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US 4,464,549 AGranted
Digital switch
AssigneeIdec Izumi Corporation
InventorTeizo Fujita
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is a digital switch which is manually rotated step by step and which comprises a casing, a wheel rotatably supported in the casing, device for manually rotating the wheel step by step, an electrical contact carried by the wheel, an electrical circuit board attached to the casing and provided with a plurality of electrical contacts which are successively touched by the electrical contact carried by the wheel when the wheel is rotated step by step, for producing an electrical signal in accordance with a stepping rotary position of the wheel, and a locking device for disabling the wheel rotating device.
Claims17
A digital switch comprising:
- a casing;
- a wheel rotatably supported in said casing, said wheel including a gear wheel portion having a predetermined number of teeth;
- means for manually rotating said wheel step by step, said wheel rotating means including a pair of actuating means each supported in said casing and individually movably between an actuated and a non-actuated position;
- a pair of bias means respectively biasing an associated one of said pair of actuating means to its non-actuated position;
- a pair of pushing-down means provided outside of said casing each respectively pivotally coupled with a corresponding one of said pair of actuating means through a corresponding one of a pair of apertures in a wall portion of said casing so that each of said pushing-down means is manually movable between a non-actuating position and an actuating position in which said corresponding one of said pair of actuating means can be pushed down to said actuated position against said associated one of said pair of bias means, each of said pair of actuating means having a finger means which cannot engage said gear wheel portion when said actuating means is in its non-actuated position but which does engage a specific one of the teeth of said gear wheel portion so as to rotate said gear wheel portion and therefore said wheel by one step in a predetermined rotary direction when said actuating means is brought into its actuated position from its non-actuated position;
- an electrical contact carried by said wheel;
- electrical circuit means attached to said casing and provided with a plurality of electrical contacts which are successively touched by said electrical contact carried by said wheel when said wheel is rotated step by step for producing an electrical signal in accordance with a stepping rotary position of said wheel;
- and
- locking means for disabling said wheel rotating means, said locking means including a pair of engaging means for each of said pair of pushing-down means, one of said pair of engaging means being provided on a wall portion of said casing and the other of said pair of engaging means being provided on said pushing-down means so that said pair of engaging means engage with each other when said pushing-down means is in its non-actuating position so as to disable said pushing-down means by preventing its free movement unless said pushing-down means is manually brought into its actuating position.
6 more elements
A digital switch comprising:
- (A) a wheel unit selected from among a plurality of prefabricated wheel units of the dust-proof type and of the non-dustproof type for various stepping operations different in stepping number from one another, each of said prefabricated wheel units carrying an electrical contact and including a gear wheel portion having a predetermined number of teeth;
- (B) a prefabricated housing unit including,
- (a) a casing,
- (b) means rotatably supporting said selected wheel unit in said casing,
- (c) wheel rotating means for manually rotating said selected wheel unit step by step, said wheel rotating means including a pair of actuating means each supported in said casing and individually movably between an actuated and a non-actuated position;
- (d) a pair of bias means respectively biasing an associated one of said pair of actuating means to its non-actuated position;
- (e) a pair of pushing-down means provided outside of said casing each respectively pivotally coupled with a corresponding one of said pair of actuating means through a corresponding one of a pair of apertures in a wall portion of said casing so that each of said pushing-down means is manually movable between a non-actuating position and an actuating position in which said corresponding one of said pair of actuating means can be pushed down to said actuated position against said associated one of said pair of bias means, each of said pair of actuating means having a finger means which cannot engage said gear wheel portion when said actuating means is in its non-actuated position but which does engage a specific one of the teeth of said gear wheel portion so as to rotate said gear wheel portion and therefore said wheel by one step in a predetermined rotary direction when said actuating means is brought into its actuated position from its non-actuated position;
- (f) electrical circuit means attached to said casing and provided with a plurality of electrical contacts which are successively toughed by said electrical contact carried by said selected wheel unit when said selected wheel unit is rotated step by step for producing an electrical signal in accordance with a stepping rotary position of said selected wheel unit;
- and,
- (g) locking means for disabling said selected wheel unit rotating means, said locking means including a pair of engaging means for each of said pair of pushing-down means, one of said pair of engaging means being provided on a wall portion of said casing and the other of said pair of engaging means being provided on said pushing-down means so that said pair of engaging means engage with each other when said pushing-down means is in its non-actuating position so as to disable said pushing-down means by preventing its free movement unless said pushing-down means is manually brought into its actuating position.
7 more elements
A digital switch comprising:
- a casing having a pair of apertures;
- a wheel rotatably supported in said casing;
- means for manually rotating said wheel step by step, said wheel rotating means including a pair of actuating members supported in said casing and individually movable between an actuated and a non-actuated position, and each of said actuating members having means for engaging said wheel so as to rotate said wheel by one step in a predetermined rotary direction when said actuating member is brought into its actuated position from its non-actuated position;
- a pair of pushing members provided outside of said casing each connected to a corresponding one of said pair of actuating members through a corresponding one of said pair of apertures so as to push said corresponding actuating member into its actuated position, each of said pushing members being manually pivotable between a non-actuating position adjacent to said casing and an actuating position erect relative to said casing and movement of said actuating member from its non-actuated position to its actuated position being prevented unless said pushing member is in its erect actuating position;
- an electrical contact carried by said wheel;
- electrical circuit means mounted within said casing adjacent to said wheel and provided with a plurality of electrical contacts arranged to be successively touched by said electrical contact as said wheel is rotated step by step for producing an electrical signal in accordance with a stepping rotary position of said wheel;
- and,
- locking means for disabling said wheel rotating means, said locking means including engaging means for each of said pair of pushing members and said engaging means causing engagement between said pushing members and said casing when said pushing members are in their non-actuating position so as to disable said corresponding actuating members by preventing free movement of said pushing members from their non-actuating position to their actuating position.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.