Patent ID: 7302994

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a railcar coupler knuckle, comprising: providing a cope mold portion and a drag mold portion, the cope and drag mold portions having internal walls defining at least in part perimeter boundaries of a coupler knuckle mold cavity; positioning one internal core within either the cope mold portion or the drag mold portion, the one internal core configured to define a kidney cavity, a finger cavity and a pivot pin cavity within a coupler knuckle; closing the cope and drag mold portions with the one internal core therebetween; and at least partially filling the mold cavity with a molten alloy, the molten alloy solidifying after filling to form the coupler knuckle wherein the internal core comprising: a kidney portion configured to define the kidney cavity of the coupler knuckle; a finger portion configured to define the finger cavity of the coupler knuckle; and a pivot pin portion configured to define the pivot pin cavity of the coupler knuckle.