General Electric Company

Brenda L Anderson

Ronald J Boyd

A braking arrangement for vehicles having a 'dead man' brake, and which includes means for rendering the dead man brake ineffective during a particular mode of operation. A three-position brake control handle is pivotally mounted on the stationary structure of the vehicle, and includes cam means in camming relation to cam follower means carried by an actuator rod. In the 'transport' position of the control handle manual pressure is continuously applied to the handle, the camming engagement of the handle with the cam follower means moving the actuator rod to a position in which the brake shoe is moved against a spring out of engagement with the brake drum. If manual pressure is released from the brake control handle when in 'transport' position, the handle is automatically moved by the spring to the 'dead man' position in which the spring causes the brake shoe to be moved into braking engagement with the brake drum. In a third or procedural/storage position of the brake control handle, the camming relation between the handle and the cam follower causes the actuator rod to be moved to a position in which the brake shoe is out of engagement with the brake drum of the wheel without continuous force on the control handle. A separate pivotally movable support means is provided for each brake shoe for distributing the braking force equally between the two wheels which are being braked despite any inequalities between the braking surfaces of the two wheels.

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Sutter Creek, CA, United States of America

Brenda L Anderson