GB1603545A - Pushbutton tuner - Google Patents

Description

(54) PUSHBUTTON 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 suitable for thinner formation thereof, and to a pushbutton tuner which is capable of being made thin and compact especially at its core operating mechanism portion and to properly perfor a clutch releasing operation without causing possible divergence or slippage in such an operation.

To make the pushbutton tuner thinner is advantageous not only for saving of the materials employed but also for use of the pushbutton tuner in combination with other mechanisms, especially for use in a car radio.

Accordingly, there have been proposed various structures to reduce the thickness of the pushbutton tuner. Some of them have succeeded in rendering a pushbutton mechanism portion thinner but they still employ, for a core operating mechanism, which is also requisite for the pushbutton tuner of this type, a bulky rockable crank structure or other bulky structure associated with a crank gear etc. Thus, none of the prior art could attain such a reduction in the thickness or in the size of the pushbutton tuner as a whole and it has been still a task in the art to realize such a reduction in thickness and size of the pushbutton tuner. The conventional pushbutton tuners have another problem to be solved.In the pushbutton tuner, the tuning operation is carried out through either a socalled one-touch tuning operation by a pushbutton or a fine tuning operation by a manual dial selector and it is required to mount a clutch mechanism and to switch the operation systems for one or the other operation. For this switching operation, in the conventional coil operating mechanism, the operation system is completely disconnected at their crown gear portion for the clutch operation and each component of the mechanism is provided with a spring for resetting. The so formed constructions of the conventional pushbutton tuners are liable to cause divergence in the operative relation for the clutch operation and it cannot be expected to maintain an accurate performance for clutch operation after long continuous use.

The invention provides a pushbutton tuner which comprises: stationary support means; a plurality of button slides supported for movement in a given direction on said support means between inner and outer positions of the tuner; button slide movement responsive means supported for movement on said support means in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the button slides by actuating any selected button slide; a gear mechanism arranged on said support means to be rotated by said movement of said button slide movement respondive means; frequency determining means controlled by the degree of movement imparted to said gear mechanism; manually operable means engageable with said gear mechanism for adjusting frequency; a worm wheel mechanism carried on a support means connected for movement with respect to said stationary support means, said worm wheel mechanism being coupled to said manually operable means for rotation thereby; and clutch means coupled between said worm wheel mechanism and said gear mechanism, which clutch means is responsive to said bodily movement of said worm wheel and its movable support means for decoupling the worm wheel mechanism from said gear mechanism.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of the pushbutton tuner in accordance with the present invention, showing its assembled state; Figure 2 is a perspective exploded view of the components mounted on the base plate; Figure 3 is a perspective exploded view of the components mounted on the top plate; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of one form of the button slide employable in the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, especially Figs. 1 to 3, there is illustrated one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The pushbutton tuner of this embodiment has a base plate 1 and a top plate 2. On said base plate 1 are mounted a pluarlity of dogleg link members 4, 4 acting as actuating members for selecting operation.

Thes dogleg link members 4, 4 are so disposed that each two adjacent ones may be symmetrical, with the respective obtuse bends facing each other as depicted in Fig. 1.

Stated illustratively, each of the link members 4, 4 is pivotably connected, at its base end, to the base plate 1 at its forward portion by a pin 13. Each link member 4 has an elongated guide slot 41 at its tip end portion.

The guide slots 41 of the respective two link members 4, 4 are cross-linked and laid on each other as shown in Fig. 2. In this crossing portion of the slots is inserted an engaging member 50 protruded from a bottom face of a memory slide member 5 which is disposed over the link members 4, 4. The forward end of the base plate 1 is bent uprightly to form recesses 10, 10 for receiving button slides 3, 3, respectively. Each recess 10 has a concave portion 10' for suitably and slidably receiving a diecast sliding member 33 projectingly provided to said button slide 3 as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The so formed recess 10 is adapted to receive the button slide 3 at its stepped portion. The rear end of the base plate 1 is also bent to form an upright guide 1 Ia for the button slides 3, 3.The guide upright 11 a has recesses 11 for receiving the tip ends of the button slides 3, 3, respectively.

