The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 04, 2014
Filed:
Mar. 02, 2012
H. Lynn Turner, Leander, TX (US);
William C. Shell, Georgetown, TX (US);
Brian Roger Vanvoorst, Minneapolis, MN (US);
David Rozacky, Taylor, TX (US);
Carlos Martinez, Cedar Park, TX (US);
Charles W. Aaron, Salado, TX (US);
John Joseph Shackleton, Jr., Minneapolis, MN (US);
Joel Scott Howard, Bedford, TX (US);
H. Lynn Turner, Leander, TX (US);
William C. Shell, Georgetown, TX (US);
Brian Roger VanVoorst, Minneapolis, MN (US);
David Rozacky, Taylor, TX (US);
Carlos Martinez, Cedar Park, TX (US);
Charles W. Aaron, Salado, TX (US);
John Joseph Shackleton, Jr., Minneapolis, MN (US);
Joel Scott Howard, Bedford, TX (US);
Georgetown Rail Equipment Company, Georgetown, TX (US);
Abstract
A method for delivering ballast to a section of railroad track includes measuring an existing ballast profile of a section of railroad track using a remote sensing system, and providing a signal indicative thereof to a first computer. Using the first computer, the existing ballast profile is compared with an ideal ballast profile to compute a track file representing a volume of additional ballast needed as a function of linear position along the section of railroad track, and data representing the track file is transmitted to a second computer of an automatic ballast dump train. Ballast is dumped along the section of railroad track according to the track file under control of the second computer.