Brakes – With condition indicator – Wear
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-17
2001-10-30
Schwartz, Christopher P. (Department: 3613)
Brakes
With condition indicator
Wear
C188S25000B
Reexamination Certificate
active
06308803
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a brake disc with wear visual control means.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a brake disc with at least a wear visual control means that allows to control visually the wear conditions of said brake disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, braking devices are units able to slow or stop a vehicle or, in general, a moving mass, by transforming the absorbed kinetic energy into thermal energy.
A type of braking device used in motorcars has a disc constituted by a metal brake disc, fixed to the wheel axis, astride of which pliers act that are fixed to the articulated stub axle or the hub-bearer of the vehicle and provided with braking gaskets, generally known as “brake pads”. The brake disc comprises a braking strip, provided with a swept braking surface on both faces, and a bell or hub fixed to the wheel axis.
The pliers, activated by suitable means, push the brake pads against each swept surface of the braking strip. The braking action is therefore produced by the friction between the brake pads and the swept surface of the braking strip of the brake disc.
With the braking operations following to each other, both the brake pads and the swept surface of the braking strip of the disc, on which the brake pads act by friction, are subjected to wear.
When the brake pad and/or the braking strip of the disc have undergone the maximum allowed wear indicated by the manufacturer, they must be replaced.
To control the wear level of the brake pads, sensors are used at present which are embedded within the inside of said brake pads at a prefixed depth. Following the wear of the brake pads due to the braking operations following to each other, said sensors emerge on the surface, get in touch with the material discs are made from, and cause the intervention of an alarm signal, usually constituted by an electric or electronic device that causes the lighting of a LED or the like.
As concerns, instead, the wear of the brake discs, at present wear control is made by disassembling the wheels and comparing the measure found with the minimum value usually indicated on said brake discs.
Obviously, the carrying out of said control is time and work consuming.
Object of this invention is to obviate the aforementioned drawbacks.
More particularly, object of this invention is to provide brake discs with means allowing to carry out in a simple and economic manner periodic controls of the wear of the braking strip.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, these and other objects are achieved by providing the brake disc with a means for the visual control of its wear level, engraved on at least one of its opposite side faces in correspondence with the peripheral braking strip on which the brake pads act by friction; said visual control means having a depth greater than the maximum wear level allowed on each face.
These visual control means may be at least an impression, a notch or a circumferential throat-like or angle-shaped groove, or a combination thereof.
Said means can be easily seen by the naked eye, and from the visual examination of their form, size, depth and/or their distance from said strips, it is possible to make an easy, rapid and economical evaluation of the wear of the brake discs without having recourse to external interventions and/or expensive and time consuming disassembly operations and the like.
Brake disc wear, due to braking operations following to each other, may be therefore easily controlled visually by checking the conditions of said means; the maximum allowed wear corresponds to the entire disappearance of said impressions, notches or grooves.
The advantages achieved by the present invention lie essentially in that the wear of the brake discs can be kept under control in a simple, rapid and economical manner by the same users of the vehicles, who, in such conditions, can evaluate the wear of the discs of the braking system of their vehicles, without having recourse to specialised personnel, and can provide for the replacement of the discs in due time and after due consideration, only at the time when they have reached the maximum wear level allowed and advised by the manufacturer.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1949670 (1934-03-01), Winters
patent: 2215529 (1973-10-01), None
patent: 4002695 (1991-08-01), None
patent: 19512934 (1996-10-01), None
patent: 0529236 (1993-03-01), None
patent: 0606800 (1994-07-01), None
patent: 0670434 (1995-02-01), None
patent: 0670434 (1995-09-01), None
Bartz C. T.
Brembo S.p.A.
Bucknam and Archer
Schwartz Christopher P.
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