GB1579076A

GB1579076A - Pushbutton tuner

Info

Publication number: GB1579076A
Application number: GB3654277A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Clarion Co Ltd
Current assignee: Faurecia Clarion Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 1976-09-06
Filing date: 1977-09-01
Publication date: 1980-11-12
Also published as: DE2740086C2; SE7709934L; SE423852B; NL7709792A; DE2740086A1

Description

(54) PUSH BUTTON TUNER (71) We, CLARION CO., LTD., a Japanese Body Corporate, of 5-35-2 Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a pushbutton tuner which may be suitably used for a car radio receiver set.

A pushbutton tuning mechanism commonly comprises (a) operative members each having a pushbutton at one end and positioned for longitudinal movement from an inoperative position to an operative position in response to the depression of the pushbutton, (b) a tuning slider plate for movement in response to the movement of the operative member in a direction transversely thereof to a position by the unique to the respective operative member, and (c) tuning determination means responsive to the movement of the tuning slider plate for providing corresponding movement of the tuning cores with respect to related stationary coils to determine the reception frequency point peculiar to the respective pushbutton.

In general, in order to make the tuning mechanism compact in size, it is a common practice to arrange the operative members horizontally with respect to the plane of the tuner. However, since each of the operative members is, generally, provided with a frequency presetting cam plate pivotally mounted thereon acting to provide a preset amount of movement of the tuning slider plate in co-operation therewith, and a locking plate for fixedly positioning the cam plate at the present position, it is impossible with such horizontal arrangement of the operative members to provide all pivotal angular positions of the cam plate for the movements of the slider plate corresponding to a sufficient tuning core stroke to cover a desired frequency band, unless the adjacent operative members are widely spaced.Therefore, even though it is possible to design a tuner which is thin, i.e. one whose height dimension is small, the resulting width thereof would be excessive, so that it would be impossible to reduce the overall size of the tuner.

In the prior art, there have been made numerous attempts for accomplishing the thinning and compacting of the tuner simultaneously. For example, in U.S. Patent No.

2,253,433, a pushbutton tuner is shown wherein operative members arranged horizontally with respect to the plane of the tuner are provided with respective V-shaped cutouts. As an operative member is depressed from its inoperative position to the operative position, a pin for the respective operative member provided on the tuning slider is moved to a point of the related cutout in the operative member, so that said slider carrying the pins is moved transversely of the moving direction of the operative member. The pins respectively engaging the V-shaped cutouts at the front side of the slider are positioned at presettable positions along said front side so that the tuning frequency point selected by the respective pushbutton is freely presettable.The width of the V-shaped cutout must be sufficient to make it possible to move the related pin of the slider by the maximum moving distance of the slider within the rear portion of the V-shaped cutout of the operative member which is in the inoperative position.

According to the present invention there is provided d pushbutton tuner comprising a base, a plurality of operative members each carrying a pushbutton and positioned for movement, relative to the base, from an inoperative position to an operative position upon'depression of the pushbutton, a tuning member positioned for movement, relative to the base, in a direction transverse the direction of movement of the operative members, and, in respect of each operative member, a respective linkage responsive to the depression of the associated pushbutton to displace the tuning member in said transverse direction to a predeterminable tuning position, each said linkage comprising a pair of links supported on the base for pivotal movement about respective axes spaced apart transverse the direction of movement of the operative members, and having portions spaced from said axes which overlap and which have respective elongate slots, said slots crossing to receive a projection extending 'from the tuning member through the links at the crossing point of the slots, each operative member having an engagement member which, upon depression of the associated pushbutton, will engage one of the links to re-orientate the linkage by causing both links to pivot and thereby act upon the projection to cause said displacement of the tuning member, the tuning position being reached when said engagement member reaches a position in which it engages both links and is thereby prevented from causing further pivoting thereof.

