A DEVICE FOR HOLDING THE BRAKE PEDAL IN THE BRAKING POSITION
This invention relates to a device for bringing a brake pedal into the braking position and keeping it there.
On both private cars, lorries and trucks, the hand brake functions on the rear wheels only. On the contrary, the foot brake functions on all four wheels. Pressing the foot brake down, securing it in the braking position, results in a parking braking acting on all wheels.
Also, such a device establishing and maintaining braking may advantageously be used upon the jacking-up of a motor vehicle for repair, changing wheel, etc., in a position parked on a steep and slippery hill or slope, e.g. in connection with the mounting of snow chains, etc. In such situations, known park- ing braking of the rear wheels is not sufficient to secure the motor vehicle against skidding when the driver let the brake pedal go.
The braking influencing device which shall be adapted to place the brake pedal in the braking position and keep it there for so long as it is desirable to maintain this braking on all wheels will, likewise, represent a good auxiliary
means for vehicles equipped with a crane and adapted for winching-in cars having run off the road. During such winching, parking braking of two of the crane vehicle's wheels is often not sufficient, and it is not uncommon that crane vehicles carrying out winching operations, pull themselves away.
The object of the invention has been, with reliable, simple and cheap means, to provide a device easy to operate and which, rapidly and appropriately, can be brought into an op- erative position in which the brake pedal is kept in the braking position and, from there, can be transferred quickly to an inoperative position.
To this end, the device according to the invention distinguishes itself through the features appearing from the char- acterizing clause of claim 1.
The device in accordance with the invention is built up on an elongate, lengthenable/shortenable rod-like member which, at one end thereof, has a first end piece having a land area to be placed to rest against a brake pedal and, at the other end, has a second end piece exhibiting a holding or gripping face to be placed beneath the steering wheel. During the mounting of the brake device according to the invention, the lengthenable/shortenable member is adapted to yield elasti- cally in the longitudinal direction upon the shortening in order to, thererupon, to resile back upon the lengthening, taking a length securing that the brake pedal becomes kept in the braking position with a force based on the resilient, lengthening force of the device. The last-mentioned force may arise from a so-called gas spring, a pressure or compression spring or a similar resilient elongated body which may be disposed within the tubular part of the rod-like member and have the same axis as the same.
An axially displaceable piston rod or the like carrying the lower end piece having the land area is influenced by gas pressure/spring pressure, so that it, in the uninfluencing position of the brake device, is seeking to be urged axially out from the tubular part. This axially displaceable piston rod or another rod can be pushed a distance elastically resiliently into said tubular member portion when a pressure is exerted against it. When the pressure force ceases, the rod resiles axially back to the initial position.
As the upper face of the brake pedal, against which the first, lower end piece's opposing land area is resting, changes its angle in relation to a horizontal plane when the pedal is swung from the inoperative position to the operative braking position, it is an advantage that the first, lower end piece is carried by the end of the piston rod through a pivot bolt having a substantially horizontal axis.
The lower tubular portion of the rod-like member may, at the lower end thereof, advantageously be equipped with a fixed, lateral, pedal-like projection to be influenced by means of one foot upon mounting/ demounting, in order to urge said tubular member portion downwardly for shortening the length of the rod-like member. Upon mounting, this shortening serves the purpose of allowing the steering wheel holding means to be lowered below the lower, central steering wheel portion.
Upon demounting, the shortening serves to enable the lowering of the steering wheel holding means out of engagement with the steering wheel portion for, thereupon, to swing the rodlike member clear off the steering wheel. Thus, the brake device is released and can be removed.
In order to adjust the length of the rod-like member of the braking device to different distances between the lower steering wheel portion and completely swung-down brake pedal, the upper portion of the rod-like member may, preferably, be
telescope-like lengthenable/shortenable, entirely irrespective of the resilient lengthenability/shortenability of the rod member .
For adjustability purposes, the steering wheel holding means may be connected to the upper end of the rod-like member through a lockable ball link, and the immediately underlying telescopic pipe mechanism can be locked in various longitudinal relative displacement positions for mutually axially movable parts of the telescopic pipe mechanism.
If a so-called gas spring or pneumatic cylinder is used as elastically resilient means returning by spring action, for the rod-like member's resilient lengthenability/shortenability, the cylinder end is stationarily connected to the inner side of said tubular lower portion of the rod-like mem- ber.
The lower end piece having the land area which is placed on and follows the opposing, upper face on the brake pedal during the pivoting of the latter, may advantageously be formed with an U-shaped gripping edge portion which is brought to catch around the upper edge portion of the foot pedal when a lower foot piece with its land area is placed on top of the brake pedal. Thus, one avoids that the land area of the lower foot piece, especially if the brake pedal is dirty and smooth, will skid along this upper face and either displace its attack point to a less favourable place on the pedal or slide off from the pedal.
