Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Electric switch details – Cases and bases
Patent
1988-10-03
1991-02-05
Luebke, Renee S.
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Electric switch details
Cases and bases
200298, 2003321, H01H 902
Patent
active
049907298
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a teaching console panel for a robot, which comprises various keys arranged for electrically operating a robot, and this panel is used for a robot, especially for an industrial robot.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELEVANT ART
A teaching console panel has been used for an electrically operated industrial robot, and for the safety of the operation of the robot, a so-called dead-man switch is assembled in the console panel for being actuated while it is touched by the user's hand and stopped when the user's hand is separated therefrom.
As an embodiment for assembling the dead-man switch in the console panel, the following three methods have been adopted as effective dead-man switch methods.
1. Switch buttons are arranged on both the side faces of the console panel, and when the console panel is gripped from any side face, the switch is turned on by the palm of the hand.
2. A switch button is arranged on one point of the console panel, and the switch is turned on when one finger is placed on the button and the console panel is grasped in such a manner that the button is depressed.
3. A lever switch is arranged in parallel to a handle, and the switch is turned on when the lever switch and handle are simultaneously grasped.
In the conventional method 1, a condition whereby the palm of the hand is in contact with the console panel should be maintained, and the relatively heavy console panel must always be maintained horizontally or be gripped so that the palm-touching face faces down. Moreover, the user's fingers are likely to slip.
In the above method 2, care should be taken so that the user's does not slip off the button, and the user's finger does not become too fatigued.
In the above method 3, since the handle projects from the console panel, the handle becomes heavy when in the user's hand the user's hand must always grasp it securely. Accordingly, the user's hand becomes fatigued.
As is apparent from the foregoing description, the conventional console panels are hard to grasp and cause fatigue of the hand.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a console panel which is easy to grasp by the user's hand and does not cause any substantial fatigue of the hand, and whereby a dead-man switch is always firmly actuated.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, for example, a console panel has a T-figure overall shape and comprises a long keyboard portion 1 and a wide display portion 2. The console panel constructed with an inclined face C.sub.3 for touching by the user's hand and is formed on the side edge of the back surface of the console panel. The console panel further includes a pressing plate 9 provided with an elliptical recess 91 having a length L.sub.3 sufficient to receive the tips of four fingers and is fitted in a back plate 3 substantially at the center of the outer surface thereof and supported by a plate spring 83. The console panel further has a limit switch 5 which can actuated by pressing against the spring of the pressing plate 9. The recess 91 is located at a position so that the tips of four fingers located on the back surface of the console panel upon grasping the console panel by touching by the palm of the hand on the side face of the console panel, reach the recess 91, regardless of the side from which the console panel is grasped.
If the console panel is grasped by the left hand or right hand in the state where the keyboard portion and display portion of the console panel are located on the front side, the tips of the fingers located on the back side of the console panel are received in the recess 91 and the dead-man switch is actuated only by applying a force acting against the spring 83 to the recess of the pressing plate, regardless of the touching state of each finger and the touching state of the palm of the hand on the side face of the panel. Furthermore, if each finger tip is caught on the recess, the console panel is prevented from falling.
When the console panel is grasped, the tips of all
REFERENCES:
patent: 2543450 (1951-02-01), Feagin
patent: 2639344 (1953-05-01), Rickmeyer
patent: 2855916 (1958-10-01), Foster
patent: 3932721 (1976-01-01), Crowell et al.
patent: 4209681 (1980-06-01), Somborn et al.
"Designing the Robot Teach Pendant", by Mason, ROBOTIC ENGINEERING, vol. 8, No. 11, Nov. 1986, Petersborough, N.H., pp. 23-25.
"Controlling a Manipulator" by Rand, DESIGN ENGINEERING, May 1987, London, Great Britain, pp. 67, 70 and 74.
Ito Susumu
Tanaka Akira
Torii Nobutoshi
Toyoda Kenichi
Fanuc Ltd.
Luebke Renee S.
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