Brake lining device

Claim 1

A brake lining device comprising a rigid metal support, a lining plate of friction material positioned against one face of said rigid metal support, said lining plate having a plurality of circular apertures spaced from one another, each aperture having a larger diameter portion and a smaller portion defining a flat shoulder at their junction, said shoulder facing away from said support and a cap of metal, positioned in each aperture, each cap including a generally tubular body having an integral flat bottom wall closing one end of said tubular body, and a flat annular flange integral with the free edge of said tubular body, and radially outwardly extending therefrom, said flange having a flat top face and a flat underface, said tubular body being circular in cross-section and flaring from said bottom wall toward said flange, the thicknesses of said flange, of the wall of said tubular body and of said bottom wall, being substantially equal the distance between the outer face of said bottom wall and the underface of said annular flange being slightly less than the axial length of said reduced diameter aperture portion in the non-stressed condition of said cap, said cap bottom wall being spot welded to said metal support in face-to-face contact, said flange engaging said shoulder with a predetermined pressure due to elastic elongation of said tubular body and also elastic flexing of said flange mainly in the region of its junction with the free edge of said body, the pressure exerted by said cap on said lining plate being sufficient to hold said lining plate in firm contact with said support in normal use of the device but insufficient to cause plastic flowing of the material of the lining plate out of the region between the annular flange and the metal support and consequent tendency of the contact face of the lining plate to come out of contact with the support in the zones between the apertures and caps.