On the other hand, the top plate 2 has two groups of guide slots 21 and 22, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, each of which extends in the longitudinal direction of the button slide 3 attached to said top plate 2. As representatively shown with reference to the rightmost button slide 3 of Fig. 3, guide protuberances 31 and 32 formed on the button slide 3 are registered in said guide slots 21 and 22, respectively. The top plate 2 further has apertures 23, 23 formed between the respective slots 22. Each of the aperture 23 has a bent portion 24 at its base end. A spring 25 is mounted between said bent portion 24 and a hook portion 34 formed at a tip end of one side of the respective button slide 3 for restoration of the button slide 3 to its original position.The top plate 2 is further bent at its forward end to form guides 26 for the button slides 3 and at its four corners to form lugs 27 and 28 which are superposed onto upright portions of the base plate 1 at its four corners and fixed thereto by driving suitable screws from openings 29 to threaded openings 10b.

The so disposed button slides 3, when pressed rearwardly or inwardly, will actuate the link members 4 to slidably shift the memory slide member 5 in a direction perpendicular to the pressing direction of the button slides 3. To this end, each of the button slides 3 is provided with a regulating member 30. Stated illustratively, as shown in Fig. 3, a tip end of the regulating member 30 is pivotably connected at 35 and another end thereof has a pin 300, whose upper end 301 of reduced diameter is so disposed as to engage with an arc-like slot 36 and whose lower end 302 of increased diameter is so disposed as to engage with an inner edge 4a of the respective link member 4 assembled as mentioned above.Thus, it will be seen that when the button slide 3 is pressed inwardly keeping the regulating member 30 at a given angle preset with reference to the button slide 3, the memory slide member 5 is shifted through the link member 4 is a conventional manner.

In the thus constructed pushbutton tuner, a shaft 49 is provided at one side of the base plate as shown in Fig. 2. A sleeve 45 coaxial with gears 42 and 43 and a friction plate 44 is fitted around said shaft 49. Said sleeve 45 is inserted in a worm gear member 47 through another friction plate 46. The sleeve portion 48 of said worm gear 47 is fitted in an opening 80 of a movable plate 8 and said friction plate 46 and said worm gear 47 are fitted in an opening 70 of the subframe 7 placed on the friction plate 44. Said subframe 7 has at its one side end portion guide pins 71 and 71 a which are inserted in apertures 81 and 81 a of the movable plate 8, respectively, for guide function. A spring 88 is mounted between at the top end of the guide pin 71 and the top face of the movable plate 8 and a stop ring 89 is mounted on said guide pin 71 to cause the movable plate 8 to pressingly abut against the subframe 7. The movable plate 8 has one side bent downwardly to form a bearing portion 82, which bears the worm 84. A spring 83 is further provided between one shaft portion 85 of the worm 84 and a hook portion 86 formed on the movable plate 8 to mesh the worm 84 with the worm wheel 47 when said movable plate 8 is assembled as mentioned above. Another shaft portion 85 of the worm 84 is connected through a universal joint mechanism 101 to a tuning operation shaft 100 as seen from Figs. 1 and 2.More particularly, the tuning operation shaft 100, along with a gear 103, is rotatably born by a bearing bracket 102 provided on the subframe 7, and connected to a coupler 105 through an intermediate member 104 which has protuberances 104a and 104b extending in directions perpendicular to each other and matable with a groove 103a on the rear face of the gear 103 and a groove 105a of the coupler 105 connected to said another shaft portion 85, respectively. Thus, the members 103, 104 and 105 constitute said universal joint mechanism. In this connection, it is to be noted that the subframe 7 has apertures 79 at its peripheral portion which are registered to threaded members ld of the base plate 1 by some suitable screws respectively for fixation of the subframe 7. The threaded members ld positioned at forward portion of the base plate 1 are also used for fixing of the bracket 102.

Fig. 4 exemplary shows one preferred form of the button slide 3 employable in the pushbutton tuner according to the present invention. In Fig. 4, a guide slot 37 is formed in the button slide 3 which extends in the longitudinal direction thereof. The guide slot 37 has communicating engaging recess portions 38 on the both sides of the slot 37 at its intermediate position. The sliding member 33 is attached to the so formed button slide 3.

The sliding member 33 has a guide portion 331 of reduced width formed integrally therewith for registration with the slot 37.

