EP0001317A1 - Hebelvorrichtung mit Kunststoffscharnier zur Übertragung einer Bewegung - Google Patents

Hebelvorrichtung mit Kunststoffscharnier zur Übertragung einer Bewegung Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP0001317A1
EP0001317A1 EP78300147A EP78300147A EP0001317A1 EP 0001317 A1 EP0001317 A1 EP 0001317A1 EP 78300147 A EP78300147 A EP 78300147A EP 78300147 A EP78300147 A EP 78300147A EP 0001317 A1 EP0001317 A1 EP 0001317A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
plunger
lever
arm
pivotal connection
pivot shaft
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP78300147A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Guglielmo Rossi
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Robertshaw US Holding Corp
Original Assignee
Ranco Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Ranco Inc filed Critical Ranco Inc
Publication of EP0001317A1 publication Critical patent/EP0001317A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H19/00—Switches operated by an operating part which is rotatable about a longitudinal axis thereof and which is acted upon directly by a solid body external to the switch, e.g. by a hand
    • H01H19/54—Switches operated by an operating part which is rotatable about a longitudinal axis thereof and which is acted upon directly by a solid body external to the switch, e.g. by a hand the operating part having at least five or an unspecified number of operative positions
    • H01H19/60—Angularly-movable actuating part carrying no contacts
    • H01H19/635—Contacts actuated by rectilinearly-movable member linked to operating part, e.g. by pin and slot
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H3/00—Mechanisms for operating contacts
    • H01H3/32—Driving mechanisms, i.e. for transmitting driving force to the contacts
    • H01H3/46—Driving mechanisms, i.e. for transmitting driving force to the contacts using rod or lever linkage, e.g. toggle
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H3/00—Mechanisms for operating contacts
    • H01H3/32—Driving mechanisms, i.e. for transmitting driving force to the contacts
    • H01H3/46—Driving mechanisms, i.e. for transmitting driving force to the contacts using rod or lever linkage, e.g. toggle
    • H01H2003/466—Driving mechanisms, i.e. for transmitting driving force to the contacts using rod or lever linkage, e.g. toggle using a living hinge to connect the levers