Embodiments of thi: invention will now, be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figs. 1 and 2 are plan and section views of a pushbutton tuner of a first embodiment of the invention; Fig. 3 is a plan view of a pushbutton tuner of a second embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 is a view for the purpose of explaining the operation of an important portion of the tuner of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a plan view showing a pushbutton tuner with a unique clutch mechanism; Fig. 6 is an explanation view of the operation of the clutch mechanism in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of only a portion of the clutch mechanism in Fig. 5; Fig. 8 is a plan view showing a pushbutton tuner with a unique form of spring guiding mechanism for the operative members;; Fig. 9 is a partial perspective view of the tuner in Fig. 8; Figs. 10 and 11 are section views showing in different modes of operation a manual tuning mechanism which may be used for the tuner of this invention; Fig. 12 is a view for use in explaining the operation of the mechanism in Figs. 10 and 11; Fig. 13 is a side view of a portion of the mechanism in Figs. 10 and 11; and Fig. 14 is an illustration of a prior art manual control.

According to Figs. 1 and 2 which show one embodiment of this invention, an operative member 10 to the forward end of which is attached a pushbutton 12 is slidably mounted on a tuner base 14 in parallel thereto, and a frequency defining plate 16 is pivotally mounted on the operative member 10 by a pin 18. Each frequency defining plate 16 has an engaging pin 20. Since the frequency defining plate 16 is mounted on the operative member 10 in parallel thereto, it is also parallel to the tuner base 14. Each operative member carries a spring plate 22 for clamping or locking the frequency defining plate 16 in an adjusted position on the operative member 10, as well as a plate 24 attached to the pushbutton 12. The spring plate 24 is moveable to cause the spring plate 22 either to clamp the plate 16 as aforesaid or to release the plate 16.Both plates 22 and 24 are parallel to the tuner base 14. When, in the inoperative position of the inoperative member, the pushbutton is pulled, the plate 24 moves slidably with the pushbutton on the operative member to release the clamping function of the spring plate 22 On the frequency defining plate 16, to permit the position of the engaging pin 20 to be preset. From this state, when the pushbutton is depressed, the plate 24 causes the spring plate 22 to clamp the frequency defining plate 16 at the rear pressing end 26. According to this arrangement as shown, a guiding plate 28 is attached to the rear end of the base 14 opposite the pushbuttons 12 arranged in a sideby-side relation, and a slider 34 is slidably mounted through guide holes 30 and 32 provided on both ends of said guiding plate 28.

Pins 36 are mounted on this slider 34, spaced apart in accordance with the spacing of the adjacent operative members 10, and each pin 36 is received in slots 44 and 46 which are sufficiently long to cover the tuning core stroke and respectively provided at the free end portions of links 40 and pivotally mounted on the tuner base 14 by pivotal pins 38 across the operative member 10. The adjacent links 40 and 42 associated with adjacent operative members 10 are mounted by same pivotal pin 38 in these Figures, reference nimeral 48 represents a member for mounting the spring plate 22 on the operative member. As conventionally known, any resilient member such as a coil spring (not shown) can be employed for pushing or biasing the operative member 10 back to the inoperative position. In Fig. 1, the slider 34 is operatively coupled to tuning frequency point determination means.

The operation of the above described arrangement is now explained: While the frequency defining plates 16 are clamped and restrained on the operative members 10 in a predetermined relationship, when the button 12 is depressed, the engaging pin 20 is engaged with the inside edge 50 or 52 of either of the links 40 and 42 to rotate the thus engaged link 40 or 42 around its pivotal pin 38; with either link 40 or 42 being thus rotated, the slider 34 slides either to the right or left in Fig. 1 via the pin 36 engaging with the slot 44 or 46, and accordingly, the other links move slantwise at the same time.In other words, by the action of the engaging pin 20 that is moved in the direction of a linearly moving operative member 10, the link 40 or 42 that is engaged by said pin is pivoted toward a position in which it would extend parallel to the direction of movement operative member 10, and the other link that is pivoted by virtue of the movement of the pin 36 engaged in the slot, 44 or 46, is made to rotate toward a position in which it would extend transverse the direction of movement of the operative member 10, and parallel to the slider 34. Such opposite pivoting of the links 40 and 42 is stopped when the crossing point 54 of the inside edges of the two links is at the position where it is line with the track of the movement of the engaging pin 20.

