The rod doesn't get pushed to apply the emergency brakes. It would just bend.
Let me try and explain it. Both the foot pedal and the lever the rod connects to are on the top of the pedal shaft, so pushing the pedal pulls the rod forward. The center lever on the pivot bar is below the bar, as are the levers for the wheel cables. So when the rod from the pedal assembly is pulled forward, the wheel cables are also pulled to set the parking brakes.
I'm a retired Mechanical Engineer, and a statement made in school by and instructor was "E equals MC squared, and you can't push on a rope" (or cable in this case.)
I could never understand how you Electrical Engineers could get electrons thru a pipe when there was no hole in the middle.
