The present invention relates to tracks for example, of the type used on railway systems and to apparatus which facilitates the easy replacement and removal of tracks.
The prior art discloses a great number of patents which relate to the construction and fabrication of railroad track configurations. Essentially, patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,292,796 entitled A RAILROAD TIE AND CLAMP relate to such configurations wherein a railroad tie is formed principally of concrete. This patent shows track configurations which are secured in the concrete via recesses formed in the concrete which contains large coiled springs.
Patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,339,046 depict an entire rail and track assembly which is mainly fabricated from concrete and where a rail is held to a concrete base by the means of clamps secured to the track member via bolts. Other patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,337,497 depict a track configuration whereby tracks are secured to a concrete base member by means of large bolts operating in conjunction with a metal anchor box; which box is permanently embedded in the concrete. Other patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,382,815 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,200 depict alternate techniques of constructing and placing railroad track to primarily eliminate various problems which exist in the most conventional track formations as ones employing steel track and wooden railroad ties.
In any event and in spite of the many embodiments depicted in the prior art and contained in Class 104, Sub-class 236 and Class 238, Sub-classes 264, 265 and 267, there remains a greater problem which has not been solved by any of the prior art references as particularly described above. Namely, railroad cars are used in many operations besides transportation of persons or cargo. There are virtually thousands of miles of railroad track which are employed in various industrial processing procedures. As such, these tracks are used in the steel industry, the coal industry and so on to transport various waste matter from a processing plant to a disposal site.
In regard to the steel industry, railroad tracks are used to transport slag or other industrial wastes which may be formed during a coking operation. Railroad cars are used to transport coke to a quenching site. In such operations, the tracks employ wooden ties to anchor the steel rails as is conventional. Due to chemicals, alkalies and deleterious substances formed during such processes, these tracks are constantly subjected to deterioration and wear. Hence, in a typical industrial operation, the tracks are continuously being replaced due to the corrosive action of the quenching sustances. It is thus apparent that a great deal of money and time are spent each and every year in continuously replacing such track configurations.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a track configuration which eliminates the need for wooden railroad ties, while providing apparatus which is easily and reliably replaceable.