Thus, as the engaging pin 20 moves rearwardly, one of the links 40 and 42 is made to rotate by arrangement by the pin 20, but such rotation is inevitably stopped when the engaging pin 20 locates in the crossing point 54 of the inside edges of the two links 40 and 42 as a result of the crossing point 54 being brought in line with the track of the movement of the engaging pin 20; thus, one link 40 or 42 acts as a stopper of the rotational movement of the other link 42 or 40. As the Figures show, the two links 40 and 42 are of the same shape and dimensions. Instead of mounting the operative member in contact with the tuner base as shown in Fig. 2, it may be disposed on top of the two links 40 and 42 so that the frequency defining plate is positioned beneath thereof.In either case, the engaging pin 20 contacts with either of the links 40 and 42 intermediate of the pivotal pin 38 and the pin 36 so as to rotate said links; since the radius of rotation of the links is enlarged at the pin 36 to move the slider 34, a relatively large operation stroke of the slider is provided, and thus, a relatively small movement of the engaging pin 20 can provide a longer core stroke.

As described above: not only the operative member but also the frequency defining plate, the spring plate for locking and restraining thereof, the lock plate and each of the links are disposed parallel to the tuner base; therefore, the resulting mechanism for tuning operation can be made very thin, for example, a pushbutton type tuner having a thickness of about 10 mm can be designed. In addition, the overall construction can be greatly simplified and its scale made very small because only one engaging pin 20 need be disposed on the frequency defining plate and the links 40 and 42 may be provided with a very compact configuration.Further, a large core stroke obtained by the engaging pin 20 allows the cores to be effectively inserted in and extracted from the coils, and in addition to that, since, as mentioned earlier, one of the two links acts as a stopper of the movement of the other link, a desired state of broadcasting station selection and tuning can invariably be obtained with great accuracy.

According to the embodiment described in Figs. 1 and 2, the crossed links disposed at the rear ends of the pushbutton are short, and they are almost perpendicular relative to the direction of movement of the engaging pin disposed on the frequency defining plate, and as a result, it is difficult to effect smooth tuning operation with pushbuttons. In addition, since the links are required to be positioned closer to the rear end of the tuner base than the engaging pin on the frequency defining plate, failure of the pin to move these links with desired accuracy sometimes occurs.

The embodiment shown by Figs. 3 and 4 is an improvement on the embodiment of Figs.

1 and 2 in that a thin and small-scale tuning mechanism is also capable of providing smooth and accurate operation of broadcasting station selection and tuning by means of the links moved in response to pushing of the pushbuttons.

Fig. 3 shows operative members 62 each having a pushbutton 64 disposed on the front side of a tuner frame 60; each operative member 62 is mounted on the tuner base in parallel thereto and the individual operative members are arranged closely spaced. As is easily understood, this arrangement aids the design of a thin, compact tuner mechanism.

On the rear end of the operative member 62 is provided a slider 66 so mounted on the frame or base 60 that it is slidable in a direction normal to the moving direction of the operative member 62. The operative member 62 is also provided with a frequency defining member 70 to the free end of which is attached an engaging pin 68; in other words, said defining member 70 is pivotally mounted on the slider 66 at its rear end by a pivotal pin 72 and its free end is clamped and restrained by a clamp member 74 attached to that portion of the operative member 62 which is closer to the pushbutton 64. The clamp member 74, in cooperation with a lock member 76 which slides together with said pushbutton 64 in a longitudinal direction of the operative member 62, clamps and releases the frequency defining member 70.

In order to effect tuning operation by sliding the slider 66 by means of the engaging pin 68 of the defining member 70, said slider 66 is provided with a series of pins 78 spaced in accordance with the spacing of the operative members 62, and at each of these pins 78, links 80 and 82 pivotally mounted on the frame base 60 across a respective operative member 62 are disposed to face each other, and said engaging pin 68 is to be engaged with the inside edges 84 and 86 of the links 80 and 82 (see Fig. 4). Each of the links 80 and 82 bends in the middle and is almost L-shaped; therefore, those ends of the links which are closer to the buttons extend toward the buttons in such a manner that they are substantially parallel to the operative members 62, and they are fixed by pivotal pins 88 to the frame 60 at positions closer to the buttons than the engaging pin 68.These links 80 and 82 are provided with slots 90 and 92 at their rear ends (farthest away from the buttons), and as the Figures show, they are engaged with said pin 78 which projects through these slots 90 and 92; as a result, the facing links 80 and 82 are crossed at their rear ends.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a rack 96 extends from one side of the slider 66 as a mechanism for inserting the cores in and extracting them from the corresponding coils 94 by means of said slider 66. A gear 98 engaging with the rack 96 is engaged with a rack 104 of a movable member 102 which is guided by a guiding rod 100 provided on the frame 60; as a consequence of the motion of the slider 66 toward either the left or the right in the Figures, the movable member 102 is made to move in the direction of the movement of the operative member 62, and this movable member 102 carries the cores to be inserted in or extracted from the coils 94.

