Remote control switch for posture adjustment of automotive mirrors
First Claim
1. A switch for controlling forward and rearward movement of first and second pairs of DC motors, each of said pairs being used for tilting the mirror surface of one of two mirrors about the horizontal and vertical axes, said switch comprising:
- (a) a casing;
(b) a substrate housed in said casing and having a surface;
(c) first and second contact groups disposed on said surface of said substrate and being offset from one another by a predetermined angle, each of said first and second contact groups including sets of contacts controlling one pair of said first and second pairs of DC motors, each of said contact groups including first, second, third and fourth sets of contacts, each of said sets of contacts having four contacts;
(d) a rotary switch member includingfirst, second, third and fourth electrically conductive ball-like moving contacts, disposed in association with said first, second, third and fourth sets of contacts,first means for electrically connecting said first and second moving contacts to each other,second means for electrically connecting said third and fourth moving contacts to each other,means for holding said moving contacts such that said moving contacts roll on said substrate while retaining their positions relative to each other;
(e) an operating shaft supported on said casing, which is tiltable upward, downward, leftward, and rightward with respect to said casing and which is rotatable along said predetermined angle about an axis of said operating shaft, said operating shaft having a first end connected to said rotary switching member and having a second end disposed remote from said first end;
(f) a knob, provided on said second end of said operating shaft, for providing manual positioning of said operating shaft; and
(g) a posture controller including resilient means for normally biasing said operating shaft into a neutral position in which said axis extends in a direction which is generally perpendicular to said surface of said substrate;
wherein, when said operating shaft lies in said neutral position, each of said moving contacts assumes a first neutral position between said contacts in a respective one of said sets of contacts of said first group, said moving contacts being movable to a second neutral position such that each of said moving contacts is disposed between said contacts in a respective one of said sets of contacts of said second group; and
wherein, when said operating shaft is tilted in any of said upward, downward, leftward, or rightward directions, said movable contacts are moved in an opposite direction to that of the tilting direction of said operating shaft causing electrical connection to occur (1) between a respective one of said contacts of said first set of contacts and a respective one of said contacts of said second set of contacts and (2) between a respective one of said contacts of said third set of contacts and a respective one of said contacts of said fourth set of contacts, and, when said operating shaft is moved through said predetermined angle, each of said moving contacts moves from said first neutral position to said second neutral position.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a remote control switch for posture adjustment of the automotive mirrors, there are disposed on a substrate that is fixed within a casing, a first group of fixed contacts for posture control of the lefthand mirror and a second group of fixed contacts for posture control of the righthand mirror. The fixed contacts forming the first group and those forming the second group being offset at a predetermined angle from each other. Two electrically conductive balls are spaced apart from each other and are electrically connected to each other to form a pair of moving contacts. The moving contacts are held by a rotary switching member with their positional relation fixed so as to roll on the substrate. An operating shaft is mounted pivotably and tiltably in the casing, and is normally forced in a direction perpendicular to the substrate so as to take the neutral position. Further, the operating shaft is operatively connected to the rotary switching member. As the operating shaft is pivoted about the axis thereof, the rotary switching member is rotated to select either the lefthand or righthand mirror, and when the operating shaft is tilted leftward, rightward, forward or backward the tilting of the mirror face about the vertical or horizontal axis is controlled.
28 Citations
11 Claims
-
1. A switch for controlling forward and rearward movement of first and second pairs of DC motors, each of said pairs being used for tilting the mirror surface of one of two mirrors about the horizontal and vertical axes, said switch comprising:
-
(a) a casing; (b) a substrate housed in said casing and having a surface; (c) first and second contact groups disposed on said surface of said substrate and being offset from one another by a predetermined angle, each of said first and second contact groups including sets of contacts controlling one pair of said first and second pairs of DC motors, each of said contact groups including first, second, third and fourth sets of contacts, each of said sets of contacts having four contacts; (d) a rotary switch member including first, second, third and fourth electrically conductive ball-like moving contacts, disposed in association with said first, second, third and fourth sets of contacts, first means for electrically connecting said first and second moving contacts to each other, second means for electrically connecting said third and fourth moving contacts to each other, means for holding said moving contacts such that said moving contacts roll on said substrate while retaining their positions relative to each other; (e) an operating shaft supported on said casing, which is tiltable upward, downward, leftward, and rightward with respect to said casing and which is rotatable along said predetermined angle about an axis of said operating shaft, said operating shaft having a first end connected to said rotary switching member and having a second end disposed remote from said first end; (f) a knob, provided on said second end of said operating shaft, for providing manual positioning of said operating shaft; and (g) a posture controller including resilient means for normally biasing said operating shaft into a neutral position in which said axis extends in a direction which is generally perpendicular to said surface of said substrate; wherein, when said operating shaft lies in said neutral position, each of said moving contacts assumes a first neutral position between said contacts in a respective one of said sets of contacts of said first group, said moving contacts being movable to a second neutral position such that each of said moving contacts is disposed between said contacts in a respective one of said sets of contacts of said second group; and wherein, when said operating shaft is tilted in any of said upward, downward, leftward, or rightward directions, said movable contacts are moved in an opposite direction to that of the tilting direction of said operating shaft causing electrical connection to occur (1) between a respective one of said contacts of said first set of contacts and a respective one of said contacts of said second set of contacts and (2) between a respective one of said contacts of said third set of contacts and a respective one of said contacts of said fourth set of contacts, and, when said operating shaft is moved through said predetermined angle, each of said moving contacts moves from said first neutral position to said second neutral position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
Specification