Appliance timer with contact mounting for flexible contacts
OwnerWallace Leon Linninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An appliance timer includes a disc-shaped program wheel. The distal ends of a plurality of resilient wire switches include a plurality of followers which extend into grooves provided in the program wheel. The bottoms of the grooves provide surfaces for controlling operation of the switches to control the appliance. The proximal ends of the switches are mounted in a terminal block in the appliance timer housing. The proximal ends of the switch components are rigidly mounted in the terminal block. The terminal block also includes longitudinally extending channels in which the various movable switch components rest. The channels provide for limited free travel of the movable switch components during their operation.
Claims21
In an appliance timer comprising a program wheel rotatably mounted within the timer and having a plurality of program controlling surfaces, a plurality of switches, each switch including at least one throw member and one pole member, each said throw member including means defining a proximal end portion, a distal end portion, and an intermediate portion, means defining one each said throw member a contact and a controlling surface follower, each follower responsive to one of said program controlling surfaces for controlling said throw member, the improvement comprising a terminal block for mounting said throw members, the block including a portion for rigidly holding a proximal end portion of each said throw member, the block further including means for defining channels for maintaining alignment and spacing between said throw members during timer operation, said channels extending longitudinally of said throw members, each said channel cooperating with the intermediate portion of one of said throw members.
In an appliance timer comprising a program wheel rotatably mounted within the timer and having a plurality of program controlling surfaces, a plurality of switches, each switch including at least one throw member and one pole member, each said pole and throw member including means defining a proximal end portion, a distal end portion, and an intermediate portion, means defining a contact on the distal end portion of each said pole and throw member, means defining on each said throw member a controlling surface follower, each follower responsive to one of said program controlling surfaces for controlling said throw member, the improvement comprising a terminal block for mounting said pole members, the block including a portion for rigidly holding a proximal end portion of each said pole member, the block further including means for defining a channel for maintaining alignment and spacing between said pole members for limiting motion of respective pole members during timer operation, said channels extending longitudinally of said pole members, each said channel cooperating with the intermediate portion of a respective one of said pole members.
In an appliance timer comprising a program wheel rotatably mounted within the timer and having a plurality of program controlling surfaces, a plurality of switches, each switch including at least one throw member and one pole member, each said pole and throw member including means defining a proximal end portion, a distal end portion, and an intermediate portion, means defining a contact on the distal end portion of each said pole and throw member, means defining on each said throw member a controlling surface follower, each follower responsive to one of said program controlling surfaces for controlling said throw member, the improvement comprising a terminal block for mounting said pole and throw members, the block including a portion for rigidly holding a proximal end portion of each said pole and throw member, the block further including means for defining a channel for maintaining alignment and spacing between said pole and throw members during their movement and for limiting motion of respective pole members during timer operation, said channels extending longitudinally of said pole and throw members, each said channel cooperating with the intermediate portion of a respective one of said pole and throw members.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.