Thread: Drum brake adjustment

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Originally Posted by DennyW

That's kind of a tough one. They went through changes, and at early stages were over advanced. Early stages was in the early 1900's. I believe the 50's was when the application really took hold.

Instead of asking a dumb question (dumb, because I found the answer in my tattered and worn 1963 Motors Manual #26 ) I looked it up. Some models, mostly the smaller ones, went to Bendix type brakes in 1962 and the rest, including the land boats, 1963.

Next time I do something like this, Denny, admonish me severly

Lots of good history there with brakes - looks like the automotive air brake was an adaptation of the train air brake system designed by George Westinghouse. Now. some minutia, Westinghouse was from Schenectady, NY and who's house is now a very large funeral home operation in a semi-seedy part of town. And to make it even more interesting, Thomas Edison incorporated General Electric in Schenectady as well, and only about .75 of a mile from Westinghouse. You can thank ol' George for AC electricity as well - Tom Edison preferred DC with it's massive transmission losses.