MTFCA Forum

I posted these in 2017 or so, but no one had seen them before, so I thought I'd try again. I've searched Google patents, internet images, the forum, Kenealy's accessory books, old catalogs, etc. and haven't been able to identify the manufacturer of these brakes. Any ideas?

I don't recall the manufacturer, nor do I know for sure that they are exactly the same. But a good friend about thirty years ago tried using a set very similar to those on his racing car. They didn't stay on the car long, as they worked lousy.
Nothing new about marketing designing a product to sell with grand claims about the "advantages" that do not exist because they ignored simple laws of physics.
They look really neat however! If I had a set I would have to mount them on a wall!

Wayne

I was looking at the pix carefully then came on your post. Seeing the equal pull (and barely coumpounded levers) for leading and trailing edges, led me to conclude after seeing the pictures, what your friend found to be the actual case. I am not surprised at the practical results that he found in use.

I believe the U within a circle is the mark of the Union Drop Forge Company, 64-76 E. Ohio St. Chicago, Illinois. Company now lost to history. They made many cast and forged items for automobiles and motorcycles. Their name pops up in the old trade manuals.

ThreePedalTapDancer, I think you’re right. I found an ad from them with that U symbol for a drop forged, counterbalanced crankshaft for the Ford. I didn’t find any brake ads from them, but they probably made the parts for someone else.

Well, believe it or not, that did it! I’m not sure if it was luck, perseverance, or adding “Chicago” into the mix, but I found the manufacturer (not in Chicago) in a Motor Age from 1922.

Patent
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis ... 464761.pdf

After I saw the Hardon Brake Co Portland Oregon as the makers I googled that and came back to the same publication you show the ad for;
https://books.google.com/books?id=DN_Ps ... on&f=false
I was hoping I would find more.

Mark, thanks. It’s Hardin with an i, but that and the patent are all I’ve found, too.

Agreed on the physics. The pedal hookup arm on the cross shaft does give you a leverage boost as compared to a straight pull cable like the original A-C, for example, but having the force on the self-energizing side halved at the brake probably isn’t great. I wonder how wide spread the idea of self-energizing brakes was at the time. Clearly, many brakes had it figured out. I like how A-Cs work. As an aside, some old A-C ads you see do have an added lever action at the front of the torque tube that would increase force, but other A-Cs don't. Some A-Cs back in the day even used...wait for it...rods. They used an equalizer bar, though, so it was self-balancing left and right.

I also like how Hardin integrated the regular parking brake handle into the auxiliary cross shaft linkages. You can use the brake pedal to apply the auxiliary brakes, but they also apply when you pull the brake lever back.