Brake or Break

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Jugster
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Brake or Break

Post by Jugster » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:01 am

Brake or Break E flat.jpg

A couple of years ago, I read in Car and Driver of a 680-mile race between a new Tesla and a century-old horseless carriage whereby the drivers of the latter sustained highway speeds for protracted periods—even at night. Luck wasn't just with those guys, it was bear-hugging them the whole way. Now, on those frequent occasions when I'm driving my centenarian Flivver in traffic, a deep-seated sense of hazard keeps me on red-alert, even at my usual conservative 30 mph, so when I read about guys pushing Brass-Era cars past the national double-nickel speed limit, the hair on the back of my neck acts like I took a Cialis shampoo.

The art of safely piloting a Brass-Era car is mostly about being able to stop the thing at some point in advance of impact. In the case of, say, a Model T with the original Ford factory set-up and nothing else, there are involved, two hilariously ineffectual braking systems. First, there's the pedal-operated power-train brake in the transmission, which sends the braking impulse down the drive-shaft to the differential from where it is distributed to that wheel which has the least amount of traction. For a perfectly comprehensible explanation as to how that works, I'll refer you to actress Marisa Tomei, whose commentary on the difference between a limited-slip differential and the old-fashioned type of differential is not only informative, but hysterically entertaining:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFdJza0AbeA

In 1917, the Rocky Mountain Steel Products Co., of Los Angeles, California, first marketed "Rocky Mountain Brakes." This worthwhile after-market kit improves the Model T Ford's braking action vastly, from abominable to bad. The original incarnation of these brakes stopped equally well in the reverse direction as forward, but the modern reproduction type available today has a "self-energizing" feature, the consequence of which is that it doesn't work very well when the car is rolling backwards. Such capability is important, of course, because while waiting at a red light on an incline, you'd probably prefer that your car not start rolling uncontrollably backward, downhill, into the car behind you.

And that brings up the subject of my Model T's other dissatisfactory braking system, the parking brake. Do not confuse this almost nonfunctional ornamentation with an actual emergency brake. No, the Ford's system features steel brake shoes operating against a steel drum and so, is much more suited to making pretty sparks than stopping the car. Think of the brake lever the same way you think of putting a modern automatic transmission in "park." Now, it happens that in modern times, correctly lined brake shoes have become available to replace the original Ford anti-stop brakes, but they're reputed to be a real bear to install.

Okay, back to the pedal-operated brakes:
Regardless of whether equipped with Rocky Mountain or some other type of auxiliary brakes—including disc brakes— it is nevertheless woven into the very fabric of the Model T's mechanical quintessence that stopping capability will always compare with that of the Titanic. And that pretty much goes for all Brass-Era horseless carriages. That's because they have braking action at the rear wheels only and are equipped with tires skinny enough to have the same footprint as a shot-glass, so there just isn't going to be a whole lot of traction there for panic-stops. And even if you have enough brakes to lock up the wheels, the resulting twin skid marks won't help stop the car any earlier.

Now, as an aside, I'll mention that physics types will argue that when it comes to braking action, the width of a tire doesn't matter and traction remains the same, regardless. With all due respect, that's baloney. It's baloney because we're not talking about a theoretical smooth steel wheel on a smooth steel surface. No, we're talking about a world wherein the rubber meets the road as something soft and adhesive against something solid and rough surfaced—and if you don't believe pavement is rough, I'll remind you of the school-yard bully who liked to rub our faces into it. We called that "road-rash" for a reason.

But I digress (always wanted to say that).

Point is, when it comes to braking action, tire width matters and Brass-Era automobiles don't have very much of it, so even the best brakes in the world aren't going to stop one anywhere near as well as a modern car—or the whatever other solid obstacle may be just ahead.

Aside from the braking limitation, though very much related to it, is the fact that in a Brass-Era automobile, frontal crash protection is practically non-existent. I use the word, "practically," here because once upon a time, when a musician, I owned a 1961 Volkswagen MicrobBus, the frontal crash protection of which consisted of a headlight and a pair of sunglasses, and so, incredibly, was even worse than that of my Model T Ford. Come to think of it, when loaded down with a Hammond B3, Leslie, various guitars, amplifiers and a load of hippies, braking action was also worse than that of the aforementioned Tin Lizzie. That this Teutonic blood-box could actually attain highway speeds (albeit only after the passage of an impressive interval), was perhaps indicative of a residual desire on the part of the Germans to knock off a few more Americans—and testament to the belief in invincibility only possessed by youth. It's entertaining to imagine that by having switched over to a Brass-Era horseless carriage, I've actually increased my odds of survival. Go figure, huh?


a quick disclaimer: Don't take this too seriously. While it contains what I believe to be a good deal of truth, it was nevertheless written mostly for laughs.


Banjoe
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Re: Brake or Break

Post by Banjoe » Wed Oct 09, 2019 2:00 am

That is some fine, factual, and fun writing, Jugster.

"Cialis shampoo" -- that is a classic, as is your entire article. Many thanks for this insightful, informative, and humorous education.
None of us is as smart as all of us.

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babychadwick
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Re: Brake or Break

Post by babychadwick » Wed Oct 09, 2019 10:48 am

You can't improve the brakes on an early car to that of a modern car. If you can't drive as though you have no brakes you might just be asking for trouble regardless of your speed.
"Those who fail to plan, plan to fail"


Les Schubert
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Re: Brake or Break

Post by Les Schubert » Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:41 am

Thank you for the smile.
I enjoy when people rewrite the laws of physics!

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rbishop26
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Re: Brake or Break

Post by rbishop26 » Fri Oct 11, 2019 2:03 am

I used to always get enjoyment when I saw people confuse the spelling of "break" and "brake", especially on the forum.
Now, after reading your extremely entertaining post above, I see that, with the Model T, they eventually mean the same!
Good one Bob! Always enjoy your posts.
Bob Bishop
San Diego, CA
1914 touring, 1917 touring

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