Automatic skid and spin control system for vehicle brakes and method

A comparing means for a fluid operated automatic brake control system for operating a brake associated with a wheel of a vehicle comprising

• a housing defining a chamber,
• a linearly translatable shaft disposed in said housing and chamber, in a fluid tight manner,
• a first plate fixedly mounted on said shaft and adapted to slidably engage the chamber defining wall of said housing in a fluid tight manner,
• means communicating with said chamber on both sides of said first plate for applying a fluid pressure difference across said plate to translate said shaft, said brake being operatively associated with said shaft, and
• bleeder means communicating with said chamber on both sides of said first plate for venting a quantity of a fluid from said chamber and housing.

A comparing means for a fluid operated automatic brake control system for operating a brake of a wheel of a vehicle comprising

• a housing defining a chamber,
• a linearly translatable shaft disposed in said housing and chamber,
• a first plate fixedly mounted on said shaft and adapted for air tight slidable engagement with the chamber defining wall of said housing,
• a second plate spaced from said first plate and mounted on said shaft on one side of said first plate and adapted for air tight slidable engagement with said chamber defining wall,
• a third plate spaced from said first plate and mounted on said shaft on the other side of said first plate and adapted for slidable engagement with said chamber defining wall,
• a pair of fluid inlet channels defined by said housing and communicating with said chamber between said first and second plates and between said first and third plates, respectively, for venting a quantity of a fluid from said chamber and housing, and
• bleeder means communicating with said chamber between said first and second plates and between said first and third plates, for venting a quantity of fluid from said chamber, said first plate having a broad surface area larger than a broad surface area of said second plate, and larger than a broad surface area of said third plate, said shaft being operatively associated with said brake.

A device for indicating the speed of a vehicle comprising

• a rotatable shaft disposable in said vehicle,
• a flywheel fixedly mounted on said shaft,
• a pair of spaced brake pads disposed opposite one another and both broad sides of a peripheral base portion of said flywheel,
• a yoke having a periphery forming a portion of a circle said pads being attached to opposing ends of said yoke,
• biasing means attached to said yoke and tending to maintain said pads spaced from said flywheel,
• a pivot pin disposed through a base of said yoke equidistant from said pads and adapted to support said yoke, said yoke being pivotal about said pin in opposition to said biasing means to affect alternate slidable engagement of said pads with said flywheel,
• a massive pendulum assembly pivotally attached at one end to said pin and adapted to maintain a plumb position beneath said yoke relative to earth, and
• plunger means attached to said assembly having a retracted position spaced from the circular periphery of said yoke and an extended position engaging said circular periphery to lock the angular disposition of said assembly relative to the base of said yoke, said plunger means being responsively connectable to a manually operative brake system of said vehicle to produce said extended position when said system is operative.

A system for automatically controlling a brake applicable to a wheel of a vehicle comprising

• vehicle speed monitoring means including
• a rotatable flywheel responsively connected to an unpowered wheel of said vehicle when a vehicle brake, manually applicable to a wheel of said vehicle, is inoperative,
• means for disconnecting said flywheel from said unpowered wheel for permitting said flywheel to rotate independent of said unpowered wheel when said brake is operative,
• inertial means for frictionally decelerating said flywheel as a function of the rate of deceleration of said vehicle, and
• fluid valve sensing means responsively associated with said flywheel for generating a first fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the rotational speed of said flywheel,
• wheel speed sensing means responsively connected to said brake applicable wheel for generating a second fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the rotational speed of said brake applicable wheel, and
• comparing means responsively connected to said monitoring and wheel speed sensing means for generating a response which is substantially proportional to a difference between said first and second signals, said comparing means being operatively associated with with said brake to limit said difference.