A coaxial crown gear 106 is horizontally mounted on the gear 98, and this crown gear 106 engages with a pinion gear 110 which can be turned by a manually handled shaft 108 for effecting fine tuning manually.

It is thus clear that, according to the embodiment described above, the tuner can be made sufficiently thin. In addition, since the links 80 and 82 are made substantially L-shaped with a bend in the middle, the position where these links are pivotally mounted to the tuner base by the pin 88 can be advantageously closer to the buttons; therefore, it has been made possible to provide a small angle formed by the direction in which the operative member is moved and the crossing point of the inside edges 84 and 86 which engage with the engaging pin 68. Such features are combined to provide a very smooth and accurate operation of broadcasting station selection and tuning by means of the control of the pushbutton.

Figs, 5 to 7 show a clutch control mechanism that can be used with the pushbutton tuner according to this invention, and more particularly, they show a new mechanism which provides a simple and compact control mechanism of a clutch mechanism in the pushbutton tuner for both tuning control system according to the control of the pushbutton and tuning control system according to manual rotational operation and which is capable of shortening the depth of the tuner as well as preventing the operative members from rattling.

In a pushbutton tuner which is capable of effecting rapid tuning control by the control of the pushbutton, fine tuning control such as by means of the manual rotational operation of a tuning control shaft should be available.

Therefore, at the time of controlling the tuner by means of the button, such rotational control system is required to be switched to the pushbutton control system by means of a clutch mechanism. The conventional mechanism for controlling a clutch of this kind is generally disposed farthest away from the buttons; that is, a clutch operating plate is disposed on a rear panel of the tuner frame, and as its rotation is controlled at the front portion of the operative member of the button, a cam member is rotated following this rotation to thereby effect operation of the clutch. However, the clutch control mechanism of this conventional type requires a large clutch operating plate, and it also requires the space for rotation of said plate at the rear portion of the tuner frame.Accordingly, the depth of the pushbutton tuner becomes inevitably great, its construction being complicated, and many parts are required.

The clutch mechanism described in the following overcomes these defects of the conventional type. In order to provide a thin tuner, a series of operative members 62 each having a pushbutton 64 are disposed with a given space on the base of the frame 60 in parallel thereto, and on top of each operative member 62 is disposed a frequency defining member 70, a spring plate 74 for holding and restraining said defining plate in place, and a locking member 76 for pushing up the free end of said spring plate 74. The front portion of the frame 60 is bent up to form a member through which the operative members 62 is inserted, and a clutch operating plate 114 is slidably disposed along a guide portion 112 for guiding the sliding of the operative member. The clutch operating plate 114, as shown in Fig. 5, extends to the right to be provided with a resilient restoration mechanism 116; it also extends toward the rear portion of the frame so as to reach a clutch forming part under a crown gear 106 which, as conventionally known, is rotated for tuning control by rotational operation of the manual tuning shaft, and said clutch forming part is so controlled as to effect the above mentioned switching operation. Said locking member 76 has on one side thereof a projecting cam portion 118, which is faced by an engaging portion 120 of the clutch operating plate 114 disposed along the guide member 112; in accordance with the control of the pushbutton, the cam portion 118 is to control the clutch operating plate 114.Incidentally, said frequency defining member 70 is pivotally mounted on the operative member 62 at its rear end and is provided with the engaging pin 68 on the opposite end. The mechanism of effecting rapid tuning control (using the control of the pushbutton) by means of the engaging pin 68 is as follows: links 80 and 82 are pivotally mounted to face each other across the operative member 62, and the rear ends of these links 80 and 82 cross and include respective slots 90 and 92 in which engages a pin 78, vertically projecting from the slider 66 provided slidably on the rear portion of the frame 60; while said engaging pin 68 is set at a given position, when the operative member 62 is pushed forward, said engaging pin 68 is brought to engagement with either of the links 80 and 82 to thereby slide the slider 66, with the result that a predetermined tuning control is obtained by such a member as a rack disposed on one end (the right side 'in Fig. 5) of the slider 66.

