Lever switch

Details Lever switch Lever switch

2002-10-24

2003-10-14

Enad, Elvin (Department: 2832)

Electricity: circuit makers and breakers

Solid contact

Rocking actuator

C200S339000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06633013

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to lever switches, which are used in various electronic apparatuses, for detecting the presence of a recording medium or the operation of a mechanism.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A leaf switch, formed of a combination of a movable contact with fixed contacts, both of the contacts are made of elastic metal thin plate, is well known as a lever switch used for detecting the presence of a recording medium such as a tape or a disc or the operation of various mechanisms.
FIG.
7
through
FIG. 9
show a conventional lever switch discussed above.
FIG. 7
is a sectional view of the conventional lever switch. Case
31
made from resin is shaped like a box. Case
31
is open in the front thereof and has opening
31
A on its upper face. Lever
32
has driving sections
32
B and
32
C at its lower end and operating section
32
D at its upper end. Operating section
32
D extends upward from opening
31
A.
Movable contact
33
made of elastic metal thin plate and a pair of fixed contacts
34
made of elastic metal thin plate and disposed on both sides of movable contact
33
are rigidly provided respectively on the bottom plate opposite to opening
31
A. An upper end of movable contact
33
is inserted between driving sections
32
B and
32
C. Upper ends of fixed contacts
34
are bowed inside to form contacts
34
A facing the intermediate section of movable contact
33
. A cover (not shown) covers case
31
that houses movable contact
33
and fixed contacts
34
discussed above. Lever
32
is mounted to case
31
such that lever
32
can rotate on shaft
32
A to both sides.
FIG. 8
is a sectional view illustrating a scene where operating section
32
D in
FIG. 7
is rotated to the right. In this case, since driving section
32
C rotates to the left on shaft
32
A as a fulcrum, the upper end of movable contact
33
is pushed with driving section
32
C and bent leftward. Then the intermediate section of movable contact
33
is brought into contact with contact
34
A on the left side.
FIG. 9
is a sectional view illustrating a scene where operating section
32
D is further rotated up to a given angle. The upper end of movable contact
33
further moves to the left, and the intermediate section of movable contact
33
pushes contact
34
A, so that fixed contact
34
is also bent to the left. As a result, movable contact
33
and fixed contact
34
are kept contacting with each other by a stable contact pressure.
When operating force is removed from operating section
32
D, driving section
32
C is pushed to the right by the elastic restoring force of movable contact
33
and fixed contact
34
. Then lever
32
rotates and operating section
32
D is restored to the neutral position as shown in FIG.
7
.
When operating section
32
D rotates to the left, driving section
32
B pushes the upper end of movable contact
33
to the right, so that movable contact
33
is bent to the right and brought into contact with fixed contact
34
on the right side.
In the conventional lever switch discussed above, plate-like movable contact
33
bows to the left or right, so that movable contact
33
is brought into contact with one of fixed contacts
34
on both sides. However, in this mechanism, an appropriate stress to be produced at movable contact
33
requires an adequate length of movable contact
33
, so that an entire switch is hard to be downsized.
Further, when lever
32
rotates by the given angle, fixed contact
34
is also bent, whereby the stable contact pressure is obtained between movable contact
33
and fixed contact
34
. The contact status thus tends to become unstable when lever
32
rotates halfway.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A lever switch of the present invention comprises the following elements:
(a) a case including a common contact and fixed contacts;
(b) a movable contact including;
(b-1) an intermediate section elastically coming into contact with the common contact;
(b-2) a first arm extending from the intermediate section;
(b-3) a folding-back section formed at an end of the first arm;
(b-4) a second arm extending from the folding-back section; and
(b-5) a contact formed at an end of the second arm and elastically coming into contact with at least one of the inner wall of the case or one of the fixed contacts;
(c) a slider including;
(c-1) an engaging section; and
(c-2) a pushing section coming into contact with to a vicinity of the folding-back section; and
(d) a lever including:
(d-1) an operating section;
(d-2) a shaft which is mounted to the case such that the lever can rotate on the shaft;
(d-3) an contacting section for contacting with the engaging section.
Rotating of the lever brings the contact into contact with one of the fixed contacts, or leaves the contact from one of the fixed contact.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3591747 (1971-07-01), Dennison
patent: 3678229 (1972-07-01), Osika
patent: 3689858 (1972-09-01), Helmut Rosch et al.
patent: 4230917 (1980-10-01), Osika
patent: 6479776 (2002-11-01), Nakase et al.
patent: 6525285 (2003-02-01), Kudo et al.
patent: 6559401 (2003-05-01), Minami et al.
patent: 471317 (1991-08-01), None

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