Draft gear for railroad car coupler system

A railroad car coupler system draft gear comprising:

• a housing having a hollow cast body divided into an inner section and an outer friction bore section,
• elastomeric means carried in said inner section,
• an intermediate follower engaging said elastomeric means and having an outer end extending into said housing friction bore section,
• a top and a pair of side friction shoe seats each defined by pairs of inner surfaces of sidewalls of said housing friction bore section and corners formed at a joinder of said pairs of said sidewall inner surfaces,
• a grooved recess formed as part of each said friction shoe seat, said recess having an inner and outer groove portion positioned substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said housing and a connecting groove portion joining said inner and outer groove portions and positioned in proximate alignment with said seat corner with a lower and upper wall of said connecting groove portion of said side grooved recesses positioned to form an enlarged opening into each said side grooved recess connecting groove portion,
• an insert having a rigid body of a bronze-like material defined by a pair of elongated segments and a connecting segment joined thereto with one each of said inserts disposed in said friction seat grooved recesses,
• a set of friction shoes carried one each in said housing friction bore friction shoe seats, said friction shoes having wear surfaces spaced apart by a radiused end with said shoe wear surfaces in contact respectively with said insert elongated segments and said shoe radiused ends positioned to engage said insert connecting segments, and
• a wedge positioned between said friction shoes with said wedge having sloped wedging surfaces engaging with inside walls of said shoes,
• wherein said grooved recesses may be formed as said housing is cast by a core prepared in a two-piece core box having core portions mating to align with said top friction shoe seat recess connecting groove portion, and an impacting force on said wedge may move said wedge inward toward an end wall of said housing to force said shoes radially outward and move said shoes inward under a frictional restraint, said restraint being regulated in part by material of said insert acting as a lubricant to control a coefficient of friction between said shoes and said friction shoe seats, said inward shoe movement on occasions being sufficient to uncover said friction shoe seat grooved recess outer groove portions with said insert body maintaining said insert elongated segment in said outer groove portion to insure continued control of said frictional restraint.