Locomotive wreck repair
First Claim
1. A method of preparing for the repair of a damaged locomotive, the locomotive being one of a fleet of individually unique locomotives, the method comprising:
- providing a database containing as-built parts information regarding a plurality of locomotives;
defining a plurality of repair kits, each repair kit including those parts of a respective locomotive that would have to be replaced to repair damage to the respective locomotive caused by any one of a plurality of predefined collision events involving any one of a plurality of regions of the respective locomotive, the repair kits including parts selected from the as-built parts information of the database for the respective locomotive;
communicating a user'"'"'s assessment of damage to one of the regions of a selected one of the plurality of locomotives;
designating a specific repair kit in response to the assessment of damage; and
communicating such designation to the user.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system (100) and method for expediting the repair of a locomotive (102) having sustained damage (104) as a result of a collision. A library of as-built parts information (114) is manipulated to define a plurality of repair kits (110) each containing all of the parts necessary to repair the damage expected from a predefined collision event. A particular repair kit may be selected by a user in response to an actual collision to obtain a listing of the parts (308), a cost estimate (318) and a delivery forecast (320). All of the necessary parts may then be ordered as a unit and delivered to a repair location (106) in a single shipment, thereby minimizing the chance of missing or misplaced parts. The system may be accessed via an information network, and the selection of specific repair kit may be facilitated by the use of a graphical user interface to point-and-click on the damaged regions of the locomotive.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of preparing for the repair of a damaged locomotive, the locomotive being one of a fleet of individually unique locomotives, the method comprising:
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providing a database containing as-built parts information regarding a plurality of locomotives;
defining a plurality of repair kits, each repair kit including those parts of a respective locomotive that would have to be replaced to repair damage to the respective locomotive caused by any one of a plurality of predefined collision events involving any one of a plurality of regions of the respective locomotive, the repair kits including parts selected from the as-built parts information of the database for the respective locomotive;
communicating a user'"'"'s assessment of damage to one of the regions of a selected one of the plurality of locomotives;
designating a specific repair kit in response to the assessment of damage; and
communicating such designation to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29)
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13. A method of preparing for the repair of a damaged locomotive, the method comprising:
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providing a database containing information regarding a locomotive, the information including a listing of parts of the locomotive;
defining in the database a plurality of repair kits, each repair kit including those parts of the locomotive that would have to be replaced to repair damage to the locomotive caused by a respective plurality of predefined collision events;
providing access to the database to allow a user to select a specific repair kit from among the plurality of repair kits.
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25. A method of preparing for the repair of a damaged locomotive, the method comprising:
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assessing the extent of damage to a locomotive;
using a database containing as-built parts information regarding the locomotive to develop a list of parts necessary to repair the damage to the locomotive;
accumulating the parts identified in the list of parts together to form a repair kit for repairing the damage to the locomotive; and
shipping the repair kit as a unit to a location where the locomotive will be repaired.
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28. A system for preparing for the repair of a damaged locomotive, the system comprising:
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a parts database containing information regarding the as-built parts contained in a locomotive;
a plurality of repair kits defined in the parts database, each repair kit containing a grouping of all of the parts that would have to be replaced to repair damage to the locomotive caused by a respective plurality of predefined collision events;
a data port for accessing the database to select a specific repair kit in response to actual damage to the locomotive.
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Specification