Pedal bracket assembly and method of installing same on structural body

A pedal bracket assembly for installation on a structural body having a vertical member and a transverse member projecting transversely from the vertical member includes a support member having vertical flanges adapted to be fastened to the vertical member and side walls joined to the vertical flanges and extending vertically, a pedal pivotally coupled to the side walls, and a holder member having a first adjustable component connectable to the transverse member with first bolts and first nuts for positional adjustment in a first direction in which the transverse member projects, and second adjustable components connectable to the side walls with second bolts and second nuts for positional adjustment in a second direction normal to the transverse member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a pedal bracket assembly for use in a 
motor vehicle and a method of installing such a pedal bracket assembly on 
a structural body. More particularly, the present invention relates to a 
pedal bracket assembly which is robust enough to accurately bear both a 
large operating load and a delicate or small operating load applied by the 
motor vehicle driver and a method of installing such a pedal bracket 
assembly on a structural body. 
2. Description of the Relevant Art 
Pedals such as clutch and brake pedals in motor vehicles are foot-operated 
and normally subject to large operating foot loads. 
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 60 (1985)-135329, for example, 
discloses a structure by which such a pedal for bearing large loads is 
supported on a vehicle body. In the disclosed structure, a pedal bracket 
having two parallel side walls is fixed to a panel, or a horizontal member 
of a panel, which separates an engine compartment from a passenger's 
compartment and which constitutes a structural body of the vehicle. The 
side walls of the pedal bracket support a transverse pin extending 
therebetween. The pedal is supported on the lower end of an arm, while the 
upper end of the arm is angularly movably mounted on the transverse pin. 
A structural body of a vehicle includes vertical and transverse members and 
is generally formed by either bending a single metallic sheet through a 
certain angle to provide such vertical and transverse members, or 
producing separate members and integrally welding or otherwise joining 
them as vertical and transverse members. The structural body is, 
therefore, prone to errors arising from the bending process when the 
metallic sheet is bent into the vertical and transverse members, or from 
dimensional errors of the separate members and the welding process when 
the separate members are integrally joined. The pedal is coupled to the 
push rod of a master cylinder disposed in the engine compartment on one 
side of the vertical member remotely from the pedal. The push rod extends 
through the vertical member and is pivotally coupled to an intermediate 
front edge of the pedal arm. Where the pedal bracket is mounted on an 
erroneously formed structural body, as described above, the pedal which is 
angularly mounted on the bracket is significantly affected by the errors 
of the structural body in that the push rod extending from the master 
cylinder and the pedal arm are highly likely to be displaced out of mutual 
alignment. 
Conventionally, to allow the pedal arm to be held in accurate alignment 
with the push rod for proper connection with each other, the vertical and 
transverse members of the structural body must be bent or separately 
formed highly accurately, and must be installed in place with high 
accuracy. However, such high accuracy is undesirably expensive to achieve, 
often prohibitively so. 
The pedals mounted on vehicle structural bodies are, therefore, normally 
displaced from desired positions on account of dimensional variations of 
the structural bodies. In the art, there is demand for a rugged pedal 
bracket structure, assembly, or mechanism which has a required degree of 
accuracy and is capable of accurately bearing both a large operating load 
and a delicate or small operating load applied by the motor vehicle 
driver, irrespective of the accuracy of a structural body on which the 
pedal bracket assembly is mounted. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the foregoing problems of the conventional pedal bracket device, 
it is an object of the present invention to provide a rugged pedal bracket 
assembly which permits a pedal arm to be positioned highly accurately in 
alignment with the operating member of a pedal-operated actuator when the 
pedal bracket assembly is mounted on a structural body composed of 
vertical and transverse members, irrespective of errors produced when the 
vertical and transverse members are formed by bending, or dimensional 
errors of the vertical and transverse members as they are separately 
formed and subsequently joined, or errors caused when the structural body 
is mounted in position. 
According to the present invention, there is provided a pedal bracket 
assembly for installation on a structural body having a vertical member 
and a transverse member projecting transversely from the vertical member. 
The pedal bracket assembly includes a support member having vertical 
flanges adapted to be fastened to the vertical member and side walls 
joined to the vertical flanges and extending vertically, a pedal pivotally 
coupled to the side walls, and a holder member having first adjustable 
means connectable to the transverse member with first bolts and first nuts 
for positional adjustment in a first direction in which the transverse 
member projects, and second adjustable means connectable to the side walls 
with second bolts and second nuts for positional adjustment in a second 
direction normal to the transverse member. 