According to the embodiment of this invention described above, the clutch control mechanism is provided on the front portion of the tuner frame, so that the depth of the pushbutton tuner of this kind can be shortened sufficiently. In addition, its structure is very simple because the only parts required are first, the cam portion 118 that is formed in the locking member 76 which is essential for the purpose of holding and restraining the frequency defining member 70 and second, the engaging portion 120 disposed on the clutch operating plate 114 for engaging with said cam portion. Furthermore, since the operative member 62, both at the time of being pushed forward or returned to the original position, is subject to compression of the resilient restoration mechanism 116 disposed along said clutch operating plate 114, its rattling can be effectively prevented.

In this connection, when the operative member 62 is pushed forward, according to the embodiment described above, the engaging pin 68 acts on either of the links 80 and 82 after the cam portion 118 acts on the engaging portion 120 to thereby control the clutch operating plate 114 for clutching; but when, in order to lock out the frequency defining member 70, the pushbutton 64 is pulled out of the operative member 62 and the locking member 76 extracted together with the but ton 64 to obtain a lock-out state where the defining member 70 is released from restraint, the cam portion 118 retracts beyond the position indicated in Fig. 5; when the pushbutton 64 is pushed forward under such lockout state, the engaging pin 68 contacts the links 80 and 82 to adjust the position of the frequency defining member 70.In this way frequency preadjustment by presetting of the frequency defining member 70 can be readily effected.

To obtain accurate broadcasting station selection and tuning through rapid control of the pushbutton in the pushbutton tuner, it is necessary accurately to guide the motion of the operative member in an accurate direction. Conventionally, a rear side panel or guide plate disposed vertically on the rear portion of the tuner frame is provided with operative member guiding holes, through which the rear ends of the operative members extending from the buttons arranged on the front side of the frame project for guidance.But such conventional arrangement requires said rear side panel or guide plate to be specially provided; the operative member is required to be long enough to reach said rear side panel or guide plate; and a space for receiving the rearward projected portion of the operative member after the button is pushed forward is required behind said rear side panel or the guide plate. As a result, the pushbutton tuner inevitably becomes undesirably deep.

Figs, 8 and 9 shows a structure of the pushbutton tuner wherein the defects of the conventional type have been overcome: As Fig.

8 shows, tuner frame 60 is provided with five operative members 62 each of which is equipped with a pushbutton 64; elongate slots 122 are arranged on the base of the frame 60 extending parallel to the direction of the sliding of the operative members 62; and a pin 72 is formed on the base of each operative member 62 for engaging with each slot 122 (said pin 72 may be positioned under the pin 72 which pivotally supports the above mentioned frequency defining member.

The sliding of each operative member 62 is guided by being inserted through a guide portion 115 of a rising portion 112 formed by bending the frame base 60 at its front edge.

On one lateral side of each operative member 62 is provided an engaging portion 124. On the rear portion of the frame base 60 is formed an opening 126 at the rearward edge of which is a rising receptacle 128. A compressed spring 130 disposed between the engaging portion 124 and the receptacle 128 biases the pushbutton to return to its original position. In addition, operating plate 114 for switching of the clutch is slidably disposed along said rising portion 112 to be associated with the control of the pressed button 62, and as a result, clutching operation for switching between station selection controls in accordance with the control of the button and the rotation of the tuning shaft can be accomplished.

According to the embodiment described above of this invention, no guide mechanism for guiding the operative member need be provided in the rear portion of the frame of the pushbutton tuner; accordingly the operative member need not' be long enough to reach such rear portion; and no space for receiving the rearward projected portion of the operative member after the button is depressed is required behind the rear portion of the frame. Consequently, the overall structure of the tuner can be made very compact, especially with regard to its depth. The cylindrical pin 72 provided on the underside of the operative member engages and moves in the slot 122 to provide accurate guiding and sliding operation of the operative member 62.

