Brake wear indicator system

A brake pad comprising:

• a support plate with an aperture therethrough;
• a layer of friction material secured to said support plate and having a face engageable to a braking surface;
• an electrical contact assembly extending through said aperture of said support plate and connected to said support plate;
• said electrical contact assembly includes two electrically insulated terminal portions extending through said support plate an integral connecting portion electrically connecting said terminal portions;
• said connecting portion extending into a plane intersecting the layer of friction material and substantially parallel to the face engaging the braking surface such that upon a predetermined amount of abrasion of said face of the layer of friction material, said connecting portion comes in contact with said braking surface when said pad is applied to said braking surface to close a first electric circuit connectable to said electrical contact assembly and produce a first signal, and upon a further amount of abrasion of said braking surface beyond said predetermined amount, said connecting portion becomes totally abraded to electrically disconnect said terminal portions to electrically disconnect said first terminal portion from said second terminal portion to produce a second signal.

A brake pad comprising:

• a support plate with an aperture therethrough;
• a layer of friction material secured to said support plate and having a face engageable to a braking surface;
• an electrical contact assembly extending through said aperture of said support plate and connected to said support plate;
• said electrical contact assembly includes two electrically insulated terminal portions extending through said support plate an integral connecting portion electrically connecting said terminal portions;
• said connecting portion extending into a plane intersecting the layer of friction material and substantially parallel to the face engaging the braking surface such that upon a predetermined amount of abrasion of said face of the layer of friction material, said connecting portion comes in contact with said braking surface when said pad is applied to said braking surface, and upon a further amount of abrasion of said braking surface beyond said predetermined amount, said connecting portion becomes totally abraded to electrically disconnect said terminal portions;
• the contact assembly comprising:
• a block of electrically conductive material bifurcated to form said two terminal portions by a slot extending therein with said integral connecting portion spanning the slot;
• a sheet of insulating material positioned in said slot between the terminal portions and projecting laterally from the block;
• said aperture through said support plate having opposing recesses sized to receive the projecting ends of said sheet of insulating material.