 ) and second ( 62 ) saddle plates connected together and mounted to the first and second joint bars, respectively, such that the joint bars and the web portion of the rails are sandwiched between the saddle plates, the saddle plates each having a top edge ( 56 ), a bottom portion ( 58 ) and opposite lower ends ( 54 ), with each of the saddle plates spanning the abutting ends of the rail, the bottom portion of the saddle plates extending below the toe portion of the rails, the opposite lower ends of the saddle plates being notched to accommodate the ties having the web portion and the joint bars having a plurality coaxially aligned apertures for receiving a thimble bushing which runs through the bar end the saddle but not through the rail where a bolt runs through insulated thimble bushings which are used to protect the bolts ( 4 ) from touching the rail in an insulated joint where said thimble bushings consist of non-conductive polymer tube ( 100 ) that is inserted through the joint bars ( 7 ) and saddle ( 9 ) but not the rail where said insulated thimble bushings have a flattened bar ring at the end of the thimble.