Brake control means and systems for drawn vehicles effecting synchronous coaction with the braking system of an associated draft vehicle

Claim 1

Control means effecting coordinated braking of a drawn vehicle with a related draft vehicle, said draft vehicle including a first braking means with a brake actuating means, said control means comprising: pressure responsive transducer means mounted on the brake actuating means of said draft vehicle such that actuating pressure for said brake actuating means is applied thereto through said transducer means; a source of energy; second braking means in said drawn vehicle adapted to be energized from said source of energy; said transducer means comprising a base mounted on the brake actuating means of said draft vehicle; circuit means on said base including a plurality of physically adjacent resistance elements, bus means common to one side of said resistance elements, and a plurality of fixed contact means electrically connected one to the other side of each of said resistance elements and one to said bus means in a substantially colinear spaced relationship; an input terminal connected to one side of said source; elongated spring contact means having one end thereof fixed to and electrically engaged with said input terminal and extending therefrom substantially colinear with said fixed contact means at an increasing distance from said contact meanS over the extent thereof; an output terminal on said bus means connected with said second braking means; a second plurality of resistance elements connected to said fixed contact means in similar manner to said first plurality at one end thereof; a second bus means connected in common to the other ends of said second plurality of resistance means; switch means selectively connecting said second bus means with said first bus means; said switch means thereby effecting selective parallel interconnection of said first plurality of resistance elements with respective ones of said second plurality of resistance elements to provide a decrease in resistance at a selectively increases rate in response to brake actuating pressure; a telescoping housing over said base means including thrust transmitting means engageable with said spring contact means over the length thereof; and means biasing said housing means away from said base means to preclude engagement of said spring contact means with any of said fixed contacts in the absence of an actuating force applied to said housing means to constrain the latter toward said base means.