Patent ID: 7475615

Claim:
A parking brake actuator comprising: a brake lever movable between brake-released and brake-applied positions; and a self-adjustment assembly comprising: a rack mounted for movement relative to the lever along a longitudinal direction of the rack, the rack comprising a plurality of rack teeth, a cable connector for operatively connecting the rack to a brake cable, a resilient member constructed to bias the rack relative to the lever along its longitudinal direction in a tensioning direction, a rotatable pinion having pinion teeth that engage the rack teeth such that movement of the rack relative to the lever along its longitudinal direction rotates the pinion, and a clutch having an engaged position that prevents the pinion from rotating at least in a first direction corresponding to movement of the rack relative to the lever opposite the tensioning direction, the clutch also having a disengaged position that allows the pinion to rotate in at least a second direction corresponding to movement of the rack relative to the lever in the tensioning direction, wherein the clutch is constructed and positioned to be disposed in the disengaged position when the lever is in its brake-released position, and wherein the clutch is constructed and positioned to be disposed in the engaged position when the lever moves away from its brake-released position and toward its brake-applied position.