Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Multiple circuit control – Pivoted contact
Patent
1998-09-25
2000-08-29
Friedhofer, Michael
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Multiple circuit control
Pivoted contact
H01H 1936
Patent
active
061112089
ABSTRACT:
A rotary switch includes a housing (14) with a pair of fixed select terminals (44a, 44b) and a fixed common terminal (44c). A rotor (28) that can pivot about an axis (A1), carries a connector (48) with a contact pad (60) for engaging one of the select contacts at a time and a common contact (58) for engaging the common terminal on the housing. The common terminal on the housing is in the form of a track extending in an arc centered on the rotor axis to enable the common contact to remain in continuous engagement with the common terminal as the rotor turns. The common contact on the rotor forms a pair of tabs (62) that slideably engage opposite sides of the track. The connector on the rotor can shift radially to the axis, and is biased by a spring (64) to urge the contact pad toward a select terminal. A cam arrangement shifts the contact pad radially away from a select terminal as the rotor begins to turn from a center position, to minimize the duration of electric arcs. The housing has an inner face (68) extending in an arc between the pair of select terminals, with the inner face having a plurality of axially-extending grooves (69), to minimize the duration of electric arcs. A plurality of switches can lie in a stack, with each rotor having one end forming a drive protuberance (76) of non-circular cross section, and an opposite end forming a recess (78) for receiving the protuberance of an adjacent switch of the stack.
REFERENCES:
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patent: 4758693 (1988-07-01), Hoffman
Bourriaux Gerard
Bouvier Laurent
Grelier Claude
Pinero Eric
Rochon Sylvain
Friedhofer Michael
ITT Manufacturing Enterprises Inc.
Peterson Thomas L.
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