Invention of Brakes


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Brakes
Brakes

    • Car brakes are based on the conversion of kinetic (motion) energy into other forms of energy, usually heat.


    • There are reports of one early car braking system dropping a spike to dig into to the road when a lever was operated.


    • Prior to the introduction of pneumatic rubber tires in 1895 the rims of car wheels were initially made of iron and, from the mid 1800s, either steel rimmed or lined with solid rubber.


    • The first solid rubber tires were manufactured in 1846 and were initially fitted to carriages and steam powered vehicles.


    • On iron or steel rimmed vehicles the driver typically pulled a lever to apply a block of wood to the wheel’s rim. What material was the brake block made of when solid rubber tires were first used? Steel?


    • This type of brake is called a “Shoe Brake”. It was reasonably effective up to 10-20 mph.


    • The 1885 Benz Patent-Motorwagen (featured on this site’s home page) was fitted with solid rubber tires. The upgraded 1887 chassis included a manual leather shoe brake on the rear wheels.


    • In 1895 the Michelin Brothers, Andre and Edouard (French), produced the first pneumatic car tire, fitting them to a Peugeot “L'Eclair” motor car in the same year. What type of braking system was used?


    • The pneumatic tire however that could not be used with wooden shoe block brakes and a new method of braking was required.


    • The first “external contracting brake” devices attempted to apply force by means of a steel strap or cable directly to the axle, to a drum fitted onto the axle or to the transmission shaft.


    • A method that became known as a contracting “Band Brake” (sometimes referred to as an external drum brake) was employed during the late 1890s and early 1900s.


    • A typically band brake consisted of a flexible metal band that was lined with friction material and wrapped around a drum attached around the car’s rear axle or, in some circumstances to a wheel’s hub.


    • The band tightened around the drum to slow or stop the car when the driver depressed a foot pedal or operated a lever.


    • An early method included the use of a wooden block inside a flexible contracting metal band.


    • Metal bands lined with lead, cotton and camel hair were also tried.


    • Another early device used strips of leather wrapped around one of the wheel hubs, which would, when a lever was pulled, tighten around the hub to slow the vehicle down.


    • This “wrap-around brake” performed poorly, if at all, when wet.


    • The disadvantages of these early band brake systems were:


    • No protection from the elements and they suffered from a build up of dirt.


    • Excessive wear to both the drum and the band. Maintenance every 200-250 miles (320-400 klm) was not uncommon.


    • The band brake did not operate when the car was in reverse. Why not?


    • Herbert Frood (British) is credited with inventing the first brake lining material in 1897; founding the Ferodo Company in the same year.


    • Frood’s original brake lining material was made from laminated hair and bitumen.


    • On an 1897 Roberts electric car (USA) leather-lined brakes were installed inside the housings of the two 2hp motors.


    • In 1898, Elmer Ambrose Sperry (American) designed an electric car that had electromagnet front-wheel disc brakes.


    • He fitted a large disc onto the hub of each of the two front wheels and electromagnets pressed smaller discs lined with a friction material against spots on the large rotating discs to stop the car.


    • Springs retracted the spot discs when current was interrupted. How were the brakes applied? A switch connected to a foot or hand brake?


    • In 1899 Gottlieb Daimler (German) wrapped a cable around a drum and anchored it to the chassis.


    • The forward motion of the car tightened the cable, making it easier for the driver to pull the brake lever. It was the first, if basic application, of servo assisted braking.


    • In 1901 Wilhelm Maybach (German) designed the first internal drum brake.


    • Maybach’s brake drum used rollers to press a ring of friction material against the inside of a drum fitted on the rear axle.


    • It was used on the Mercedes Simplex 40hp model (1902-09); the main hand brake acting on the drum brake with a secondary foot brake acting on the chain drive’s intermediate drive shaft. Was it used on other Mercedes models?


    • A water sprinkling system cooled the hot zones of both brake systems when the brakes were applied.


    • In 1902 Louis Renault (French) designed an internal drum brake that the modern version is based upon.


    • Renault’s drum brake used two curved shoes (pads) fixed to a back plate with each pivoted at one end. The other ends rested on a cam.


    • When the brake pedal was pressed, the cam forced the shoes apart and against the inside of the drum.


    • In 1902 Ransom E. Olds (American) produced an external drum brake by wrapping a stainless steel band around a drum fitted on a car’s rear axle.


    • On 1 December 1902 Frederick Lanchester (British) submitted an application for a patent for non-electric caliper-type automobile spot disc brake system.


