U.S. patent number 3,639,705 [Application Number 05/027,745] was granted by the patent office on 1972-02-01 for joystick control switch.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Clarke and Smith Manufacturing Company Limited. Invention is credited to Wilfred H. G. Rayner.
United States Patent |
3,639,705 |
Rayner |
February 1, 1972 |
JOYSTICK CONTROL SWITCH
Abstract
In a joystick control switch having an operating lever rotatable
about a point intermediate the length of the lever, the lever is
positively indexable in each of a plurality of positions of
rotation by means of a collar slidably mounted on the lever and
resiliently biased into engagement with a gate member defining the
plurality of positions of rotation, and in each of the plurality of
positions of rotation the lever operates a depressible-plunger-type
switch by contact of the lever with the plunger either directly or
through the intermediary of a single lever member. A button located
in one end of the lever is depressible to slide a shaft extending
longitudinally of the lever to depress the plunger of an additional
switch at the other end of the lever, in one position of rotation
of the lever.
Inventors: |
Rayner; Wilfred H. G. (London,
EN) |
Assignee: |
Clarke and Smith Manufacturing
Company Limited (N/A)
|
Family
ID: |
10132355 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/027,745 |
Filed: |
April 13, 1970 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Apr 17, 1969 [GB] |
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19,617/69 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
200/6A;
200/17R |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01H
25/00 (20130101); G05G 2009/04707 (20130101); G05G
2009/04744 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01H
25/00 (20060101); G05G 9/00 (20060101); G05G
9/047 (20060101); H01h 025/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;200/6A,17 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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125,829 |
|
Oct 1947 |
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AU |
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1,163,428 |
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Feb 1964 |
|
DT |
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1,268,251 |
|
May 1968 |
|
DT |
|
Primary Examiner: Scott; J. R.
Claims
I claim:
1. Joystick control switch means, comprising
a support (14, 16) containing an opening;
a lever (10) pivotally connected intermediate its ends in said
support opening, thereby defining first and second lever portions
on opposite sides of said support, said lever being pivotally
operable upon manual displacement of said first portion;
gate means (18) connected with said support for cooperation with
said second lever portion to define a plurality of pivotal
positions of said lever relative to said support;
abutment means (24) mounted for longitudinal sliding movement on
said second lever portion;
means (26) resiliently biasing said abutment means into engagement
with said gate means for positively indexing said lever in said
pivotal positions, respectively; and
a plurality of switching means (36, 38, 40, 42) connected with said
support for selective operation by said second lever portion in
accordance with the corresponding pivotal position of said lever,
respectively.
2. A joystick control switch as claimed in claim 1, and further
comprising a plurality of housing means containing respective ones
of said switching means and a plurality of plunger means projecting
from respective housing means and depressible to operate respective
ones of said switching means.
3. A joystick control switch as claimed in claim 2 wherein at least
one of said plunger means is depressible through direct contact by
said second portion of said lever.
4. A joystick control switch as claimed in claim 3 wherein said
lever includes respective first and second ends adjacent said first
and second portions of said lever, and said one plunger means is
depressible through direct contact by said second portion adjacent
said second end, and said abutment means comprises a collar member
encircling said second portion.
5. A joystick control switch as claimed in claim 3 further
comprising lever means rotatable through direct contact by said
second portion to depress said plunger means of a further one of
said switching means.
6. A joystick control switch as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
lever includes respective first and second ends adjacent said first
and second portions, and further comprising additional switching
connected with said support adjacent the second lever portion,
means and button means located in said first end and manually
depressible to operate said additional switching means in one of
said plurality of positions of rotation of said lever.
7. A joystick control switch as claimed in claim 6 wherein said
additional switching means includes plunger means depressible to
operate said additional switching means, and further comprising a
shaft extending through said lever longitudinally thereof and
slidable relative to said lever, resilient bias means for urging
said shaft in one direction relative to said lever, said lever
being slidable in the opposite direction upon depression of said
button means to contact and depress said plunger means of said
additional switching means in said one position of rotation of said
lever.
8. A joystick control switch as claimed in claim 7 further
comprising means for latching said button means when depressed in
said one position of rotation of said lever.
