Apparatus for measuring parking brake activating forces
AssigneeGSE, Inc.
InventorGary L. Barrett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus for sensing the force necessary to pull the lever arm of an automobile parking brake to a predetermined position. An elongated body includes a cavity for receiving the lever arm of the parking brake assembly. The body includes a switch arranged to come into contact with portions of the parking brake assembly when the lever arm is lifted to a predetermined position. A transducer is operative to measure the amount of force required to lift the lever arm to the position at which the switch contacts the parking brake assembly.
Claims21
A test fixture for measuring the amount of force required to move a lever arm to a predetermined position, said test fixture comprising:
- a body adapted to be clamped to the lever arm;
- transducer means carried by the body for measuring the amount of force exerted on the body during movement;
- and
- switch means arranged to be actuated when the lever arm has been moved to a predetermined position whereby the output of the transducer means at the time of switch activation provides a measurement of the force required to move the lever arm to the predetermined position.
Apparatus for measuring the amount of force required to move a lever arm in a parking brake assembly to a predetermined position, said apparatus comprising:
- an elongated body adapted to receive a lever arm of the parking brake;
- clamping means for holding the lever arm rigidly on the body;
- a handle;
- transducer means for measuring the amount of force exerted on the handle during movement of the lever arm;
- switch means on one end of the body arranged for contacting portions of the parking brake assembly when the lever arm has been raised to a predetermined position;
- and
- means for detecting the output of the transducer when the switch has contacted the parking brake assembly to provide an automatic readout of the force necessary to move the lever arm to said predetermined position.
Apparatus for testing the amount of force required to lift a lever arm in an automobile parking brake assembly to a predetermined position, said apparatus comprising:
- an elongated body having a cavity adapted to receive the lever arm;
- a rotatable turret mounted on the body opposite said cavity;
- a hook depending from the turret adapted to selectively engage the lever arm to hold it in the cavity;
- said turret having a tubular portion extending at an angle therefrom;
- a handle having a hollowed out end portion;
- a strain gauge flexure beam having opposite ends connected to said tubular portion and said handle;
- said handle, flexure beam, and tubular portion being arranged along a common axis that passes through the pivot point of the parking brake assembly;
- and
- switch means carried on one end of the body arranged to contact portions of the parking brake assembly when sufficient force has been exerted on the handle to raise the lever arm to a given position.
A method of measuring the amount of force required to lift a lever arm in a parking brake assembly to a given position;
- said method comprising:
- securing a test fixture to the lever arm;
- lifting the test fixture to move the lever arm;
- measuring the strain developed in the test fixture;
- storing the peak strain developed in a memory;
- deenergizing a plurality of indicator lamps when the strain exceeds a given threshold level;
- continuing the lifting of the test fixture until a portion thereof contacts a surface of the parking brake assembly;
- inhibiting further measurement of the strain in the test fixture;
- comparing the contents of the memory with preset limit values;
- and
- selectively energizing one of the indicator lamps as a function of the comparison.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.