    • This invention relates to an improved form of brake mechanism for power propelled vehicles and refers more particularly to an improved construction of road wheel brake”.


    • Fredrick Lanchester was granted patent GB 190226407 on 15 October 1903.


    • The brake pads were made of copper and the intense noise created by the metal-to-metal contact when the brakes were applied was a major problem.


    • The copper brake pads also wore out much too quickly.


    • In 1907 Herbert Frood (British) solved the noise problem when he lined the brake pads with asbestos that was woven into a loose fabric and impregnated with high melting point resin and varnish.


    • The new asbestos pads were also more durable and had a much longer life than the copper ones, achieving up to 9,000 miles (15,000 klm).


    • At the turn of the 2oth century roads were very crude and dirty and “internal” drum brakes kept out water and materials that could damage disc brakes.


    • More importantly “internal” drum brakes required drivers to apply less pressure on the pedal compared to the early disc brakes.


    • This was especially relevant prior to the introduction of hydraulic and power brake systems.


    • For a combination of reasons it wasn’t until the late 1940s/early 1950s that car manufacturers started to fit disc brakes.


    • Note 1: When brake pads (“shoes”) press on the outside of the drum the method is sometimes referred to as a “clasp brake”.


    • Note 2: When a drum is pinched between two brake pads it is sometimes referred to as a "pinch drum brake".


    • Power assisted brakes were first employed in 1903 when air brakes were fitted to a car called the Tincher that was developed by Thomas L Tincher (American).


In 1903 four-wheel brakes were fitted to the Dutch Spiker 60/80 HP model.
 
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Four Wheel Brake Systems

    • In 1903 four-wheel brakes were fitted to the Dutch Spiker 60/80 HP model.


    • The Scottish car company Arrol-Johnston fitted four-wheel brakes to the 15.9 hp model they produced in late 1909/early 1910. In 1911 the company no longer fitted four wheel brakes to their models.


    • In 1910 Giustino Cattaneo of the Italian Isotta Fraschini Company designed a four wheel brake system. A patent was granted in February of that year.


    • A year later the system was fitted to the new Isotta Franschini Tipo KM4 production model. 50 of these cars were built between 1911 and 1914.


    • The car was fitted with internal-expanding front-wheel brakes and the rear wheels were retarded by two water-cooled contracting transmission brakes. Coolant was supplied to the inside of the drums from a pressurized tank.


    • A pedal operated the rear wheel brakes, with a hand lever actuating via a cable the brakes on the front wheels.


    • Mechanical brake systems typically consisted of up to 50 joints, 20 bearings and 200 mechanical parts.


    • At the January 1923 New York Automobile Show only two manufacturers, Duesenburg (hydraulic brakes) and Rickenbacker (mechanical brakes) offered cars with four-wheel brakes.


    • A year later the number had increased to 26 of the 72 manufacturers present; offering four-wheel brakes as standard fit or as an option.


    • A report published in 1929 stated: “70% of British, US and Continental cars in Britain in 1924 were rear-braked only. By 1929 that figure had reduced to 1%”.


  • Hydraulic Brakes
    • Malcolm Lougheed (American) designed a hydraulic braking system for cars, receiving 7 patents for his idea between Dec 1917 and July 1923.


    • Cylinders and tubes were used to transmit fluid pressure against brake shoes that were then pressed against the outside of a brake drum.


    • Note: In 1926 Malcolm legally changed his name from the old Scottish spelling of Loughead to Lockheed.


    • In 1921 Lougheed’s hydraulic brake system was fitted to all four wheels of a Model A Duesenberg car. The system was however beset with leakage problems.


    • Lougheed used rawhide cup seals to prevent hydraulic fluid leakage when the brakes were applied but these seals quickly dried out and shrank under heavy brake usage.


    • Engineers of the Maxwell Motor Corporation (of which Walter P Chrysler was chairman) produced seals in the form of rubber cups that solved the problem.


    • For $75 the improved Lougheed four-wheel hydraulic brakes were offered as an optional extra on Maxwell-Chalmers car from October 1923.


    • In 1924 the American Chrysler Six Phaeton B-70 and the British Triumph 13/35 models were the next two production cars to be equipped with the improved, four-wheel, Lougheed hydraulic brakes.


    • The 1926 Adler Standard model was the first German car to be fitted with (ATE-Lougheed) hydraulic brakes.


    • In 1926, Stutz used a system called Hydrostatic Brakes; using water instead of hydraulic fluid. “Each wheel used one bladder and six brake pads”.


