British Steel Plc.

Other

British Railways Board

William H Hodgson

David Farrington

Christopher John Cedric Jones

John Barry Clarke

Colin G Stanworth

David John Thompson

David J Thompson

A damper for reducing the track nose emitted by a rail system comprises a deformable material attachable to a surface of the rail, incorporating a plurality of elongate discontinuous resonant members of a stiff material as compared to the deformable material, sized to contain at least two resonant frequencies in the range of interest. The resonant members are suitably of steel or other metallic material. They can be of different profile, to form a resonant system with at least two resonant frequencies in the relevant frequency range. They are suitably embedded in the deformable material, to ensure adequate vibrational transfer from the rail to the resonant members and also provide environmental protection. The deformable member is visco-elastic, for example rubber or rubber-like material. This may be preformed and glued to the rail, or it can be cured in place on the rail. The damper is positioned on the rail at the junction between the web and the foot of the rail. One resonant member can be an elongate angled section, the angle preferably matching the angle between external surfaces of the head and foot. Another resonant member can be a solid elongate block, the external faces adjacent the web and foot being angled to match.

Rail fixings

A rail which has secured to it a composite body for absorbing vibrational energy whereby to reduce noise generated by vehicular traffic on the rail. The composite body comprises a visco-elastic damping medium 5 bonded to, and sandwiched between, both the rail and a constraining member, e.g. a steel strip 6, substantially stiffer in tension than the damping medium.

Railways

According to the invention there is provided a railway sleeper having a formed inverted channel-shaped section the ends of which have their upper surfaces downwardly inclined and shaped in a corrugated fashion to add strength and rigidity to said ends. The `dished spade` end contour of the sleeper may be pressed from a standard rolled steel channel section. By virtue of the stronger ends thus produced these portions can sustain a greater load than the conventional design hitherto--this means that the length of the sleeper according to this invention may be much shorter, e.g. 20% less than the conventional design for the same load bearing capacity, representing a considerable cost savings. The shape facilitates stacking, and lateral insertion beneath the track for track maintenance and replacement etc.

Railway sleeper with spade-like end contours

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Braithwaite, United Kingdom

William H Hodgson