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US 5,668,359 AGranted
Multiple switch assembly including spring biased rotary cam with concentric cam tracks for selectively operating switches
AssigneeEaton Corporation
InventorsRobert J. Alvord, Jeffrey M. Huffington, Yoshio W. Kano, Joseph S. Calabrese, Kayvan K. Mirza
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotary encoded switch having a plurality of stationary discrete micro switches operated by a rotor having a plurality of concentric cam tracks. The cam tracks and switches are disposed such that for each rotary position of the rotor at least two switches, on opposite sides of the rotor are actuated and a discrete combination of switches is actuated for each position of the rotor. The number of microswitches required is less than half the number of rotary positions.
Claims9
A rotary encoded switch assembly comprising:
- (a) a housing defining a deck surface;
- (b) a rotor mounted for rotation on said housing about an axis generally orthogonal or normal to said deck surface, said rotor defining a plurality of switch actuating surfaces radially and arcuately spaced about said axis in a predetermined arrangement;
- (c) a plurality of individual switches disposed on said deck surface in a predetermined pattern each having a moveable actuator member, wherein one revolution of said rotor represents a plurality of functions of a desired program and wherein one revolution is subdivided into at least 16 increments of rotation with each said increment actuating selected ones of said switches to provide a discrete binary code for each incremental position of said rotor, said selected ones comprising at least two of said switches, and said plurality of switches comprises less than one-half the number of said increments.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.