    • The brakes hydrostatic system leaving the factory filled with a 50/50 solution of alcohol and water to prevent freezing.


    • The system was only used for one year. In 1927 Stutz switched to Lougheed hydraulic brakes, the company producing kits to convert the 1926 models.


    • By 1931 various US manufacturer’s, including Chrysler, Dodge, Desoto, Dodge, Franklin, Graham, Plymouth, Reo and Graham produced cars with hydraulic brakes.


    • During the 1930s hydraulic braking systems became standard fit on most cars.


    • In 1931 Lincoln introduced the Model K which was fitted with cable-operated Bendix Duo-Servo brakes.


    • Two years later, in 1933, the Lincoln KB model featured four-wheel vacuum servo-assisted mechanical drum brakes.


    • Other early models to use servo assisted hydraulic brakes include; in 1934 the Hispano-Suiza T6ORL, Chrysler Airflow, Mercedes 500K and LaSalle Series 50, and in 1936 the Cadillac Twelve and the Hotchkiss 486 (the latter for one year only before returning to mechanical brakes).


    • In 1967 it became a requirement that all cars sold in the USA had to have two separate hydraulic circuits.
Power Assisted Brakes




    • Power assisted brakes were first employed in 1903 when air brakes were fitted to a car called the Tincher that was developed by Thomas L Tincher (American).


    • The pressure required to apply the foot operated four wheel drum brakes on the 1919 Hispano-Suiza H6 model was enhanced by a mechanical servo system that was driven by a special shaft from the transmission.


    • On 19 October 1920 John Godfrey Thomas (British) submitted and on 9 January 1923 was granted US patent #1,441,545 for an invention which “enables the brake to be applied or the clutch to be engaged by power”.


    • “A convenient source of (vacuum) power for the purpose is the suction pipe of the internal combustion engine”.


    • On 2 February 1926 the patent was assigned to the General Motor Corporation.


    • In 1928 a vacuum power booster braking system designed by Bragg-Kliesrath (USA) was fitted to a Pierce-Arrow car. What model? The Series 33


      • Sometime between 1927 and 1929 a Westinghouse designed vacuum booster brake system is reported to have been installed on the American Chandler cars; “Tripling the force applied to the wheels”.
      • There is a report that the Belgian 1928 Minerva model employed a DeWander designed vacuum booster.
      • A 1928 advert for the British Bean car stated: A sport model, the 14/70, was also available featuring a Dewandre brake servo. It also now had four-wheel brakes.


    • In 1985 some cars produced by General Motors use an electrically driven brake booster.
Disc Brakes

    • In 1949 Crosley Motors became the first American manufacturer to fit disc brakes.


    • They were fitted to Crosley’s Hotshot model but discontinued the following year.


    • Between 1949 and 1953 Chrysler fitted a type of disc brake to their fourth generation Imperial models.


    • Disc brakes were further developed by Dunlop in Great Britain in the early 1950s and fitted to a Jaguar C-Type racing car in 1953.


    • In 1954 an Austin Healey 100S became the first British production car to be fitted with disc brakes on all four wheels.


    • Powered inboard front disc brakes were fitted to the 1955 Citroen DS model.


    • In 1956 the front brakes on the Triumph TR3 model were changed from drum to disc.


    • During the 1960s numerous manufacturers around the world started to replace drum brakes with disc brakes. Some of the first companies to do so in the 1960s were:


      • 1960 (Italy): The Lancia Flaminia model changed from drum to four-wheel disc brakes after the first 500 cars had been built.


      • 1961 (Germany): The Mercedes-Benz 220Se model was the first German production car with disc brakes.


      • 1962 (France): The Renault R8 model was supplied with four-wheel disc brakes,


      • 1963 (USA): Bendix produced caliper-type disc brakes supplied as standard fit on Studebaker Advant model and as optional extras on their Hawk and V8 Lark models.


      • 1965 (Japan): Nissan fitted disc brakes to their Datsun Silva model.


      • 1966 (Sweden): The Volvo 144 was supplied with four wheel disc brakes.


      • 1967 (Japan): The Toyota 2000GT was the first Japanese car fitted with four-wheel disc brakes.
Self Adjusting Brakes

    • In 1925 Cole and Jowett models are believed to be the first cars to be equipped with self-adjusting brakes. For how many years did Cole & Jowett use these self-adjusting brakes? How successful were they?



    • The self-adjusting disc brakes were supplied as standard fit on the Series 890 Cole model.



