Per landotter:
Roller brakes

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Tangential question: are the "coaster brakes" on old single-speed
American bikes a flavor of roller brake?

No.
There are a few basic designs, from classic Bendix to New
Departure and on to Perry. Almost all CB are variants on one
of those but not roller brakes.

Unfortunately, if Shimano shows you a drawing of the Secret
Brake Mechanism, they'll have to kill you:
http://bernd.sluka.de/Fahrrad/Shiman...-IM50_1998.gif

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971