Patent ID: 8672151

Claim:
A draft gear assembly for cushioning buff and draft dynamic impact forces encountered during make-up and operation of a railcar and applied to said draft gear assembly along a central axis thereof, said draft gear assembly comprising: (a) a housing; and (b) a compressible elastomeric spring stack disposed within said housing along said central axis, said compressible elastomeric spring stack including a plurality of compressible elastomeric springs disposed in series with each other, each of said plurality of compressible elastomeric springs including: i. a compressible elastomeric pad, ii. a rigid member having one surface thereof positioned in direct contact with one end surface of said compressible elastomeric pad, said rigid member further having a central aperture formed through a thickness thereof, said thickness defined by another surface spaced from said one surface of said rigid member along said central axis, said one and another surfaces are planar surfaces disposed normal to said central axis, iii. an abutment upstanding axially on said one end surface of said compressible elastomeric pad, said abutment having a peripheral surface thereof so sized that said abutment is received within said central aperture formed through said thickness of said rigid member, and iv. an annular lip disposed on a distal end of said axial abutment in a plane being substantially transverse to said central axis, whereby an annular thickness portion of said rigid member is caged between said one end surface of said compressible elastomeric pad and an inner surface of said annular lip, whereby an outer surface of said lip extends above said another surface of said rigid member.