Lever switch with support walls for supporting movable contact points and method of detecting an operating direction of a lever switch
First Claim
1. A lever switch comprising:
- a circuit board;
a plurality of stationary contact points generally arranged in a circle on the circuit board;
a plurality of movable contact points arranged in a circle and selectively coupleable with corresponding ones of the plurality of stationary contact points;
a tiltable operating lever arranged substantially at a center of the circle in which the plurality of stationary contact points are arranged, wherein at least one of the plurality of movable contact points comes into contact with at least one of the plurality of stationary contact points when the operating lever is tilted; and
inner and outer elastically flexible support walls respectively forming an inner circumference and an outer circumference of the circle formed by the plurality of movable contact points, wherein the plurality of movable contact points are supported by the inner and outer elastically flexible support walls.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A selecting switch operating section provided to support movable contact points includes circular elastic support walls disposed along an arrangement circle of selecting stationary contact points, and a pushing portion. When the selecting switch operating section is pushed by an operating portion tilted integrally with the operating lever, at least one of movable contact points comes into contact with at least one of the selecting stationary contact points. Thus, it is not necessary to provide accommodation space for other members between the adjacent selecting stationary contact points. Also, it is possible to reduce the spacing interval between adjacent selecting stationary contact points in the arrangement circle, so that the diameter of the arrangement circle can be reduced and the entire lever switch can be reduced in size.
67 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A lever switch comprising:
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a circuit board; a plurality of stationary contact points generally arranged in a circle on the circuit board; a plurality of movable contact points arranged in a circle and selectively coupleable with corresponding ones of the plurality of stationary contact points; a tiltable operating lever arranged substantially at a center of the circle in which the plurality of stationary contact points are arranged, wherein at least one of the plurality of movable contact points comes into contact with at least one of the plurality of stationary contact points when the operating lever is tilted; and inner and outer elastically flexible support walls respectively forming an inner circumference and an outer circumference of the circle formed by the plurality of movable contact points, wherein the plurality of movable contact points are supported by the inner and outer elastically flexible support walls. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A lever switch comprising:
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a circuit board; a plurality of stationary contact points generally arranged in a circle on the circuit board; a plurality of movable contact points attached to a pushing portion and selectively coupleable with corresponding ones of the plurality of stationary contact points; a tiltable operating lever arranged substantially at a center of the circle in which the plurality of stationary contact points are arranged, wherein at least one of the plurality of movable contact points come into contact with at least one of the plurality of stationary contact points when the operating lever is tilted; and an operating section attached to the operating lever and including a pushing section, wherein the pushing section is structured to contact and push the pushing portion to which the plurality of movable contact points are attached so that at least one of the plurality of movable contact points is pushed toward at least one of the plurality of stationary contact points when the operating section is tilted integrally with the operating lever. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A lever switch comprising:
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circuit board means for supporting a plurality of stationary contact points generally arranged in a circle on the circuit board means; a plurality of movable contact points arranged in a circle and selectively coupleable with corresponding ones of the plurality of stationary contact points; a tiltable operating lever arranged substantially at a center of the circle in which the plurality of stationary contact points are arranged, wherein at least one of the plurality of movable contact points comes into contact with at least one of the plurality of stationary contact points when the operating lever is tilted; and elastically flexible support wall means for supporting the plurality of movable contact points, the elastically flexible support wall means including inner and outer elastically flexible support walls respectively forming an inner circumference and an outer circumference of the circle formed by the plurality of movable contact points. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for determining an operating direction of a lever switch, the lever switch having a plurality of stationary contact points and a plurality of movable contact points selectively coupleable with corresponding ones of the plurality of stationary contact points, using a tiltable operating lever, the method comprising:
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tilting the operating lever so that at least one of the plurality of stationary contact points contacts a corresponding movable contact point; detecting which of the plurality of stationary contact points are simultaneously short-circuited; and computing a center position of a region in a circumferential direction in which the simultaneously short-circuited stationary contact points are disposed, wherein the position computed by the computing mechanism is determined to be an operating direction of the operating lever. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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Specification