Said guide portion 331 is in turn formed by diecasting integrally with engaging projections 332 adapted to be inserted in said engaging recess portions 38 and adapted to be brought into contact with the top face of the button slide 3 during the sliding operation of the same and abut against the sides of the guide slot 37. The sliding member 33 has, at its bottom side portion, an operating portion 330 which cooperates with a roller 15 of a kick plate 14 provided at a forward end of the base plate I as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to operate a clutch mechanism. The sliding member 33 further has a cam face 333 as shown in Fig. 4 for actuation of a free end of a lever member 303 which is loosely cpnnected at its tip end to the button slide 3 by a pin 304.The lever member 303 is connected, along with a resilient member 305 for prevention of quick actuation, to the button slide 3 by the pin 304 and so disposed that its tip end functioning as a suppression portion 306 may front on the forward end of the frequency regulating member 30. As mentioned above, said frequency regulating member 30 is pivotably connected at its base end to the button slide 3 by a pin 35 and has at its forward end the pin 300 whose portion 301 of reduced diameter engages with the arc-like slot 36 formed around 35 and whose portion 302 of increased diameter engages with the inner edge 4a of the link member 4 disposed as previously stated to actuate the memory slide member 5. In this connection,.

it should be noted that said suppression portion 306 acts for restriction at a position further forward than the preset position of the pin 300. This restriction action can be attained when the inclined cam face 333 of the sliding member 33 which slides according to the pressing of a pushbutton 39 and the button slide 3 pushes the base end of the lever 303 away from the face of the button slide 3 in accordance generally to holding and restriction action of the conventional frequency regulating member in a button slide mechanism of this type.

With the so formed button slide structure, the guide portion of the sliding member is assembled in such a relation that it is received in the guide slot of the button slide so that it is apparent that such a button slide structure may be formed relatively thin.

Further, not only the sliding member kept in the relation as mentioned above may be slidably guided through the engagement between the guide portion and the guide slot, but also the projection provided on the guide portion is guided by the opposite face of the button slide, ensuring safe sliding of the sliding member. The projection 332, inter alia, is constantly in good engaged state since the lever 303 presses the sliding member 33 against the button slide 3 when the frequency regulating member 30 is held and restricted in a locked state and the projection 332 engages with the peripheral portion of the slot even when the regulating member 30 is out of its locking position, though said engaging projection 332 is mounted onto the button slide 3 through the recessed portion 38.

The friction plates 44 and 46 constitute a clutch mechanism. As mentioned above, the movable plate 8 which is mounted through the spring 88 on the guide pin 71 by the stop ring 89 is adapted to be lifted suitably, which will cause the release of the frictional connection between the friction plates 44 and 46. To actuate the so constructed clutch mechanism, a cylindrical threaded member 180 is provided on a side portion of the bottom of the movable plate 80, a spherical member 181 is fitted in said threaded member 180 at its lower portion and an adjusting screw 182 is put in said threaded member 180 to contact at the lower end of said adjusting screw 182 with said spherical member 181.Further, the kick plate 14 is provided at the forward end of the base plate 1 to be shifted by the button slide 3 pressed inwardly as mentioned before in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of said button slide 3. The kick plate 14 has at its one end an upright portion 17 which fronts on a receiving end 18a of a clutch operating member 18 disposed on the base plate 1 and pivotably connected intermediate the ends to the base plate 1. On another end of said clutch operating member 18, a circular engaging portion 1 8b is formed for abutment against said spherical member 181.

Thus. it will be seen that in the clutch releasing operation by the clutch operating member 18, the spherical member 181 is pushed upwardly against the action of the spring 88 to disengage said spherical member 181 from said circular engaging portion 18b.

Then, the friction plate 46 is spaced from the friction plate 44 by a distance corresponding to the raised amount of the spherical member 181. As may be seen, this disengagement operation is carried out readily and easily due to the rolling action of the spherical member 181. Further, the structure for this operation may be formed compactly and suitably and installed in a limited space. Still further, the clutch operation may be suitably and readily adjusted in the assembled state by operating the adjusting screw 182, requiring no accurate adjustment at the time of assembling and allowing easy and rapid coping with possible wear or deformation in operation.

The core movement operating mechanism is constructed as follows: in the pushbutton tuner so constructed as mentioned above, the memory slide member 5 has elongated slots 51 and 52 at its side end portions which are adapted to be engaged with a guide portion 56 formed on the base plate 1 and the threaded member 180, respectively and is to be shifted in the lateral direction thereof while being guided by said guide portion 56 and said threaded member 180, and said memory slide member 5 further has a rack 53 at its one end which is meshable with the gear 42 of relatively small diameter. This meshing is positively maintained by a spring 55 which is provided between a hook portion 54 formed on said memory slide member 5 at its portion near one end thereof and the subframe 7.The gear 43 of relatively large diameter is meshed with a rack 62 formed on an extended portion 61 of a movable plate 6 which is slidably mounted on the base plate 1. Stated illustratively, as shown in Fig. 2, an attachment member 60 is mounted on said movable plate 6, allowing some relative resilient sliding therebetween by means of a spring 64 and the rack 62 of said attachment member 60 is adapted to mesh with said gear 43. The movable plate 6 has at its end an uo portion 65 which in turn has an engaging portion or an engaging slot 66 extending vertically. With this slot 66 is engaged a core mounting member 90 for mounting cores 91 therein which are adapted to enter and leave coil assembly 9 as shown in Fig. 1. Said coil assembly 9 is comprised of a plurality of coils (for example six coils) integrally mounted on a holding frame 95.

