For Miner, a ‘Milestone’

Miner Enterprises’ TF-880 draft gear. (Miner Photograph)

Miner Enterprises on May 29 reported selling more than 1.7 million TF-880™ draft gears since receiving Association of American Railroads’ M-1003 quality certification almost 40 years ago, and that these friction elastomer gears have surpassed two million miles of service.

The TF-880™, a “Miner Milestone” product, “continues to deliver significant measures of value” to railcar owners, fleet operators, leasing companies, railroads and shippers, the 130-year-old Geneva, Ill.-based railcar component manufacturer said.

The TF-880™’s “light weight and high-performance design maximizes railcar protection while minimizing life cycle costs,” the company noted. “This double benefit is achieved via the friction clutch and how it amplifies the energy absorption of the TF-880’s patented TecsPak® spring package.

Engineered by Miner, TecsPak® elastomer spring packages provide superior energy management and a consistently robust spring package, compared to steel springs, for applications spanning the transportation industry.”

TF-880™ specifications include an official travel rating of 2.93 inches, official capacity of 45,520 foot-pounds, official maximum capacity of 52,640 foot-pounds, and gear weight of 270 pounds. It “continues to deliver significant measures of value to railcar owners, fleet operators, leasing companies and railroads—not to mention the shippers who hire them to move precious cargo across the globe,” Miner said. “Rigorous field tests over the years continue to confirm that these energy management workhorses still perform within specs after two million miles of service.”

The TF-880™ is one of Miner’s draft gears classified under AAR M-901E/Group J ((3.25 inches travel, 24.625 standard pocket). Other draft gears in this category are the Crown SE™ and SL-76™.

Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono covered draft gears and their history in the February 2024 issue of the magazine: “A U.S. patent was issued to William H. Miner, founder of the company that is today’s Miner Enterprises, on Oct. 20, 1891, for a ‘true tandem spring draft gear,’” he reported. “This set the stage for a 30-year product run. W.H. Miner spring draft gears ‘filled a special need during the railroads’ transition from wooden frames and the standardization of draft gear pockets, automatic couplers and braking systems from approximately 1885 to 1919,’ the company notes. ‘The key patents involved in this evolutionary period of our draft gear business is covered in The Amazing Story of the Miner Spring Draft Rigging.’

“‘The object of my invention,’ William H. Miner said, ‘is to provide a draft-rigging of a simple, strong, and efficient construction, embodying great buffing and pulling resistance, and providing for a gradual or cushioned absorption and transmission of strains and shocks to the body of the car. To this end, my invention consists of a drawbar having springs arranged tandem between the draw-timbers and through which the strains and shocks, either pulling or buffing, are gradually absorbed and transmitted to the draft-timbers. In this matter of conserving railway revenue, it is essential that the draft gear should be a scientific mechanical appliance with the same degree of care represented in its design, material and construction as should be embodied in a high duty machine tool.’”