History of Brakes in Motor Cars / Automobiles

6.1 Brakes 

• See Part 1. The Early History, Section 10.7 (Brakes). 

6.1.1 Four Wheel Brake System 

• In 1903 four-wheel brakes were fitted to the Dutch Spiker 60/80 HP model.
  
  

• The Scottish car company Arrol-Johnston fitted four-wheel brakes to the 15.9 hp model they produced in late 1909/early 1910. In 1911 the company no longer fitted four wheel brakes to their models. 
  
  

• In 1910 Giustino Cattaneo of the Italian Isotta Fraschini Company designed a four wheel brake system. A patent was granted in February of that year.
  
  

• A year later the system was fitted to the new Isotta Franschini Tipo KM4 production model. 50 of these cars were built between 1911 and 1914. 
  
  

• The car was fitted with internal-expanding front-wheel brakes and the rear wheels were retarded by two water-cooled contracting transmission brakes. Coolant was supplied to the inside of the drums from a pressurized tank.
  
  

• A pedal operated the rear wheel brakes, with a hand lever actuating via a cable the brakes on the front wheels.
  
  

• Mechanical brake systems typically consisted of up to 50 joints, 20 bearings and 200 mechanical parts.
  
  

• At the January 1923 New York Automobile Show only two manufacturers, Duesenburg (hydraulic brakes) and Rickenbacker (mechanical brakes) offered cars with four-wheel brakes.
  
  

• A year later the number had increased to 26 of the 72 manufacturers present; offering four-wheel brakes as standard fit or as an option.
  
  

• A report published in 1929 stated: “70% of British, US and Continental cars in Britain in 1924 were rear-braked only. By 1929 that figure had reduced to 1%”.
  
  

• 6.1.2 Hydraulic Brakes
   

• Malcolm Lougheed (American) designed a hydraulic braking system for cars, receiving 7 patents for his idea between Dec 1917 and July 1923.
  
  

• Cylinders and tubes were used to transmit fluid pressure against brake shoes that were then pressed against the outside of a brake drum.
  
  

• Note: In 1926 Malcolm legally changed his name from the old Scottish spelling of Loughead to Lockheed.
  
  

• In 1921 Lougheed’s hydraulic brake system was fitted to all four wheels of a Model A Duesenberg car. The system was however beset with leakage problems.
  
  

• Lougheed used rawhide cup seals to prevent hydraulic fluid leakage when the brakes were applied but these seals quickly dried out and shrank under heavy brake usage.
  
  

• Engineers of the Maxwell Motor Corporation (of which Walter P Chrysler was chairman) produced seals in the form of rubber cups that solved the problem.
  
  

• For $75 the improved Lougheed four-wheel hydraulic brakes were offered as an optional extra on Maxwell-Chalmers car from October 1923.
  
  

• In 1924 the American Chrysler Six Phaeton B-70 and the British Triumph 13/35 models were the next two production cars to be equipped with the improved, four-wheel, Lougheed hydraulic brakes.
  
  

• The 1926 Adler Standard model was the first German car to be fitted with (ATE-Lougheed) hydraulic brakes.
  
  

• In 1926, Stutz used a system called Hydrostatic Brakes; using water instead of hydraulic fluid. “Each wheel used one bladder and six brake pads”.
  
  

• The brakes hydrostatic system leaving the factory filled with a 50/50 solution of alcohol and water to prevent freezing.
  
  

• The system was only used for one year. In 1927 Stutz switched to Lougheed hydraulic brakes, the company producing kits to convert the 1926 models.
  
  

• By 1931 various US manufacturer’s, including Chrysler, Dodge, Desoto, Dodge, Franklin, Graham, Plymouth, Reo and Graham produced cars with hydraulic brakes.
  
  

• During the 1930s hydraulic braking systems became standard fit on most cars.
  
  

• In 1931 Lincoln introduced the Model K which was fitted with cable-operated Bendix Duo-Servo brakes.
  
