Automotive Products Italia (sv) S.r.l.

Automotive Products, Inc.

Automotive Products (sv) S.r.l.

Automotive Products Group Limited

David Peasley

Luigi Tessitore

Adriano Girini

William Ernest Haines

Clive Samuel Hadley

Michael John Louis MacDonald

A parking brake () having a drum containing first and second brake shoe portions (), a handbrake lever () pivoted () adjacent one end on one () of the brake shoe portions and a strut () extending between a first abutment on the handbrake lever and a second abutment () on the other () of the brake shoe portions. Pivoting of the handbrake lever relative to said one brake shoe portion () moves the strut () which in turn moves the other brake shoe portion () away from said one brake shoe portion to bring the shoe portions into contact with the drum thus applying the parking brake. One of the abutments is in the form of a biased wedging means () which acts on the strut () to take up all play in the thrust path between the handbrake lever () and the other brake shoe portion () via the strut. A clamping member () is provided for disabling the wedging means () from operating except when initial manufacturing or assembly clearances are being taken up in the strut or when a subsequent manual adjustment of shoe clearance is being made. Alternative snail-cam type wedging means () are also disclosed as in an electrically actuated parking brake system with an automatic clearance adjustment device.

Parking brake of a drum brake

A cable operated drum brake has an internal brake operating lever with a quick-attach device for an operating cable. A cable attachment tube projects from a backplate of the brake and the operating cable has an inner cable with a latching formation on the end thereof and a cable outer sleeve. An end portion of the operating cable is slideable towards the backplate within the tube up to a first position at which further movement towards the backplate is stopped by contact between an abutment on the tube and a cooperating abutment on the cable outer sleeve. When the latching formation has moved past the quick-attach device, the cable is then subsequently moveable away from the backplate within the tube to a second position in which the latching formation is fully engaged with the quick-attach device. A fastener maintains the latching formation engaged with the quick-attach device during subsequent operation.

Cable operated drum brakes

A parking brake assembly which includes a lever () for operation of a brake shoe () to provide a parking function, the lever carrying an automatic latching device for automatically latching to the lever an end fitting () on an operating cable () and a guide spring () extending from an associated brake backplate () into contact with the lever. The automatic latching device is in the form of a latching member () mounted on the lever which is deflected aside by the end fitting as the cable is fed in a first direction towards the lever within the guide spring and which latches behind an abutment () on the end fitting to latch the cable to the lever so that subsequent movement of the cable in a second direction opposite to the first direction moves the lever to operate the parking function. The end () of the guide spring (25) which contacts the lever () is shaped () to also act on the latching member () to bias the latching member towards the position in which it latches behind the abutment () on the end fitting ().

Parking brake assemblies with automatic cable latching

A brake adjuster for adjusting the working clearance of the shoes of an automotive drum brake, the adjuster including three co-axial elements a first rod element () having a head portion for engagement with a first brake shoe and a threaded stem portion, an intermediate element () in threaded engagement with the first rod element and a second rod element () having a head portion for engagement with a second brake shoe and a stem portion slideably connected with the intermediate element () and free to rotate relative thereto. A reaction member () is mounted on the intermediate element () and a ring gear () is provided on the intermediate element which is axially located between the second rod element and the reaction member. A leaf spring () acts between the second rod element () and the reaction member () for pushing the second rod element away from the intermediate element (). This leaf spring carries a bi-metallic pawl () which is either formed integrally with the leaf spring or is secured around the spring so that during a normal operation the pawl engages the ring gear () to operate the adjuster and at temperatures above a pre-set value the pawl is deflected out of engagement with the ring gear to prevent adjustment.

Automatic drum brake adjuster locked at a high temperature

A drum brake backplate assembly including a wheel cylinder (,) having a tubular body (,) having an axially extending bore (,) within which two brake shoe operating pistons (,) are in sealed sliding contact to define a working chamber (,) therebetween. The pistons are displaceable away from each other along the bore on pressurisation of the working chamber and the body located on an associated brake-backplate (,) by quick-attach means (,).

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Balsall Common, United Kingdom

David Peasley