Switch System

Abstract

A switch system for connecting any one of a plurality of transmitters to any one of a plurality of antennas by providing a base structure on which identical module switch elements, made of conductive resilient cantilever line sections, are mounted on the front and back of a base to provide continuous vertical line conductor elements on the back connected to transmitter terminals and provide continuous horizontal line conductor sections on the front connected to antenna terminals, rotatably mounted rotors having flat conductive cam sections at right angles to each other engage the cantilevers and cross connect any one of the transmitter lines to any one of the crossing antenna lines. Each module includes a face plate carrying an insulator supporting a pair of resilient conductive cantilever line sections embracing the cam sections of the rotor to connect with similar resilient conductive cantilever sections for line continuing relation or for cross connection by the cooperating rotatably mounted rotors insulatingly supported.

Description

The present invention relates to a switch system such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,812 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,004 and is particularly made for connecting any one of a plurality of transmitters to any one of a plurality of antennas to directionally direct the signal. The invention more particularly relates to the connection between coaxial cables in which the center conductor is shielded by the outer conductor to reduce cross-talk.

Heretofore, various switch systems have been provided, some of which have depended upon a plunger action to cross-connect crossing lines in which a plurality of generally parallel horizontal lines are connected to a number of antennas and a plurality of vertical crossing lines which are located in a plane spaced from the antenna lines are connected to transmitters and plunger-like cross-connecting switches serve to connect the various antenna lines to the transmitter lines.

An object of the present invention is to provide a switch system which is relatively inexpensive and overcomes the difficulties of the prior art.

Another object is to provide a switch system for connecting any one of a plurality of transmitters to any one of a plurality of antennas by means of rotatable elements.

Other and further objects will be apparent as the description proceeds and upon reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of the switch system showing the transmitter connection terminals at the top and two of the antenna connect terminals at the back;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary section taken on line 2--2 of FIG. 1, showing the manual and electrical operation structure for the rotor having cam sections at right angles made of a double fork conductive element and showing the connection of the middle antenna line to a coaxial terminal;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic perspective with the base and supporting structure omitted showing the operation of the rotor conductive cam making connection between transmitter T4 and antenna A2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective with parts broken away looking from the front toward the back showing the spring contacts for grounding the conductive rotor cam when in inoperative position at the right and showing the grounding spring out of contact with the double-forked element in cross-connecting position at the left;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective of the top left structure and showing the cross-point between transmitter T1 and antenna A1;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on line 6--6 of FIG. 2 showing the grounding spring engaging the rotary cam element in line continuing inoperative position;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary detail exploded view showing the construction of the rotor cam showing the double-forked conductive element, the insulators supporting the same and the extension shafts for the manual and rotary solenoid operation.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, a base plate B or main support is shown as provided with a plurality of switch receiving openings O extending in horizontal rows and vertical columns for the rotor cams shown of conductive, double-forked elements S. Extending horizontally on each side of the horizontal rows of openings O are I-beams IH, and extending vertically in columns are a plurality of I-beams IV secured to the base B by any suitable manner, thereby providing shielded passages for the horizontal antenna lines at the front and the vertical transmitter lines at the back. To reduce the number of reference numerals, postscript B means back and postscript F means front. H and V mean horizontal and vertical respectively.

