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11/17/2015

Gradall Industries: Kinshofer rail maintenance machine options

Gradall Industries Inc. has reached a business agreement with the Kinshofer Crane and Excavator Attachments to make new highly productive options available for railroads, municipal transit systems and others who purchase Gradall railway maintenance machines.
 
The Gradall machines are popular worldwide for their versatility — building and repairing grade crossings, cleaning up landslides, controlling vegetation and replacing ties — meeting both routine and emergency needs.  Gradall railway maintenance machines feature telescoping booms that can tilt 220 degrees and work on low-profile sites inside tunnels and under bridges.
 
The heart of the Kinshofer option offering is the Nox-Tiltrotator — a boom-end hydraulic quick-coupling device that expands the Gradall boom tilt advantages by offering a 360-degree continuous attachment rotation and additional tilting angles up to 55 degrees in each direction.
 
The quick coupler and attachments are controlled with two joysticks, affixed to the standard Gradall operator joysticks. Using the Noxprop control system, tilt and rotation are managed with proportional solenoid valves that can be run simultaneously and monitored with a separate display module. The system is engineered to facilitate the control of 10 valves, and offers a choice to configure the control system using a laptop computer or a smartphone and a special Kinshofer app.
 
Using the Nox-Tiltrotator, a large variety of attachments are available including several highly productive tools for the rail industry. Among them is the RUS Sleeper Layer, a highly dedicated tool to grab and position rail ties during construction and repair work. The ties are clamped together at their centers at the same time by hydraulic grippers and then laid into the ballast bed, saving time compared to placing the ties individually. Nearly all types of ties can be clamped securely, even at pressure drops thanks to a special integrated holding valve.

The RUS2 Sleeper Layer is also dedicated to the clamping and positioning of nearly all types of waisted ties, but the tool clamps them at the ends instead of the centers.

Some other attachments popular with the rail industry include the Ballast Brush, running backward and forward to level and distribute ballast on tracks. Ballast Tampers are available in single or double configurations, with or without vibrating units. Rail Clamshell Buckets can be used to excavate ballast between rail ties.