My friend stores his 1913 with me which I can use any time. I willingly maintain the car as a matter of course. Putting the car on blocks after last weekend's rally I found the rear wheel was loose. This weekend I had some time and removed the wheel, I found the brakes had worn out. No problem, I had a spare set of shoes.
But upon removing the wheel I found this unusual brace on the radius rods bolts that I have not seen before. Has anybody else seen one of these?
Could just be a locking tab for the bolt heads. Are the corners bent up to the bolt?
I believe it's function is to keep equal spring tension and uniform "swiping" of the brake shoes.
Could be that the holes in the backing plate were worn so the plate was added to keep the bolts in alignment, or it's just a spacer because the threads on the bolts were too short.
Is there one on the other side ?
Yes, there is a plate on either side. Could it possibly be support for the casting?
My original '14 has no such brackets. I still believe it is an "add-on" to assist in brake shoe/spring position and installed by a previous owner.
Hard to determine from the photo but does the metal angle iron come to or up to the edge of the shoe castings ? I've seen other styles (pressed steel) of accessory lined shoes that utilized a piece of angle iron to prevent the shoes from "swiping" more one way than the other and provide equal expansion.
Some accessory lined brake shoes, sold in the teens/twenties, were fairly cheap and flimsy in their construction. With some, the rotation of the brake cam would cause one end of the band to push outward, towards the drum, and the other to push inward, away from the drum. This bracket would support the band ends to keep them where they belong, allowing the cam to slide against the band ends, rather than grabbing and displacing them. I suspect these brackets were part of the "kit" you got when you bought those aftermarket brake shoes/bands. Either that, or they were some clever person's solution for the problem above.
Finally got around today and finished the brakes on this 1913. I cleaned up all the mess and found a patent date on the bracket in question.
The patent dates read "OCT 30 1917" & "JULY 30 1918". No other name of information on the plates. At least the old girl is back together and ready for a test drive to bed the rear brakes in and re-adjust them as necessary before going on a club run.
Thanks for the follow up, David - they do in fact appear to be a "positive action" brace for accessory lined brake shoes.
Steve is correct.
This ad shows the Ever Safe, the ad size is small, but if you increase the zoom on your PC you may read the copy.
"The patented supporting steel guide absolutely prevents buckling..."
Your guys are pretty dam good, that is the shoes I have taken out. I just assumed they were aftermarket.