Guest Gary Hearn Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I picked up a Feragen Stop Meter (James Decelerometer) at a tool sale and hoped that someone may have some information on it. It lists both A.E. Feragen, Inc. of Seattle and Motor Wheel Corp. of Lansing, MI on the face. Apparently it was used to measure the distance it took to come to a complete stop at 20 MPH and then rated that distance from "Unsafe" to "Perfect".Anyone know how it was used and what it might be worth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Probably meant for garages to use in testing brakes. Notice the red triangle emblem at the bottom. When 4 wheel brakes became popular in the late 20s such cars were equipped with a red triangle "4 wheel brakes" emblem on the left rear fender.The gauge may also have been used as a sales aid to demonstrate the superiority of the new 4 wheel brakes to the customer's old car with its 2 wheel brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Foggy norm Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 The only thing I can add is Motor Wheel produced wheels. Similar to Kelsey Hayes, they were mass producer of wheels. This may have been on one of their machine's for testing the wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary Hearn Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Apparently the former owner of this was an engineer who recently passed away. His wife's cousin is helping to liquidate the contents of a detached garage, he has already sold $6K worth and the place is still packed. I also got a "Bendix Drive" 2 drawer parts bin with a slanted flip up top as well as a free air compressor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 "When 4 wheel brakes became popular in the late 20s such cars were equipped with a red triangle "4 wheel brakes" emblem on the left rear fender." Never heard this before. Has anyone ever seen one of these emblems on a fender? Wouldn't it have made more sense to put the emblem on a front fender? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 A guage similar to this one was used in MA. by all private state inspection stations up to about 1960 or so. It was required equiptment and you bought it off of the registry of motor vechicle inspector! However, I have never seen one used but I have been told that they all had them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenHupp20 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I did a quick Google Book search, W.S. James of the Bureau of Standards invented this instrument to test brakes. There is a weight inside which moves thus measuring the deceleration.A very interesting find !Trust and power: consumers, the ... - Google Books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 "When 4 wheel brakes became popular in the late 20s such cars were equipped with a red triangle "4 wheel brakes" emblem on the left rear fender." Never heard this before. Has anyone ever seen one of these emblems on a fender? Wouldn't it have made more sense to put the emblem on a front fender?I have seen the triangle on the rear fender of many cars from the mid to late 20s. The idea was to warn following motorists to stay back, if they had an older car with 2 wheel brakes.Chrysler was the first mass produced car with 4 wheel hydraulic brakes in 1923. Others followed. Ford and Chevrolet did not get 4 wheel brakes until 1928. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Have you tested out your gauge? I believe the way they were used, is to lay the gauge flat on the floor, and at 20 MPH stamp on the brakes as hard as you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ply33 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 "When 4 wheel brakes became popular in the late 20s such cars were equipped with a red triangle "4 wheel brakes" emblem on the left rear fender." Never heard this before. Has anyone ever seen one of these emblems on a fender? Wouldn't it have made more sense to put the emblem on a front fender?To follow up on Rusty_OToole's reply, the intent was to warn the driver behind you in an older two wheel brake car that you could and very possibly would stop quicker than he could.I don't think that any manufacturer shipped a car with the triangular four wheel brake emblem. But it certainly was available as an after market accessory for people proud of their new cars to show of an otherwise hidden feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary Hearn Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Have you tested out your gauge? I believe the way they were used, is to lay the gauge flat on the floor, and at 20 MPH stamp on the brakes as hard as you can.Not yet, but sounds like a good exercise when I take my daughter to swimming practice later today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Here is the only picture of a 4 wheel brake triangle I could find. It is for sale on Ebay.VINTAGE FOUR WHEEL BRAKES TRIANGLE ALUMINUM ? MODEL A - eBay (item 330546948159 end time Apr-02-11 15:58:00 PDT) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Learn something new every day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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