【正文】
ll find disc brakes on the front of almost every car and motorbike built today. Sportier vehicles with higher speeds need better brakes to slow them down, so you39。n launched the wayaheadofitstime DS which had the first modern incarnation of disc brakes along with other nifty stuff like selflevelling suspension, semiautomatic gearbox, active headlights and posi te body panels. (all things which were reintroduced as new by car makers in the 9039。t bite. Drum brakes double leading edge The drawbacks of the single leading edge style of drum brake can be eliminated by adding a second return spring and turning the pivot point into a second actuator. Now when the brakes are applied, the shoes are pressed outwards at two points. So each brake pad now has one leading and one trailing edge. Because there are two brake shoes, there are two brake pads, which means there are two leading edges. Hence the name double leading edge. Disc brakes Some background. Disc brakes were invented in 1902 and patented by Birmingham car maker Frederick William Lanchester. His original design had two discs which pressed against each other to generate friction and slow his car down. It wasn39。s really difficult to stop a vehicle rolling backwards if it39。s going on, the rest of this page is going to cause you a bit of a headache. Drum brakes single leading edge The next, more plicated type of brake is a drum brake. The concept here is simple. Two semicircular brake shoes sit insid e a spinning drum which is attached to the wheel. When you apply the brakes, the shoes are expanded outwards to press against the inside of the drum. This creates friction, which creates heat, which transfers kiic energy, which slows you down. The example below shows a simple model. The actuator in this case is the blue elliptical object. As that is twisted, it forces against the brake shoes and in turn forces them to expand outwards. The return spring is what pulls the shoes back away from the surface of the brake drum when the brakes are released. See the later section for more information on actuator types. The single leading edge refers to the number of parts of the brake shoe which actually contact the spinning drum. Because the brake shoe pivots at one end, simple geometry means that the entire brake pad cannot contact the brake drum. The leading edge is the term given to the part of the brake pad which does contact the drum, and in the case of a single leading edge system, it39。re about the most basic type of functioning brake that you can see, watch working, and understand. The construction is very simple and out intheopen. A pair of rubber blocks are attached to a pair of calipers which are pivoted on the frame. When you pull the brake cable, the pads are pressed against the side or inner edge of the bicycle wheel rim. The rubber creates friction, which creates heat, which is the transfer of kine tic energy that slows you down. There39。t get as hot. That, in a nutshell explains the whole principle behind why bigger rotors = better stopping power. The different types of brake.