Circumstances forced me to be a self taught "expert" as well. I know that the Raleigh Type and Phillips Type are both essentially the same - that is both are lever activated rods that pull the stirrups onto the rim. The difference is minor. The Phillips type is side mounted and the Raliegh is center. Ballon type I am unsure of. All the terminology I know is the connecting rods, stirrups, brake blocks. I have included an exploded diagram of the Raleigh DL-1 with Raliegh type brakes. Hope this helps...