AU593227B2 - A quick action switching device - Google Patents

Description

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CO1,2ONWEALTH OF A1JSTrJ'.TIl\ Form Rejulation PATENTS ACT, 1952 COrPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE Short Title2 Int. C11.

or:93z2 Arppication Nurber-.

Lokd.1ged 50 .3 0a /es.

Complete Speci fication-Lodged; Accepted: Lapsed: Published: 0 'a Priority: till r' 17,'Oc f oaRelated Art: i o 0 o TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICA !!T CROUZET S.A.

Nam~e of Applicant; c *Vldress of Applicant., hoctual Inventor: Address for Service,, 128, Avenue de la Republique, 75011 Paris, France Bernard TRUCHET ARTHUR S. CAWr CO., Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys, 1 Llf red Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Alstralia, 2000.

Complete Specification for the invention entitledA.

A QUICK ACTION SWITCHING DEVICE The followjincr statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it k~novin to mei- 1 ASC-49 The present invention relates to a switching device comprising: an insulating protective and supporting housing, an assembly of at least one contactor element, each contactor element comprising a pair of elongate parallel flexible conducting blades, each having one end forming an electric terminal fixed to the case and a mobile end and, a terminal fixed to the case having a double contact on which each mobile blade end may come to bear resiliently, and a rigid and insulating slide movable inside the case under the action of an operating member, having a double cam profile for acting simultaneously on the mobile blade ends.

Such devices, when they are provided with several electrically independent contactor elements, are more especially intended for equipping telephone sets where they are actuated by an operating means responsive to the presence of the handset on its support.

Such a device is already known and is described in the European patent application 0 068 483, in which the slide moves parallel to the longitudinal direction of the blades. When S\ several contactor elements are associated with the inside of the same protective and support housing the slide must then be in the form of a comb and comprise as many individual teeth, ,L .each having a double cam profile, as there are contactor elements, taking into account the direction of movement of the slide, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the flexible blades. In such a device, Lhe form of the slide is therefore ,g'A71 fairly complex which results in disadvantages concerning P Q-1- 0114k/CB The present invention relates to a switching device comprising: an insulating protective and supporting housing, an assembly of at least one contactor element, each contactor element comprising a pair of elongate parallel flexible conducting blades, each having one end forming an electric terminal fixed to the case and a mobile end and, a terminal fixed to the case having a double contact on which each mobile blade end may come to bear resiliently, and t a rigid and insulating slide movable inside the case under the action of an operating member, having a double cam f profile for acting simultaneously on the mobile blade ends.

O Such devices, when they are provided with several the handset on its support.

Such a device is already known and is described in the European patent application 0 068 483, in which the slide moves parallel to the longitudinal direction of the blades. When

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several contactor elements are associated with the inside of the same protective and support housing the slide must then be in the form of a comb and comprise as many individual teeth, each having a double cam profile, as there are contactor elements, taking into account the direction of movement of the slide, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the flexible blades. In such a device, the form of the slide is therefore fairly complex which results in disadvantages concerning 2 T s 1 manufacturing costs and reliability of the device.

Moreover, although such a device offers the advantage, of prime importance for electronic telephony, of not introducing a discontinuity during switching of the contacts (the cam profile may be designed to operate with substantially instantaneous transfer from one line to another with overlapping which .s extremely short, but sufficient to eliminate any risk of discontinuity generating disturbances in the user circuits).

It does, however, not provide speed, accuracy and repeatability 0o".which are the proper qualities of iicrocontacts, for example of 9 o, 1,00 the type described in French patent application 2 032 149, or S other quick acting devices, in which the change of position of the contacts is provided independently of the speed of the ~'operating member, through the instantaneous release of the energy accumulated in resilient means at a given point of the travel of the operating member, of the type described in American patent 2 776 348.

tI SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims at overcoming the preceding disadvantages by providing a switching device comprising: an insulating protective and support housing; an assembly of at least one switching element, each switching el,,,Ment comprising a pair of elongate p~arallel flexible conductive blades, each having at one end an electric terminal fixed in the housing and a the other end a movable free end, and a contactor element comprising an electric terminal fixed in the housing and a double contact element upon £2a b1n1 k/CB r be formed as a single plate having all the cam profiles required for all the contactor elements. Thus the device of the invention has a reliable operation and its cost is low.

Furthermore, the device of the invention allows, in a reversible and bistable way, a rapid and accurate transfer without discontinuity from one line to another.

In a preferred embodiment, the quick action mechanism has two stable states and comprises two articulated arms subjected to a resilient force tending to bend them back one on the other.

Advantageously, the two movable blade ends of each cont-actor element each have a bent tongue for cooperating with the slide, the two tongues being bent in opposite directions, perpendicular to the common longitudinal direction of the *9q blades.

The present invention will be better understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the t V4 switching device of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows in an exploded perspective view the general architecture and internal construction of a switch for telephone applications, comprising an assembly of three t tlit contactox elements, Figure 2 shows in perspective '.he external appearance of the switch of Figure 1 and more especially the face on which are mounted pins for conntection to a printed circuit, Figure 4 shows, with parts cut away, the functional4 bistability of the assembloy of the switch of Figure 1, and Figure 3 shows schematically three among four different 14k/CB r- '11r ~~li 7, i 4 0 0

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configurations of the position of the contactor elements in one of the two stable positions of the actnating slide, with double cam profile, of the switch of Figure 1.