A non-restricting preferred exemplary embodiment of a brake device for establishing and maintaining braking action is explained in the following, reference being made to the acco - panying drawings, wherein:
Figures 1 - 3 show side elevational views of the braking device, the lower portion of the steering wheel as well as the foot brake have been illustrated, and wherein:
Figure 1 shows the braking device according to the invention in the form of an elongate, rod-like, lengthenable/shortenable member during mounting (or demounting) , with a first, lower foot piece firmly hooked on and resting against the upper face of the brake pedal, and where the brake pedal takes an uninfluenced, inoperative, swung-up position;
Figure 2 shows the braking device when the rod-like member thereof is in the process of being shortened while it resiles elastically in the longitudinal direction, in order to position the steering wheel holding means at a level and in a position from where the steering wheel holding means from be- low can be brought into supportingly engagement with the lower, central steering wheel portion, the rod-like member in this shortened position seeking to lengthen itself resil- iently when the forces acting on the member are brought to a close;
Figure 3 shows the braking device in fully active braking holding position; and
Figure 4 shows in a perspective view the lower foot piece of the braking device.
In the drawings, reference numeral 10 denotes a portion of a steering wheel shown in a partial view, and of which only the lower central portion appears from the individual drawing figures. The brake pedal 12 is pivotally mounted on a lateral horizontal bolt 14, the pedal plate being indicated at 16. The pedal plate 16 and, thus, the upper reaction face thereof forms various angles with a horizontal plane, dependent on
whether the pedal 12 is uninfluenced or more or less pressed down, confer figure 1 in relation to figures 2 and 3.
The braking device of the invention which is to be tensioned in between the brake pedal's 12 upper reaction face and the steering wheel's 10 lower portion, comprises a very elongated, rod-like, in the longitudinal direction restrictedly elastically lengthenable/shortenable member or element, generally denoted at 18, including at the lower end thereof a first foot piece 20 co-operating with the brake pedal 12 and at the upper end thereof a second foot piece 22 in the form of a steering wheel holding means. Preferably, the steering wheel holding means 22 has a curved course adjusted to a steering wheel's circular arc shape, and is formed as an upwardly open gutter forming a stable support for the steering wheel.
The steering wheel holding means 22 is connected to the upper end portion of the rod-like member 18 through a lockable ball joint 24 which can be released or locked, respectively, by means of a screw having a butterfly nut 26. The ball joint 24, not shown in details, consists of a ball which, as known per se, grips rotatably into an ordinary ball cup, the last- mentioned being connected to an upper, telescopically lengthenable/shortenable pipe mechanism 28 which is quite independent on the general lengthenability/shortenability of the member 18. The longitudinal adjustability which can be achieved by means of the telescopic pipe mechanism 28, serves to adjust the member's 18 length between the end pieces to the mutually differing distances existing between steering wheel and brake pedal from car model to car model. The tele- scopic pipe 28 may be locked to holes 29' in an inner pipe 30" by means of a spring-loaded bolt 29.
The rod-like member 18 comprises, except from the telescopic pipe mechanism 28, two longitudinally relatively displaceable parts 30' and 30", one part 30' of which, i.e. the one carry-
ing the lower foot piece, is constituted by a rod, in the exemplary embodiment a piston rod incorporated in a cylinder 32 firmly attached within the member 18, and, together with the piston rod 30', constitutes a so-called gas spring, but which alternatively could have been a compression spring in the form of a screw spring.
The lower end of the piston rod 30' is articulated (34) to the lower foot piece 20 which co-operates with the upper face of the brake pedal and best appears from figure 4.
The lower foot piece 20 has a sloping, downwardly facing land area 36' on a plate 36 carrying bearing ears 38 for a rotary bolt 34.
In order to prevent that the land area 36' does not slide in relation to the upper reaction face of the brake pedal, the foot piece plate 36 is formed with a lying U-shaped gripping and holding edge portion 36" which is brought to grip and catch retainingly around the upper edge portion of the pedal.
The lower end portion of the tubular part 30" of the rod-like member 18 carries a laterally projecting, fixed, pedal-like projection 39, on which the user may place his/her foot and depress when the rod-like member 18 occupies the maximum lengthened position shown in figure 1, in order to shorten the braking device during depression/rotation of the brake pedal, until the steering wheel holding means takes the posi- tion shown in figure 2. Through releasing the downwardly directed pressure from the foot on the fixed, pedal-like projection 39, the steering wheel holding means is then guided from below into engagement with the lower steering wheel portion 10 in accordance with figure 3 upon the longitudinal ex- pansion of the spring. The braking device according to the invention is demounted in the opposite order, taking figure 3 as a starting point, the lengthenable/shortenable rod-like member 18 then being brought into the intermediate position
shown in figure 2 and, from there, into the position shown in figure 1, where the braking device is released from steering wheel and brake pedal and in a position to be removed.