Evening star., 1924-06-22
Considering Types of Brake
For the Future Automobile
Belief Is Gaining Head'oay Among Engi'
neers That Po,cer to Stop Machine
Should Be Mechanical.

and crank over an engine that they
couldn't begin to turn without the
aid of the crank. but that day passed
| when the electric Self-Starter became
| available. On this theory many be-
lieve that the manually stopped car
| must also vanish.
This belief is strengthened greatly
by the growing popularity of the
j power-operated gear shift. Not only
I is this seen on cars already in SerV-
| ice, but is announced for some 1925
| models. If it has become necessary
| to cease drawing upon the drivers s
| strength to shift gears it is fore
| gone conclusion that the operation
| of the brakes should no longer be
left to the drivers physical ability.
/ Power operation of the brakes will
have nothing to do with the number
of brakes or their location, since the
| two wheel brake layouts 1t does not
| even concern the matter of the opera
tiou of the brake shoe. The power
can be applied directly to the brake
shoes, or it can be relayed to the
shoes through cables, rods or hy-
dralhic tubes. All that the power
brake is going to do is to do away
with the drivers brake pedal, so that
he can keep his right foot on or near
| the aCcelerator.
Takes Place of Drivers Foot.
The power for the brakes will take
the place of the drivers foot and the
strength behind it. In a type of
brake already used in Europe the car
| is stopped by it's own momentum, the
| brake Operating mechanism bringing
| into play a clutching device that
| couples tine speed of the propeller
shaft with the brakes. This is op-
Grated by the conventional brake
pedal, but movement of such pedal
| is no more laborious than pressing
on the accehrator. 1t can be oper-
ated just as we'll with a hand lever.
This. however, does not represent
| the type of power brake likely to be
popular in America, because it does
| not represent the possible limit of
freedom from effort in starting the
brake mechanism going.
Compressed air seems to be the
most convenient form of braking
force, since it lends itself to wide
variety of applications. 1t can be
generated by a pump geared to the
engine as an accessory. or it can be
propeller shaft, thus utilizing the
cars momentum for the supply of
compressed air. 1t can also be gen.
Grated by electric power. and while
this would make use of the cleo
trio current that is now wasted on
the automobile, it necesSitateS consid-
cradle changes in the electrical sys-
tenn and makes for complications.
Many Ways of Creating Supply.
Suffice it to say. however. that there
are as many ways of creating a sup
ply of compressed air as there are
of using it.
Stopping the car whether by this
ideal system or by any of the many
other plans now under consideration
or already in use renders it unneceS-
sary to expend physical effort Stop
ping becomes as simple a matter as
starting, being automatic to a high
degree.
With the self-stopper, every driver
will have less to do in operating the
car and moro opportunity to do the
few remaining acts more skillfully.
1t should be a great aid to safety and
a convenience to the tired business
man or woman who looks to the open
road for recrea alton.
Copyright. 1924)