Return spring retention for a vehicle drum brake

Claim 1

In a drum brake for vehicle use including: a stationary backing plate; a pair of brake shoes slidably attached to said backing plate; a wheel cylinder secured on said backing plate between first mutually closely positioned end portions of said shoes; an anchor secured on said backing plate between second mutually closely positioned end portions of said shoes, said anchor having an anchor block on which each of said second end portions of said shoes abuts and an anchor bracket secured on said anchor block; and a substantially U-shaped return spring engaged at each end portion thereof with a respective one of said shoes for biasing both said shoes in a mutually approaching direction and having a central U-shaped curved portion, an improvement wherein said anchor bracket is integrally formed with supporting portions formed as a pair on respective lateral ends thereof as respective bent portions, each of L-letter shape in a departing direction from said backing plate, one of said pair of supporting portions being spaced from said backing plate a given distance and forming one restricting surface on its inner side, and the other of said pair of supporting portions being spaced from said backing plate at a distance less than said given distance for forming another restricting surface on its outer side in order to support said spring from either side thereof with a small gap, in cooperation with said one supporting portion, at non-aligned locations, whereby movement of the spring is restrained within a small limitation in a perpendicular direction to a plane including the central U-shaped curved portion, but freely movable in a parallel direction to this plane.