Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Electric switch details – Cases and bases
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-23
2001-12-18
Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Electric switch details
Cases and bases
C200S302300, C200S552000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06331686
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an apparatus comprising a housing having a housing wall formed with a passage closed by a cover connected to the housing wall, which cover is elastically deformable and has a portion which is raised with respect to the adjacent area of the housing wall in a rest position of the cover and owing to its elastic deformability, the raised portion of the cover is movable transversely to the housing wall in a direction toward the apparatus interior from a rest position into an operating position, and which has an actuating means which, when the raised portion is moved from its rest position into its operating position, is movable from an inactive position into an active position, and comprising switching means which are accommodated in the apparatus and by means of which, when the actuating means is moved from its inactive position into its active position, a switching function can be activated with the aid of the actuating means.
Such an apparatus of the type defined in the opening paragraph is known, for example from the document EP 0 011 320 A2. In the known apparatus a housing wall has a plurality of passages in the form of small holes and the cover is located in the interior of the apparatus, the cover having protrusions which extend through the passages in the housing wall, the free ends of the protrusions thus forming the raised portions of the cover. When in the known apparatus the raised portions of the cover, i.e. the free ends of the protrusions are brought into a position in which they are flush with the adjacent area of the housing wall, this activates a switching function of the switching means inside the apparatus, as a result of which the apparatus is, for example, switched on. The construction and the operation of this known apparatus have the drawback that, for example, by simply placing the apparatus onto a surface, the free ends of the protrusions of the cover can assume a position in which they are flush with the adjacent area of the housing wall, which may result in an inadvertent actuation of a switching function of the switching means, which is obviously undesirable. Such an inadvertent actuation of a switching function of the switching means of the apparatus may lead to, for example, an unwanted loading of the batteries used in such an apparatus, which results in undesired draining of these batteries.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to preclude the afore-mentioned problems and to provide an improved apparatus of the type defined in the opening paragraph. According to the invention, in order to achieve this object with such an apparatus, when the raised portion of the cover has been moved out of its rest position into a position flush with the adjacent area of the housing wall, the actuating means of the cover occupies an intermediate position situated between its inactive position and its active position, in which intermediate position an actuation of a switching function of the switching means with the aid of the actuating means is inhibited, and the raised portion of the cover is movable towards the apparatus interior out of its position in which it is flush with the adjacent area of the housing wall into an operating position in which the actuating means, which then occupies its active position, actuates a switching function of the switching means.
By means of the measures in accordance with the invention it is achieved in a very simple and also very reliable manner that an unintentional actuation of a switching function of the switching means of the apparatus is precluded or inhibited in a far more reliable manner than in the known apparatus mentioned in the introduction, primarily because for actually performing a switching function of the switching means the raised portion of the cover must be moved into an operating position which, with respect to a flush position relative to the adjacent area of the housing wall, are situated nearer the apparatus interior, which is possible almost only by deliberately actuating the raised portion by means of a finger, for example the thumb, of a hand. In preferred embodiments of the invention:
the passage in the housing wall has a circular cross-section and the raised portion has a dome shape adapt to this circular cross-section; and/or
the raised portion, which is dome-shaped, has an actuating means in the form of an actuating projection which projects from the dome interior of the raised portion; and/or
the housing wall has a second passage having a second circular cross-section and a second raised portion has a dome shape adapted to the second circular cross-section and both raised portions, which each have a dome shape, belong to a single cover; and/or
there are two dome-shaped raised portions as discussed hereinabove, and both dome-shaped raised portions each have an actuating means in the form of an actuating projection which projects from the respective raised portion into the dome interior; and/or
the switch comprises a switch toggle having two switch arms and each of the two actuating projections provided as actuating means is constructed and arranged to cooperate with a switch arm of the switch toggle.
The above-mentioned as well as further aspects of the invention will become apparent from the example of an embodiment described hereinafter and will be elucidated with reference to this example.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4356367 (1982-10-01), Moldenhauer
patent: 4652706 (1987-03-01), Roa et al.
patent: 4924046 (1990-05-01), Howard
patent: 5725086 (1998-03-01), Cooper
patent: 0011320A2 (1980-05-01), None
Bartlett Ernestine C.
Luebke Renee
Spain Norman N.
U.S. Philips Corporation
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