jake brake
noun
An engine brake for truck diesel engines that cuts off fuel flow and interrupts the transfer of mechanical energy to the drive mechanism.Engine retarders, otherwise known as ‘jake brakes,’ shut down engine cylinders to use engine resistance to slow a truck....
- In short, the jake brake turns a power-producing engine into a power-absorbing air compressor, thus slowing the truck.
- It shall be unlawful for any vehicle equipped with a compression braking device (jake brakes) to use this device to contain the engine's compression, thus rapidly slowing the engine's revolutions per minute and the vehicle's speed, except in cases of extreme emergency.
Origin
1980s: from the Jacobs Company, who invented the most common implementation of the technology that the brake is based on.