Patent ID: 8387485

Claim:
A hand operated parking brake actuator, which is rotatable about an axis of rotation, comprising: a mounting bracket for mounting to a vehicle; a hand lever rotatably mounted to the mounting bracket and rotatable about the axis of rotation, the hand lever afftixable to a parking brake cable to set and release the parking brake; an outer sleeve fixed to the hand lever and extending axially outward from the hand lever and coaxial with the axis, the outer sleeve having a plurality of inner bearing ramps; an inner sleeve fixed to the mounting bracket and mounted coaxial with and inside the outer sleeve, the inner sleeve having an outer bearing surface that radially opposes the inner bearing ramps; a plurality of cam rollers mounted in a cage, the cage coaxial with and rotatably mounted between the inner and outer sleeve, the cam rollers are spring biased against the inner bearing ramps and the outer bearing surface, and the cage is rotatable between three positions, a set position where the rollers are held intimately between the inner bearing ramps and the outer bearing surface, a release position where the rollers are free between the inner bearing ramps and the outer bearing surface, and a start position; a return spring which returns the cage from the release position to the start position, the return spring having a release position and a start position, one end of the return spring fixed to the outer sleeve and the other end of the return spring acting on the cage; and a release button on the hand lever which actuates the return spring and the cage to the released position, and the hand lever rotates and moves the cage between the set position and the start position so as to set and release the parking brake, wherein the mounting bracket has an upper surface which is orientated perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the actuator such that the hand lever is rotatably mounted perpendicular to the upper surface of the mounting bracket.