Clutch and Brake ON the same pedal

[B_A_Bay]

My grandmother had an old book by James Thurber and in it he describes his old car a Reo and he says “The clutch and brake were on the same pedal.”

This book is from 1933 and he says it also had a crank, which he said didn’t work so he had to push start the car. So you can tell how old this is.

Anyway, how can the clutch and brake be on the same pedal. Now I noticed he didn’t say the clutch and brake WERE THE SAME pedal, he said they were ON THE SAME pedal.

This makes me believe I’m not seeing it correctly. I have driven stick shifts which all clearly have three pedals, but this car was at from 75 years ago.

So is anyone familiar with older cars and can explain to me how this can be?

[sishoch]

When I was young a few decades ago, we had a garden tractor with the clutch and brake on the same pedal. Depressing it slightly released the clutch, pushing harder also engaged the brakes. Of course, the tractor was not meant to shift gears while in motion, that would have been rather awkward, but possible with practice, I suppose.

[Santo_Rugger]

@auto.howstufworks.com

Arriving in May 1933 was the “Self-Shifter,” a new freebie for Royales and an $85 extra for S-4s. This was a semiautomatic transmission developed at a cost of about $2 million amidst mounting corporate finacial [sic] losses.

Innovative and dependable, the Self-Shifter replaced the conventional gearlever with an under-dash T-handle. Pushing the handle to “Forward” brought access to a pair of driving gears that changed automatically according to road speed. You pulled the handle halfway out for Neutral, all the way out for “emergency low,” which also had two automatic ratios. For Reverse, turn the handle right, then pull out. The clutch pedal was used only for starting off.

How Reo Cars Work

Sounds like it’s pretty close to what sishoch described.

[Argent_Towers]

I used a tractor like that at a summer job a long time ago. It was a Wheel-Horse model.

[racer72]

My dad has a 1923 Ford 1 ton flatbed that has one pedal for the clutch and brake, it works just like sishoch’s tractor. The only way to get the truck in first is to push the pedal as far as you can then shift into first, second and third only require pushing the pedal in about an inch or so. It is a thrill to drive, hard to steer, mechanical brakes that work so-so and and a whopping 65 horsepower pulling over 2 tons around.

[Thin_Ice]

I had an old Honda riding mower with that feature. It worked fine until the cable, I assume, stretched enough to keep the brakes from applying no matter how far down I pushed the pedal. Since I rarely used the brake I never bothered to adjust it.

[bufftabby]

Am I imagining that I once saw a pedal on something that had a sort of pedal-within-a-pedal setup? I’m picturing a pedal that looks very similar to the gas pedal, that would serve as the clutch, with a second part to it, at the top, that would be the brake, so that you could push both at the same time with the same foot, or just push the clutch by only pushing the bottom part of the pedal.

[SlickRoenick]

There are forklifts that have clutch and brake on the same pedal. Other forklifts have them physically separated but when pressing brake it will also press clutch (but clutch by itself won’t depress brake). Just my experience working in a warehouse with forklifts and tiretrucks.