Definitions

  • This invention relatec to a motion transmitting device.
  • the invertion has particular, but net exclusive, application to the transmission of snitch-operating movement to an electrical switcl. From a switch control or setting pember.
  • An object ol tne invention is to provide a motion transmitting device capable of transuitting movenent from a control or setting member to a driven member, such as switch operating member, movable in a direction which is at an angle to the direction of movement of the control or setting member.
  • a furter object or the invention is to provide such a motion transmitting ievice which is of simple one-piece construction.
  • a motion transnitting device comprising a lever having an arm engageable by a control or setting member and a plunger pivotally connected to the lever and engageable v.ith a driven member to effect displacement thereof upon pivotal movement of tne lever by means of the control member, characterised in that the lever and the plunger are formed of one piece of plastics material, the pivotal connection between the lever and the plunger being afforded by a flexible portion of the same plastics material integral with the lever and the plunger.
  • the motion transmitting device may be adapted to transmit movement from a control or setting member to a driven member movable in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of novement of the control or setting member.
  • the control or setting member may comprise a switch operating cam engaging an arm of the lever
  • the driven member may comprise a switch operating member such as a tongue o: a snap actin; switch blade, hovable in a direction substintially parpendicular to the direction of mo meent of the cam.
  • Plastics material from which the device is made should have sufficient tensile strength to per..it the transmission of linear displacement to the plunger upon pivotal movement of the lever, while having sufiicient flexibility in the portion forming the pivotal connection to permit rocking movement of the lever relative to the plunger.
  • suitable plastics material for the device are polypropylene and nylon.
  • the lever is fixed to a pivot shaft which is also formed integrally witn tne lever and the plunger in the same plastics material as the latter.
  • the pivotal connection may comprise a ligament hinge peraitting flexing of the lever relative to the plunger aboat an axis parallel to the axis of the pivot shaft.
  • the lever is a bellcrank lever one arm of which is engageable with the control or setting member and the other arm of which is pivotally connected to the plunger.
  • the flexible portion affording the pivotal connection between the lever and the plunger is preferably resilient so that it biases the plunger towards a predetermined angular position relative to the lever.
  • the degree of resilience of the pivotal connection or hinge can be predetermined by suitably selecting tne thickness of the plastics material forming the pivotal connection. Constructed in this way the one-piece plastics device of the present invention is mechanically equivalent to a mechanism consisting of a lever, a pivot snaft, a plunger pivotally connected to the lever, and a spring biasing the plunger towards a predetermined angular position relative to the lever.
  • the one-piece plastics device of the invention can therefore lead to a considerable economy of construction and component parts in many practical applications.
  • pivotal connection between the lever and the plunger is intermediate the ends of the plunger, one end of the plunger being adapted for engagement with guide means which, upon rocking movement of the lever, cause the plunger to effect substantially linear displacement in the direction of its longitudinal axis.
  • the shaft itself may be formed with trunnion elements at opaosite ends which, upon mounting of the device, engage in bearing holes to form a pivotal mounting for the shaft.
  • trunnion element is slotted to permit its resilient engagement in a suitably sized aperture in a support or mounting.
  • the notion transmitting device shown in Figure 1 is meunted in a single piece of plastics meaterial, for example poyprepylene, and has a pivot shaft 1 provided centrally with two projecting lever arms 2, 3 arranged substantially perpendicular to each other and together constitating a bellcrank lever.
  • the lever are 2 is adapted to be engaged by a control or setting member, hile the other lever armm, 3, tapers in width towards an elongate plunger 4, moulied integrally with the lever arm 3, and commected to the latter by way of an integral ligament hinge portion 5 which is resiliently flexible to permit rocking movement of the lever arm 3 relative to the plunger 4.
  • the ligament hinge portion 5 defines a hinge axis hich is susetantilly parallel to the axis of the pivot shaft 1, while the longitudinal axis of the plunger 4 is perpendicular to the axis of t:.e pivot shaft 1.
  • the plunger 4 is moulded with a bifurcated end portion defining a rectangular lengitudinally extending slot 6 for engagement by a fixed guide membedr which, upon rocking movement of the bellcrank lever 2, 3, guides the plunger to cause the latter to efiect substantially linear displacement in the direction of its longitudinal axis.
  • the pivot shaft 1 is moulded at opposite ends with reduced diameter cylindrical trunnion elements 7,8 engageable in circular holes of a mounting structure to deiine the pivot axis of the snaft 1.