Further, since a resilient element 130 such as a spring is disposed on one end of the operative member 62, a pressed button can advantageously be returned to the starting position while the depth and thickness of the tuner are reduced. Another advantage of such arrangement wherein the resilient element 130 is disposed on ont end of the operative member 62 is that said operative member is always subject to a biasing force by the action of the resilient element which thereby prevents horizontal rattling of the operative member.

As explained above, in order to reduce the thickness of the tuner, the size of the pushbutton tuner should of course be made compact, but at the same time, a tuning mechanism for inserting cores into and extract them from the tuning coils and an indicating control mechanism for indicating the thus obtained state of broadcasting station selection has also to be made thin. As conventionally known, an addition of a separate manual tuning mechanism is required in the pushbutton tuner of this kind for the following two purposes: first, for adjusting and setting of frequencies so that a properly tuned relation is obtained by control of the pushbutton in the manner described above, and secondly, for making the tuner tuned to receive the broadcasting of other channels which are impossible to be tuned to by control of a given number of pushbuttons.According to the conventional system of the manual tuning mechanism, a crown gear which is operatively coupled with a movable plate for controlling the movement of cores is vertically disposed on a lateral side of the tuner frame said crown gear being engaged with a pinion gear at the rear end of a manual tuning shaft with its control end being positioned on the front side of the tuner frame; therefore, the tuner should be thick enough to at least cover the diameter of the crown gear. The diameter of said crown gear should be at least 20 - 25 mm, and those with a smaller diameter fail to provide smoothness to manual tuning cOn- trol by means of a pinion gear at the farthest end of an even smaller manual tuning 'shaft.' Thus, there has been an unavoidable limitation in designing a very thin tuner.

The embodiments which will be described below by reference to Figs. 10 to 14 solve every problem involved in the prior art system and provide a very thin model of the manual tuning mechanism. As Figs. 10 and 11 show, a tuner base plate or a corresponding deck 60 is provided with a supporting shaft 136 on which a rotary disk 138 and a crown gear 106 opposite thereto are rotatably mounted. A clutch plate 140 is disposed between the members 106 and 138. In the Figures shown, the clutch plate 140 is mounted on the rotary disc 138, but when desired, it may of course be mounted on the crown gear 106. Such crown gear 106 is also provided with an engaging step 142, with which is engaged the tip of a lever member 144 provided separately on the base 60.Said lever member 144 is supported centrally by a supporting point member 146 and a resilient element 148 is disposed between the other end of the lever and the base 60 for invariably pressing the crown gear 106 against the rotary disc 138 via the clutch plate 140 so that the crown gear is integrally rotated with said rotary disc 106. At the time of rapid selection of broadcasting stations by means of pressing buttons, a suitable cam or link mechanism, working in a similar manner to such clutch mechanism, applies to the other end of the lever member 144 such a force as to push it down thereby to push up the crown gear and release its engagement with the clutch plate 140.A manual operated shaft 108 is disposed on top of the horizontally disposed crown gear 106 to extend across its diameter; a pinion gear 110 is provided on the rear end of the manual operated shaft 108; on a projection 150 formed on the rear end of the pinion gear 110 is provided a tensile spring 152 for engaging the pinion gear 110 with the crown gear 106. In the prior art system, the pinion gear 110 has been engaged with that point of the crown gear 106 which is closer to the front portion of the tuner frame (Fig. 14 shows an example of engagement according to the conventional system) with the result that the manually operated shaft 108 is considerably shortened; in contrast, in the arrangement described above, the point of engagement is farther backward of the tuner frame, and therefore, the manually operated shaft 108 can extend a sufficient length from the front side of the tuner frame.The forward end of the shaft (not shown) is connected to a tuning operative shaft 108 via a universal joint 154 mounted on the front side of the tuner frame, and by turning, for example, a nut attached to the tuning operation shaft 108, the crown gear 106 is made to rotate to thereby effect a desired fine manual tuning control by way of the clutch plate 140. Tuning control on the primary part of the tuner that makes use of the rotation of the crown gear 106 is effected by the following mechanism: in the Figures shown, the gear portion 156 of the rotary disc 138 that is rotated by way of the clutch plate 140 is allowed to engage with a rack plate 66 of the type shown in Fig. 12, and the movement of the rack plate 66 is controlled to effect said tuning control.Needless to say, such relation of movement is not necessarily limited to the rack plate 66 and rotational operation of a horizontally disposed gear and so forth may also be used.

