Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Special application – Actuated concurrently with operation or use of art device
Patent
1994-09-23
1996-10-08
Brown, Brian W.
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Special application
Actuated concurrently with operation or use of art device
200 6154, H01H 906
Patent
active
055633889
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a control lever which is both mechanically connected to a mechanism which is to be manoeuvred in at least two directions and electrically connected via switches to electrical positioning means, comprising a knob supported at its one end, which knob is movable in different directions radially with respect to the lever's longitudinal axis and is provided with a cavity into which the lever projects and with a peripheral surface which defines a space to the outer surface of the lever, said space on the one hand presenting at least one movable, ring-shaped electrical contact element as part of the switch, said element being connected with the knob and arranged to accompany this in its radial movements, and on the other hand also presenting an elastic, ring-shaped centring element which lies with its one periphery against said peripheral surface of the cavity and with its other periphery against the lever, whereby the centring element strives to centre the contact element relative to the lever, and whereby a manual sideways movement of the knob relative to the lever in any of said different directions displaces the ring-shaped contact element radially into one of several different contact positions in contact with the second contact element which is formed by the outside of the lever.
BACKGROUND ART
A control lever of the above mentioned type is known from WO 91/02912, which lever has been used as a gear change lever in combination with an electrically operated clutch. The arrangement has adequately fulfilled the requirements for sensitivity and precision which have to be met in order to achieve good operation. The arrangement makes it noticeably simpler to drive a car with a manual gearbox since the clutch does not have to be operated by foot, but instead is directly integrated with the gear change lever.
It has however shown itself to be difficult to produce a control lever which fulfils the demands for feel and precision with normal gearchanging forces of 20-30N and at the same time meet the durability requirements for a maximum load of 1000N without deformation damage to the electrical contacts. A designer for this type of control must additionally take account of the ergonomic requirement and demand for good design.
TECHNICAL PROBLEM
An object of the invention is therefore to achieve a control lever according to the preamble which can endure high stresses in all directions without the risk of deformation to the contact surfaces and which can offer sensitivity and precision during normal use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Said object is achieved in that the ring-shaped contact element comprises at least one elastic distance piece which is supported against the cavity's peripheral surface, and in that the lever's movability inside the cavity is limited by abutment surfaces in such a way that the ring-shaped contact element presents a residual movability when the lever has reached the abutment surfaces.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
An embodiment will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which
FIG. 1 shows schematically the upper parts of a control lever according to the invention in a rest position,
FIG. 2 correspondingly shows the control lever in a normal operating position, and
FIG. 3 shows, similarly, the control lever in an extreme position of operation.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The control lever according to the invention shown in FIGS. 1-3 is known in its basic form from WO 91/02912 and will be described relatively basically hereafter, since the operating principles and the different embodiments are already described in detail in said publication.
Basically the control lever is used to achieve, in one and the same movement, a mechanical shifting of a mechanism, e.g. a manual gearbox in a vehicle, as well as an electrical operation of for example an electrically operated clutch between the vehicle's engine and said gea
REFERENCES:
patent: 2732447 (1956-01-01), Findley
patent: 4183424 (1980-01-01), Rumyantsev et al.
patent: 5285034 (1994-02-01), Skogward et al.
Brown Brian W.
Friedhofer Michael A.
Scandmec AB
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