Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Multiple circuit control – Pivoted contact
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-12
2003-01-14
Friedhofer, Michael (Department: 2832)
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Multiple circuit control
Pivoted contact
C200S0110TC, C200S0110DA, C200S564000, C338S162000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06506984
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switch device, and more particularly to a structure of a rotary switch device having a click mechanism which is used in various electronic equipment for household or vehicle mounting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A structure of a conventional rotary switch device having a click mechanism is shown in FIG.
5
.
FIG. 5
is an exploded perspective view of the rotary switch device.
This conventional rotary switch device includes a resin-made housing
11
which has a support shaft
11
a
at the center of an accommodating portion
11
b
, a fixed terminal portion
12
which is arranged in the accommodating portion
11
b
of the housing
11
, a circuit board
13
which has a contact portion which is brought into slide contact with a slider
12
a
of the fixed terminal portion
12
, a rotary manipulating portion
14
which has the circuit board
13
fixedly secured to a lower surface side thereof, is rotatably supported on the support shaft
11
a
of the housing
11
and has a cam surface
14
a which alternately forms plateaus and valleys on an upper surface thereof, a spring member
15
which is disposed such that the spring member
15
faces the cam surface
14
a
in an opposed manner and has a projection
15
a
which is brought into slide contact with the cam surface
14
a
, and a frame
16
which has a lower surface side thereof to which the spring member
15
is fixedly secured and is fitted on an upper surface side of the housing
11
.
A click mechanism of this rotary switch device is comprised of the cam surface
14
a
which is formed on the upper surface side of the rotary manipulation portion
14
and is constituted of the plateaus and the valleys, and the spring member
15
which has the projection
15
a
which is brought into slide contact with the cam surface
14
a
. To manipulate the rotary switch device, a rotary manipulation tab not shown in the drawing which is protruded from the frame
16
, is mounted on the upper surface side of the rotary manipulating portion
14
and is rotatably manipulated with a hand or the like. Along with the rotation of the rotary manipulating portion
14
, the projection
15
a
is moved between the plateau and the valley and when the projection
15
a
gets over the plateau and falls in the valley, the spring member
15
is deflected so that a click feeling is generated.
Then, along with the rotation of the rotary manipulating portion
14
, the contact portion which is disposed at the circuit board
13
is brought into slide contact with the slider
12
a
of the fixed terminal portion
12
which is disposed such that the slider
12
a
faces the contact portion in an opposed manner so as to perform the switching of a circuit.
However, in the abovementioned constitution of the conventional rotary switch device, when the rotary manipulating portion
14
is manipulated, at a point of time that the projection
15
a
of the spring member
15
is slidably moved on the plateaus and the valleys of the cam surface
14
a
and falls in the valley after getting over the plateau, the projection
15
a
suddenly impinges on the cam surface or generates vibration due to the resiliency of the spring member
15
so that there has been a drawback that the a switching sound (an impinging sound) at the time of manipulation is large.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the abovementioned drawback and it is an object of the present invention to provide a switch device which can reduce or attenuate a switching sound (an impinging sound) at the time of manipulation with a constitution of a click mechanism which uses a spring member having a projection which is brought into slide contact with a cam surface formed of plateaus and valleys.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the abovementioned drawbacks, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a switch device which includes a housing having an accommodating portion, a manipulating member having a cam surface which is formed of plateaus and valleys arranged contiguously and alternately, the manipulating member movably disposed in the accommodating portion, and a spring member having a projection and generating a click feeling when the projection is brought into slide contact with the plateaus and the valleys of the cam surface, wherein an auxiliary spring which is brought into slide contact with the manipulating member corresponding to the slide contact of the projection with the plateaus and the valleys of the cam surface is formed on the spring member, wherein and an auxiliary spring receiving portion with which the auxiliary spring is brought into slide contact is formed in the vicinity of the cam surface.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary spring is integrally formed with one end of the spring member by forming a portion of the spring member.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary spring is formed such that a pressing force applied to the auxiliary spring receiving portion becomes maximum when the projection is engaged with the valley of the cam surface.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary spring receiving portion is formed on the manipulating member such that the auxiliary spring receiving portion forms an integral coplanar surface with the cam surface.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary spring is formed such that the auxiliary spring is in a slidable contact in the state that the auxiliary spring always stays in contact with the planar auxiliary spring receiving portion when the manipulating member is moved.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a support shaft formed in a cylindrical shape is mounted on the center of the accommodating portion of the housing, the manipulating member allows insertion of the support shaft thereinto and is rotatably supported by the support shaft, the cam surface and the spring member having the projection which faces the cam surface in an opposed manner are disposed in a vertical direction relative to the support shaft, and a portion of the spring member is extended along a circumferential direction of rotation of the manipulating member from a position in the vicinity of the projection so as to form the auxiliary spring, and a free end of the auxiliary spring is brought into contact with the auxiliary spring receiving portion.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary spring is symmetrically extended toward both sides of the circumferential direction of the rotation of the manipulating member with respect to the projection.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5008498 (1991-04-01), Yamazaki
patent: 5315077 (1994-05-01), Simon et al.
patent: 5650601 (1997-07-01), Krueger et al.
patent: 6037856 (2000-03-01), Aizawa
patent: 6236002 (2001-05-01), Chou
patent: 6262378 (2001-07-01), Chou
patent: 6374696 (2002-04-01), Blake, III et al.
patent: 6384357 (2002-05-01), Morrison
patent: 10-199371 (1998-07-01), None
Alps Electric Co. ,Ltd.
Beyer Weaver & Thomas
Friedhofer Michael
Lee Kyung S.
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