The rear end of the manually operated tuning shaft 108 is supported by a supporting plate 158 the top and bottom of which is provided with a vertically projecting central axles 159 and 159', and said supporting plate 158 is provided with a vertical hole for receiving the above mentioned projecting 150, and said supporting plate 158 is supported rotatably around said axles 159, 159' relative to a supporting bracket 162 disposed on the base or deck 60. When required, a receptacle 164 may be formed on the supporting plate 158 to let it support the forward end of the crown gear 106 so that the engagement of the pinion gear 110 with the crown gear 106 may be retained.

To repeat the operation according to the above described system, when the manually operated shaft 108 is rotated, the crown gear 106, the clutch plate 140 and the rotary disc 138 are also rotated so as to provide a manual fine tuning control to the principal part of the tuner. On the other hand, at the time of selecting broadcasting stations by controlling buttons, the lever member 144 is operated against the resilience of the spring 148 so as to release engagement between said clutch plate 140 and the crown gear 106 and effect rapid tuning smoothly.In addition, if the position of supporting the manually operated shaft 108 at the front portion of the tuner frame is vertically changed as shown by the virtual line in Fig. 10, the engaging relationship between the pinion gear 110 and the crown gear 106 at the foremost end of the operation shaft 108 undergoes no substantial change, thus invariably providing a proper driving control relationship. On the other hand, if the supporting position changes laterally as indicated by the virtual line in Fig.

12, the desired engagement between the pinion gear 110 and the crown gear 106 is maintained to provide an effective operation between these two members because the operation shaft 108 is so formed as to have a sufficient length. Furthermore, in the lateral change of the position of the manually operated shaft 108, the direction of the supporting plate 158 relative to the supporting bracket 162 is also freely changed to form an unstrained supporting relationship between the projection 150 and the vertical slot 160, where control of the manually operated shaft for supporting and tuning can be accomplished smoothly.

According to the system described above, since the crown gear is disposed horizontally, a limiting factor accompanying the prior art system of the manual tuning mechanism, i.e.

the restriction in respect of thickness due to the diameter of the crown gear, has been eliminated to thereby allow designing of a very thin model of said mechanism. Secondly, the pinion gear of the manually operated shaft is brought into engagement with the rear portion of the crown gear with a sufficient distance from the front portion of the tuner frame.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A pushbutton tuner comprising a base, a plurality of operative members each carrying a pushbutton dnd positioned for movement, relative to the base, from 'an inoperative position upon depression of the pushbutton, a tuning member positioned for movement, relative to the base, in a direction transverse the direction of movement of the operative members, and, in respect of each operative member, a respective linkage responsive to the depression of the associated pushbutton to displace the tuning member in said transverse direction to a predeterminable tuning position, each said linkage comprising a pair of links supported on the base for pivotal movement about respective axes spaced apart transverse the direction of movement of the operative members, and having portions spaced from said axes which overlap and which have respective elongate slots, said slots crossing to receive a projection extending from the tuning member through the links at the crossing point of the slots, each operative member having an engagement member which, upon depression of the associated pushbutton, will engage one of the links to re-orientate the linkage by causing both links to pivot and thereby act upon the projection to cause said displacement of the tuning member, the tunign position being reached when said engagement member reaches a position in which it engages both links and is thereby prevented from causing further pivoting thereof.

2. A pushbutton tuner according to claim 1 wherein to permit change of the said tuning positions attained by depression of the pushbuttons, the position of each engagement member is adjustable laterally of the direction of movement of the respective operative member, the said links having respective confronting edges for engagement by the engagement member, said edges crossing at a crossing point which moves laterally of the direction of movement of the opera

