Cushioning unit with reduced tail yoke
AssigneeStrato, Inc.
InventorsJonathan Sunde, Michael Ring
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cushioning apparatus for a railway car employs a shortened yoke with a reduced-width tail for placement between stops in a conventional railway car sill. A first stack of rigid plates with elastomeric pads is provided between the straps of the modified yoke behind the coupler follower, and a second stack of plates and elastomeric pads is positioned in the sill behind the modified yoke to absorb buff loads on the coupler. In embodiments, the entire assembly may be placed in a sill having forward stops, intermediate stops, and rear stops, adapted to house a hydraulic cushioning unit.
Claims17
A method, comprising:
- positioning a tail wall of a yoke between inside surfaces of a pair of intermediate stops on opposed inside surfaces of a railway car sill;
- positioning a nose of the yoke between inside surfaces of a pair of front stops on the opposed inside surfaces of the railway car sill;
- and
- absorbing, with a stack of elastomeric units positioned between the tail wall and the nose, draft and buff loads on a coupler received through an opening in the nose in a contact with a coupler-receiving member contacting the stack.
A method, comprising:
- positioning an end-of-car cushioning apparatus between inside surfaces of a pair of intermediate stops on opposed inside surfaces of a railway car sill and between inside surfaces of a pair of front stops on the opposed inside surfaces of the railway car sill, the end- of-car cushioning apparatus comprising a yoke, a stack of elastomeric units and a coupler-receiving member, the stack and the coupler-receiving member disposed in a contact with each other within a pocket of the yoke;
- inserting a coupler through an opening in a nose of the yoke to contact the coupler- receiving member;
- and
- absorbing, with the stack, draft and buff loads on the coupler.
A method, comprising:
- sizing a tail wall of a yoke to fit between inside surfaces of a pair of intermediate stops on opposed inside surfaces of a railway car sill;
- sizing a nose of the yoke to fit between inside surfaces of a pair of front stops on the opposed inside surfaces of the railway car sill;
- connecting the tail wall and the nose with two straps disposed at a distance from each other, a width of each strap from the two straps being sized smaller than a width of the nose and a width of the tail wall;
- positioning a stack of elastomeric units within a pocket of the yoke between the tail wall and the nose;
- and
- positioning a coupler-receiving member within the pocket between the nose and the stack of elastomeric units.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.