Lightweight drawbar assembly

Abstract

A slackless drawbar coupler assembly for use in combination with a railway car having a center sill wherein the drawbar has a shank portion extending to an enlarged truncated butt end portion defining essentially a convex, hemispherical buff load bearing surface, with an aperture at the axis of the hemispherical buff load bearing surface, and includes a rear support block having a concave hemispherical buff load bearing surface on one side adapted to engage the convex, hemispherical buff load bearing surface on the drawbar. A spool for supporting an end of the drawbar is provided which is a generally rectangular sleeve-like body having a first pair of horizontally disposed and parallel side wall members transverse to a second pair of vertically disposed and parallel top and bottom wall members, such that a drawbar pivot pin is disposed through the aperture in the drawbar, the ends of which are secured within aligned apertures in one of the pair of horizontally disposed and parallel wall members of the spool to permit pivotal motion of the drawbar on the pivot pin, while a support housing securable to the center sill of the railway car is provided for pivotally supporting the spool within rectangular cavity on an axis perpendicular to the drawbar pivot pin.