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. desired fine manual tuning control by way of the clutch plate 140. Tuning control on the primary part of the tuner that makes use of the rotation of the crown gear 106 is effected by the following mechanism: in the Figures shown, the gear portion 156 of the rotary disc 138 that is rotated by way of the clutch plate 140 is allowed to engage with a rack plate 66 of the type shown in Fig. 12, and the movement of the rack plate 66 is controlled to effect said tuning control. Needless to say, such relation of movement is not necessarily limited to the rack plate 66 and rotational operation of a horizontally disposed gear and so forth may also be used. The rear end of the manually operated tuning shaft 108 is supported by a supporting plate 158 the top and bottom of which is provided with a vertically projecting central axles 159 and 159', and said supporting plate 158 is provided with a vertical hole for receiving the above mentioned projecting 150, and said supporting plate 158 is supported rotatably around said axles 159, 159' relative to a supporting bracket 162 disposed on the base or deck 60. When required, a receptacle 164 may be formed on the supporting plate 158 to let it support the forward end of the crown gear 106 so that the engagement of the pinion gear 110 with the crown gear 106 may be retained. To repeat the operation according to the above described system, when the manually operated shaft 108 is rotated, the crown gear 106, the clutch plate 140 and the rotary disc 138 are also rotated so as to provide a manual fine tuning control to the principal part of the tuner. On the other hand, at the time of selecting broadcasting stations by controlling buttons, the lever member 144 is operated against the resilience of the spring 148 so as to release engagement between said clutch plate 140 and the crown gear 106 and effect rapid tuning smoothly.In addition, if the position of supporting the manually operated shaft 108 at the front portion of the tuner frame is vertically changed as shown by the virtual line in Fig. 10, the engaging relationship between the pinion gear 110 and the crown gear 106 at the foremost end of the operation shaft 108 undergoes no substantial change, thus invariably providing a proper driving control relationship. On the other hand, if the supporting position changes laterally as indicated by the virtual line in Fig. 12, the desired engagement between the pinion gear 110 and the crown gear 106 is maintained to provide an effective operation between these two members because the operation shaft 108 is so formed as to have a sufficient length. Furthermore, in the lateral change of the position of the manually operated shaft 108, the direction of the supporting plate 158 relative to the supporting bracket 162 is also freely changed to form an unstrained supporting relationship between the projection 150 and the vertical slot 160, where control of the manually operated shaft for supporting and tuning can be accomplished smoothly. According to the system described above, since the crown gear is disposed horizontally, a limiting factor accompanying the prior art system of the manual tuning mechanism, i.e. the restriction in respect of thickness due to the diameter of the crown gear, has been eliminated to thereby allow designing of a very thin model of said mechanism. Secondly, the pinion gear of the manually operated shaft is brought into engagement with the rear portion of the crown gear with a sufficient distance from the front portion of the tuner frame. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A pushbutton tuner comprising a base, a plurality of operative members each carrying a pushbutton dnd positioned for movement, relative to the base, from 'an inoperative position upon depression of the pushbutton, a tuning member positioned for movement, relative to the base, in a direction transverse the direction of movement of the operative members, and, in respect of each operative member, a respective linkage responsive to the depression of the associated pushbutton to displace the tuning member in said transverse direction to a predeterminable tuning position, each said linkage comprising a pair of links supported on the base for pivotal movement about respective axes spaced apart transverse the direction of movement of the operative members, and having portions spaced from said axes which overlap and which have respective elongate slots, said slots crossing to receive a projection extending from the tuning member through the links at the crossing point of the slots, each operative member having an engagement member which, upon depression of the associated pushbutton, will engage one of the links to re-orientate the linkage by causing both links to pivot and thereby act upon the projection to cause said displacement of the tuning member, the tunign position being reached when said engagement member reaches a position in which it engages both links and is thereby prevented from causing further pivoting thereof.

tive member as the linkage reorientates.

3. A pushbutton tuner according to claim 2 wherein each engagement member projects from a carrier which is pivotally mounted upon the respective operative member and which is lockable in any adjusted position thereof.

4. A pushbutton tuner according to any preceding claim wherein said plurality of operative members are parallel members mounted in juxtaposed relation for parallel rectilinear movement, said pushbuttons being secured .to the outer ends of said members and said linkages being arranged in juxtaposed relation at the inner ends of said operative members.

5. A pushbutton tuner according to claim 4 wherein the adjacent links of adjacent ones of said linkages are pivoted to said base at' a common pivot axis.

6. A pushbutton tuner according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in any of Figures 1 to 13 of the accompanying drawings.