US 4,465,909 AGranted

Switching device and its use in a selector switch or a program control apparatus

AssigneeLa Telemecanique Electrique

InventorsMichel Naulin, Michel Gendre

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Abstract

The movable contact (52) of an on-off switch is moved, through drive means (5), by balls (4) rotated by a disc (23) in the peripheral surface of which regularly spaced cavities are provided to accomodate the balls. The balls can be either withdrawn or inserted through a channel or bore (20) which can be closed by a plug (7) so that the switching pattern can be varied depending upon the angular position of the disc. The device can be used e.g. in a selector switch or a program control apparatus.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A multi-position electrical switching unit comprising:

a casing having top and bottom substantially parallel walls and top and bottom cylindrical bores respectively provided in said top and bottom walls;
said top and bottom bores respectively having coaxially arranged cylindrical surface portions;
a shaft rotatively mounted in the top bore and extending within the casing;
a disc integrally located in the bottom bore and coaxially connected to the shaft, said disc having, on an inner face thereof, a plurality of peripheral regularly distributed cavities;
an annular track arranged within said casing in a plane parallel to said disc;
a plurality of individually removable interlocking members adapted to be retained in the respective cavities and, when the disc is rotated, to be subjected to a circular translational motion from one position to another, while being guided along the cylindrical surface portion of the bottom bore and along the annular track;
indexing means for sequentially driving the shaft into a plurality of indexed angular positions through successive steps of rotation;
at least one switch having fixed contact means and movable contact means mounted in said casing;
at least one operating member mechanically connected to said movable contact means and mounted for sliding motion in said casing along a direction substantially parallel to said disc, from a first position in which the movable contact means engages the fixed contact means to a second position in which the movable contact means is disengaged from the fixed contact means, the operating member being more remote from the shaft in the first position than in the second position;
resilient means for resetting the operating member into the first position, the operating member having a projecting surface portion which is in register with one specific cavity for each of the said indexed angular positions of the shaft, said projecting surface portion being so shaped as to abut against the interlocking member when the interlocking member is present in the said specific cavity and thus assume its second position and to be reset into its first position when no interlocking member is present in the said specific cavity.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

A multi-position electrical switching unit comprising:

a casing having top and bottom substantially parallel walls and top and bottom cylindrical bores respectively provided in said top and bottom walls;
said top and bottom bores respectively having coaxially arranged cylindrical surface portions;
a shaft rotatively mounted in the top bore and extending within the casing;
a disc integrally located in the bottom bore and coaxially connected to the shaft, said disc having, on an inner face thereof, a plurality of peripheral regularly distributed cavities;
an annular track arranged within said casing in a plane parallel to said disc;
a plurality of individually removable interlocking members adapted to be retained in the respective cavities and, when the disc is rotated, to be subjected to a circular translational motion from one position to another, while being guided along the cylindrical surface portion of the bottom bore and along the annular track;
indexing means for sequentially driving the shaft into a plurality of indexed angular positions through successive steps of rotation;
at least one switch having fixed contact means and movable contact means mounted in said casing;
at least one operating member mechanically connected to said movable contact means and mounted for sliding motion in said casing along a direction substantially parallel to said disc, from a first position in which the movable contact means engages the fixed contact means to a second position in which the movable contact means is disengaged from the fixed contact means, the operating member being more remote from the shaft in the first position than in the second position;
resilient means for resetting the operating member into the first position, the operating member having a projecting surface portion which is in register with one specific cavity for each of the said indexed angular positions of the shaft, said projecting surface portion being so shaped as to abut against the interlocking member when the interlocking member is present in the said specific cavity and thus assume its second position and to be reset into its first position when no interlocking member is present in the said specific cavity.

7 more elements