A little help

Slidey

I'm in the process of having an on-going tiff with the foreman in my garage.

Every time I take out the Tapley meter he laughs at me and asks me have I not got a brick.

The reason being, I told him that when my father was working in London bus in the 70's they used to use a red brick as a means of checking the brakes before it went for test

The idea behind it was that the brick was twice as high as it was wide. If it fell over when you braked it meant you had the minimum of 50% brake efficiency. The physics behind it make sense to me but not to my dullard of a foreman.

Now I have searched but cannot find any mention of this on the web.

Does anyone here have any knowledge of this or even better still something in writing??

Thanks in advance.

kasper

hi got no sleep last night thinking about the tapley meter brick , i done a google search (tapley meter brick ) all i found was one reference on the second page about fourth down in the list ,sorry i am no expert on computers being over 40 so cant post a link

carchaeologist

This is a old tapley meter.

This is a current one

I presume you want to know has anyone else used a standard house brick as a brake tester?Or am i picking you up wrong?

kasper

the op wanted to know if there was anything quoted about a brick being used as a tapley meter

245

I've never heard anything about the brick idea although it does seem to make sense although I haven't thought too deeply about it.

You can tell your foreman that Tapley meters are commonly used in the UK for brake testing AWD vehicles - a two wheel roller being unsuitable because of the risk of damaging the non-moving diff. He's just not keeping up with things at all :P

Why not track down a suitable enthusiast group and ask on a forum - some of the members must know or will know someone who does:

http://www.londonbusgroup.co.uk/

http://www.skylineaviation.co.uk/buses/links.html#ENTHUSIAST

http://www17.brinkster.com/londonbusgroup/#UseAdd

Slidey

carchaeologist wrote: »

I presume you want to know has anyone else used a standard house brick as a brake tester?Or am i picking you up wrong?

Ideally, what I want is something in writing confirming that it was a common practise or failing that the physics behind it is sound.

We use something similar to the second one for 4x4's that cannot be roller brake tested.

The reason I put it in here is because I was hoping one of the ''longer in the tooth'' (:)) members might have heard of it

Kevin_Herron

AFAIK the NCT use Tapley meters when brake testing Vintage cars that are for PSV use. Wedding cars etc.

unkel

This or a variant of it was used to measure brake eficiency in the early MOT tests. The magazine Practical Motorist (edited by F J Camm, what a guy) gave advice on how to pass a '10 year test'. You obtain a common house brick, place it on it's side, drive at 30mph and apply the foot brake. If it falls over you have the neccessary 50% retardation (Tapely reading) to pass that part of the test. Now stand the brick on end and again at 30mph apply the handbrake. Again if it falls over you will pass the test.

From here

I suggest you contact the magazine (if it still exists) - maybe they can give you something in writing. Don't forget to come back here to describe to us the reaction of your mortified foreman

carchaeologist

Nicely done unkel!

Slidey

\o/

macplaxton

unkel wrote: »

I suggest you contact the magazine (if it still exists)

Last time I had a copy it would have been late 80s - early 90s. Doesn't existing anymore, probably merged into another title like Car Mechanics or something.

Trouble is, motorists aren't all that practical anymore.