  

• Two years later, in 1933, the Lincoln KB model featured four-wheel vacuum servo-assisted mechanical drum brakes.
  
  

• Other early models to use servo assisted hydraulic brakes include; in 1934 the Hispano-Suiza T6ORL, Chrysler Airflow, Mercedes 500K and LaSalle Series 50, and in 1936 the Cadillac Twelve and the Hotchkiss 486 (the latter for one year only before returning to mechanical brakes).
  
  

• In 1967 it became a requirement that all cars sold in the USA had to have two separate hydraulic circuits.
   

6.1.3 Power Assisted Brakes 

• Power assisted brakes were first employed in 1903 when air brakes were fitted to a car called the Tincher that was developed by Thomas L Tincher (American).
  
  

• The pressure required to apply the foot operated four wheel drum brakes on the 1919 Hispano-Suiza H6 model was enhanced by a mechanical servo system that was driven by a special shaft from the transmission.
  
  

• On 19 October 1920 John Godfrey Thomas (British) submitted and on 9 January 1923 was granted US patent #1,441,545 for an invention which “enables the brake to be applied or the clutch to be engaged by power”.
  
  

• “A convenient source of (vacuum) power for the purpose is the suction pipe of the internal combustion engine”.
  
  

• On 2 February 1926 the patent was assigned to the General Motor Corporation.
  
  

• In 1928 a vacuum power booster braking system designed by Bragg-Kliesrath (USA) was fitted to a Pierce-Arrow car. What model? The Series 33?
  
  

• Sometime between 1927 and 1929 a Westinghouse designed vacuum booster brake system is reported to have been installed on the American Chandler cars; “Tripling the force applied to the wheels”. Confirmation required.
  
  

• There is a report that the Belgian 1928 Minerva model employed a DeWander designed vacuum booster. Confirmation required.
  
  

• A 1928 advert for the British Bean car stated: A sport model, the 14/70, was also available featuring a Dewandre brake servo. It also now had four-wheel brakes.
  
  

• In 1985 some cars produced by General Motors use an electrically driven brake booster. Which models?
   

6.1.4 Disc Brakes 

• In 1949 Crosley Motors became the first American manufacturer to fit disc brakes.
  
  

• They were fitted to Crosley’s Hotshot model but discontinued the following year.
  
  

• Between 1949 and 1953 Chrysler fitted a type of disc brake to their fourth generation Imperial models.
  
  

• Disc brakes were further developed by Dunlop in Great Britain in the early 1950s and fitted to a Jaguar C-Type racing car in 1953.
  
  

• In 1954 an Austin Healey 100S became the first British production car to be fitted with disc brakes on all four wheels.
  
  

• Powered inboard front disc brakes were fitted to the 1955 Citroen DS model.
  
  

• In 1956 the front brakes on the Triumph TR3 model were changed from drum to disc.
  
  

• During the 1960s numerous manufacturers around the world started to replace drum brakes with disc brakes. Some of the first companies to do so in the 1960s were:
  
  

• 1960 (Italy): The Lancia Flaminia model changed from drum to four-wheel disc brakes after the first 500 cars had been built.
  
  

• 1961 (Germany): The Mercedes-Benz 220Se model was the first German production car with disc brakes.
  
  

• 1962 (France): The Renault R8 model was supplied with four-wheel disc brakes,
  
  

• 1963 (USA): Bendix produced caliper-type disc brakes supplied as standard fit on Studebaker Advant model and as optional extras on their Hawk and V8 Lark models.
  
  

• 1965 (Japan): Nissan fitted disc brakes to their Datsun Silva model.
  
  

• 1966 (Sweden): The Volvo 144 was supplied with four wheel disc brakes.
  
  

• 1967 (Japan): The Toyota 2000GT was the first Japanese car fitted with four-wheel disc brakes.
   

6.1.5 Self Adjusting Brakes 

• In 1925 Cole and Jowett models are believed to be the first cars to be equipped with self-adjusting brakes. For how many years did Cole & Jowett use these self-adjusting brakes? How successful were they?
  
