Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Multiple circuit control – Pivoted contact
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-24
2004-03-30
Friedhofer, Michael A. (Department: 2832)
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Multiple circuit control
Pivoted contact
C200S0050EA, C200S018000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06713692
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to switch mechanisms, and multidirectional operation switches and multidirectional operation units employing switch mechanisms. These are mainly used for input panels of mobile communications equipment such as mobile phones and pagers, and small and multifunctional electronic apparatuses such as remote controls, audio equipment, games machines, car navigation systems, and digital cameras.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A multidirectional operation switch employing a conventional switch mechanism is described next with reference to
FIGS. 10
to
13
.
FIG. 10
is a front section view of a conventional multidirectional operation switch.
FIG. 11
is an exploded perspective of the same switch. In the multidirectional operation switch in
FIGS. 10 and 11
, box case
31
made of insulating resin has a cavity at its center. The open top of this cavity is covered with cover
32
, typically made of a metal sheet.
FIG. 12
is a plan view of box case
31
.
As shown in
FIG. 12
, common fixed contact
53
and eight inner fixed contacts
33
to
40
are fixed on the bottom face of the cavity of box case
31
, typically by insert molding.
The rim of dome-shaped flexible contact
41
made of a thin resilient metal sheet is placed on common fixed contact
53
. All eight inner fixed contacts
33
to
40
are disposed inside common fixed contact
53
on a circumference centering on the center of box case
31
at equal intervals.
These fixed contacts
53
and
33
to
40
are electrically coupled to lead-out terminals
63
and
43
to
50
disposed on the outer face of box case
31
.
The above common fixed contact
53
is a contact used commonly for electrical coupling with other inner fixed contacts
33
to
40
(hereafter referred to as a common contact). A lead-out terminal electrically coupled to fixed contact
53
is called common terminal
63
.
The cavity of box case
31
is octagonal when seen from the top, and its inner wall has eight corners
31
A.
Operating member
42
has shaft
42
B and octagonal flange
42
A at the bottom of shaft
42
B. Flange
42
is made integrally with shaft
42
B. Operating member
42
is placed such that shaft
42
B protrudes upward from through hole
32
A at the center of cover
32
, and flange
42
A is housed inside the cavity of box case
31
. Operating member
42
is thus placed inside box case
31
, allowing a tilting operation, but restricting the rotation by inner wall corners
31
A.
On the bottom face of flange
42
A of operating member
42
, eight pushing elements
42
D, in total, are provided at positions corresponding to inner fixed contacts
33
to
40
on the bottom face of box case
31
.
Dome-shaped flexible contact
41
is positioned by a circular bottom area formed by the inner wall of box case
31
such that its center and the center of operating member
42
match, and placed on common contact
53
.
Pushing element
42
D contacts the top face of this dome-shaped flexible contact
41
. This makes the top face of flange
42
A of operating member
42
resiliently contact the bottom face of cover
32
so that operating member
42
is maintained in a vertical neutral position.
Next, the operation of the conventional multidirectional operation switch as configured above is described.
First, in the normal state, as shown in
FIG. 10
, connection between any pair of the contacts is in the OFF state
FIG. 13
is a front sectional view of operating member
42
during tilting operation.
Key
52
is mounted on top end
42
C of shaft
42
B of operating member
42
. When the left top face of key
52
is pressed, as shown by arrow
212
in
FIG. 13
, operating member
42
tilts about a fulcrum at the right top face of flange
42
A.
Pushing element
42
D on the bottom face corresponding to the tilting direction of operating member
42
then pushes dome-shaped flexible contact
41
and partially inverts dome-shaped flexible contact
41
. Then, dome-shaped flexible contact
41
provides tactile ‘click’ and contacts inner fixed contact
34
at the left bottom of box case
31
to turn ON between common contact
53
and inner fixed common contacts
34
. Here, only lead-out common terminal
63
and terminal
44
are electrically coupled.
When the pushing force applied to key
52
is released, pushing element
42
D on the bottom face of operating member
42
is pushed back due to the resilience of dome-shaped flexible contact
41
, and operating member
42
returns to the vertical neutral position.
In the same way, common terminal
63
and one of the lead-out terminals
43
to
50
corresponding to each pushing position are electrically coupled when a different part of key
52
is pushed.
The above multidirectional operation switch with the conventional switch mechanism has terminals
43
and
50
to
63
corresponding respectively to inner fixed contacts
33
to
40
and common contact
53
. Accordingly, the large numbers of terminals hinders downsizing of such multidirectional operation switches.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims to offer a smaller switch mechanism with fewer terminals, and a multidirectional operation switch and multidirectional operation unit using this switch mechanism.
The switch mechanism of the present invention includes a flexible contact and multiple fixed contacts. The multiple fixed contacts are disposed such as to face the flexible contact, and include i) multiple first common contacts used commonly for electrical coupling; ii) multiple second common contacts used commonly for electrical coupling; and iii) multiple independent contacts which are electrically independent.
The multiple fixed contacts are disposed such that they are aligned clockwise or counterclockwise repeatedly in a group in the sequence of: first common contact, independent contact, second common contact, and independent contact. In fixed contacts, two adjacent contacts are electrically coupled when the flexible contact touches the two adjacent fixed contacts.
Since the multiple fixed contacts are disposed in the sequence as described above, the first common contacts or second common contacts and the independent contact adjacent to it are electrically coupled.
In the multidirectional operation switch of the present invention, the multiple fixed contacts are disposed on the inner bottom of the box case made of insulating resin which has an open top.
In addition, a dome-shaped flexible contact made of a thin resilient metal sheet is disposed inside the box case such as to cover the multiple fixed contacts.
A cover with a through hole covers the opening of the box case.
An operating member is configured with a shaft, flange, and pushing element which are integrally molded.
The shaft protrudes upward from the through hole. The flange is formed at the bottom end of the shaft, and its periphery is tiltably supported by an inner wall of the cavity of the case. The pushing element is disposed on the bottom face of the flange in a position respectively corresponding to the intermediate position between adjacent fixed contacts so as to contact the dome-shaped flexible contact.
The multiple fixed contacts include i) multiple first common contacts used commonly for electrical coupling; ii) multiple second common contacts used commonly for electrical coupling; and iii) multiple independent contacts which are electrically independent These multiple fixed contacts are disposed such that they are aligned clockwise or counterclockwise repeatedly in a group in the sequence of: one first common contact, one independent contact, one second common contact, and another one independent contact.
The dome-shaped flexible contact is pressed by the pushing element and contacts two adjacent fixed contacts. This makes the two adjacent fixed contacts electrically coupled. More specifically, the first common contact or second common contact and the independent contact adjacent to it are electrically coupled.
In the multidirectional operation unit of the present invention, the multiple fixed contacts are disposed on a wiring board fa
Friedhofer Michael A.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
LandOfFree
Switch mechanism, multidirectional operation switch, and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Switch mechanism, multidirectional operation switch, and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Switch mechanism, multidirectional operation switch, and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3236906