Brakes – Vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2003-06-17
2003-12-23
Lavinder, Jack (Department: 3683)
Brakes
Vehicle
C188S078000, C188S10600P, C188S325000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06666302
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a parking brake device for a vehicle. More particularly, this invention is concerned with a parking brake device which has provision for facilitating connection of an operable member such as a parking brake cable, with a member of the parking brake device such as a pivotable brake lever, and which is capable of generating a braking force with a high ratio of the generated braking force with respect to a driving or operating force that is applied to the operable member.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There is known a parking brake device for a vehicle, including: (a) a backing plate which is fixed to a body of the vehicle such that the backing plate is held substantially perpendicular to an axis of a wheel of the vehicle; (b) first and second arcuate brake shoes which are disposed on one of opposite sides of the backing plate such that the first and second arcuate brake shoes are movable toward and, away from each other; (c) a moving mechanism which is positioned between the first and second arcuate brake shoes and which includes a pivotable brake lever, the moving mechanism moving the first and second arcuate brake shoes away from each other when the brake lever is pivoted in a predetermined direction; and (e) an operable member which is connected to the brake lever and which is operable by an operator of the vehicle to cause the brake lever to be pivoted in the above-described predetermined direction.
FIGS. 6 and 7
illustrate an example of the above-described known parking brake device in the form of a so-called “drum-in-disk brake assembly” including a disk brake and a drum brake which is built in the disk brake. In such a drum-in-disk brake assembly, the disk brake serves as a service brake to be activated mainly during running of the vehicle, while the drum brake serves as a parking brake. This illustrated drum-in-disk brake assembly is designed to be provided in an automotive vehicle, for braking a right wheel of the vehicle.
FIG. 6
is a front elevational view of the brake. A forward direction of the vehicle corresponds to the rightward direction as seen in FIG.
6
.
FIG. 7
is a cross sectional view taken along line
7
—
7
of FIG.
6
. The brake includes a backing plate
10
which is fixed to a body of the vehicle such that the backing plate
10
is held substantially perpendicular to an axis of a wheel (not shown) of the vehicle; first and second arcuate brake shoes
12
,
14
which are disposed substantially symmetrically with each other along respective circumferential portions of a periphery of the backing plate
10
; and hold-down devices
16
,
18
which hold the respective two arcuate brake shoes
12
,
14
such that the two arcuate brake shoes
12
,
14
are movable toward and away from each other. The brake shoes
12
,
14
have a first pair of adjacent portions each of which is provided by a lower end portion (as seen in
FIG. 6
) of the corresponding brake shoe
12
,
14
, and a second pair of adjacent portions each of which is provided by an upper end portion (as seen in
FIG. 6
) of the corresponding brake shoe
12
,
14
. A toggle-type moving mechanism
20
and a tension coil spring
22
(which serves as a return spring) are provided between the upper end portions of the respective brake shoes
12
,
14
, and extend substantially in the horizontal direction as seen in
FIG. 6. A
strut
24
and a tension coil spring
24
are provided between the lower end portions of the respective brake shoes
12
,
14
, and extend substantially in the horizontal direction. The strut
24
is longitudinally expansible and contractible by means of screw connection of two component parts thereof, so that the length of the strut
24
is adjusted by a shoe-wear compensating mechanism.
As shown in
FIG. 7
, the moving mechanism
20
includes a connecting pin
30
which is held substantially parallel to the backing plate
10
, and first and second levers
32
,
34
which are connected at their respective end portions with each other through the connecting pin
30
such that the first and second levers
32
,
34
are pivotable relative to each other. The first lever
32
consists of two metallic plates which are superposed on each other. The two metallic plates are held in close contact with each other in the end portion of the first lever
32
at which the first lever
32
is connected with the second lever
34
, and are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance in the other end portion of the first lever
34
. The first lever
32
has, in the end portion in which the two metallic plates are held in close contact with each other, an engaged portion (recessed portion)
36
which is held in engagement with the first brake shoe
12
. The first lever
32
has, in the above-described other end portion in which the two metallic plates are spaced apart from each other, a cable-engaging portion
38
with which an engaged member
42
of a parking brake cable
40
is engaged. The engaged member
42
consists of a cylindrical member or a hexagonal prism member having a diameter larger than that of the cable
40
, and is coaxially fixed to an end of the cable
40
. The second lever
34
consists of a single metallic plate which is bent so as to take a substantially U shape. The first lever
32
is disposed inside the second lever
34
, namely, interposed between two mutually opposed portions of the second lever
34
which are opposed to each other as a result of the bending of the single metallic plate. The two mutually opposed portions of the second lever
34
are held in close contact with each other in the other end portion of the second lever
34
which is opposite to the end portion at which the second lever
34
is connected with the first lever
32
through the connecting pin
30
. The second lever
34
has, in this other end portion, an engaged portion (recessed portion)
48
which is held in engagement with the second brake shoe
14
.
To the second lever
34
, there is fixed a plate spring
50
which is bent so as to take a predetermined shape as shown in FIG.
7
. The plate spring
50
is provided to serve as a guiding member for guiding the engaged member
42
of the cable
40
into engagement with the cable-engaging portion
38
of the first lever
32
, and also to prevent the engaged member
42
once engaged with the cable-engaging portion
38
, from being disengaged from the cable-engaging portion
38
. It is noted that the first lever
32
serves as the above-described brake lever, and that the parking brake cable
40
serves as the operable member.
The moving mechanism
20
is held in contact with a head portion
52
h
of each of a plurality of bolts
52
which are provided to fix an anchor member
54
and the backing plate
10
to a carrier (not shown), of the vehicle. Each of the anchor member
54
and the backing plate
10
has an aperture
56
through which the parking brake cable
40
is introduced into the interior of the drum-in-disk brake assembly. The first lever
32
is positioned relative to the backing plate
10
such that the cable-engaging portion
38
is substantially aligned with the aperture
56
as viewed in a direction perpendicular to the baking plate
10
. In this arrangement, the cable
40
can be connected to the first lever
32
, simply introducing the end portion of the cable
40
with the engaged member
42
, through the aperture
56
from the exterior of the drum-in-disk brake assembly (i.e, from the upper side of the backing plate
10
as seen in
FIG. 7
) to the interior of the drum-in-disk brake assembly. That is, the engaged member
42
, fixed to the introduced end portion of the cable
40
, is guided by sliding contact with the plate spring
50
so as to be brought into engagement with the cable-engaging portion
38
of the first lever
32
.
When the parking brake cable
40
thus connected to the cable-engaging portion
38
is pulled by an operation of an operator-controlled operation member (e.g., an operating lever) which is provi
Mitsuoka Naomi
Mizuno Mitsuyasu
Hosei Brake Ind. Co., Ltd.
Lavinder Jack
Pezzlo Benjamin A.
LandOfFree
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