A system for automatically controlling a braking force of a brake manually applicable to a wheel of a vehicle for limiting the tendency of said vehicle wheel to skid comprising

• vehicle speed monitoring means including
• a rotatable flywheel responsively connected to an unpowered wheel of said vehicle when a vehicle brake, manually applicable to a wheel of said vehicle is inoperative,
• means for disconnecting said flywheel from said unpowered wheel for permitting said flywheel to rotate independent of said unpowered wheel when said brake is operative,
• inertial means for frictionally decelerating said flywheel as a function of the rate of deceleration of said vehicle, and
• fluid valve sensing means responsively associated with said flywheel for generating a first fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the rotational speed of said flywheel,
• wheel speed sensing means responsively connected to said wheel for generating a second signal dependent upon the rotational motion of said wheel,
• a fluid driving signal source operatively connected to said monitoring and wheel speed sensing means, and
• comparing means responsively connected to said monitoring and wheel speed sensing means for generating a response which is substantially proportional to a difference between the speeds of said vehicle and wheel, said comparing means being operatively associated with said brake to at least partially unload said braking force when said brake is manually applied to said wheel by an amount dependent upon said difference.

A system for automatically controlling a braking force of a brake applicable to a power driven wheel of a vehicle, for limiting the tendency of said power driven wheel to spin comprising

• vehicle speed monitoring means including
• a rotatable flywheel responsively connected to an unpowered wheel of said vehicle when a vehicle brake, manually applicable to a wheel of said vehicle is inoperative,
• fluid valve sensing means responsively associated with said flywheel for generating a first fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the rotational speed of said flywheel,
• wheel speed sensing means responsively connected to a power driven wheel of said vehicle for generating a second fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the rotational speed of said power driven wheel,
• a fluid driving signal source operatively associated with said monitoring and wheel speed sensing means, and
• comparing means responsively connected to said monitoring and wheel speed sensing means for generating a response which is substantially proportional to a difference between the speeds of said vehicle and power driven wheel, said comparing means being operatively associated with said brake to apply said braking force to said power driven wheel by an amount dependent upon said difference.

A system for automatically controlling vehicle wheel brakes for limiting the tendency of the wheels of a vehicle from skidding or spinning comprising

• vehicle speed monitoring means including
• a rotatable flywheel responsively connected to an unpowered wheel of said vehicle when a vehicle brake, manually applicable to a wheel of said vehicle, is inoperative,
• means for disconnecting said flywheel from said unpowered wheel for permitting said flywheel to rotate independent of said unpowered wheel when said brake is operative,
• inertial means for frictionally decelerating said flywheel as a function of the rate of deceleration of said vehicle, and
• fluid valve sensing means responsively associated with said flywheel for generating a first fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the rotational speed of said flywheel,
• wheel speed sensing means responsively connected to the brake applicable wheels of said vehicle and to its power driven wheels for generating a series of signals, each of said series being dependent upon the rotational motion of a different one of said wheels, and
• comparing means responsively connected to said monitoring and wheel speed sensing means for generating a series of response signals being dependent upon a difference between said vehicle speed and the speed of a different one of said wheels, said comparing means being operatively associated with each of said brake applicable wheels for unloading each of said brakes to limit the tendency of said brake applicable wheels to skid, and for loading each of said brakes applicable to a power driven wheel of said vehicle to limit the tendency of each of said power driven wheels to spin.

A system for automatically controlling a brake applicable to a weight bearing wheel of a vehicle comprising

• a fluid driving signal source,
• rotating means separate and distinct from the weight bearing wheels of said vehicle, the speed of rotation of which is substantially proportional to the speed of said vehicle,
• fluid valve vehicle speed sensing means connected to said source and rotating means for generating a first fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the speed of said rotating means,
• fluid valve wheel speed sensing means connected to said source and to a weight bearing wheel of said vehicle for generating a second fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the speed of said weight bearing wheel, a difference between said first and second signals being substantially proportional to the difference between the speeds of said vehicle and weight bearing wheel, and
• comparing means responsively connected to said vehicle and wheel speed sensing means for generating a response which is substantially proportional to said difference, said comparing means being operatively associated with said brake to limit said difference.

