Lever Switch With Operating Lever Means Detachable From Movable Contact Carrying Member Only In Neutral Position

Abstract

A lever switch comprises (a) converter means rotatably supported in a switch receptacle for rocking left-and-right and converting a movable contact plate relative to a stationary contact or contacts, and (b) a lever for actuating said converter means which is formed separately from said converter means. Said lever and said converter means are connected with each other by engaging the upper surface portion of a lug, provided at a lower portion of the inner surface of said lever, with a corresponding surface portion of said converter means so that when the assembly of said lever and said converter means is at the neutral position relative to the switch receptacle said lever can be detached resiliently from said converter means, whereas when the assembly is at either of the rocked end positions said lever cannot be detached from said converter means, by reason of the fact that a lower portion of the outer surface of said lever contacts with the inner wall surface of the receptacle at the same time when the inner lug of said lever engages a corresponding portion of said converter means.

Description

This invention relates to electric switches, and is concerned with the provision of an improved design of lever switch.

According to the present invention, the novel switch comprises (a) a converter means rotatably supported in a switch receptacle for rocking left-and-right and converting a movable contacl plate relative to a stationary contact or contacts, and (b) a lever for actuating said converter means which is formed separately from said converter means. Said lever and said converter means are connected with each other by engaging the upper surface portion of a lug, provided at a lower portion of the inner surface of said lever, with a corresponding surface portion of said converter means so that when the assembly of said lever and said converter means is at the neutral position relative to the switch receptacle said lever can be detached resiliently from said converter means, whereas when the assembly is at either of the rocked end positions said lever cannot be detached from said converter means, by reason of the fact that a lower portion of the outer surface of said lever contacts with the inner wall surface of the receptacle at the same time when the inner lug of said lever engages a corresponding portion of said converter means.

The invention now will be described with greater particularity in the following disclosure taken with the accompanying drawing, in which

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a switch according to the invention;

FIG. 2 (a) and FIG. 2 (b) are its decomposed perspective views;

FIG. 3 is a partial side view showing an undesirable condition of engagement; and

FIG. 4 is a partial side view showing a desirable condition of engagement.

Detailed explanation of the invention:

The invention relates to the construction of a lever switch in which a lever as an operating member of the switch is mounted detachable, while it is never detached at the end positions of operation in normal use.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is a base member of the switch and 2 is a cover member, which both members constitute a receptacle of the switch. The cover 2 has attached thereto at its left and right hand side surfaces spring plates 3 which are utilized when the switch is mounted in a hole of a panel and the like. 4 is a lever as an operating member of the switch, and 5 is a converting member for actuating the switching conversion of contacts of the switch, which both members are formed originally separated from each other as shown in FIG. 2 (a) and (b) respectively.

The lever 4 is formed hollow with an upwardly projecting portion for operating said switch, as seen from the section view shown in FIG. 1, and has projections 6 formed downwards at the lower ends of its left and right hand side walls as shown in FIG. 2 (a). Further, each of projections 6 has a lug 7 formed on its inner surface and a downwardly extending extension below the lug 7. The lever 4 is made of such a material that its lower projections 6 have proper resilient flexibility.

The converter 5 has a configuration such as that shown in FIG. 2 (b), in which frame members 9 are attached to front and rear sides of a box 8, and these members 8 and 9 are formed continuously as one body. The converter 5 is provided on its front and rear side surfaces at their upper portions with shafts or shaft-like projections 10 which are fixedly or loosely mounted thereto, and the converter is mounted rotatably to cover 2 by inserting the projectons 10 into recesses formed on the front and rear side walls of cover 2.

The lever 4 is connected to converter 5 by fitting the former slidingly to the latter so that inner surface lugs 7 of lower projections 6 of the lever will enter into the lower surface of square box 8 of the latter. The connecting operation and the removal operation are performed by utilizing the resiliency or elasticity of projections 6.

The lever 4 is usually made of transparent or at least semi-transparent colored synthetic resin, and in order to illuminate it from its interior, a lamp 11 is mounted at the inner base portion of square box 8 of converter 5. At the center portion of lower surface of each of front and rear frame portions 9 there is provided a recess within which a sliding member 13 (see FIG. 2 (b) ) is inserted with a spring 12 (see FIG. 1).

The insulator base member 1 has penetrated therethrough and secured thereto a central terminal 14 and left and right terminals 15 and 16, respectively, and a movable contact plate 17 is placed on the top end of the central terminal 14 free to incline to the left and to the right. The upper surface of each of terminals 15 and 16 forms a stationary contact against the movable contact 17. The lower end of sliding member 13 is placed on the upper surface of movable contact plate 17 under pressure; it may be shifted left and right by the rocking operation of lever 4 to convert the "on" and "off" states of the left and right hand side contacts.