  • One of the trunnion elements, 8, is formed with a slot 9 extending longitudinally from its free end and imparting sufficient resilience to this trunnion element 8 to permit its snap engagement in an appropriately sized aperture in a support or mounting.
  • Figure 2 shows a typical prior art motion transmitting mechanism adapted to perform the same functions as the device of Figure 1.
  • This mechanism comprises a shaft S, a bellcrank lever L and the rod R.
  • a tension spring T is interposed between one arm of the bellcrank lever L and the rod R.
  • the device according to the present invention illustrated in Figure 1 combines the functions of all the components S; L, H; R and T of the prior art mechanism of Figure 2 in a single plastics moulded device, resulting in a considerable economy of construction.
  • the resilient ligament hinge portion 5 acts both as a pivotal connection between the bellcrank lever arm 3 and the plunger 4 and as a spring biassing the lever arm 3 angularly relative to the plunger 4.
  • the biassing moment created about the hinge portion 5 will be determined by the relative angular positions in which the arm 3, the plunger 4 and the ligament hinge portion 5 are moulded, in relation to their intended positions of use, and will also be determined by the thickness of the ligament hinge portion 5 itself.
  • FIG. 3 An example of one practical application of the device shown in Figure 1 is illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 3, in which the device transmits operating movement to an electrical switch.
  • the pivot shaft 1 of the device is rotatably supported in a casing or mounting structure 10 of the switch, part of which is shown in Figures 1 and 2, the trunnion element 7 fitting closely in a circular hole 11 in one, side wall of the switch casing, and the other, slotted trunnion element 8 fitting into a keyhole shaped aperture 12 in an opposite side wall of the switch casing.
  • the keyhole shaped aperture 12 is formed by a first part-circular hole 13 into which the trunnion element 8 may be inserted, and a smaller diameter second circular hole 14 into which the trunnion element 8 can be forced by squeezing together of the two halves of the trunnion element 8 formed by the slot 9.
  • the hole 14 communicates with the larger hole 13 by way of a throat 15 of narrower width than the diameter of the smaller hole 14, so that the movement of the trunnion element 8 into the hole 14 takes place with a snap action.
  • the device is arranged in the embodiment of Figure 3 so that the lever arm 2 of the bellcrank lever is engaged by an edge of a cam 16 mounted on an operating shaft 17 the axis of which is generally perpendicular to the pivot axis of the lever 2, 3.
  • the slot 6 at one end of the plunger 4 is engaged in a guide member 18 which may be formed by upsetting a portion of one wall of the switch casing.
  • the plunger 4 may have in place of the slot 6 a male extension piece which engages in a guide slot or guide hole in the switch casing to guide the displacement of the plunger 4.
  • the end of the plunger 4 opposite the slot 6 engages a flexible operating tongue 19 of a snap action switch blade 20 carrying a switch contact 21 which can be moved into and out of engagement with a fixed contact 22.
  • the switch contacts 21, 22 are normally closed and are opened with a snap movement by movement of the switch operating plunger 4 downwardly as viewed in Figure 2.
  • the resilience of the flexible ligament hinge portion 5 between the bellcrank lever arm 3 and the plunger 4 is such that the lever arm 3 is biassed into a normal position ir/which it is inclined to the longitudinal axle of the plunger 4.
  • the lever arm 3 adopts a position inclined at 82 0 to the longitudinal axis of the plunger 4.
  • the resilience of the hinged portion 5 tends to return the plunger to a position in which it is inclined at this angle to the lever arm 3, and accordingly the ligament hinge portion 5 is equivalent, as stated earlier, to a tension spring interposed between the plunger 4 and the lever arm 3, as shown diagrammatically by the broken outline ghost spring 23 shown in Figure 3.
  • the motion transmitting device would be moulded in polypropylene, the hinge portion 5 consisting of a ligament having a thickness of 0.5 millimetres.
  • the device according to the invention is applicable to the transmission of motion between relatively movable parts in general, being illustrated by way of example in its practical application as a switch operating device.
  • the device has the further practical advantage that, being of plastics material, it is electrically insulating, so that it can be employed for the transmission of movement from a switch control or setting member such as the cam 16 shown in Figure 3 to a switch blade 20 which, when the switch is closed, may be electrically live.
  • the device would normally be installed in the switch casing by engagement of the guide member 18 in the slot 6 at the end of the plunger 4 in such a way that when so engaged the angle between the lever arm 3 and the plunger 5 is greater than the angle between these parts in the normal relaxed condition of the device, so that the ligament hinge portion 5 is prestressed, eliminating any play between the guide slot 6 and the guide member 18.

