Patent ID: 8376160

Claim:
A key retainer for a railway car coupler key, comprising: a retainer guide having an open end, a closed end, and two opposed sides extending from the closed end defining a slot; the retainer guide having two opposed flanges, each of said opposed flanges having a through hole, and said through holes being vertically aligned; a key stop inserted in the open end of the retainer guide and slidable within the retainer guide to a position abutting the closed end of the retainer guide; the key stop having a flange having a through hole, said through hole on the key stop being vertically aligned with the through holes on the opposed flanges on the retainer guide when the key stop is abutting the closed end of the retainer guide; and a locking member received in said through holes in the flanges of the retainer guide and key stop to secure the key stop in the retainer guide; wherein, the retainer guide is adapted to be mounted on the outside of a railway car sill having a cutout at one end exposing at least a portion of a key slot on a yoke, so that at least a portion of said retainer guide is aligned with at least a portion of the cutout on the sill, and the locking member does not experience load when a lateral load is applied to the coupler key during normal operation of the railway car.