Itt Automotive, Inc.

Werner Gottschalk

Bernhard W Kullmann

Joerg L Scheibel

Larry Masserant

Daniel Keck

A disc brake for the wheel of a motor vehicle includes a rotor mounted to the wheel, and a caliper straddling the rotor and supporting a brake pad on either side thereof. In order to accommodate packaging constraints within the wheel's rim, the outboard pad and the rotor's outboard friction surface are both positioned radially inwardly of the inboard pad and inboard rotor friction surface. A hydraulic piston located in the inboard portion of the caliper first urges the inboard pad along the piston's longitudinal axis into initial engagement with the rotor's inboard friction surface, whereupon the piston acts through the caliper's bridge and finger area to urge the outboard pad into engagement with the rotor's outboard friction surface. The effective radius of each pad is less than the radial offset of the piston's longitudinal axis from the rotational axis of the wheel and rotor so as to reduce the bending moment applied to the rotor upon braking.

Caliper-type disc brake with stepped rotor

A slanted brake rotor for use in a disc brake assembly includes a flange portion for mounting a wheel wherein the wheel includes an axis of rotation associated therewith, a cylindrical, axially oriented barrel portion extending from said flange, and an annular member extending from the barrel portion. The annular member includes a central axis and two opposing friction faces for engaging a respective friction element during braking. The annular member is slanted or angled from the conventional upright position so that the central axis of the annular member forms an acute angle with the wheel axis of rotation. Each face of the annular member has a free first end, and a respective second end positioned radially inwardly of the first free end, taken with respect to the wheel axis of rotation. Each face is substantially planar between the free first end and the second end. Further, each friction face is substantially parallel to the central axis.

Growing community of inventors

Auburn Hills, MI, United States of America

Werner Gottschalk