Slide operating device

Abstract

A slide operating device (e.g., fader device of a mixer) has a moving block 5 which is slidable along a moving guide 3 and a secondary moving guide 4. The moving guide 3 is composed of a non-magnetic stainless shank 31 and a scale portion 32 formed by magnetizing a permanent magnetic member to have magnetic poles (markings). The moving block 5 is provided with a magnetic sensor 7 opposed to the scale portion 32. The magnetic sensor 7 senses magnetic poles provided on the scale portion 32. Mounting hardware 11A, 11B are provided as stoppers which stop a lever 6a of an operating knob 6. Areas outside a range sandwiched between the stoppers where the magnetic sensor 7 is allowed to travel are dead zones 3A, 3B which do not have magnetic poles. Even if the magnetic sensor 7 travels beyond the points where the operating knob 6 is expected to stop due to an excessive force exerted on the operating knob, the slide operating device can prevent from keeping abnormal count which could be caused by sensing of magnetic poles by the magnetic sensor 7.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.