Booster mounting arrangement

A booster assembly is attached to a dash panel by a slotted hinge arrangement at the top of the booster mounting bracket and bolts in apertures at the bottom. The push rod is connected to the brake pedal in such a manner that the entire mounting and connection operation may be accomplished from the forward side of the dash.

The invention relates to a mounting arrangement for a booster assembly, and 
more particularly to one for a brake booster assembly which can be mounted 
from the forward side of the vehicle dash, including attachment of the 
booster push rod to the actuating pedal arm. The invention particularly 
provides a pivoting type mounting arrangement for a brake booster assembly 
wherein the brake booster has a mounting bracket which is pivotally mated 
with a mounting bracket on the forward side of the vehicle dash. The 
booster push rod is inserted through an opening in the dash, and the push 
rod is connected to the operating pedal for actuation upon completion of 
assembly without further attachment operations being required within the 
passenger compartment of the vehicle. The booster is then pivoted into 
position so that the booster mounting bracket is in surface engagement 
with a portion of the vehicle dash and the mounting bracket is then 
secured to the vehicle dash by suitable fastening means. Once so secure, 
the input push rod remains in proper position on the operating pedal and 
is not removable therefrom without partially detaching the booster so that 
it may be pivoted back to the pre-installation position. 
It is a feature of the preferred embodiment of the invention to provide the 
pivoting portion of the mounting arrangement at the top of the booster 
assembly mounting bracket and the parts secured by bolts or other suitable 
means at the bottom portion thereof. This permits the booster assembly to 
be inserted from an upward area downwardly and rearwardly with a minimum 
amount of interference with other mechanisms which are commonly located 
forward of the vehicle dash. This also makes servicing the booster 
assembly easier. 
It is another feature of the invention to provide the booster mounting 
bracket at the pivoting end as a cantilevered type spring to help hold the 
booster assembly tightly in position against the forward side of the dash 
when the fastening means are attached. 
It is still another feature of the invention to provide the portion of the 
booster mounting bracket through which the mounting means such as bolts 
are inserted to be so positioned, together with the associated portion of 
the vehicle dash to which the bolts are attached, that the actuating force 
on the booster assembly when the pedal arm is actuated is transmitted back 
to the dash from the mounting bracket substantially in the plane of the 
portions of the mounting bracket and dash receiving the bolts. Therefore 
these mounting bracket and dash portions are not loaded in a bending load 
manner, but are loaded in directions along the planes occupied by them. 
This provides less tendency for those portions of the mounting bracket and 
the vehicle dash to be loaded in bending relation and therefore possibly 
contribute to metal fatigue in that area from such bending loads. 
The connection between the input push rod and the pedal arm is more 
particularly disclosed and claimed in concurrently filed U.S. application 
Ser. No. 826,893 entitled "Push Rod to Pedal Arm Connection", and assigned 
to the common assignee. Reference is therefore made to that application 
for a more complete description of that connection.

