Rail Stress Meter
The Rail Stress meter is a portable device to measure longitudenal rail stress. The method involves the gluing of a strain gauge to the rail. The Rail Stress Meter is connected to the Strain Gauge, then zeroed. The rail is subsequently cut near the strain gauge, which releases all stress, provided the rail is unclipped in the vicinity of the cut and strain gauge.
The Rail Stress meter is calibrated in degrees temperature instead of units of strain. If the rail was under stress, the Rail Stress Meter will indicate the temperature difference between the stressed and the unstressed rail. A built-in temperature sensor provides the current rail temperature, adding the stress temperature difference yields the original neutral temperature. The Rail Stress Meter also performs the addition.
The electronic unit is powered by internal AA batteries.