Automatic vehicle-stopping structure

In a vehicle, a vehicle body having an outermost part which leads the remainder of the vehicle when the vehicle travels in a given direction, fluid-containing means carried by said outermost part of said vehicle body and projecting outwardly from the same so that said fluid-containing means will engage a person or object situated in the path of travel of the vehicle when the latter travels in said given direction, said fluid-containing means having at its region which is most distant from said outermost part of said vehicle body a flexible wall for engaging a person or object in said path of travel of the vehicle to be deformed by such a person or object for automatically changing the interior volume of said fluid-containing means, pressure-responsive electrical switch means communicating with the fluid of said fluid-containing means for responding to said change of volume when said flexible wall is deformed by engaging a person or object, and said pressure-responsive switch means when thus responding changing from one position to another position in an automatic manner, electrical brake-control means carried by the vehicle for controlling the brakes thereof, and electrical circuit means electrically connected between said electrical brake-control means and said pressure-responsive switch means for automatically actuating said brake-control means to engage brakes of the vehicle when said switch means moves from said one to said other position thereof in response to deformation of said flexible wall of said fluid-containing means by a person or object, said vehicle body having a plurality of outermost parts any one of which will lead the remainder of the vehicle body depending upon the direction of travel thereof, a plurality of said fluid-containing means being respectively carried by said outermost parts of the vehicle body for having their flexible walls deformed by a person or object engaging any one of said flexible walls, a plurality of said pressure-responsive switch means respectively communicating with said plurality of fluid-containing means, said plurality of switch means being normally closed and connected in series to form a series circuit which opens when any one of said switch means respond to deformation of a flexible wall of a fluid-containing means communicating therewith, a manually operable switch means being connected in parallel with said series circuit to be closed by the vehicle operator for actuating said brake-control means to release the vehicle brakes, and holding relay means forming part of said circuit means together with said manually operable switch means and said series circuit, said holding relay means responding to closing of said manually operable switch means for placing said series circuit in a condition for releasing said holding relay means in response to opening of any one of said plurality of pressure-responsive switch means, said holding relay means being electrically connected with said brake-control means for actuating the latter to engage the brakes of the vehicle when said holding relay means is released upon opening of one of said plurality of pressure-responsive switch means.