1361406 Railway track maintenance machines F PLASSER 19 April 1971 [17 April 1970] 27127/71 Heading E1G In a machine for lifting, levelling and tamping a railway track in association with a track levelling reference system, spaced sleepers or sleeper-pairs are engaged by leading and trailing tamping heads 10, 20 mounted for relative horizontal displacement on leading and trailing chasses 4, 8 which are articulated together at 5 and are supported by wheel assemblies such as 2, 3, 6, 7, the arrangement being such that (a) the trailing tamping head 20 lies between front and rear wheel assemblies, and (b) there is a wheel assembly between the leading and trailing tamping heads. The pairs of tamping tools across the heads 10, 20 are said to close asynchronously. Ballast between and beyond the sleepers is compacted by a rear longitudinally-adjustable surface consolidator 56 and by central and rear ballast shoulder consolidators 57. The leading chassis 4 has a track lifting and aligning head 14, while the trailing chassis 8 may have a similar head but as shown has a vertically-adjustable trolley 24 which limits the lift imposed by the trailing tamping tools. The track level is monitored by an infra-red reference system 36-38, a cable reference system 29, and a laser beam system 48, effective in both horizontal and vertical planes 47, 47', the systems having associated rail-engaging trolleys one of which, 35, is shown as retractable. The track alignment is monitored by a pair of wires 44, 45 and trolley 46. The machine advance is controlled by distancemeasuring wheels 51 and by sleeper detectors 50 in the form of pulse transmitters as in Specification 1347013 and carries a paint spray 53. Figs. 6-10 (not shown) diagrammatically illustrate five modified machines: In Fig. 10 the articulated connection between the leading and trailing chasses incorporates a horizontal piston and cylinder (79) to vary their spacing. In Fig. 6 the twin tamping heads of Fig. 1 are replaced by single heads and the trailing chassis has only one wheel assembly (7a) of its own. In Fig. 7 the leading and trailing chasses are articulated to a common central bogie and each carries a pair of relatively-displacable single tamping heads. In Fig. 8 the leading and trailing chasses comprise independently mobile units articulated together at adjustable spacing by a piston and cylinder (68), the chassis respectively carrying a twin tamping head (10c) and a single head 20(c), together with surface consolidators (70). In Fig. 9 the leading chassis (71), with its single tamping head 10d, has no wheel assemblies of its own, but is articulatedly supported on the front end of the wheeled trailing chassis (72).
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