Parking brake with plastic operating lever

摘要

A parking brake actuator (10) for applying and releasing a cable-operated vehicle parking brake includes an operating lever (20) pivotally mounted on a mounting bracket (12) for movement between brake-released and a plurality of brake-applied positions. The operating lever (20) is a unitary molding made of a glass-filled thermoplastic and has an integral footpad (18). A metal insert (26) which mounts the cable end, includes a sector gear (24), that is secured to the operating lever (20) by rivets (20) and engages a pinion which is pivoted to the mounting bracket (12). The operating lever (20) has a raised drive lug (92) that is received in a mating drive aperture in the insert (26) and transfers brake-apply forces from the operating lever (20) to the sector (24). A one-way clutch (42) normally permits the pinion to rotate freely when the operating lever (20) is operated to apply the parking brake, but prevents reverse rotation of the pinion to maintain the parking brake applied. A clutch release (44, 60) is operable to disable the one-way clutch (42) and permit reverse rotation of the pinion to release the parking brake and allow the operating lever (20) to return to released position. The plastic operating lever (20) only experiences the high brake-apply forces during brake-apply motion. When the parking brake is set, the operating lever (20) is isolated from the cable load path. <IMAGE> <IMAGE>