9. A joystick control switch as claimed in claim 8, wherein said
latching means is inoperable when said lever is displaced away from
said one position.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to joystick control switches. A
joystick control switch is known which includes an operating lever
rotatable about a pivot point intermediate first and second
portions of the lever, the first portion being manually
displaceable to rotate the lever about the pivot point, a mechanism
for positively indexing the lever in each of a plurality of
positions of rotation and a plurality of switches operable in
response to the position of the lever in respective ones of the
positions of rotation. In this joystick control switch it is
difficult to design a simple arrangement for performing the
functions of positively indexing the lever and operating the
switches in response to the position of the lever. Consequently
known joystick switches tend to be complex and unnecessarily
expensive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a joystick
control switch in which the functions of positively indexing the
operating lever and operating the switches are performed by a
simple mechanism.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a joystick control switch in which
the operating lever is positively indexed in each of a plurality of
positions of rotation by means of an abutment member mounted on the
lever and slidable longitudinally thereof and resiliently biased
into engagement with a gate member defining the plurality of
positions of rotation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the
following description of two embodiments of the invention given by
way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in
which:
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of one embodiment of a joystick control
switch in accordance with the present invention, showing the
operating lever in one position of rotation;
FIG. 2 is a similar view to that of FIG. 1 of the same embodiment
but showing the operating lever in a different position;
FIG. 3 is a section on the line III--III of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a section similar to that of FIG. 3 of a modification of
the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 3;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a second embodiment of a joystick
control switch in accordance with the present invention; and
FIG. 6 is a section on the line VI--VI of FIG. 5.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The joystick control switches shown in the drawings are
particularly suitable for controlling tape recorders, more
particularly the tape recorders of a language laboratory. In a
language laboratory a plurality of tape recorders is controllable
from a common control station. Each pupil sits at one of the tape
recorders, situated remote from the control station, and can listen
to speech recorded as a sample in one track on the tape and record
his own imitation of the sample in another track on the tape in
intervals in the speech in the sample track. Sound in this track
can be erased without erasing the sample track, or played back
simultaneously with the sample. A teacher sits at the control
station and can listen and speak to each pupil individually. The
teacher may also control from his station many of the operations of
the tape recorders, for instance tape spooling, both forward and
reverse. Equipment is also provided adjacent the tape deck of each
tape recorder for local control by the pupil of the functions of
the machine. The joystick control switches of the present invention
are particularly suitable for such local control of the functions
of the tape recorder.
In each of the joystick control switches shown in the drawings, the
operating lever may be positively indexed in each of five
positions. One is an "off" position in which the tape recorder is
idle. The other positions correspond to the energization of the
tape recorder for feeding the tape at slow or fast speeds in
forward or reverse directions. In the position of the lever
corresponding to the slow speed, forward direction, a button on the
free end of the lever may be depressed to energize the tape
recorder to record speech on to the tape. The fast forward and
reverse speeds are intended for rapid forward and reverse spooling
of the tape, to reach a desired point on the tape in as short a
time as possible. However, when the tape is rewound at the fast
reverse spooling speed, any sound reproduced by the playback from
the speech is quite unrecognizable, and it is difficult to stop the
tape accurately at any desired point. By rewinding the tape at the
relatively slow reverse speed, which can be as high as three times
the slow forward speed used for recording, the pattern of the
speech can be readily distinguished, and the tape can readily be
stopped at or near the beginning of a phrase of the speech. The
facility for fast rewinding is retained, however, so that the time
taken to rewind the tape completely on to one spool is not unduly
prolonged.
Each of the joystick control switches is also useful in a so-called
language practice machine, which is a single tape recorder
basically similar to one of the tape recorders of the language
laboratory system for a pupil to practice imitating the sample
speech on his own.
Referring now to the drawings in more detail, the embodiment of the
joystick control switch shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 comprises a tubular
operating lever 10, pivotable about a ball-and-socket joint formed
by a nylon ball 12 on the lever intermediate its ends swiveling in
a socket formed between two plates 14 and 16. The plates 14 and 16
are secured together and mounted spaced from a baseplate 18 on
pillars 20. A gate 22 is formed in the baseplate 18 and the lever
10 projects through this gate, positive indexing of the movement of
the lever being obtained by a rounded collar 24 mounted on the
lever 10 and slidable longitudinally thereof and pressed into
engagement with the gate 22 by a compression spring 26.
The form of the gate determines the movement of the lever. In the
embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3, the gate has four arms 28, 30, 32, 34
into which collar 24 may index upon movement of lever 10. Collar 24
may also index in the vertical or midposition of lever 10, shown in
FIGS. 1 and 3. Arms 28 and 30 lie on opposite sides of a straight
line through the midposition and guide lever 10 between positions
in which its top end is respectively forward and backward. Arms 32
and 34 are bent so that to reach the end of either of these arms,
the lever 10 must be moved first sideways then backwards. This
feature introduces a delay in switching to these side positions,
which may be particularly useful where the side positions of the
lever are used to energize the fast spooling of the tape.
The four extreme positions of the lever are associated with
respective depressible-plunger-type microswitches 36, 38, 40, 42
which are mounted underneath baseplate 18, the bottom end of the
lever being arranged to operate the plungers of the microswitches.
The microswitches 36 to 42 are appropriately connected electrically
to energize solenoids controlling the drive couplings in the tape
recorder in conjunction with which the joystick control switch is
used.
