another wazzit

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

I found this while digging around in a storage shed I hardly ever go in anymore. I had forgotten about having it. It is a piece of useless history, though when I needed it, it really saved the day. If you want it, let me know, because after this I intend to pitch it. Now lets see if any of you can figure it out. Dimensions are 3 1/2 inches high, and 4 inches wide. One hint is that it was from 40-50 years ago.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Doesn't look like anyone has any ideas, so I will add that this is only useable if you have manual brakes on your vehicle.

[Eugene]

This one is really unusual. We played 20 questions on Chat last night trying to determine wazzit. A lot of quesses, none even close.

[PA Cub]

Brake pedal switch?

From the Prius recall?

[Rudi]

John:

Could it be a pedal extender or a maybe an early trailer brake?

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Rudi and PA gave pretty well nailed it. Early version trailer brake controller from the 50s-60s era. The hose clamps fastened it to the brake pedal and the internals were a powdered graphite package (similar to an old sewing machine controller) that your foot on the pedal compressed as you stepped on the brake increasing the power to the brakes. You could further control the braking by rocking your foot up (less braking) or down (more braking) on it. Because of the way it was designed it made no difference if 6 volts or 12 volts, and came with a Bakelite panel (long ago broken and discarded) that had 2 wire coil resisters mounted on it with a bar that could be moved to control maximum braking or to the point you could lower the voltage allowing it to be used on a 12 volt vehicle with a 6 volt trailer brake, which was not an unusual setup in the 60s.

[Rudi]

John:

Wow Imagine that

If nobody wants it, maybe the Allis museum or something like that would like to have it? It would be a shame to see it disappear forever...