Patent ID: 7331641

Claim:
A braking stroke simulator operated in response to operation of a manually operated braking member for use in a brake system, comprising: a simulator piston moved in response to operation of said manually operated braking member; and elastic means for providing a stroke to said simulator piston in response to braking operation force applied to said manually operated braking member, wherein a restoring amount of said elastic means is restricted, so that an initial load applied to said elastic means is set and wherein said elastic means includes: a first elastic member comprising rubber and defining a first spring constant, said first elastic member being compressed immediately after the stroke simulator begins to provide the stroke, and said first elastic member being compressed with elastic deformation over the entire stroke of said simulator piston, and a second elastic member comprising a helical spring disposed in series with said first elastic member and defining a second spring constant less than the first spring constant, with the initial load applied to said first elastic member and the initial load applied to said second elastic member set to be equal to each other, wherein the stroke is provided to said simulator piston by said first elastic member and said second elastic member in response to the braking operation force applied to said manually operated braking member in an initial stroke thereof, and wherein the stroke is provided to said simulator piston only by said first elastic member in response to the braking operation force applied to said manually operated braking member in a stroke thereof following said initial stroke.