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:
Mar. 16, 1999
Filed:
Jan. 21, 1997
Miles George Doolittle, Royal Oak, MI (US);
Anthony R Gurney, Toledo, OH (US);
Sean O'Rourke, Waterford, MI (US);
Dura Automotive Systems, Rochester Hills, MI (US);
Abstract
A parking brake actuator for applying and releasing a cable-operated vehicle parking brake includes an operating lever pivotally mounted on a mounting bracket for movement between brake-released and a plurality of brake-applied positions. The operating lever is a unitary molding made of a glass-filled thermoplastic and has an integral footpad. A metal insert which mounts the cable end, includes a sector gear, that is secured to the operating lever by rivets and engages a pinion which is pivoted to the mounting bracket. The operating lever has a raised drive lug that is received in a mating drive aperture in the insert and transfers brake-apply forces from the operating lever to the sector. A one-way clutch normally permits the pinion to rotate freely when the operating lever is operated to apply the parking brake, but prevents reverse rotation of the pinion to maintain the parking brake applied. A clutch release is operable to disable the one-way clutch and permit reverse rotation of the pinion to release the parking brake and allow the operating lever to return to released position. The plastic operating lever only experiences the high brake-apply forces during brake-apply motion. When the parking brake is set, the operating lever is isolated from the cable load path.