Brake

“ Brake.—A device for stopping or checking the motion of the car by the application of friction to one or other of the moving parts. A motor-car should have at least three good brakes applicable by the hand and foot of the driver. ”

“ A gentle application of the brake pulls us up, and the journey is over. It is difficult to realize, as the engine stands quietly under the lee of the pier while the driver examines the machinery, and the fire, burned low, throws out a gentle warmth as we stand before it, that half an hour ago we were tearing along the line at full speed, while the foot-plate that is now so pleasant to lounge on throbbed beneath us. ”

“ Educate your men to feel that neglect of this wise precaution is just as mortifying as to appear in public without clothes. In shoving long cuts of cars without using air, get your brakemen and switchmen to feel a pride in setting a hand brake on the end car to take the slack and save the jerk on the drawbars. Work for the old-time feeling of chagrin that came to the calloused-armed passenger brakeman, in the days of Armstrong brakes, when he did not go after them soon enough and let his train run by the station. The men are not to blame for this loss of pride and interest. ”

“ An automobile is always equipped with two sets of brakes, as they are required by law. The functional action of the brakes is to check the motion of the car when the driver wishes to stop or reduce the rolling speed. The service brake usually operates on the external surface, or on the outside of the drum flange, and is connected to the right foot pedal through a set of linkage. The emergency brake operates on the internal surface of the drum, and connects through linkage to a hand lever operating on a notched quadrant. ”

“ Caution.—After you have set the gears for starting, and before you release the clutch pedal, always reach and make sure that the emergency brake lever is in the neutral position. New drivers invariably forget to do this, which results in severe strain on the bearings, and causes them to get loose; the average brake band will not stand more than fifteen to twenty minutes of continuous contact before it burns or wears beyond the point of usefulness. ”

“ When from any cause it is desirable to have the brake inoperative on any particular car, the four-way cock is turned to an intermediate position, which shuts off the brake-cylinder and reservoir, leaving the main brake-pipe unobstructed to supply air to the remaining vehicles. ”

“ When one considers that a defective brake, a worn-through steering knuckle, or any one of a number of broken parts—broken because neglected—may be the particular weapon selected by the fool-killer, the owner who cares for his bones, or for the lives of his passengers, would better spend a few hours occasionally in looking after his car and in finding out all that is possible about it. ”

“ The simplest way of applying a brake is by muscular force, exerted through a hand or foot lever or through a screw, by which the brake block is pressed against the rim of the wheel or the band brake tightened on its drum. This method is sufficient in the case of most road vehicles, and is largely used on railway vehicles. But the power thus available is limited, and becomes inadequate for heavy vehicles moving at high speeds. ”

“ Connected with the fly-wheel was a powerful wooden brake, acting by pressure against its rim, something like the brake of a railway-carriage against its wheels. On catching sight of the chain attached to the ascending corve-cage, the brakesman, by pressing his foot upon a foot-step near him, was enabled, with great precision, to stop the revolutions of the wheel, and arrest the ascent of the corves at the pit mouth, when they were forthwith landed on the “settle board.” ”

“ Section 5.—BRAKES AND RETARDING APPLIANCES. To retard or arrest motion (revolving or rectilinear) .
35. Strap and lever brake. The strap is usually faced with wood or leather, but sometimes is used without either. Wood is liable to become noisy. Leather gives the best grip. Iron upon iron, or wood upon iron is not safe if liable to become oily or wet.
36. Block and lever brake. Wood or cast-iron blocks are used.
37. Compound block and lever brake; avoids putting cross strain on the shaft—used on winding engines, &c.
38. Internal toggle brake, employed for friction clutches. ”

“ In this statement we find a list of accidents which have been avoided by the use of the brake, and these accidents are classified under different heads, such as Collisions, Obstacles on the Line, Rolling-stock not removed in time, and so forth. Upwards of forty disasters have been clearly avoided by the prompt use of the brake. On the other hand, the brake itself will sometimes get out of order and refuse to act at the critical moment. ”

“ Every car carries at least two brakes of band pattern—one, usually worked by a side hand-lever, acting on the axle or hubs of the driving-wheel; the other, operated by the foot, acting on the transmission gear (see Fig. 48) . The latter brake is generally arranged to withdraw the clutch simultaneously. Tests have proved that even heavy cars can be pulled up in astonishingly short distances, considering their rate of travel. ”

“ Both sets of brakes should be carefully examined to see that the lining is not worn too thin and that the different pins and clevises of the brake linkage are not worn so as to be weak and likely to give away in touring under extraordinary pressure. Often in touring one comes upon unexpected grades, some of them miles long, and the tourist should be prepared for prolonged and extraordinary service. ”

“ The brake should be reserved for use in going down very steep hills and for emergencies, such as having the horses get away from you when going down a moderate hill; but the brake should never be used, in single or pair horse driving, in pulling up. ”

“ Transfer your whip to the left hand and avoid the danger of flicking the horse in front of you by dropping it toward him; or of flicking the passengers behind you by dropping it toward them; and above all avoid the danger of breaking or losing your whip altogether. When the brake is to be put on, you need your whole hand to do it. Put on and take off the brake quietly. Knowing horses will often start off at the sound of the brake. The brake should not be regarded as a regular part of the harness. ”

“ To find the distance s through which a brake, exerting the friction F, must rub in order to stop a machine having the total actual energy E at the moment when the brake begins to act, reduce, by the principles of § 96, the various efforts and other resistances of the machine which act at the same time with the friction of the brake to the rubbing surface of the brake, and let R be their resultant—positive if resistance, negative if effort preponderates. ”