An additional microswitch 44 is mounted beneath baseplate 18 on a
bridge 46. A bar 48 is pivoted at one end on a pin 50, and engages
at its other end the plunger of the microswitch 44. The bar 48 can
be depressed by a shaft 52 (see FIG. 3) extending through the lever
10 from a "record" button 54 at the top end of the lever, the lever
also containing a return spring (not shown) for the shaft 52. With
the top end of the lever in its forward position, as shown in FIG.
2, the button 54 can be depressed so that the end of the shaft
extends out of the end of lever 10, depressing the bar 48 as shown
in FIG. 2, and actuating the microswitch 44 to connect the record
transducer head of the tape recorder to a microphone. With the
lever 10 in this position, and the button 54 depressed, an annular
notch 56 near the end of the shaft 52 engages behind a leaf spring
58 to latch the shaft in the depressed position; movement of the
lever back towards the midpoint releases the shaft 52, and opens
the microswitch 44. With the lever in its midposition, the shaft 52
can engage in a depression 60 in the bar 48 to actuate the
microswitch 44, so that the microphone is energized. In all other
positions of the lever, the microswitch cannot be actuated.
In the modification shown in FIG. 4, an alternative arrangement for
the gate 22 and microswitches 36 to 42 is provided. With this
arrangement, slow forward feeding of the tape is selected by moving
the top end of the lever forward to index collar 24 in arm 28 and
actuate microswitch 36, fast forward feeding is selected by moving
the lever first sideways and then forward to index collar 24 in arm
34 and actuate microswitch 42, slow reverse feeding is selected by
moving the lever backwards to index collar 24 in arm 30 and actuate
microswitch 38, and fast reverse feeding is selected by moving the
lever first sideways and then backward to index collar 24 in arm 32
and actuate microswitch 40.
Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, the embodiment of the joystick
control switch shown therein comprises many components similar to
components of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. These
components are assigned the same reference numerals throughout the
drawings, and will not be further described in connection with
FIGS. 5 and 6. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the gate
22 in base plate 18 comprises four arms 62, 64, 66 and 68 spaced at
90.degree. intervals about a central point. Upon movement of lever
10, collar 24 may index in each of arms 62 to 68 or in a
midposition resulting in the vertical position of lever 10 shown in
FIGS. 5 and 6.
Four microswitches 72, 74, 76 and 78 are mounted underneath
baseplate 18 and are associated with respective ones of arms 62,
64, 66 and 68 of gate 22. Two L-shaped levers 80 and 82, pivotable
on pins 84, 86 fixed to base plate 18, are associated with arms 62
and 66 respectively. The lower end of lever 10 is arranged to
operate the plungers of microswitches 72 to 78. Thus the lower end
of lever 10 may bear directly against the actuators of
microswitches 74 and 78, and may bear against one leg of each of
levers 80, 82 to rotate those levers so that the other legs of
those levers may bear against the plungers of microswitches 72, 76
respectively. Microswitches 72 to 78 are electrically connected to
energize solenoids controlling the drive couplings in an associated
tape recorder, microswitches 78 and 74 controlling the slow forward
and reverse speeds and microswitches 72 and 76 controlling the fast
forward and reverse speeds. The midposition or vertical position of
lever 10 corresponds to an "off" condition in which the tape
recorder is not energized to drive the tape.
An additional microswitch 88 is mounted below microswitch 78. A
leaf spring 90 having an aperture 92 is mounted adjacent the
plunger of microswitch 88. When lever 10 is in the forward
position, in which collar 24 is indexed in arm 68 to actuate
microswitch 78 to select the slow forward speed, depression of
"record" button 54 results in the projection of shaft 52 from the
lower end of lever 10 to project through aperture 92 in leaf spring
90. The lower end of shaft 52 also bears against spring 90 to
displace the spring such that a projection 94 on the face thereof
contacts and depresses the plunger of microswitch 88. Microswitch
88 is thus actuated, and operatively connects the microphone to the
transducer head of the tape recorder to record speech on the tape.
The annular notch near the end of shaft 52 engages behind leaf
spring 90 to latch shaft 52 in the depressed position, while spring
90 remains bent to actuate microswitch 88. Shaft 52 is released by
movement of lever 10 away from its forward position, shaft 52 then
returning to its normal position under the action of the return
spring (not shown) mounted within lever 10.
A further microswitch 96 is mounted on a frame 100 below baseplate
18. A leaf spring 98 is fixed at one end thereof to frame 100, and
at the other end thereof overlies the plunger of microswitch 96. A
projection 99 on the upper surface of spring 98 is arranged to be
contacted by the end of shaft 52 when button 54 is depressed while
lever 10 is in its midposition, so that spring 98 is displaced to
operate the actuator of microswitch 98. Microswitch 98 may be
connected to control an alarm for attracting the attention of the
teacher at the central station in the language laboratory .
* * * * *