The first adjustable means comprises a plate-like main member having first 
oblong holes for insertion of the first bolts respectively therethrough, 
the first oblong holes being positioned for substantial registration with 
first circular holes defined in the transverse member, and the first 
oblong holes being elongate in the first direction. 
The second adjustable means comprises plate-like legs having second oblong 
holes for insertion of the second bolts respectively therethrough, the 
second oblong holes being positioned for substantial registration with 
second circular holes defined in the side walls, and the second oblong 
holes being elongate in a direction normal to the main member. 
The pedal bracket assembly can be installed on the structural member by 
fastening the flanges of the support member to the vertical member, 
aligning the second oblong holes with the second circular holes, inserting 
the second bolts through the second oblong holes and the second circular 
holes, adjustably threading the second nuts over the second bolts, 
aligning the first oblong holes with the first circular holes, inserting 
the first bolts through the first oblong holes and the first circular 
holes, adjustably threading the first nuts over the first bolts, and 
thereafter, tightening the second bolts and nuts together and the first 
bolts and nuts together. 
The above and further objects, details and advantages of the present 
invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of 
a preferred embodiment thereof, when read in conjunction with the 
accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
As shown in FIG. 1, a pedal bracket assembly according to the present 
invention primarily includes a support member 1, a holder member 3 for 
reinforcing the support member 1, and a pedal 2 pivotally supported on the 
support member 1. 
The support member 1 is of an inverted U-shaped cross section having two 
laterally spaced parallel side walls 101, 102 and an upper wall 103 
interconnecting the upper edges of the side walls 101, 102. The support 
member 1 also includes two laterally spaced parallel attachment flanges 
104, 105 joined respectively to the front edges of the side walls 101, 
103, the attachment flanges 104, 105 being bent outwardly away from each 
other. A switch holder 106 is disposed between the rear ends of the side 
walls 101, 102. The pedal 2 includes an arm 201 with its upper end 
pivotally mounted on a shaft 4 transversely extending between and 
supported on the rear ends of the side walls 101, 102. The shaft 4 is 
secured to the side walls 101, 102 by means of nuts threaded over the 
opposite ends of the shaft 4. The arm 201 has a hole 202 defined in an 
intermediate front edge thereof for attachment to the front end of a push 
rod (not shown) of an actuator such as a master cylinder. The pedal 2 also 
includes a tread member 203 attached to the lower end of the arm 201. 
Each of the side walls 101, 102 has two longitudinally spaced circular 
attachment holes 107 defined in a longitudinally intermediate, upper 
portion thereof. Each of the attachment flanges 104, 105 has two 
vertically spaced circular atttachment holes 108. 
The support member 1 is secured to a vertical member of a vehicle 
structural body (not shown in FIG. 1). The holder member 3 is attached to 
and depends from a transverse member of the vehicle structural body, and 
is also fastened to the support member 1. The support member 1 as it is 
mounted on the vertical member is therefore stiffened by the holder member 
3 affixed to the transverse member, so that the pedal bracket assembly as 
a whole is of a rugged or robust construction. 
The holder member 3 comprises a main member 303 positioned transversely 
over the upper wall 103 of the support member 1, and two laterally spaced 
legs 301, 302 depending from the lower surface of the main member 303. The 
distance between the legs 301, 302 is selected such that the inner 
surfaces of the legs 301, 302 are held against the outer surfaces of the 
side walls 101, 102, respectively, in overlapping relation. Each of the 
legs 301, 302 has a pair of vertically oblong holes 307 spaced from each 
other in the longitudinal direction of the support member 1. With the 
holder member 3 mounted on the support member 1, the oblong holes 307 of 
each of the legs 301, 302 are held in registration with the attachment 
holes 107 of the corresponding one of the side walls 101, 102. The main 
member 303 has two oppositely directed overhanging portions extending 
beyond the legs 301, 302 and having respective oblong holes 308 which are 
elongate in the longitudinal direction of the support member 1. 
The support member 1 and the holder member 3 are attached to vertical and 
transverse members, of a structural body respectively, as follows: 
FIG. 2 shows the pedal bracket assembly of the invention as it is installed 
on the structural body comprising a vertical member 5 and a transverse 
member 8. The transverse member 8 is shown as projecting from the vertical 
member 5 into the passenger's compartment at an angle greater than 
90.degree. with respect to the vertical member 5. 