In the embodiments as shown (Figure 1 to Figure the switching device of the invention comprises an assembly 1 of three bi-directional contactor elements of identical structure whose actuation is simultaneously provided by the bistable cam slide 2 movable in two opposite directions under a force exerted on an operating member 4. Movement occurs rapidly when the force exceeds a threshold exerted by the quick action mechanism 3.

Each of the contactor elements of assembly 1 is formed of a fixed stud in the shape of a right-angled piece, the vertical part of which forms terminal 10 and the horizontal part of which is provided with a double contact plate 100, the two opposite faces of which may be contacted by the free ends of two elongate flexible bldes 110 extending from two independent terminals 11. The longitudinal directions of the two blades 110 are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the direction of movement of slide 2.

The quick action mechanism 3, adapted for accumulating resilient energy, and numerous mechanical variants of which are known, is here formed from a control shaft 30 supporting in a middle position the articulation of two arms 31, 32 mutually subjected to the force of a spring 33 tending to bend then towards one another.

The control of mechanism 3 and consequently of the whole of the device is provided by application of a reversible force It 41 4 0114k/CB t F on the operating member 4 integral with shaft 30. The mechanical coupling of mechanism 3 to slide 2 is provided by the engagement, in the double notch 20 formed in the rear part of the slide, of the end of the rocking arm 32, shaped as a fr.The useful width of the double slot 20 should allow sufficient free travel of the end of arm 32 so as to obtain, just after passing over the rocking threshold, an actuation of the slide sufficiently large and sufficiently rapid for the mobile contact blades 110 to ride over the sloping sides of the notches formee in the edges of the cam slide 2.

f The whole of the constructional elements of the switching de!7ice is contained in a protective housing 5 moulded from a plastic material whose mechanical qualities and insulating properties comply with different functional requirements of the application.

~tiff Housing 5 is formed of case 51 and lid 52 having respectively openings, grooves and cavities, in suitable numbers, shapes and dimensions formed in the walls so as to 4 ~allow the funictional passage, holding and gulding of the different elements of the device.

Case 51 thus has a front opening 5Z, through which passes A the operating member 4, as well as an assembly 54, 55 of F rectangular holes formed in the bottom wall for receiving the diferent terminals 10 and 11 of the assembly 1 of the respectively fixed and movable contact elements.

The wall at the bottom of case 51, as well as the internal face of cover 52, further comprises, disposed opposite 0114k/CB each other and in pairs, holes 56 for receiving, pivotably, the teeth 34 of the fixed end of arm 31, parallel grooves 57 for guiding and limiting, the travel of the control shaft 30, as well as parallel grooves 58 for guiding the edges of the cam slide 2 made here simply from a plate of insulating material.

Furthermore, the outer wall of case 51 is provided with index marks 59 for positioning the switch on a printed circuit board where the terminals 10 and 11 are to be soldered.

The free ends of each of the two flexible blades belonging to each contactor element of assembly 1 each have a tongue, the tongues of each pair extending in opposite directions perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of blades 110. Each tongue is bent through a suitable angle for cooperating with the cam surfaces of the cam slide 2.

Figure 3 clearly illustrates three of the possibilities L A, B, C of interconnections which may be formed simultaneously on different contactor elements between the fixed 100 and mobile 110 contacts of the contactor device, as a function of the geometrical position of the notches, with slanting sides, formed on the opposite longitudinal edges of the cam slide 2 and as a function of one or other of the two stable positions 4 r occupied by slide 2 in abutment against its stops at the end of sliding in grooves 57.

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Claims (4)

1. A switching device comprising: an insulating protective and support housing; an assembly of at least one switching element, each switching element comprising a pair of elongate parallel flexible conductive blades, each having at one end an electric terminal fixed in the housing and at the other end a movable free end, and a contactor element comprising an electric terminal fixed in the housing and a double contact element upon which each free end is biased to resiliently bear; *tQo a rigid, insulating, slide movable within the housing 0o oo S@ between two positions under the action of an operating member, the slide having cam surfaces for acting simultaneously on the ,o free ends such that contact between the free ends and the double contact element is controlled by the position of the slide; characterised by the slide moving perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the blades, and a quick action mechanism is intermediate the slide and the operatinq member such that rapid movement between the two positions occurs.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the quick action *Oak## mechanism has two stable states and comprises two elongate arms arranged end on end, the free end oc one arm pivotably mounted in the housing and the free end of the other arm engaging the slide, adjacent ends of the arms pivotably connected to the operating member and a biasing means urging the two free ends together. r 7 0114k/CB I nha i

3. The device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the two free ends belonging to the same switching element each have a tongue bent for cooperating with the slide, the two tongues being bent in opposite directions perpendicular to the common longitudinal direction of the blades.

4. A switching device, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 24th day of October, 1989. *o 0 0 0 04n 0o 0 0 0 o 0 /0) 0.o CROUZET S.A. By Its Patent Attorneys ARTHUR CAVE- M *0 I I I ust,,, 7J -8 0114k/CB 'A.