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Concept
Drum brake
Summary
A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum.
The term drum brake usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surface of the drum. When shoes press on the outside of the drum, it is usually called a clasp brake. Where the drum is pinched between two shoes, similar to a conventional disc brake, it is sometimes called a pinch drum brake, though such brakes are relatively rare. A related type called a band brake uses a flexible belt or "band" wrapping around the outside of a drum.
The modern automobile drum brake was first used in a car made by Maybach in 1900, although the principle was only later patented in 1902 by Louis Renault. He used woven asbestos lining for the drum brake lining, as no alternative material dissipated heat more effectively, though Maybach had used a less sophisticated drum brake. In the first drum brakes, levers and rods or cables operated the shoes mechanically. From the mid-1930s, oil pressure in a small wheel cylinder and pistons (as in the picture) operated the brakes, though some vehicles continued with purely mechanical systems for decades. Some designs have two wheel cylinders.
As the shoes in drum brakes wear, brakes required regular manual adjustment until the introduction of self-adjusting drum brakes in the 1950s. Drum brakes are also prone to brake fade with repeated use.
Jaguar Cars fielded three cars equipped with disc brakes at Le Mans in 1953, where they won, in large part due to their superior braking over drum-equipped rivals. This spelled the beginning of the end for drum brakes in passenger cars. From the 1960s to the 1980s, disc brakes gradually replaced drum brakes on the front wheels of cars (which receive the majority of braking force). Now practically all cars use disc brakes on the front wheels, and many use disc brakes on all four wheels.
In the United States, the Jeep CJ-5 (manufactured by AM General) was the final automobile (produced for the United States Postal Service) to use front drum brakes when it was phased out in 1986.
Official source
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