#Hydro handbrake series

Later, disc brakes were used for the front and drum brakes for the rear. The system is usually filled with a glycol-ether based brake fluid (other fluids may also be used).Īt one time, passenger vehicles commonly employed drum brakes on all four wheels. Brake caliper assembly usually consisting of one or two hollow aluminum or chrome-plated steel pistons (called caliper pistons), a set of thermally conductive brake pads and a rotor (also called a brake disc) or drum attached to an axle.

#Hydro handbrake series

A master cylinder assembly containing a piston assembly (made up of either one or two pistons, a return spring, a series of gaskets/ O-rings and a fluid reservoir).A pushrod (also called an actuating rod).The most common arrangement of hydraulic brakes for passenger vehicles, motorcycles, scooters, and mopeds, consists of the following: The technology was carried forward in automotive use and eventually led to the introduction of the self-energizing hydraulic drum brake system (Edward Bishop Boughton, London England, June 28, 1927) which is still in use today. Knox Motors Company of Springfield, MA was equipping its tractors with hydraulic brakes, beginning in 1915.

'Lockheed' is a common term for brake fluid in France.įred Duesenberg used Lockheed Corporation hydraulic brakes on his 1914 racing cars and his car company, Duesenberg, was the first to use the technology on the Duesenberg Model A in 1921.

Malcolm Loughead (who later changed the spelling of his name to Lockheed) invented hydraulic brakes, which he patented in 1917. used hydraulic brakes in 1915, in a Tractor unit. Although more cars had the brake system installed and the company advertised heavily, it disappeared without achieving the success it deserved. The company, which had a factory at Luckwell Lane, Bristol, installed a four-wheel hydraulic braking system on a Metallurgique chassis, fitted with a Hill and Boll body, which was exhibited at the November 1910 London Motor Show. of 23 Bridge Street, Bristol when it was established in 1909/10. His brother, William Herbert Weight improved the patent (GB190921122A) and both were assigned to the Weight Patent Automobile Brake Ltd. He patented it in Great Britain (GB190800241A) in December 1908, later in Europe and the USA and then exhibited it at the 1909 London Motor Show. In 1908, Ernest Walter Weight of Bristol, England devised and fitted a four-wheel hydraulic (oil) braking system to a motor car. He obtained patent GB190403651A for “Improvements in hydraulic actuated brakes for cycles and motors”, as well as subsequently for improved flexible rubber hydraulic pipes.

A schematic illustrating the major components of a hydraulic disc brake system.Ī hydraulic brake is an arrangement of braking mechanism which uses brake fluid, typically containing glycol ethers or diethylene glycol, to transfer pressure from the controlling mechanism to the braking mechanism.ĭuring 1904, Frederick George Heath (Heath Hydraulic Brake Co., Ltd.), Redditch, England devised and fitted a hydraulic (water/glycerine) brake system to a cycle using a handlebar lever and piston.