Fixed to the outer flanges of the I-beams IH are a plurality of face plates 10 at the front and at the back. Apertures in the face plates 10 provide bearings for the counterbored reduced ends of cylindrical insulator shafts of teflon or other suitable insulating material 11 which are snugly received in the forked ends of the rotor cam S of conductive material. The doubly forked rotatable conductive rotor cam element S includes a pair of forwardly extending tines S1, S1 and a pair of rearwardly extending tines S2, S2 forming flat cam sections S1, S1; S2, S2 at right angles to each other. The rotor cam element is made from a cylindrical conductive bar which is bored inwardly from each end and then milled to provide the pairs of tines S1 and S2 of substantially the same length but the body is milled so that the cylindrical disc portion S.sub.c is spaced from the inner end of the notch formed by the tines S1, S1, a greater distance for contacting grounding springs 22A, 22A, hereinafter described, to prevent cross talk by grounding the rotors S in their inoperative positions. The insulator shafts 11, 11 are held in position by roll pins R passing through aligned apertures in the shafts 11 and the cooperating tines S1, S1 and S2, S2, the cylindrical bore formed between the tines serving to snugly engage the cylindrical insulators 11 to prevent rocking movement about the pins R. A knob carrying shaft 12 is received in the counterbore of insulator 11 and is prevented from rotation therein by a roll pin R passing through a transverse aperture in the knob shaft 12 and received into a slot 11S in the insulator. A pair of grooves 12A and 12B receive horseshoe-shaped spring washers 12S on the front and back of plates 13 mounted on the face plate 10 by means of spacers 13A. A warped spring washer 12W engages the back of the plate 13 and a conventional washer is positioned between the front spring washer 12S and the front of the plate 13 to thereby maintain the knob receiving shaft 12 against axial movement. A hand operating knob 14 is mounted on the forward extension of shaft 12 by means of its axial bore which is of a length to space the inner end of the knob 14 away from the plate 13.

A rearwardly extending shaft 15 is received in the counterbore of the reduced portion of insulator 11 and held against rotation by a roll pin R and such shaft 15 is part of a stepping switch 16 of the rotary solenoid type such as that manufactured by Ledex, Inc., Series 312, or any other suitable type, making a complete turn in a predetermined number of activations such as 12 actuations of the rotary solenoid 16, for example. The rotary solenoid 16 actuates the three wafer switches and one switch thereof causes the rotary solenoid to stop after three steps making a 90.degree. rotation. Other wafer switches may be used to disconnect and connect the transmitter and to indicate the position of the particular switch. Other types of activators may be used to produce the 90.degree. rotation.

A shaft 17 is shown to operate a two-wafer switch 18 which is arranged to operate a signal board to indicate the condition of the particular switch and another wafer is used to control the transmitter to assure that the transmitter is turned off before the contacts are made or broken in the particular switch being operated. A suitable signal board and transmitter control is shown in the prior patents referred to above.

Each face plate 10 is provided with a bent-over flange 19 to which is attached an insulator 20 by means of rivets or bolts 20A and mounted on each insulator 20 are a pair of resilient conductive cantilevers or leaf spring line sections 21 in a first plane, each leaf spring having means such as an aperture adjacent one end receiving a fastener element such as a bolt 21A which extends through aligned apertures in the leaf spring sections 21, 21 and secured together with a nut to maintain the cantilever springs in position. It will be apparent that the cantilever springs may engage fixed insulatingly supported abutments on the fixed ends 21B of adjacent line continuing conductive cantilever springs.

The adjacent I-beams IH at the front of the base B are provided with slots 22 which receive electrically grounded leaf springs 22A which engage the rotatable conductive cam elements S in the inoperative position thereof to ground the elements S so that the conductive rotary element S is grounded in its inoperative position by the springs 22A, 22A to prevent cross talk. Such springs are retained loosely in the slot by peening over a portion of the flange of the I-beam IH and by tapering the ends of springs to be loosely received in the slots 22 on one or both ends so that such springs 22A can assume a straight position as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 6 when the rotatable conductive element is turned to its operative cross connected position shown in dotted lines.

The springs 22A, 22A ground the rotor S when in line continuing relation and prevent capacitance coupling between the crossing lines at the cross over points.

To assemble the switch system, the I-beams IH and IV are mounted on the front and back of the base B which has previously had openings O made therein. The insulators 20 are mounted on the face plates 10 and the resilient conductive cantilevers or leaf spring section conductors 21 are secured to the insulators. The face plates 10 with the insulators and the leaf springs are then mounted in their proper positions by means of screws or the like. The leaf spring sections 21 are biased to have their free ends urged together so that the spacing therebetween is less than the height of the insulators 20 and therefore the free ends of the springs are closer than the conductive abutments or fixed ends 21B of the leaf spring previously mounted. If desired, the cantilever leaf springs may engage fixed abutments insulatingly supporting the adjacent line continuing cantilever springs. To provide for assembly, the face plates 10 are provided with apertures 23 arranged in spaced relation for receiving a tool such as a U-shaped wire 23S, the tines of which are spaced apart a sufficient distance to hold the free ends of cantilever leaf springs 21, 21 of the module separated so that the module can be assembled by axial movement along shaft 11. The module is held in place by suitable screws such as spacers 13A which have a threaded stud at one end and a threaded bore at the other end so that the threaded stud of spacer 13A secures the face plate 10 to a threaded opening in the I-beam while screws 13S secure the plate 13 in position.

