Machine element or mechanism – Control lever and linkage systems – Multiple controlled elements
Patent
1995-11-15
1997-10-28
Marmor, Charles A.
Machine element or mechanism
Control lever and linkage systems
Multiple controlled elements
74473R, 74475, G06F 3033, G05G 9047
Patent
active
056807961
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a manual controller comprising: a control lever having a lower end; a housing having a bottom; a bearing held in said housing and supporting said control lever for pivotable deflection in two orthogonal axes around a fixed point from a zero position to a maximum pivot angle relative to the zero position while said lower end of said control lever moves over a path lying in a spherical surface having a radius R; and converter devices which translate pivotal movement of said control lever from its zero position into an electrical signal.
Such manual controllers are a control device known from many fields of use; they should be best known for operating computers (in this case called "joystick"), however, they are also employed for controlling and steering, in particular for the remote control of real devices, for example, cranes, hoists, etc.
The manual control has a control lever as the sole actuating element, which is movable in two independent directions and whose movement in each direction (x or y) acts on a transmission element. Therefore two transmission elements are components of converters which convert the deflection of the control lever into an electrical signal; in this connection the manual controller can be used as an on/off switch as well as a proportional control element, wherein the electrical output signals in both main directions are proportional to the respective deflection of the control lever in the associated main direction.
To achieve such pivoting of the control lever, it is necessary that it be pivotably seated and held in a housing; on the one hand, sufficient deflection (deflection angle) must be assured, and on the other hand as precise as possible a definition of a zero position, i.e. a point in space wherein the converter devices do not deliver an electrical signal.
Such bearings are known in many structural variations; as a rule, either a universal joint or a ball joint or a movable mounting is used, or a combination of these components, one of which is then respectively associated to a main direction (x or y) in respect to its pivoting.
Such pivot bearings can be produced with great precision, but require considerable outlay in regard to precise production and assembly, so that pivot bearings constitute a considerable cost factor in connection with manual controllers.
In addition, such pivot bearings require a relatively large amount of space and thereby increase the space requirements and the weight of the entire manual controller, again with the result of increased material costs.
STATE OF THE ART
An example of the elaborate design of the pivot bearing in a manual controller is shown in DE 32 36 481 A1; the pivot point 17 is defined by means of a universal joint suspension 13. An elastic disk 40 is seated at a distance from the point of rotation 17 so it can be slidingly moved horizontally and, when it is laterally displaced by a deflection of the control lever 11, is used as a contact element for laterally disposed working contacts 45.
The employment of elastic auxiliary elements in connection with a joint is also known from automotive technology:
DE 25 30 802 A1 discloses an annular disk 10 for the gear shift of a motor vehicle, whose restoring force is directed opposite to the downward motion of the gear shift lever 3 in the direction toward the bearing 6 disposed above, in which a spherical thickening of the gear shift lever 3 is held. Here, too, the point of rotation of the entire device is located outside the elastic annular disk 10.
Finally, in the same technical field U.S. Pat. No. 1,874,557 also discloses a gear shift lever whose joint consists of a bow-shaped guide element 12 which penetrates through the shaft 3 of the gear shift lever and determines and defines the pivot movement. For fixing the guide element 12 in place, a cylindrical rubber seal 7 is pressed between the shaft 3 and the gear housing 1, which permits pivoting of the shaft 3 through a small angle range.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is an
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Bredow Wolfgang
Burchard Thomas
Elsasser Fabian
Fazler Rolf
Haug Thomas
Fenstermacher David M.
Marmor Charles A.
NBB Nachrichtentechnik GmbH & Co. KG
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