Said holding frame 95 has three guide rods 92 extending in parallel with one another from said frame 95. The core mounting member 90 is slidably mounted on said guide rods 92 and has at its one side end a bent portion 90a extending in an axial direction of the coil assembly 9. Said bent portion 90a in turn has a hanging portion 93 with an engaging projection 94 formed thereon which is engageable with said engaging slot 66 of the upright portion 65.

In the construction as mentioned hereinbefore, the gears 42 and 43 are rotated by means of the rack 53 formed on the memory slide member 5 which is shifted in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of the button slide 3. Due to the difference in diameter between the gears 42 and 43, the movement of the memory slide 5 is suitably amplified to actuate the movable plate 6 in mesh with the gear 43. In this connection, it is to be noted that since the engaging projection 94 of the core mounting member 90 mounting the cores 91 is engaged with the slot 66 of said movable plate 6, the operation of the memory slide member 5 will cause said core mounting member 90 to be shifted, allowing the cores 91 to enter or leave the coil assembly 9.It is further to be noted that since such a conjoint actuation as mentioned above is effected using circular gear members, the direction of movement of said core mounting member 90 and the holding frame 95 for the coil assembly 9 may be suitably selected, i.e., they may be so designed to be disposed for movement in a direction perpendicular to movement of the memory slide member 5 as shown in the drawings, in a direction parallel to movement of said memory slide member 5 or in a direction at an angle to movement of said memory slide member 5. Thus, the design of the pushbutton tuner may be at ones discretion according to necessity, ensuring smooth and accurate core sliding operation.

A worm mechanism is employed as a gear mechanism for conjoint movement with the memory slide which is actuated in associated with the pushbutton operation. Consequently, the entry or leaving operation for the core with reference to the coil is attained by a compact configuration without using a conventional bulky rockable crank mechanism or crank gear mechanism. Thus, this invention has a remarkable advantage in that it can provide a thinner pushbutton tuner adapted for such a thinner pushbutton mech anism. Furthermore, said worm mechanism functions not only as a drive operation mechanism but also as a stopper mechanism for the associated members in the clutch operation, so that the worm mechanism in question can still keep its engaging relation even when the engagement of the transmission system is released upon the clutch operation.This enables possible divergence caused during the operation to be minimized and assures a proper and accurate operative relation for continuous use.

Instead of such a configuration that all members are disposed on the base plate as made in the conventional pushbutton tuner, the upper plate is also used for mounting of the components. More particularly, the button slide is disposed on the upper plate so as to face downwardly and the frequency regulating members are in turn disposed on said button slide so as to be operatively connected to the operating members on the base plate.

This allows separate assemblies on the base plate and the upper or top plate in the fabrication of the tuner, enabling the assembly of the pushbutton tuner to be fabricated and sped up. Further, this configuration allows not only the button slides but also the parts associated therewith to be arranged in a plane while disposing the button slides on the top plate and the associated parts at the lower faces of the respective button slides for operative engagement with the operating members on the bottom face, so that the resulting pushbutton tuner may be formed sufficiently thin, e.g., as thin as 10 mm or less, even if the pushbuttons are located at a height suitably spaced from the base plate for desirable pushbutton operation. Thus, the present invention can provide a thinner pushbutton tuner with an excellent performance and useful with great advantages.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A pushbutton tuner which comprises: stationary support means; a plurality of button slides supported for movement in a given direction on said support means between inner and outer positions of the tuner; button slide movement responsive means supported for movement on said support means in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the button slides by actuating any selected button slide; a gear mechanism arranged on said support means to be rotated by said movement of said button slide movement responsive means; frequency determining means controlled by the degree of movement imparted to said gear mechanism; manually operable means engageable with said gear mechanism for adjusting frequency;; a worm wheel mechanism carried on a support means connected for movement with respect to said stationary support means, said worm wheel mechanism being coupled to said manually operable means for rotation thereby; and clutch means coupled between said worm wheel mechanism and said gear mechanism, which clutch means is responsive to said bodily movement of said worm wheel and its movable support means for decoupling the worm wheel mechanism from said gear mechanism.

2. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said worm wheel mechanism and support means therefor are supported for movement in a direction at right angles to the direction of movement of said button slides.

3. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frequency determining means includes a slidable member coupled to said rotatable gear mechanism for movement thereby in a given direction, said worm wheel and movable support means therefor being bodily movable in a direction transverse to the said given direction.

4. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises: a movable plate engageable and conjointly movable with said gear mechanism; a tuning coil; a core adapted to be inserted into said coil; a core mounting member on which said core is disposed; and an engaging portion provided on said movable plate for engagement with said core mounting member.

5. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises: a clutch operating member; a circular engaging portion provided to said clutch operating member; a clutch mechanism; a movable member provided to said clutch mechanism; a spherical member engageable with said circular engaging portion to actuate said movable member and said clutch operating member conjointly; and an adjusting screw for adjusting the projected amount of said spherical member.

6. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises: a guide slot formed in said button slide; an engaging recess formed intermediate the longitudinal ends of guide slot and communicating therewith; a guide portion provided on said sliding member for engagement with said guide slot; and an engaging projection formed on said guide portion and adapted to be inserted into said engaging recess for engagement with the peripheral portion of said guide slot on the

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

Claims (7)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. anism. Furthermore, said worm mechanism functions not only as a drive operation mechanism but also as a stopper mechanism for the associated members in the clutch operation, so that the worm mechanism in question can still keep its engaging relation even when the engagement of the transmission system is released upon the clutch operation. This enables possible divergence caused during the operation to be minimized and assures a proper and accurate operative relation for continuous use. Instead of such a configuration that all members are disposed on the base plate as made in the conventional pushbutton tuner, the upper plate is also used for mounting of the components. More particularly, the button slide is disposed on the upper plate so as to face downwardly and the frequency regulating members are in turn disposed on said button slide so as to be operatively connected to the operating members on the base plate. This allows separate assemblies on the base plate and the upper or top plate in the fabrication of the tuner, enabling the assembly of the pushbutton tuner to be fabricated and sped up. Further, this configuration allows not only the button slides but also the parts associated therewith to be arranged in a plane while disposing the button slides on the top plate and the associated parts at the lower faces of the respective button slides for operative engagement with the operating members on the bottom face, so that the resulting pushbutton tuner may be formed sufficiently thin, e.g., as thin as 10 mm or less, even if the pushbuttons are located at a height suitably spaced from the base plate for desirable pushbutton operation. Thus, the present invention can provide a thinner pushbutton tuner with an excellent performance and useful with great advantages. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A pushbutton tuner which comprises: stationary support means; a plurality of button slides supported for movement in a given direction on said support means between inner and outer positions of the tuner; button slide movement responsive means supported for movement on said support means in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the button slides by actuating any selected button slide; a gear mechanism arranged on said support means to be rotated by said movement of said button slide movement responsive means; frequency determining means controlled by the degree of movement imparted to said gear mechanism; manually operable means engageable with said gear mechanism for adjusting frequency;; a worm wheel mechanism carried on a support means connected for movement with respect to said stationary support means, said worm wheel mechanism being coupled to said manually operable means for rotation thereby; and clutch means coupled between said worm wheel mechanism and said gear mechanism, which clutch means is responsive to said bodily movement of said worm wheel and its movable support means for decoupling the worm wheel mechanism from said gear mechanism.

2. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said worm wheel mechanism and support means therefor are supported for movement in a direction at right angles to the direction of movement of said button slides.

3. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frequency determining means includes a slidable member coupled to said rotatable gear mechanism for movement thereby in a given direction, said worm wheel and movable support means therefor being bodily movable in a direction transverse to the said given direction.

4. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises: a movable plate engageable and conjointly movable with said gear mechanism; a tuning coil; a core adapted to be inserted into said coil; a core mounting member on which said core is disposed; and an engaging portion provided on said movable plate for engagement with said core mounting member.

5. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises: a clutch operating member; a circular engaging portion provided to said clutch operating member; a clutch mechanism; a movable member provided to said clutch mechanism; a spherical member engageable with said circular engaging portion to actuate said movable member and said clutch operating member conjointly; and an adjusting screw for adjusting the projected amount of said spherical member.

6. A pushbutton tuner as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises: a guide slot formed in said button slide; an engaging recess formed intermediate the longitudinal ends of guide slot and communicating therewith; a guide portion provided on said sliding member for engagement with said guide slot; and an engaging projection formed on said guide portion and adapted to be inserted into said engaging recess for engagement with the peripheral portion of said guide slot on the

lower face of said sliding member.

7. A pushbutton tuner substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.