In order to remove lever 4 from converter 5, the assembly of these two is moved from the resting position after operation as shown in FIG. 1 to the neutral position where lever 4 stands vertically, and at this state the latter can be pulled upwards to remove it. To this end, of course, clearance corresponding to the height of lug 7 must exist between left and right side outer surfaces of lever 4 and confronting inner surfaces of cover 2.

Now, if lever 4 and converter 5 are thus constructed removably as above stated, it might happen sometimes that at the end of an operation of lever 4, for converting its inclined state from either one side to the other side, one side portion of lever 4 would be disengaged from converter 5 to float up and eventually be separated entirely. The reason is that such a situation as shown in FIG. 3 would occur. That is to say, in FIG. 3 there must exist some clearance between outer side surfaces of lower projections 6 of lever 4 and the confronting inner side surfaces of switch receptacle 2 (for the reason above stated), and if, as shown in the figure, when lever 4 comes to its end position inclined to the right hand side, converter 5 first contacts with receptacle 2 and at this time there exists still a considerable amount of clearance between projection 6 and receptacle 2, then when lever 4, which is the operating member, is pushed strongly in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure the projection 6 will be detached (as shown by the dotted line in the figure) from box portion 8 of converter 5, and at last it might be completely separated away in an upward direction.

In order to prevent this, such a construction as shown in FIG. 4 may be adopted, so that when lever 4 attains the end position inclined to the right hand side, the extension below the lug 7 at the lower end portion of projection 6 first contacts with the inner side surface of receptacle 2, and by the fact that, at the same time, the upper surface portion of lug 7 is pressed inwardly to engage with lower surface of box portion 8 of converter, whereby the detachment of lever 4 is prevented. Here, however, at the normal resting end position of lever 4, there may exist a small amount of clearance between its lower end portion and receptacle 2. The essential thing is that when lever 4 is subjected to strong impulse-like force such as occurs when it is strongly operated for rocking, the detachment of lever 4 is prevented by the cooperation of the contacting of the lower extension of the end portion of the projection 6 with receptacle 2 and the engagement of upper surface portion of inner lug 7 of lever 4 with corresponding surface portion of converter 5. In addition to the projections 6 having resilient flexibility, there may be provided projections at the lower portions of the front and rear surfaces of lever 4 which are wide in the direction perpendicular to the projections 6 shown in the figures and have no flexibility in the left and right direction, the left and right hand side surfaces of the lower end portions of the projections being made to contact with inner surfaces of receptacle 2. Furthermore, in order to prevent the detachment stated above, it is desirable to select the position of lower end portion of lever 4 as much lower as possible than center shaft 10.

An advantage obtained by the lever 4 being made removable or detachable is that it becomes easily possible to select any one color of the lever which serves as indicator of "on" or "off" state of the switch from various possible colors, for example, red, blue, yellow and others; or, to change the color one to another, in accordance with customers' demands. Namely, the necessity as before to prepare beforehand a large number of switches per each of those various colors is eliminated, and it is only necessary to prepare switch main parts except lever 4 as common for all and only levers 4 of various different colors, thereby various demands of customers can be met immediately, with the result that the amount of goods in stock can be considerably reduced. Furthermore, in case of switches as shown in the figures wherein a lamp 11 is internally contained for illuminating lever 4, such an advantage is also obtained that it becomes easily possible to replace or exchange the lamp when it becomes inoperable or for replying to the demand of various different voltage rating values of the lamp, for example, 6V, 12V, 18V, 24V, and the like by merely removing the lever 4 and exposing the lamp for replacement.

According to the invention, the removal or exchange of lever 4 as described above can be easily performed, while in normal use condition the lever 4 is prevented from detachment from converter 5, being connected thereto even against impulsive force produced at the end of left and right rocking operation of lever 4.

Claims

I claim:

1. A lever switch comprising a receptacle;

at least one stationary contact;

a contact member movable relatively to said stationary contact;

converter means rotatably supported in said receptacle for rocking to the left and right and converting said movable contact member relative to said stationary contact;

and an upwardly projecting operating lever for actuating said converter means, said lever being formed separately from said converter means and having resilient lower projections extending below the axis of rotation of said converter means, each projection having means on its inner surface for resiliently engaging the outer surface of said converter means, the lower end of the outer surface of said projections being spaced from the inner wall of said receptacle when said lever is in the central neutral position, said space being sufficient to permit said projections to be resiliently disengaged from said converter wall, and when said lever has been rocked to the left or right position said projections move to substantially close said space so that said space is insufficient to permit such disengagement.

2. A lever switch according to claim 1, wherein the left and right lower ends of said lever are positioned lower than the rotation center shaft of said lever.

3. A lever switch according to claim 1, wherein a lamp is contained within said converter means and said lever is made of transparent or semi-transparent material.

4. A lever switch as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means on the inner surface of each projection for resiliently engaging the outer surface of said converter means comprises a lug.