Multiposition rotary switch with detent means
AssigneeRCA Corporation
InventorSolomon Jacob Niconienko
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A multiposition rotary switch having detent means. A retainer spring of elastic insulating material is nonrotatably mounted on a board, advantageously a printed circuit board, and a rotatable body of insulating material is positioned to rotate around a portion of the spring retainer. A plurality of conductive contact rollers are captivated between the spring retainer and the board by the elastic force of the retainer. The rollers are moved in response to manual rotation of the body to bridge in rotational sequence corresponding pairs of conductive pads suitably etched on the board to thereby make or break electrical connection between the pads of each pair. Indexing and selectively stopping the rollers to "on" and "off" positions are achieved by a plurality of detent means on the spring retainer.
Claims12
A multiposition rotary switch comprising in combination:
- a housing for supporting a plurality of fixed pairs of electrically conductive switch contacts disposed in a radial array about an axis of rotation, at least one electrically conductive roller adapted to be revolved about said axis to make contact with each pair of said switch contacts in sequence of rotation to provide an electrically conductive path between each switch contact of said pair of contacts, and non-rotatable means for resiliently supporting said roller, said non-rotatable means having means cooperating with said roller for indexing said roller relative to a selected pair of switch contacts to provide for an open or short circuit between the switch contacts of said selected pair.
A multiposition rotary switch comprising a board, a stationary spring retainer of elastic insulating material mounted on said board, a rotatable body of insulating material positioned to be rotated around a portion of said retainer, a plurality of conductive contact rollers captively maintained between said spring retainer and said board, said spring retainer formed to provide an elastic retention force for maintaining said rollers captive, said board having a plurality of pairs of electrical contact pads, said contact pads disposed arcuately on said board, each pad of said pairs respectively adapted to be connected to an electric circuit, means responsive to the rotation of said body for arcuately moving said rollers into bridging contact with said pairs of contact pads to provide an electrical conduction path between each pad of a respective pair, a plurality of detent means on said spring retainer cooperating with said rollers for indexing and selectively locking said rollers on and off said contact pads.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.