Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Tsuda Industries Co., Ltd.

Sumitomo Denki Kogyo K.k.

Akiyoshi Hirai

Hiroshi Uemura

Masakazu Ishikawa

Takeshi Noguchi

Yasuo Hagisato

Takeshi Kondo

Sadayoshi Ito

Masachika Yamamoto

Yutaka Inuzuka

George Suzuki

Michiyuki Murakami

Ryoichi Kimura

Takahiko Watanabe

A shift lever assembly operatively linked with a transmission, for manually operating the transmission, including a shift lever, a support, and a pair of stationary retainer plates. The shift lever has a handle portion at which the shift lever is manipulated, and a spherical coupling portion at which the shift lever is universally supported. The support consists of two halves in the form of a pair of support sheets which have respective adjoining surfaces substantially parallel to a plane in which the shift lever extends. The support sheets cooperate with each other to provide a spherical support portion which engages the spherical coupling portion of the shift lever for universally supporting the shift lever. Each support sheet has an outer surface opposite to the corresponding adjoining surface. The stationary retainer plates are disposed in spaced-part relation with each other on opposite sides of the support, so as to hold the pair of support sheets at their outer surfaces. The assembly may further include a plurality of bolts which penetrate through the thickness of the support sheets and the retainer plates, for fastening the pair of support sheets to each other via the retainer plates.

Transmission shift lever assembly

An electrical controlling device with a single actuating lever, which may be either twisted about its long axis to activate a first electrical controlling means, or tilted about at least one tilt axis perpendicular to its long axis in order to activate a second electrical controlling means.

Multi-function electrical controlling device

An improved master cylinder for a hydraulic automotive brake system, comprising a metallic cylinder, a brake fluid reservoir made of plastic material, disposed in a perpendicular relation to the cylinder and having a circular opening at its bottom, a tubular extension formed on the cylinder at right angles thereto and extending between the cylinder and the brake fluid reservoir and having an axial bore which is coaxial with the bottom opening of the reservoir, a generally disc- or bowl-shaped connecting member made of metal, united with the reservoir in a one-step molding operation in such a manner as to substantially close the bottom opening of the reservoir and having a circular hole which is coaxial with the axial bore of the tubular extension, whereby the tubular extension of the cylinder is connected with the brake fluid reservoir in a fluid-tight manner, and a bolt associated with the connecting member in a fluid-tight manner, extending downwardly into the tubular extension of the cylinder and having an axial bore which permits the flow of brake fluid between the reservoir and the cylinder.

Master cylinders for hydraulic automotive brake systems

A warning mechanism for detecting brake shoe wear is adapted to be fitted into a recess formed on the rear face of a brake shoe such that when the front face of the shoe, which undergoes frictional engagement during braking, is worn to a sufficient extent, a defaceable detection wire in the warning mechanism will be ruptured to provide an indication of depletion of the braking material of the shoe. The detector element is removably secured within the recess of the brake shoe and is located such that it will not be dislodged by a braking force applied to the brake shoe by a piston of the brake assembly but will, instead, be held in position thereby.

Brake assembly wear detector

A disc brake pad having an integral backing plate on its rear surface is provided with a removable wear indicator. An insertion hole for the indicator extends through the backing plate and into the pad for a distance equal to the length of the wear indicator. To prevent the wear indicator from being forced backward out of the hole during operation of the brake, a thin plate is placed over the backing plate and firmly clamped thereto, thereby blocking rearward movement of the indicator.

Brake pad with wear indicator

Growing community of inventors

Toyota, Japan

Akiyoshi Hirai