Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Electric switch details – Cases and bases
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-18
2001-09-11
Scott, J. R. (Department: 2832)
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Electric switch details
Cases and bases
C248S027100, C361S807000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06288349
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to program selectors for appliances, and more particularly to panel mounted selector switches and their associated control modules for use with electronically controlled appliances.
BACKGROUND ART
Consumer and commercial appliances have long used program selector switches mounted on a front panel of an appliance that is accessible by the customer. Typically, these selector controls have taken the form of rotary switches, which utilize a cam and follower mechanism or other similar electromechanical device, for varying the operation of the appliance. The manufacturing costs of such electromechanical timers have been reduced regularly in recent decades, while new controls and functions have been added. In a typical application, a user rotates the selector switch to a given program indicated on the front panel of the appliance, thereafter beginning operation of the selected program. In the past, a simple timer mechanism rotated the cam and follower assembly to electromechanically control the operation of the appliance.
Various attempts to substitute electronic controls have failed due to inadequate reliability and operating environment limitations, and especially, to unfavorable cost comparisons with the mechanical cam/switch controls. The advent of reliable and inexpensive control electronic devices, along with other improvements disclosed herein have made possible the implementation of these more advanced electronics to control the program operation of many appliances. Such electronics can effectively replace the older electromechanical cam type devices for program timing, switching, and selection.
FIG. 2
illustrates in simplified form, an electronic control panel installed in an appliance. As may be seen, a prior art electronic control board
10
having a connector
12
included therewith interfaces with a program selector switch
14
through a wiring harness
16
having at the end thereof a connector
18
. The program selector switch
14
is typically mounted on an appliance front panel
20
via various mechanisms. Recently, selector switches
14
have begun to implement a simple twist lock mounting mechanism which allows the selector arm portion to be inserted through a mounting hole, such as mounting hole
22
, on the appliance front panel
20
. The selector switch
14
implementing such a twist lock mechanism is then rotated through a given angle to lock the switch in place on the front panel
20
. A selector switch knob (not illustrated) is then inserted on the control arm of the switch.
In addition to the mounting of the selector switch
14
, the prior art control board
10
is also mounted within the appliance. Typically, the prior art control board
10
was mounted via mounting screws and insulated spacers
24
on the frame of the appliance. The particular location of the control board
10
often proved difficult due to the limitation on the available space within the appliance. Service requirements also dictated that the front panel
20
be removable from the appliance, such as for maintenance operations or the like. This necessitated a lengthy wiring harness
16
to interface between the front panel mounted switch
14
and the frame mounted control board
10
. Because most appliance structures are of sheet metal construction, there exist many sharp edges from stamping operations within the interior of the appliance behind the front panel
20
. These sharp edges caused chaffing of the insulation of the wiring harness
16
and the potential for extremely hazardous short-circuiting of the power and/or control wires contained therein.
To overcome this problem, some prior designs utilized wiring harnesses
16
that were as short as possible. Unfortunately, this approach greatly increased the difficulty of maintaining a connection between connectors
12
and
18
during and after servicing of the appliance when the front panel
20
was removed. In addition to the problems associated with decreased reliability and increased difficulty of servicing, the prior systems also bore an increased cost over their predecessors. This increased cost was driven in part by the increased number of components required to make the connection between the panel mounted selector switch
14
and the control board
10
. Additionally, the necessary mounting bracket included within the appliance to allow the control board
10
to be mounted thereto also increased the overall cost of this electronic control. The increased costs and reduced reliability has greatly impacted the widespread implementation of this technology over its predecessor electromechanical technology. Because of this impact, electromechanical selector switches are still widely found in many appliances.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
In view of the foregoing limitations and shortcomings of the above noted devices, as well as other disadvantages not specifically mentioned, there exists in the art a need for an improved panel mounted controller and integrated selector switch for use with electronic appliances, and the like.
The present invention is directed to a selector switch mounting assembly. A twist mount removably mounts a selector switch to a control panel of an appliance. The selector switch is also mounted on a printed circuit board. The switch may be positioned on the printed circuit board in a manner such that the printed circuit board extends relatively more to one side than the other from the switch. The extension of the circuit board creates a gravity-based rotational torque force on the twist mount, such that the twist mount is held in the mounted position.
Other features of the disclosed embodiment may include some or all of the following. The twist mount selector switch includes a locking mechanism to lock the switch and printed circuit board in place behind the control panel. Further, a control arm extends from the selector switch, through the control panel, and ends with a removably mounted selector knob allowing the user to operate the appliance.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2272688 (1942-02-01), Catron
patent: 2689700 (1954-09-01), Drury
patent: 3279728 (1966-10-01), Campbell
patent: 4653708 (1987-03-01), Rich
patent: 4682267 (1987-07-01), Magilton
patent: 4861951 (1989-08-01), Olson
patent: 4892987 (1990-01-01), Aframian
patent: 5010445 (1991-04-01), Weinold
patent: 5225970 (1993-07-01), Palumbo
patent: 6147863 (2000-11-01), Moore et al.
Alvord Robert J.
Hawken Phillip
Makeever Jeffery J.
Motyka Larry J.
Puskas Jeffrey A.
England, Jr. John M.
Martin Terrence (Terry)
Morris Jules Jay
Ranco Incorporated of Delaware
Scott J. R.
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