A system for controlling a brake applicable to a wheel of a vehicle comprising

• first rotating means separate and distinct from the weight bearing wheels of said vehicle, the speed of rotation of which is substantially proportional to the speed of said vehicle,
• second rotating means responsively connected to said brake applicable wheel, the speed of rotation of which is substantially proportional to the speed of said brake applicable wheel,
• fluid valve vehicle speed sensing means responsively connected to said first rotating means for generating a first fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the speed of said vehicle,
• fluid valve wheel speed sensing means responsively connected to said second rotating means for generating a second fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the rotational speed of said brake applicable wheel, a difference between said first and second signals being substantially proportional to the difference between the speeds of said vehicle and brake applicable wheel, and
• comparing means responsively connected to said vehicle and wheel speed sensing means for generating a brake controlling response which is substantially proportional to said difference, said comparing means being operatively associated with said brake to limit said difference.

A fluid operated system for automatically controlling a brake applicable to a wheel of a vehicle of the type having manually operative brake means comprising

• a pressurized fluid power source,
• a fluid brake control valve responsively connected to said source and brake means for generating a fluid brake control signal which is dependent upon a force manually applied to said brake means,
• vehicle speed monitoring means responsively connected to said brake control valve for generating a first fluid signal dependent upon the speed of said vehicle and the value of said brake control signal,
• wheel speed sensing means responsively connected to said wheel and brake control valve for generating a second fluid signal dependent upon the speed of said wheel and the value of said brake control signal, and
• comparing means responsivley connected to said monitoring and wheel speed sensing means for generating a response which is substantially proportional to a difference between said first and second signals, said comparing means being operatively associated with said brake to limit said difference when said wheel speed is less than said vehicle speed.

A device for indicating the speed of a wheeled vehicle comprising

• a rotatable flywheel responsively connected to an unpowered wheel of said vehicle when a vehicle brake, manually applicable to a wheel of said vehicle, is inoperative,
• means for disconnecting said flywheel from said unpowered wheel for permitting said flywheel to rotate independent of said unpowered wheel when said brake is operative,
• inertial means for frictionally decelerating said flywheel as a function of the rate of deceleration of said vehicle, and
• fluid valve sensing means responsively associated with said flywheel for generating a first fluid signal which is at least partially dependent upon the rotational speed of said flywheel.

A vehicle and wheel speed sensing assembly comprising

• a first rotatable centrifugal force unit adapted to produce a first force substantially proportional to the speed of a vehicle,
• a second rotatable centrifugal force unit disposed adjacent said first unit and adapted to produce a second force substantially proportional to the speed of rotation of a wheel of said vehicle, said second force being directed toward said first unit opposite the direction of said second force,
• an elongated pivot arm pivotally connected at a position intermediate the ends of said arm to a fixed point spaced from and perpendicular to the point of intersection of said forces when said forces are equal in magnitude, one end of said arm being disposed between said units such that said arm pivots about said position when the magnitude of one of said forces exceeds the magnitude of the other of said forces,
• a pair of fluid valves disposed opposite one another on either side of the other end of said arm, and
• a pair of plunger rods attached to said other end of said arm and extending outward from said arm on opposite sides thereof, each of said rods being operatively associated with a different one of said valves, a fluid output signal from each of said valves being substantially equal when said forces are equal in magnitude, a difference between each said output signal being dependent upon the amount of rotation of said arm about said position and a difference between said forces.

A method for controlling a brake applicable to a wheel of a vehicle, the steps of which comprise

• monitoring the speed of said vehicle,
• sensing the speed of rotation of said wheel,
• simultaneously comparing said vehicle and wheel speeds,
• generating a response dependent upon the difference between said vehicle and wheel speeds,
• operating said brake to limit said difference,
• providing a power source, having a relatively high level output signal,
• reducing the level of said signal to a relatively low level when said wheel speed is equal to said vehicle speed, and
• utilizing said signal, so reduced to operate vehicle and wheel speed sensing means, for generating said response.