US Patent Issued to Kershaw Equipment on July 14 for "Mechanical sand removal" (Alabama Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 14 -- United States Patent no. 12,680,250, issued on July 14, was assigned to Kershaw Equipment LLC (Chicago).

"Mechanical sand removal" was invented by William S. Kirksey (Wetumpka, Ala.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A mechanical sand remover removes sand from a railroad rail and includes an actuator and a pair of web wiper pads having a lateral dimension that corresponds to a lateral dimension of a rail web of the railroad rail. A caliper mechanism is mechanically coupled to the actuator and is operable thereby into a retraction state and an engagement state. The caliper mechanism includes a pair of caliper arms respectively coupled to the web wiper pads at an angle r...