Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Solid contact – Membrane type
Patent
1998-09-02
1999-10-19
Luebke, Renee S.
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Solid contact
Membrane type
200 6127, 200292, H01H 900
Patent
active
059673001
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a switch for automotive vehicles, in particular, a switch used in steering column assemblies. In switches of this type, connections are to be established between the contacts usually cast into a base plate and the connector contacts of the switch.
It is known per se to guide contact plates cast into the base plate as contact pins out of the casing so that the stationary contacts and the connectors are interconnected by integrally formed contact plates. However, measures of that type are feasible only if the number of connectors guided out of the switch is not excessively high and the connecting track between the stationary contacts and the connectors is short. Conversely, in a number of switches the stationary contacts are at a large distance from the connectors, as, for example, in switches used with steering column assemblies wherein switching contacts are housed in the rotatable or telescopic lever end of the switch lever. Contacts of the afore-described type are shown, for example, in DE-AS 2853746 according to which the stationary contacts arranged within the handle are guided via movable conduits in the interior of the switch lever to the switch casing on the steering column assembly. The connection of the switches to the contacts involves relatively high efforts.
It is the object of the invention to provide a simpler solution which, on the one hand, does not require any special technique for establishing a connection between the stationary contacts and the flexible connecting conduits and, on the other hand, eliminates the need to guide the connecting conduits through the interior of the switch lever.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The afore-mentioned problem is solved by using a single, flexible conductor mounted to a conductor foil in place of separate flexible conduits to be individually connected to the stationary contacts. The connector according to the invention can, therefore, have the outward appearance of a longitudinal flexible foil on which are conventionally mounted printed conductors extending substantially in parallel with respect to one another. Conductor foils of this type are easy to manufacture and--as explained hereinafter--present a new technique for connecting the stationary contacts to the connector contacts of the switch. Also, they permit an easy-to-manufacture and reliable switch design having extended connecting conduits.
A special advantage of the invention resides in that the flexible conductors on the connector ends facing the stationary contacts, can directly pass over into stationary contacts if the stationary contacts are formed by printed conductors of the flexible conductor foil. To that extent it will only be necessary to remove the insulator from or not provide an insulator on the side of the connection facing the movable contacts, thereby causing the conductors to directly act as contacts. Hence, the printed conductors moving across the connector integrally pass into stationary contacts with no need for the contacts to be specifically connected to the connecting lines.
However, as the flexible conductor foil does not have the strength to form an adequately stable abutment for the associated movable switch contact, it is recommended as another embodiment of the invention that the contact section of the flexible conductor foil, carrying the stationary contacts, is fixed to a board stationarily arranged on the switch to insure that the stationary printed conductor contacts have a position stable over the switch casing, thereby providing a good contact with the associated movable contacts.
For the sake of an easier assembly of the foil, for locking the foil vis-a-vis the board thereunder, and for centering the contact section on the board, at least one projection protruding from the board protrudes into a corresponding opening provided in the contact section, insuring that the foil also in its assembled condition takes the position associated to the movable contacts and is maintained in that position. The fix
REFERENCES:
patent: 3699279 (1972-10-01), Lockard et al.
patent: 3745288 (1973-07-01), Reimer
patent: 5512721 (1996-04-01), Young et al.
Corporate publication: Konstruktionshinweise flexible gedruckte Schaltungen of Company Carl Freudenberg, Weinheim, pp. 1-12, (no date).
Gotzinger Bertram
Hecht Walter
Klein Rudolf
ITT Manufacturing Enterprises Inc.
Lewis J. Gordon
Luebke Renee S.
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