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The "Weaver" Automatic Brake Tester.

This brake testing machine was developed in the late 1920s, and was designed to test the braking of motorcars that came into a garage for servicing. The illustration shows a two door car (with distinctive windscreen arrangement), parked on a set of ramps alongside the robot-like brake testing machine alongside, dwarfing the mechanic chap stood at the controls.

The Weaver brake tester was intended not just for use by the garage staff, but also by passing motorists who wanted to do their own brake check. A garage would offer this service in the hope that a motorist doing the test, and who received a poor brake rating, would summon the attentions of the nearest mechanic, and arrange for the brakes to be adjusted at the same facility. The system was also illuminated, so could also be used by the public even after the garage had closed for the day. The system was designed to test the braking efficiency at all four corners simultaneously, simply by driving the car onto four movable plates at steady speed then jumping on the brake pedal.

The machine would then report to the driver on his car's braking status, via four glass gauges at the top of the 'tower'. Each gauge contained a colored liquid, giving an instant reading.

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/weaver.htm

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/gadgets.htm

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I wonder what Gus at the Model Garage would have had to say about this?

(o{}o)

The last time I had my car inspected at a state run station they were still using that kind of machine.

There was another type in use for mechanical brakes which used rollers and torque gauges for equalization.

The Weaver brake testers still stand in the older New Jersey state-run motor vehicle test facilities though they have been unused for a number of years as the only inspection done these days is for emissions.