The conductive rotatable element S is assembled with the insulators 11 and secured together by the roll pins R and such unit is inserted before the back plate 10B is attached with the face plates 10 and 10B providing the bearings for the rotatable elements.

The back face plates 10B are then applied and the U-shaped wire 23 is used to spread the springs 21 as previously described and thereafter the plate 24 is secured in place by spacers 13A and screws 13S.

Each leaf spring 21 is secured intermediate its ends in a notch 21C so that the end 21B curving inwardly acts as a fixed conductive abutment and lies outside of the notch 21C formed in insulator 20 and is adapted to be contracted by the fingers 21D, 21D formed in the free end of the leaf spring section 21, dimples 21E being formed in the fingers 21D, 21D to provide contact projections on the upwardly curved free ends of the fingers 21D to contact the fixed abutment formed by the curved stationary end 21B of the adjacent resilient conductive cantilever leaf spring section 21.

In FIG. 2 a channel shaped conductive extension 25 is secured to the adjacent insulator 20 and outwardly of the spring sections 21 with a bolt 25A securing the channel 25 to the adjacent leaf spring sections 21, the channel 25 being connected to a central contact 25B which is supported on a suitable insulator and projects rearwardly through a clearance opening in the base B to be attached to a female coaxial extension 25C receiving the contact 25B, an outer flange connection 25D providing the connection to the shielding conductor of the coaxial cable, the parts being held together by suitable bolts 25E. The line sections are effectively shielded by suitable conductive plates.

In FIG. 5 a connection from the vertical transmitter line T1 shows a channel member 26 mitered at right angles rearwardly and connected by a bolt 26A to the adjacent leaf spring section 21 and insulator 20, a horizontal portion 26B extending rearwardly and being connected to the center contact 26C for the transmitter T1 which is connected to the central conductor of a coaxial cable, the outer conductor being secured in position in a manner similar to that of the member 25D of the antenna connections.

From the above description, it will be apparent that a switching system has been provided in which any one of a plurality of transmitters may be connected to any one of a plurality of antennas by a conductive rotative element having insulator shafts 11 of Teflon or other suitable insulating material rotatably supported in face plates 10 with the cantilever leaf spring sections 21 applying a uniform radial pressure on the rotor S and the insulators 11 in all positions of the rotatable conductive element S which prevents objectionable radial forces between the bearing surfaces of the plate 10 and the reduced portion of the insulators. Some insulating material such as Teflon takes on a permanent set when subjected to pressure in one direction, and by having equal radial pressure by the cantilever springs this pressure in one direction is avoided. The grounding springs 22A, 22A also produce a uniform balance of radial pressure.

The manually operated switch 18 and the rotary solenoid operated switch 16 are secured to the plates 24 by suitable fasteners and serve to operate an indicator board showing the position of the particular switch and also having connections which disconnect the transmitter before the circuit is broken as previously explained.

The resilient conductive cantilevers or leaf spring sections 21, 21 may be of other shapes such as a rod or the like, with provision to connect to a similar rod by means of the resiliency of the rod, or other shapes, to make and break the contact as described above. The cantilever springs may engage conductive abutments and be supported on conductive abutments, which conductive abutments are insulatingly supported on insulators such as 20.

One feature of the invention is the cantilever arrangement of the springs to provide for the resiliency and the spring biased closing of the free end of the cantilever with the relatively fixed end of the adjacent aligned cantilever or abutment. The flow of current with the cantilever rotor spring sections has two paths with the coaxial arrangement described in detail and by using the two fingers formed by the notch between fingers 21D at the free end of each spring four points of contact for the passage of current are provided, thereby increasing the efficiency.