    • Jewett’s self-adjusting brakes were fitted to all four wheels “at extra cost to the owner” on their Touring, Brougham, and Sedan models.


    • For their 1947 model Studebaker replaced Lockheed brakes with ones produced by the Wagner Electric Co. which had a self adjusting feature.
 
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Anti-Lock Braking (ABS)

    • In 1936 Bosch filed a patent application in Germany for an “Apparatus for preventing lock-braking of the wheels of a motor vehicle”. Was a system installed and tested in a vehicle?


    • ABS is derived from the German “Antiblockiersystem”, the name given to it by its inventors at Bosch.


    • In 1978 Bosch introduced an electronic 4-wheel multi-channel ABS system. What ABS work took place at Bosch between 1936 & 1978?


    • It was initially installed in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class model and shortly after in the BMW 7-Series.


    • In 1952 the British Road Research Laboratory (RRL) adapted an aircraft anti-skidding devise called Maxaret and carried out trials using a 1950 Morris 6 car fitted with drum brakes.


    • By 1958 RRL and Dunlop had developed a practical mechanical anti-lock braking system for a car and tested it on a Jaguar Mark VII fitted with disc brakes.


    • It wasn’t until 1966 that the system was first fitted to a production model four-wheel drive Jensen FF sports sedan car.


    • Ford offered an anti-skid system as an option on the 1954 Lincoln Continental Mk ll. It weighed and cost too much and was soon withdrawn.


    • In April 1968 Ford introduced “Sure Trak”, an analogue anti lock brake system it developed jointly with Kelsey-Haynes. It operated only on the rear wheels.


    • It was initially offered as an option on the Thunderbird and Lincoln Continental Mark III, becoming standard fit on the Mark III in 1970.


    • The 1964 Austin 1800 model was fitted with a limited form of ABS, utilizing a valve which could adjust front to rear brake force distribution when a wheel locked.


    • Chrysler fitted their new four-wheel “Sure Brake” ABS system into some of their 1966 models but it “did not perform up to expectations”.


    • Chrysler entered into a joint venture with Bendix and developed a computerized, three-channel, four-sensor all-wheel ABS version of "Sure Brake".


    • It was fitted to Chrysler’s 1971 Imperial model. The system functioned on demand when the car was travelling over 5 mph.


    • In the same year Nissan offered a Kelsey Hayes Electro Anti-lock (EAL) system as an option on its President model.


    • In 1984 Tevis in Germany commenced production of their new generation, microprocessor controlled, Mark II ABS System.


    • It was initially fitted to the Lincoln Mark VII and in Europe to the Ford Scorpio.


    • During the 1980s it was also fitted to the Pontiac 6000, Ford’s 89 Thunderbird Super Coupe and Buick’s 1988 Riviera and Reatta models.


    • It was also installed in various SAAB, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Alfa-Romero, Buick, Ford and Porsche models.


    • In 1998 Tevis became part of Continental AG of Germany.


    • Features added over the years to the Tevis ABS system include a Traction Control System, an Electronic Stability Program and in 1999 a Sidewall Torsion Sensor system that was designed and developed by Continental AG.
Brake Energy Conversion

    • Car brakes are based on the conversion of kinetic (motion) energy into other forms of energy, usually heat. Other, more recent methods include:


    • Regenerative braking which converts much of the braking energy into stored electrical energy.


    • Hybrid and electric vehicles using this technique to extend the range of the battery pack include the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and the Chevrolet Volt.


    • Another method converts the kinetic energy into potential energy; stored as pressurised air or pressurised oil.


    • Another method transfers the braking energy to a rotating flywheel.
 
Thread Starter #5
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Thanks Kumar. I'm very interested in History of motors & equipments used in the automobile industry so i try to collect as much info that can be captured. hence this informative thread. Glad you liked it. also if you want more history on different car manufacturers go to the Nostalgic Era on the front page of the forum and you can see a lot of them there.
 
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Nice article to read.

I am still amazed that in around 1970 the ABS was invented as "Sure Brake" which is really proven to be. But still people do not prefer to have in there vehicle and most of bike do not have that.
 
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that's only in India my friend elsewhere in the world you have it. All major countries its a must and should on all cars. we are the cleverest of the civilizations so i think we feel we don't need them.
 
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That was a great read. Thanks Incarnation! Until now I thought it went like this:

19th century - Brakes like the ones on my cycle

20th century - Drum brakes like the ones used today

21st century - Disc brakes :stupid:
 

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