JP2000164058A - Switch device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain the force for bringing a moving contact into contact with a fixed contact without requiring a separate spring and reduce the cost by providing elastic pieces integrally formed on a contact holder and exciting the moving contact toward the fixed contact. SOLUTION: Two elastic pieces 28 are integrally formed on the lower face side of a second contact holder 14. These two elastic pieces 28 are extended from the front and the rear in the opposite directions, they can be vertically deflection-deformed from base sections by notch sections 29 formed on the peripheries except the base sections, and projections 30 are provided on the lower faces of tip sections. A moving contact 13 is assembled to the holder 14 while thrusting the projections 30 of the elastic pieces 28 and the whole elastic pieces 28 with a bottom section and inserting both side sections into both vertical grooves 26 and fitting projections 27 into oblong holes 31. The force for ringing the moving contact 13 into contact with a fixed contact can be obtained by the elastic pieces 28.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a switch device having an improved biasing structure for a movable contact.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a slide-type switch device has a movable contact which slides on and off a fixed contact, and the movable contact is held by a contact holder.

FIG. 5 shows a conventional structure of the device itself.
The contact holder 101 has vertical grooves 10 on both left and right sides.
2 are formed, and further, a projection 103 is formed at the back of each of the vertical grooves 102. Also, this contact holder 1
A hole 104 is formed from the center of the lower surface of 01 to the inside. On the other hand, the movable contact 105 is formed to be bent upward in a U-shape with a width to be fitted into the vertical groove 102 of the contact holder 101, and has a vertically long slot 106 formed on both sides thereof. Further, two contact portions 107 are formed at the bottom of the movable contact 105 so as to bulge downward.

[0004] Therefore, the hole 1 of the contact holder 101
The spring 108 is inserted into the 04 about half of the total length,
From below, the movable contact 105 is assembled to the contact holder 101 by compressing the spring 108 by the bottom while fitting both sides into the vertical grooves 102 and fitting the elongated holes 106 into the projections 103. As a result, the movable contact 105 is vertically movably assembled by an amount corresponding to the vertical length of the elongated hole 106 with respect to the protrusion 103, and is urged downward by the elastic force of the spring 108 on the fixed contact side (not shown). Thus, a force is applied to the contact portion 107 to contact the fixed contact.

[0005]

In the case of the above-mentioned conventional device, the force with which the movable contact 105 comes into contact with the fixed contact is determined by the contact holder 101 and the movable contact 105.
Is obtained by a spring 108 of a separate part.
The number of used parts and the number of assembling man-hours have increased, resulting in higher costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a force for bringing a movable contact into contact with a fixed contact without the need for a separate spring, thereby reducing costs. The present invention is to provide a switch device that can be used.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a switch device according to the present invention comprises a fixed contact, a movable contact that comes into contact with and separates from the fixed contact, and a contact holder that holds the movable contact. And a resilient piece formed integrally with the contact holder to bias the movable contact in the fixed contact direction.

According to this, the force of the movable contact contacting the fixed contact can be obtained by the elastic piece formed integrally with the contact holder, and a separate spring as in the conventional one is not required.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a lever switch device for a vehicle will be described below with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. First, FIGS. 3 and 4 show the overall configuration (half) of a lever switch device for a vehicle, in which a bracket 2 is mounted on a body 1 with a support shaft 3 as a center in the directions of arrows A1 and A2 in FIG. Is provided rotatably.

A bracket 4 has a hollow lever 4.
Are provided so as to be rotatable about the support shaft 5 in directions indicated by arrows B1 and B2 in FIG. This lever 4 is integrated with the bracket 2 by the arrow A
It is also rotatable in the 1 and A2 directions. Inside the lever 4, the rotation operation shaft 6 is rotated around the axis (arrows C 1 and C 2 in FIG. 3).
Direction), and a rotary operation knob 6 is attached to the tip of the rotary operation shaft 6.

On the back side of the body 1, a switch board 8 is provided in a fixed state. The switch board 8 has a fixed contact 9 for a light control switch on its upper surface.
And a fixed contact 10 for a dimmer switch. A first contact holder 12 holding a movable contact 11 corresponding to the fixed contact 9 and a second contact holder 1 holding a movable contact 13 corresponding to the fixed contact 10 are provided on the switch substrate 8.
4 are slidably provided. Of these, the first contact holder 12 is movable in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 4 (directions of arrows D1 and D2 in FIG. 3), and the second contact holder 14 is movable in the directions of arrows D1 and D2. 4 can be moved in the directions indicated by arrows E1 and E2 in FIG.