Landscapes

  • Mechanisms For Operating Contacts (AREA)
EP78300147A 1977-07-16 1978-07-12 Hebelvorrichtung mit Kunststoffscharnier zur Übertragung einer Bewegung Withdrawn EP0001317A1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB2996977 1977-07-16
GB2996977 1977-07-16

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0001317A1 true EP0001317A1 (de) 1979-04-04

Family

ID=10300144

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP78300147A Withdrawn EP0001317A1 (de) 1977-07-16 1978-07-12 Hebelvorrichtung mit Kunststoffscharnier zur Übertragung einer Bewegung

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0001317A1 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2000039826A1 (de) * 1998-12-23 2000-07-06 Aeg Niederspannungstechnik Gmbh & Co. Kg Betätigungselement zur herstellung einer schaltverbindung zwischen einem hauptschalter und einem hilfsschalter
EP1253612A2 (de) * 2001-04-26 2002-10-30 Tyco Electronics AMP GmbH Schaltrelais mit Schaltzustandanzeige
CN109449035A (zh) * 2019-01-03 2019-03-08 徐秀焕 一种高压开关

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3258548A (en) * 1963-01-18 1966-06-28 Controls Co Of America Three position slide bar type switch
US3322924A (en) * 1965-03-04 1967-05-30 Black & Decker Mfg Co Translatory mechanical member with molded hinge portion for use in electric switchesand other applications
DE1966267U (de) * 1967-03-01 1967-08-17 Ramstetter Otto Elektro Betaetigungsvorrichtung fuer mikroschalter.
DE1268922B (de) * 1966-06-21 1968-05-22 Philips Patentverwaltung Hebelsystem aus Kunststoff

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3258548A (en) * 1963-01-18 1966-06-28 Controls Co Of America Three position slide bar type switch
US3322924A (en) * 1965-03-04 1967-05-30 Black & Decker Mfg Co Translatory mechanical member with molded hinge portion for use in electric switchesand other applications
DE1268922B (de) * 1966-06-21 1968-05-22 Philips Patentverwaltung Hebelsystem aus Kunststoff
DE1966267U (de) * 1967-03-01 1967-08-17 Ramstetter Otto Elektro Betaetigungsvorrichtung fuer mikroschalter.

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2000039826A1 (de) * 1998-12-23 2000-07-06 Aeg Niederspannungstechnik Gmbh & Co. Kg Betätigungselement zur herstellung einer schaltverbindung zwischen einem hauptschalter und einem hilfsschalter
EP1253612A2 (de) * 2001-04-26 2002-10-30 Tyco Electronics AMP GmbH Schaltrelais mit Schaltzustandanzeige
EP1253612A3 (de) * 2001-04-26 2005-04-20 Tyco Electronics AMP GmbH Schaltrelais mit Schaltzustandanzeige
CN109449035A (zh) * 2019-01-03 2019-03-08 徐秀焕 一种高压开关

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US4093005A (en) Cable tie gun
US4453063A (en) Keyswitch configuration with torque rod holder
KR890002925A (ko) 개폐기용 조작장치
US20020046616A1 (en) Method and apparatus for producing downshift signals
CA2016943C (en) Long keybutton stabilizer
EP0001317A1 (de) Hebelvorrichtung mit Kunststoffscharnier zur Übertragung einer Bewegung
US4063056A (en) Bi-directional limit switch
US5051552A (en) Slide selector switch mechanism
US5120922A (en) Momentary pushbutton slide switch
US2537682A (en) Electric switch
US4387282A (en) Electrical switch assembly
US4929806A (en) Headlight dimmer switch device
US20050097980A1 (en) Kickdown mechanism
US4090167A (en) Push switch and potentiometer assembly
US2969443A (en) Push button type electric switch
CA1160273A (en) Cam operated dual switch assembly
US4342886A (en) Burner valve control device, an electrical switch unit therefor and methods of making the same
US4636597A (en) Electrical snap switch
US2780687A (en) Humidistat
US3969599A (en) Offset paddle actuator for push-rod switch
IT212320Z2 (it) Interruttore elettrico a scatto rapido per il comando di dispositivo alzacristalli di un autoveicolo
US2842632A (en) Miniature snap switch
US2481141A (en) Electrical switch
US2897304A (en) Humidistat
US3248959A (en) Snap action mechanism

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012

AK Designated contracting states

Designated state(s): DE FR GB

STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION IS DEEMED TO BE WITHDRAWN

18D Application deemed to be withdrawn
RIN1 Information on inventor provided before grant (corrected)

Inventor name: ROSSI, GUGLIELMO