“ Mechanical brakes, worked by springs, friction wheels on the axle, chains wound on drums, or other mechanical devices, or by the force produced when, by reason of a sudden checking of the speed of the locomotive, the momentum of the cars causes pressure on the draw-bars or buffing Railway power brakes. devices. (2) Hydraulic brakes, worked by means of water forced through pipes into proper mechanism for transmitting its force to the brake-shoes. ”

“ These small brakes are moved from shock to shock, so that the hurds are scattered all over the field in small piles of less than 50 pounds each, and it is the common practice to set fire to them as soon as the brake is moved. ”

“ A common form of brake that will hold only in one direction is shown in diagram fig. 5. In this a brake drum a is surrounded by a brake band b, fastened at one end to a fixed stud at c, and pulled at the other end d by a rod f, connected to a pedal e. This brake acts perfectly so long as the drum a rotates in the direction shown by the arrow, because the friction of the band on the drum from near c to d pulls on the band in the same direction as the pedal, and thus the greater the pull at d the greater the frictional grip round to d. ”

“ Auxiliary front wheel brake, when used in conjunction with service brake, must be applied with caution, especially on wet, muddy, or slippery roads.
(2) After passing through water, the brakes should be set slightly, and the vehicle operated for a short distance, until sufficient heat has been generated to dry the brakes.
c. Avoid Low Gear Operation. Always operate vehicle in highest gear possible, consistent with tactical situation, speed required, power required, and kind and nature of road substance, to prevent overheating of engine. ”

“ The brake shoved on with a jerk at every stop jars everybody in the vehicle, and has been known, not once, but often, to actually chuck people clean out of the vehicle, both behind and in front, besides bringing the horse into his collar with a painful galling of his shoulders. On a level place the brake should never be used to stop the vehicle. After the vehicle has been stopped, particularly if it be a heavy one, the brake may be put on and left on until the next start is made—this as a measure of precaution.
Never put on the brake in any case with the whip in the right hand. ”

“ The tire brake has fallen into disuse, rim brakes and internal hub brakes being usual. The retarding force that can be applied by a brake is limited by the possibility of skidding the wheel. In riding at uniform speed, without acceleration, the greater part of the load is on the rear-wheel; but as soon as the brake is applied to cause retardation the wheel load distribution is altered, more load being thrown on the front wheel. Thus the most powerful brake is one applied to the front wheel. On the other hand, a front-wheel brake often sets up an unpleasant vibration of the front fork. ”

“ Two arms extend from this bar to roads which when pulled forward, move a bar attached to the road in such a way that the brake band in the inside of the brake shoe is extended against the shoe, applying the brakes evenly to each wheel no matter how uneven the road-bed or how sharp the curve. ”

“ During a stop something may happen to the brakes so as to make them quite ineffective, or a portion of the brake mechanism may have broken. The driver who perhaps before luncheon has ascertained that his brakes are acting perfectly, after luncheon may start off in the same supposition, and perhaps not discover his error until, relying on his pedal brake to stop him in traffic, he finds that it has no effect, with the result that he probably goes through the back of a brougham. ”

“ The air-brake is a big help. When a train breaks in two or three parts [Pg 250] on a grade, the pulling out of the air-couplings automatically sets the brakes on every part, and if you do not know what that means ask one of the old-timers. In the old days of the hand-brakes the very worst of all freight accidents came when a section of a freight train without any one aboard to set its brakes, broke loose and came crashing down a hill into some helpless train. ”

“ It is now universally held that the brake, both for freight and for passenger service, must be continuous; that is, it must be applied to every wheel of every car of the train from some one point, and ordinarily that point must be the engineer's cab. With the valve of an efficient continuous brake constantly under his left hand, the engine-driver can play with the heaviest and fastest train. ”

“ The mere fact that the brake is generally so reliable,—that ninety-nine times out of the hundred it works perfectly,—simply makes disaster certain by the fatal confidence it inspires. Ninety-nine times in a hundred the brake proves reliable;—nine times in the remaining ten of the thousand, in which it fails, a lucky chance averts disaster;—but the thousandth time will assuredly come, as it did at Communipaw and on the New York Elevated railway, and, much the worst of all yet, at Wollaston. ”

“ Usually the brake is a simple lever acting on a brake pulley at one end, whilst at the other it is regulated by an inclined bracket connected with the starting handle. When the handle is pushed forward, the brake lever is lifted; when the knocking-off takes place the end of the brake lever drops and the leathers come in contact with the pulley, stopping the loom. Additional brake power may be made by altering the leathers or weighting the brake lever. ”

“ Perhaps the most serious danger in the car mechanism is the brake. Mr. Harold F. Blanchard writing in Motor (New York) , argues that more than half, probably as much as 90 per cent of all motor accidents may be eliminated by making the stopping ability of motor vehicles a maximum instead of 25 to 50 per cent, as is now the rule. He would have brakes put on all four wheels and claims thereby the braking power of the machine can be more than doubled. ”

“ Brose them on a brake] —Brose, i. e. bruise, [371] break: brake (which has occurred before in a different sense, see note, p. 168. v. 324) means here an engine of torture: “I Brake on a brake or payne bauke as men do mysdoers to confesse the trouthe.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. clxxi. (Table of Verbes) . In the Tower was a celebrated brake known by the nick-name of the Duke of Exeter’s Daughter: see the woodcut in Steevens’s note on Measure for Measure,—Shakespeare (by Malone and Boswell) , ix. ”

“ In this connection it is well to keep in mind that on long grades considerable braking may be done by cutting off the ignition and allowing the car to turn the engine over in high or intermediate gear. Keeping the car down to a rather low speed in this manner will also be found to save burning up the brake linings. ”