Vehicle brake warning light system

Claim 1

In a vehicle equipped with a battery, a brake light, a normally open brake light switch connected between the battery and brake light, a brake pedal for closing the brake light switch when depressed to thereby energize the brake light, and a foot pressure operated accelerator means for accelerating the vehicle, a vehicle brake warning light system for energizing said brake light for a given time period in responsE to removal of an operator''s foot pressure on the accelerator means comprising, in combination: a. a normally closed accelerator pedal switch for said foot operated accelerator means responsive to a given pressure applied by the operator''s foot to open and responsive to removal of the operator''s foot to close; b. a relay switch connected in parallel across said normally open brake light switch; c. a relay coil for closing said relay switch when energized and opening said switch when de-energized, one side of said relay coil connecting to said battery; d. a silicon controlled rectifier switch having anode, cathode, and gate terminals, said anode terminal connecting to said battery and said cathode terminal connecting to the other side of said relay coil so that said silicon controlled rectifier switch is connected across said relay coil in parallel; e. a resistance and capacitor connected in series between said battery and one side of said accelerator pedal switch, the other side of said accelerator pedal switch connecting to ground, said gate terminal of said silicon controlled rectifier connecting to the junction point between said resistance and capacitor; and f. an additional resistance connected between said other side of said relay coil and said one side of said accelerator pedal switch, whereby when said accelerator pedal switch is opened in response to foot pressure on said accelerator means, ground is removed from said one side of the accelerator pedal switch so that said silican controlled rectifier switch is open, removal of the foot pressure on said accelerator pedal switch applying ground to said one side of the accelerator pedal switch so that said relay coil is energized by current flow from said battery, through the relay coil and additional resistance to ground to close said relay switch and energize said brake light, said capacitor simultaneously beginning to charge up to battery voltage through its series connected resistance, the voltage charge on said capacitor being applied to the gate of said silicon controlled rectifier switch to cause it to close when a given voltage charge is reached after said given time period and short out said relay coil to thereby open said relay switch to deenergize said brake light, re-application of pressure to said accelerator pedal switch removing ground from said one side of the pedal switch to thereby hold the relay coil deenergized and cause said silicon controlled rectifier switch to open.