The fragmentary portion of the vehicle 10 of the drawing includes a dash 12 
and a mounting panel or bracket 14. A pedal arm 16 is pivotally secured at 
its upper end 18 to bracket 14 so as to pivot about pivot axis 20 in 
fore-and-aft movements in a plane which is substantially parallel to the 
plane of bracket 14. Pedal arm 16 has a pedal 22 secured to its lower end 
24, as is well known in the art. In the typical installation, pedal 22 is 
a brake pedal. Pedal arm 16 has a bracket 26 secured to one side thereof, 
the upper portion of the bracket having a slot 28 formed therein to 
receive a reduced diameter portion 30 of a push rod 32. The reduced 
diameter portion 30 is defined by axially spaced rounded shoulders 34 and 
36 which operatively engage opposite sides of the bracket 26 when the 
reduced diameter portion 30 is in the inner or bottom end of slot 28 as 
shown. A rubber bumper 38 is preferably positioned between shoulder 36 and 
bracket 26 to eliminate click noises upon quick release of the pedal 22. 
Dash 12 has an opening 40 formed therethrough and the surrounding portion 
of the dash provides a face surface 42 on the forward side of the dash, 
which is the side opposite to where pedal arm 16 is located. As is usual 
in a vehicle, the pedal arm 16 and pedal 22 are located in the vehicle 
passenger compartment. The compartment on the other side of dash 12 may be 
an engine compartment, a luggage compartment, or some other compartment 
provided as a part of the vehicle, the compartment being adapted to 
contain the booster assembly 44. 
When the booster assembly 44 is used in a brake system, it actuates a 
master cylinder which may be secured to the booster assembly. The push rod 
32 is the input member of the booster assembly 44, and when actuated 
controls the booster control valving to actuate and release the booster 
assembly in a manner well known in the art. The face surface 42 of the 
dash 12 has an offset or bend 46 so as to position a portion 48 of dash 12 
slightly rearwardly of the plane of the face surface 42. A mounting 
bracket 50 is secured to dash portion 48. Bracket 50 is illustrated as 
being generally L-shaped in cross section, with one side 52 thereof being 
secured to the dash portion 48 and the other side 54 thereof projecting 
forwardly from the dash portion 48 beyond the plane of the face surface 
42. A slot 56 is formed in bracket side 54 and, as best shown in FIG. 3, 
extends laterally so that it is parallel to a diameter of opening 40, but 
spaced therefrom. Slot 56 is preferably in the extended plane of face 
surface 42. 
In the preferred arrangement, the bracket 50 and its slot 56 are provided 
over opening 40 so that the pivoting action of the booster assembly 44 to 
be described occurs at the upper portion of the mounting arrangement. It 
is to be understood, however, that in some circumstances it may be 
desirable to locate bracket 50 and its slot 56 at other than directly 
above opening 40. It may be positioned at either side of the opening or at 
the bottom of the opening, by way of example, or at any point in between. 
Further description of the invention, however, will relate to the 
preferred embodiment illustrated with the pivoting mechanism at the top of 
the mounting arrangement. 
The lower portion of the face surface 42 is bent at bend 58 so that the 
lower face portion 60 forms an acute angle with the extended plane of face 
surface 42 as portion 60 is bent out of that plane. Lower face portion 60 
has bolt holes 62 formed therethrough, one such bolt hole being 
illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. On the opposite side of the lower face 
portion 60 of face surface 42 a threaded nut 64 is secured in alignment 
with each of the bolt holes 62. 
The booster assembly 44 has its housing 66 provided with a booster mounting 
bracket 68 secured to the rear side of the housing. Mounting bracket 68 
has a tang 70 formed on the upper side thereof, the tang 70 being 
receivable within the slot 56 to cooperate with the bracket side 54 to 
provide the pivotal arrangement for booster installation. The other side 
of bracket 68 from booster housing 66 is in surface engageable relation 
with the face surface 42 of dash 12. The side of slot 54 engaged by the 
side of tang 70 facing the booster housing 66 is preferably closer to dash 
portion 48 than the extended plane of face surface 42 plus the thickness 
of bracket 68. This assures a tight fit by cantilever spring loading the 
tang 70 when the booster assembly is secured in place as shown in FIG. 2. 
Another tang 72 is provided on the lower end of the booster mounting 
bracket 68. This tang has bolt holes 74 formed therethrough which will be 
aligned with the bolt holes 62 when the booster is pivoted into position. 
Tang 72 is preferably bent at an acute angle out of the extended plane of 
the main portion of the bracket 68 so that it fits about the bend 58 and 
in surface engagement with the lower face portion 60 of dash 12 when the 
booster is in the installed position. This is clearly illustrated in FIG. 
2. 
Before the booster assembly 44 is installed, the pedal arm 16 is depending 
vertically from the vehicle body mounting bracket 14 about pivot axis 20. 
The booster assembly 44 is positioned on the forward side of dash 12 with 
the push rod 32 being inserted through opening 40 so that the push rod 
reduced diameter portion 30 is positioned at the top of bracket slot 28. 
The push rod may then be released and it will slide downwardly so that the 
reduced diameter portion 30 will rest in the inner end of slot 28, all as 
more particularly disclosed and claimed in the above noted application 
Ser. No. 826,893 filed on concurrent date herewith. The booster tang 70 is 
then inserted through slot 56 of bracket side 54 so that the booster 
assembly is in the position shown in FIG. 1. The booster is then pivoted 
downwardly so that the bolt holes 74 are in axial alignment with the bolt 
holes 62. This downward pivotal movement will act through the push rod 32 
and the pedal bracket 26 to move the pedal arm 16 in a pivotal manner 
about axis 20 to the released position shown in FIG. 2. Bolts 76 are then 
inserted through the bolt holes and threaded into the appropriate nuts 64 
so as to tightly secure the booster assembly in place. Because of the 
relationship of the slot 56 to the extended plane of the face surface 42 
as above described, a cantilever force will be exerted on the booster 
mounting bracket tang 70. Thus tang 70 is spring loaded. It acts in 
cooperation with bolts 76 to hold the booster mounting bracket 68 and 
therefore the booster assembly 44 tightly in surface engagement with the 
surface 42. Due to the bend 58 of the dash and the similar bend for tang 
72, the angle of tang 72 and the lower face portion 60 is such that when 
the pedal arm 16 is moved to actuate the booster assembly 44, the force 
transmitted from the booster assembly housing back to the dash 12 will be 
transmitted in a direction substantially in the plane of tang 72 and the 
plane of the lower face portion 60, placing the bolts 76 predominantly in 
shear. By transmitting the forces through the sheet metal tang 72 and the 
lower face portion 60 of the dash 12 in this manner, substantially no 
bending forces are exerted on them and there is therefore no bending 
action taking place in them which may tend to cause metal fatigue. The 
tang 70, acting as a cantilevered spring and extending sufficiently above 
dash offset 46 before it engages slot 56, acts under a load over the 
entire area of the tang which is considerably below that which will tend 
to cause any metal fatigue at this point. 
The mounting arrangement provides an easy way to mount the booster assembly 
from the forward side of the dash, requires no additional interior 
passenger compartment operation to secure the push rod to the pedal arm 
16, and results in a quick installation, saving both time and effort.