  
  

• The self-adjusting disc brakes were supplied as standard fit on the Series 890 Cole model.
  
  
  

• Jewett’s self-adjusting brakes were fitted to all four wheels “at extra cost to the owner” on their Touring, Brougham, and Sedan models.
  
  

• For their 1947 model Studebaker replaced Lockheed brakes with ones produced by the Wagner Electric Co. which had a self adjusting feature.
   

6.1.6 Anti-Lock Braking (ABS) 

• In 1936 Bosch filed a patent application in Germany for an “Apparatus for preventing lock-braking of the wheels of a motor vehicle”. Was a system installed and tested in a vehicle?
  
  

• ABS is derived from the German “Antiblockiersystem”, the name given to it by its inventors at Bosch.
  
  

• In 1978 Bosch introduced an electronic 4-wheel multi-channel ABS system. What ABS work took place at Bosch between 1936 & 1978?
  
  

• It was initially installed in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class model and shortly after in the BMW 7-Series.
  
  

• In 1952 the British Road Research Laboratory (RRL) adapted an aircraft anti-skidding devise called Maxaret and carried out trials using a 1950 Morris 6 car fitted with drum brakes.
  
  

• By 1958 RRL and Dunlop had developed a practical mechanical anti-lock braking system for a car and tested it on a Jaguar Mark VII fitted with disc brakes.
  
  

• It wasn’t until 1966 that the system was first fitted to a production model four-wheel drive Jensen FF sports sedan car.
  
  

• Ford offered an anti-skid system as an option on the 1954 Lincoln Continental Mk ll. It weighed and cost too much and was soon withdrawn.
  
  

• In April 1968 Ford introduced “Sure Trak”, an analogue anti lock brake system it developed jointly with Kelsey-Haynes. It operated only on the rear wheels.
  
  

• It was initially offered as an option on the Thunderbird and Lincoln Continental Mark III, becoming standard fit on the Mark III in 1970.
  
  

• The 1964 Austin 1800 model was fitted with a limited form of ABS, utilizing a valve which could adjust front to rear brake force distribution when a wheel locked.
  
  

• Chrysler fitted their new four-wheel “Sure Brake” ABS system into some of their 1966 models but it “did not perform up to expectations”.
  
  

• Chrysler entered into a joint venture with Bendix and developed a computerized, three-channel, four-sensor all-wheel ABS version of "Sure Brake".
  
  

• It was fitted to Chrysler’s 1971 Imperial model. The system functioned on demand when the car was travelling over 5 mph.
  
  

• In the same year Nissan offered a Kelsey Hayes Electro Anti-lock (EAL) system as an option on its President model.
  
  

• In 1984 Tevis in Germany commenced production of their new generation, microprocessor controlled, Mark II ABS System.
  
  

• It was initially fitted to the Lincoln Mark VII and in Europe to the Ford Scorpio.
  
  

• During the 1980s it was also fitted to the Pontiac 6000, Ford’s 89 Thunderbird Super Coupe and Buick’s 1988 Riviera and Reatta models.
  
  

• It was also installed in various SAAB, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Alfa-Romero, Buick, Ford and Porsche models.
  
  

• In 1998 Tevis became part of Continental AG of Germany.
  
  

• Features added over the years to the Tevis ABS system include a Traction Control System, an Electronic Stability Program and in 1999 a Sidewall Torsion Sensor system that was designed and developed by Continental AG.
   

6.1.7 Brake Energy Conversion 

• Car brakes are based on the conversion of kinetic (motion) energy into other forms of energy, usually heat. Other, more recent methods include:
  
  

• Regenerative braking which converts much of the braking energy into stored electrical energy.
  
  

• Hybrid and electric vehicles using this technique to extend the range of the battery pack include the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and the Chevrolet Volt.
  
  

• Another method converts the kinetic energy into potential energy; stored as pressurised air or pressurised oil.
  
  

• Another method transfers the braking energy to a rotating flywheel.