GB2105946A - Telephone - Google Patents

Abstract

A telephone subscriber's instrument body has a base portion (3) which is wedge shaped so that by reversing it the body can be used as a desk set or a wall set. The push-button unit (1) and a board (31) carrying the circuit components are also reversible. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Telephone The present invention relates to a telephone subscriber's instrument, and especially to such an instrument usable either as a wall-mounted instru ment or as a desk-mounted instrument.

For reasons of economy of production it is clearly desirablethatthe same instrument can readily be used either as a desk set or as a wall set, and it is an object of the invention to provide an instrument which is so usable.

According to the invention, there is provided a telephone subscriber's instrument body, which includes a base portion, a push-button unit, a circuit board which carries electrical and electronic components and interconnections therebetween, interconnections between said circuit board, said pushbutton unit and the line terminals, and a cover portion with apertures for the push-buttons and an aperture at one end for the hook-switch, wherein the cover portion and the base portion can be secured together in two different positions in one of which the base portion's orientation differs by 180" from its orientation in the other position, wherein in one of said positions the body is that of a desk set while in the other of said positions the body is that of a wall set, wherein the circuit bond can be located in said body in two different positions one for desk set use and one for wall set use, and wherein the pushbutton unit can be located in the body in two different positions, one for desk set use and one for wall set use.

The conversion between desk use and wall mounted use would not normally be made by a subscriber, but by a telephone engineer.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. lisa part-sectioned view of an instrument base, plus circuit board assembly, plus push-button unit for an instrument body embodying the invention and assembled as a desk set.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a cover member for use with an assembly such as that of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross-section of the cover member of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of an assembly similar to that of Fig. 1, but for a different embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectioned view of an assembly similerto that of Fig. 1 for the embodiment of Fig. 4, with a cover member in place, as assembled for use as a desk set.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 5 of the same assembly when used as a wall set.

It will be noted that some of the details of the assembly of Fig. 1 differ from those of the assembly of Fig. 5; this is because the arrangement of Figs. 4 to 6 is a later version than that of Figs. 1-3. Infact, the principles are the same in both versions.

In Fig. 1, there is a push-button unit 1, which can be of the type described and claimed in ourApplication No. 8035345 (E. R. Brooke et al - 8-1-1), which is of generally shallow U-shape in cross-section. On each side it has a resilient catch such as 2 which hooks to a rim portion on the base portion 3. This base portion 3 is a hollow shell-like structure of generally rectangular plan, with its right-hand end higher than its left-hand end. Pillars such as 4, 5, help to locate the push-button unit 1.

There is a hook-switch unit with a hook-switch lever 6 projecting upwards. When the handset is on the instrument body, this lever pivots and opens the line loop, which latter is closed when the handset is off hook. This handset is roughly L-shaped with its mouthpiece end over the left hand end when on hook, that end of the handset then resting against a recess in the cover (see below). When the cover is fitted as will be seen belowthe hook-switch lever projects through a hole in a recess for the mouthpiece end of the handset. This when on hook depresses the lever 6.

The base also supports a tone sounder 7 whose volume can be adjusted by a knurled wheel whose rim projects from the side of the instrument body.

This is preferably of the type described and claimed in our Application No. 8025123 (P. J. Stocker et al 8-1), which uses a piezo-ceramic transducer. This has a sound outlet in the bottom of the instrument base.

The final main item of Fig. is a printed circuit board 8 on which is mounted the majority of the electrical and electronic components of the instrument. This board also carries the hook-switch arrangements referred to above. This board can be fitted into the instrument base in either one or two orientations, 180" apart, dependent on whether the instrument is a desk set or a wall set. In a similar way the push-button unit has two different locations relative to the ends of the instrument body. These different positions are needed because when the instrument is used as a wall set, the high end of the base shell 3 is uppermost, so that the handset is held in place by a ridge on the cover as will be seen later.

The various portions are interconnected by wiring such as 10,11 which is long enough and flexible enough to allow re-orientation between the two uses. It should be noted that in normal usage changes between the two uses are relatively infrequent, and would normally only be done by skilled personnel.

Figs. 2 and 3 show the instrument body's cover, which is generally rectangular in plan with a shallow recess 15 at one end for the microphone end of the handset and a longer, generally rectangular, recess 16forthe earpiece end. When the handset is on hook, its earpiece end fits overthe hole 17 through which the end of the hook-switch lever 6 projects. In the present arrangement this lever end is semicylindrical, and is depressed by the handset end. The recess 16 also has a shallow recess 18 in which a label giving the telephone number and other useful information can be placed. This covers a hole 19 for a hole for a fixing screw.

The cover also has an array of holes through which the push-buttons of the u :1it t project when the set is assembled.

To assemble the cover to the assembly of Fig. 1, a hook 20, Fig. 3, on the cover is fitted to the left-hand inner end of the assembly, and the cover rotated clock-wise about the hook until it closes the base.

The cover and base are then fastened together by a screw in the hole 19, which is received in a tapped hole in the base body. This gives a desk set.

To convert the set to a wall set, the fixing screw is removed from the hole 19 and the cover lifted off.

Then the push-button unit 1 is unlatched from the base and lifted off. Next the circuit board 8with the hook-switch arrangements is lifted out reversed and replaced, taking care not to snap or trap the flexible wiring. Then the push button unit is reversed and fitted to the body, to the right of its position in Fig. 1.

It is now in the same position relative to the board 8 as it was in Fig. 1. The cover is next reversed to that the earpiece recess end is at the left-hand end and the cover is hooked to the base using the hook 20 as before. Then the fixing screw is put in via the hole 19, and into another tapped hole in the body. We now have the set in its wall-mounted form, in which case the mouthpiece is held in place by the ridge 21, as will be more clearly seen from the somewhat different version to be described below- see Fig. 6. The set is fastened to the wall by one or more screws which extend through holes in its bottom.

In this set, the line wire is shown at 22 and the cord to the handset at 23.

We nowreferto Figs. 4and 5, from which it will be seen that the arrangement is in most respects similar to that described above. The push-button unit 30 is coupled to the printed circuit unit 31 by a strip of flexible circuit 32. The tone sounder 33 is the same as before. However, the hook-switch lever 34 is different, being in this case rectangular and narrow in plan. However, in most other aspects the arrangement is the same as for Figs. 1 to 3. The ridge 35, when the instrument is a desk set helps to locate the handset.

The sequence of operation needed to adapt the set for wall mounting is the same as for the set of Figs. 1 to 3, and the result is shown in Fig. 6. The mouth piece then fits in the recess indicated at 36, with its rim resting on and held in place by the upstanding ridge 35.

Claims (3)

1. A telephone subscriber's instrument body, which includes a base portion, a push-button unit, a circuit board which carries electrical and electronic components and interconnections therebetween, interconnections between said circuit board, said push-button unit and the line terminals, and a cover portion with apertures for the push-buttons and an aperture at one end for the hook-switch, wherein the cover portion and the base portion can be secured together in two different positions in one of which the pase portion's orientation differs by 180" from its orientation in the other position, wherein in one of said positions the body is that of a desk set while in the other of said positions the body is that of a wall set, wherein the circuit board can be located in said body in two different positions one for desk set use and one for wall set use, and wherein the pushbutton unit can be located in the body in two different positions, one for the desk set use and one for wall set use.

2. An instrument body as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover member has a sloping front face with said holes for the push-buttons and a raised ridge-like portion between the push-button holes and the hook-switch recess, and wherein ridge supports the handset when the body is used as a wall set.

3. A telephone subscriber's instrument substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1-3 or Figs.

46 of the accompanying drawings.