The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 02, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 02, 1996
Randall D Smale, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Dura Automotive Systems, Rochester Hills, MI (US);
Abstract
A foot-operated parking brake actuator applies a parking brake by moving an input pedal lever between a brake-released position and a plurality of brake-applied positions to operate a cable to apply and release a vehicle parking brake. A mounting bracket pivotally mounts the pedal for pivotal movement about a first pivot. A sector gear is secured to the bracket with its center on the first pivot, and mounts a cable take-up reel. The cable is attached to the reel which is pivotally mounted on the pedal lever about a second pivot. A pinion is secured to the reel for engagement with the sector gear upon pedal lever movement to brake-apply positions to wind the cable on the reel. Cable winding occurs at a sequence of variable input/output force ratios of input pedal lever force to output cable force or load to apply the parking brake, the ratio varying with pedal movement because of the complex movement of the reel. The pinion disengages from the sector gear in brake-release position to enable automatic slack adjustment. The sequence of variable input/output force ratios is a selected segment of a larger predetermined sequence of variable force ratios determined by the size and relative positioning of the sector gear, the pinion, the pedal lever, and the rotational position of the cable attachment point on the pinion relative to the cable entry.