The vertical member 5 has attachment holes 501 for attaching the support 
member 1 which are positioned with reference to the master cylinder in the 
engine compartment. 
For mounting the pedal bracket assembly of the invention on the structural 
body, the support member 1 with the pedal 2 and the switch holder 106 
combined therewith is fastened to the vertical member 5. 
More specifically, the attachment flanges 104, 105 are held against the 
surface 502 of the vertical member 5 which faces the passenger's 
compartment, with collars therebetween, and affixed thereto by means of 
bolts 6 extending through the attachment holes 108, 501 and nuts 7 
tightened on the bolts 6. The attachment hole 202 of the arm 201 for 
connection to the push rod of the master cylinder is now positioned with 
respect to the vertical member 5. The attachment hole 202 is positioned 
highly accurately by flat face-to-face engagement between the flanges 104, 
105 and the attachment surface 502 of the vertical member 5. 
Then, the holder member 3 for stiffening the support member 1 is attached 
to the transverse member 8 in the following manner: First, the main member 
303 and the legs 301, 302 of the holder member 3 are placed on the upper 
wall 103 and the side walls 101, 102, respectively, of the support member 
1 fastened to the vertical member 5, across an intermediate portion of the 
support member 1. The oblong holes 307 of the holder member 3 are brought 
into registration with the circular holes 107 of the support member 1. 
Spacers are placed between the legs 301, 302 and the side walls 101, 102. 
With a collar 9 (FIG. 3) held against the outer surface of one of the 
legs, for example, 302, bolts 10 with externally threaded ends 10a are 
passed through the holes 307 of the leg 302 and the holes 107 of the side 
walls 102, with washers between the bolt heads and the collar 9. Then, 
elongate collars 15 are disposed between the legs 301, 302 over the bolts 
10. The threaded ends 10a of the bolts 10 are inserted through the holes 
107 of the side wall 101 and the holes 307 of the leg 301. With another 
collar 11 held against the outer surface of the leg 301, nuts 12 are 
adjustably threaded over the threaded ends 10a of the bolts 10 which 
project from the collar 11. 
Thereafter, the holder member 3 is installed on the transverse member 8 
which has circular attachment holes 801 (FIG. 2) defined for registration 
with the oblong holes 308 of the holder member 3. 
More specifically, the oblong holes 308 of the main member 303 are brought 
into registration with the holes 801 of the transverse member 8, and bolts 
13 are passed through the holes 308, 801, following by tightening nuts 14 
over the bolts 13. Since the holes 308 of the main member 303 are oblong 
in shape, they can absorb a certain positional displacement between the 
holes 308, 801 in the longitudinal direction of the support member 1. 
Then, the nuts 12 are firmly tightened on the bolts 10, respectively, to 
join the support member 1 and the holder member 3 completely to each 
other. Inasmuch as the holder member 3 can be positionally adjusted with 
respect to the support member 1 and the transverse member 8 through the 
oblong holes 307, 308, respectively, certain vertical and horizontal 
positional displacement of the holder member 3 which may result from an 
error produced when forming the transverse member 8 or an error produced 
when attaching the transverse member 8 to the vertical member 5 can be 
aborbed by moving the holder member 3 along the oblong holes 307, 308. 
The support member 1 with the holder member 3 thus adjustably installed 
thereon is not subject to any upward or downward load which would 
otherwise be generated if the holder member 3 were conventionally, or not 
adjustably, attached to the transverse member 8. The support member 1 is 
therefore prevented from being vertically twisted under such undesired 
load. The pedal bracket assembly thus allows the attachment hole 202 to be 
accurately positioned in alignment with the push rod of the master 
cylinder or actuator. The pedal bracket assembly thus installed on the 
vehicle structural body is of a rugged construction capable of accurately 
bearing both large and small operating loads imposed by the operator's 
foot on the tread member 203 of the pedal 2. 
While the holes 307 of the holder member 3 for attachment to the support 
member 1 are shown as being elongate in the above embodiment, the holes 
107 of the support member 1 may instead be elongate in shape. The 
transverse member 8 projecting from the vertical member 5 into the 
passenger's compartment may lie at a suitable angle, other than the 
illustrated angle, with respect to the vertical member 5, and the support 
member 1 and the holder member 3 may be shaped to meet the selected angle. 
Although there has been described what is at present considered to be the 
preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood that 
the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing 
from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present 
embodiment is therefore to be considered in all aspects as illustrative, 
and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the 
appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.