GB365897A - Automobile steering wheel with control of electric warning device - Google Patents

Abstract

365,897. Hand-wheels. TURGEON, C., 25, Boulevard SevignÚ, Rennes, Ille-et- Vilaine, France. April 14, 1931, No. 10997. Convention date, April 15, 1930. [Class 80 (iv).] For operating electric warning-devices such as horns and direction-signalling lamps on motor vehicles, switch-elements comprising an annular fixed contact and a movable contact in the form of a spring ring under tension are housed in an annular recess in the steering- wheel rim, the movable contact being operable by the finger at any point in its circumference without disengaging the hands from the wheel. The movable ring may be in the form of a coiled spring 1, preferably of aluminium alloy or other light conducting metal, normally seated in a recess 3 from which it can be dislodged into a recess 5 of larger diameter to contact with a ring 4, the overhanging edge of the rim 2 protecting it against unintentional displacement. The part 4 also may be a coiled or other spring ring held in place solely by its elasticity and merely contacting with the conductor 6, but may be a plain or stranded wire or flat or other metal strip fixed in any manner, or can be replaced by an insulated metal portion of the rim itself. The ring 1 may be insulated from the driver's hands by a varnish, paint, rubber, &c. covering bared for contact. The leads 6 may be concealed in one or more hollow spokes 7 or, in the case of flexible or sliding spokes, may lie beneath the usual sheath or be in flat strip form. A single lead connected to the contact 4 may be used, the contact 1 being " earthed " to the chassis through the wheel. Selective actuation of two warning-devices may be effected by using a change-over switch mounted on the wheel or by subdividing the contact member or members into independent semicircular segments. According to the Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) (a) the coiled spring 1 may be replaced by a circular metallic strip capable of flexure to close the circuit, or by an elastically-mounted rigid ring. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.