A balanced line arrangement may be provided in which the spring leaf sections 21, 21 on each module are insulated from one another by having attaching screws threaded into the insulator 20, thereby avoiding interconnecting the two leaf spring sections in the module. The rotor cam conductive switching element S is then arranged to have one tine S1 connected to one tine S2 and such connections being insulated from the conductive connection between the other tine S1 and the other tine S2, thereby providing for cross-connecting the pairs of conductor lines to accomplish a similar result to that of U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,004.

Claims

We claim:

1. A switch system comprising a base, first leaf spring section conductors insulatingly supported from said base and arranged in end-to-end overlapping relation forming first lines insulatingly supported from the front of said base, second leaf spring section conductors insulatingly supported from said base and arranged in end-to-end overlapping relation forming second lines insulatingly supported on the back of said base and extending transversly to and crossing the first lines, rotatable conducive elements supported from said base and overlapping the front and back crossing lines and selectively engageable with the copperating leaf spring section conductors moving the free ends of the copperating leaf spring section conductors from the adjacent leaf spring section conductors and cross-connect the lines on the front to the lines on the back.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which the base is a plate having apertures receiving the rotatable conductive element and partitions are arranged in parallel relation to said lines and apertured face plates are secured to said partitions substantially parallel to said base and rotatably support the rotatable elements and also carry insulators on which the leaf springs are mounted.

3. The invention according to claim 2 in which a manual operating knob is provided on one end of the rotatable conductive element.

4. The invention according to claim 3 in which a power means and a control switch is mounted on the other end of said rotatable conductive element.

5. The invention according to claim 2 in which the rotatable conductive element has a body with a first pair of tines in one plane extending forwardly of the body and a second pair of tines in a plane transverse to said plane of the first pair of tines extending rearwardly and an insulator is mounted between each pair of tines to rotatable support the rotatable conductive element.

6. The invention according to claim 1 in which a leaf spring section is provided on each side of the rotatable conductive element to provide equal radial pressure to the opposite sides of the rotatable conductive element preventing unbalanced forces.

7. A switch nodule for application to a base support having crossing channels comprising a pair of face plates, an insulator mounted on each face plate, a pair of leaf spring sections mounted on each insulator adjacent one end of the leaf springs leaving cantilever portions at the other ends, a rotatable cam shaped conductive element having a body with tines extending in opposite directions positioned between said cantilever portions of said leaf springs, shaft insulators mounted in the tines of said cam shaped conductive element and serving as shafts, said shaft insulators being rotatably supported in aperture in said face plates.

8. The invention according to claim 7 in which a knob shaft extension projects outwardly from the free end of one of the insulators serving as a shaft and a manual operating knob is mounted on said knob shaft.

9. The invention according to claim 7 in which a power operated rotary solenoid is operatively connected to one end of one of the insulators serving as a shaft for rotating the rotatable conductive element to crossconnect the cooperating leaf spring sections or to open the circuit between the crossing leaf spring sections.

10. The invention according to claim 7 in which a manual operating knob is mounted on the free end of one of the insulators serving as a shaft and a switch is mounted on the free end of the other insulator serving as a shaft.

11. The invention according to claim 1 in which grounding leaf springs are supported from said base and engage the rotatable conductive element when the leaf spring sections are in line continuing position.

12. A switch module comprising a face plate having a shaft receiving aperture therethrough, an insulator secured to one edge of said face plate, a pair of cantilever line section springs positioned on opposite sides of the axis of said shaft receiving apertures and mounted adjacent one end on said insulator, said cantilever springs having ends projecting beyond the adjacent edge of the face plate for overlapping cooperation with cantilever springs on adjacent face plates, a rotatable conductive element having conductive portions between said cantilever springs, an insulator shaft extending from said rotary conductive element and rotatably mounted in the shaft receiving aperture of said face plate, means to rotate said insulator shaft whereby a multiple line switch system may be provided by mounting the modules with the cantilever springs in registering overlapping relation to produce a switch system of any desired size.

13. The invention according to claim 12 in which a base and partition supports are provided for mounting the modules on opposite sides of a base so that lines may be provided extending in one direction on one side of said base and lines may be provided which extend transversely on the other side of said base and said rotary conductive elements provide for cross-connections between the lines on both sides of said base.

14. The invention according to claim 12 in which a pair of tool receiving apertures for receiving the legs of a U-shaped member are provided on the face plate to engage and spread apart the free ends of the cantilever springs so that the face plates may be assembled.

15. The invention according to claim 13 in which a channel shaped conductor embraces the fixed ends of the leaf springs at the end module and is connected to a terminal for connection to an antenna or transmitter.

16. The invention according to claim 13 in which the rotatable conductive element has a pair of tines for engagement with the cantilever line section springs on one side of the base and has a second pair of tines for engagement with the cantilever line section springs on the other side of the base.

17. The invention according to claim 16 in which at least one grounding spring is provided for engaging the rotary conductive element in its line continuing position.

18. The invention according to claim 13 in which the rotatable conductive element has tines engageable with the cantilever springs on one side of the base and another pair of tines extending between the line section springs on the other side of the base, the insulator shafts being positioned between the tines of each pair of tines and an extension shaft projecting from at least one insulator and means to rotate said extension shaft.

19. The invention according to claim 18 in which a second extension shaft is mounted on the other end extending from the other insulator shaft and switch means operated by said second extension shaft.

20. The invention according to claim 19 in which a rotary solenoid is provided to operate said second extension shaft and a manual knob is provided to operate said first extension shaft.

21. The invention according to claim 18 in which an auxiliary plate is mounted outwardly of the face plate and the extension shaft is rotatably mounted in the auxiliary plate and retained therein by spring washers reacting against both faces of the auxiliary plate.

22. The invention according to claim 21 in which the connection between the insulator shaft and extension shaft is a slot and pin whereby the auxiliary plate can be applied subsequently to the mounting of the face plate.

23. The invention according to claim 22 in which a second auxiliary plate is mounted outwardly of the other cooperating face plate and a second extension shaft is rotatably mounted in the second auxiliary plate.

24. A switch module comprising a first pair of insulatingly supported spaced apart resilient conductive cantilevers in a first plane, a second pair of insulatingly supported spaced apart resilient conductive cantilevers in a second plane generally parallel to said first plane and spaced from said first plane with the cantilever pairs in crossing relation, insulatingly supported conductive abutments cooperating with the free ends of said cantilevers, a rotatably insulatingly mounted rotor having its axis transverse to said planes and being embraced by said cantilevers, said rotor having a first generally flat cam section of a width greater than the spacing between said first cantilevers and engageable therewith and having a second generally flat cam section of a width greater than the spacing between said second cantilevers and substantially at right angles to said first cam section and engageable with said second cantilevers, said cam sections being of conductive material and connected together whereby in one position of said rotor the cam sections are generally parallel to their cantilevers and the free ends of the cantilevers engage their conductive abutments and in the other position of said rotor the cam sections engage the cantilevers and move the free ends of the cantilevers out of contact with their conductive abutments and connect the first pair of cantilevers with the second pair of cantilevers.

25. The invention according to claim 24, in which a plurality of switch modules are connected together with the fixed ends of the cantilevers connected to the abutments of the adjacent module whereby a switch system of any size can be assembled.

26. The invention according to claim 24 in which grounded springs engage at least one flat cam section when the cam sections are parallel to their cantilevers to prevent coupling between the first and second pairs of cantilevers.

27. A switch system comprising a base, a first leaf spring section conductors insulatingly supported from said base and arranged in end to end overlapping relation and providing cantilever portions, second leaf spring section conductors insulatingly supported from said base and providing second cantilever portions and arranged in end to end overlapping relation and crossing said first leaf spring section conductors, rotatable conductive cam elements insulatingly supported from said base and overlapping cantilever portions of the crossing first leaf spring section conductors and the cantilever portions of said second leaf spring section conductors and selectively engageable with with the cooperating leaf spring section conductors from the adjacent leaf spring section conductors and cross connect the first leaf spring section conductors to the second leaf spring section conductors.

28. The invention according to claim 27 in which the first and second leaf spring section conductors extend in lines generally straight with a minimum of physical discontinuities such as stub ends.