A first end of the rotating operation shaft 6 on the body 1 side is
An operation unit 15 for operating the contact holder 12 is provided at the end of the lever 4 on the body 1 side, and an operation unit 16 for operating the second contact holder 14 is provided at the end of the lever 4.
And two (see FIG. 3) arm portions 17 are projected.

A moderation mechanism 18 is provided between the two arm portions 17 and the bracket 2 to give moderation to the rotation of the lever 4 in the directions of arrows B1 and B2. This moderation mechanism 18
Is a moderation surface 19 having a waveform provided on the bracket 2 side,
The coil spring 20 includes a coil spring 20 provided on the arm portion 17 side and a ball 21 urged toward the detent surface 19 by the coil spring 20.

Also, between the lever 4 and the rotation operation shaft 6,
A detent mechanism 22 is provided for imparting detent to the rotation of the rotary operation shaft 6 in the directions of the arrows C1 and C2. This moderation mechanism 22
Although not shown in detail, the moderation surface 2 having the same configuration as the moderation mechanism 18 described above and having a waveform provided on the rotary operation shaft 6 side is provided.
3, a coil spring 24 provided on the lever 4 side, and the ball 2 urged toward the detent surface 23 side by the coil spring 24.
Consists of five.

In the above configuration, when the lever 4 is turned in the directions of the arrows A1 and A2 together with the bracket 2, a contact holder for a turn signal switch (not shown) is moved and the turn signal switch is operated.

The rotary operation shaft 6 is moved by an arrow C with a knob 7.
1 and C2, the operation unit 15 causes the first operation.
Is moved in the directions of arrows D1 and D2, the movable contact 11 comes into contact with and separates from the fixed contact 9, and the light control switch is operated. In this case, the knob 7 is held by the moderation mechanism 22 at three positions: an off position, a small lamp lighting position, and a head lamp lighting position.

When the lever 4 is turned in the directions of arrows B1 and B2, the second contact holder 14 is moved in the directions of arrows E1 and E2 by the operation section 16, and the movable contact 13 comes into contact with and separates from the fixed contact 10. , The dimmer switch is operated. In this case, the lever 4 moves the low beam position HL, the high beam position HU, and the passing position H
P can be moved to three positions, and the low beam position HL and the high beam position HU are held by the moderation mechanism 18. However, at the passing position HP, the lever 4
When the operating force for the is released, it is automatically returned to the low beam position HL.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the relationship between the second contact holder 14 and the movable contact 13. The relationship between the first contact holder 12 and the movable contact 11 is also not shown, but is the same as the above. Hereinafter, the relationship between the second contact holder 14 and the movable contact 13 will be representatively described.

The second contact holder 14 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape by an insulating material such as plastic, and has vertical grooves 26 formed on both left and right sides thereof.
Projections 27 are integrally formed in the depths of both vertical grooves 26. Further, a plurality of, in this case, two elastic pieces 28 are integrally formed on the lower surface side of the second contact holder 14.

The two elastic pieces 28 are formed so as to extend from opposite directions, ie, the front and the rear, and each has a cutout 29 formed around each part except its base.
Accordingly, the base can be flexed up and down with the base serving as a fulcrum, and has a projection 30 on the lower surface of the distal end.

On the other hand, the movable contact 13 is formed of a conductive material, for example, a brass plate, and is bent upward in a U-shape with a width to be fitted into the vertical groove 26 of the second contact holder 14. A vertically long slot 31 is formed in the part,
At the bottom, two contact portions 32 are formed by bulging downward.

In this configuration, the movable contact 13 is pushed into the vertical groove 26 on both sides while the protrusion 30 of the elastic piece 28 and the entire elastic piece 28 are pushed in by the bottom, and the elongated hole 31 is inserted into the projection 27. The second contact holder 1 is fitted
4 is assembled. As a result, the movable contact 13
The fixed contact 10 is mounted so as to be able to move up and down by an amount corresponding to the vertical length of the elongated hole 31 with respect to the projection 27, and the elasticity of the elastic piece 28 restored from the pushed state.
The contact portion 32 is urged downward, which is the side, to apply a force for the contact portion 32 to come into contact with the fixed contact 10.

As described above, according to the present structure, the force of the movable contact 13 (11) contacting the fixed contact 10 (9) can be obtained by the elastic piece 28 formed integrally with the contact holder 14 (12). It is possible and does not require a separate spring as in the prior art. Therefore, the number of parts used and the number of assembly steps can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

The elastic piece 28 is provided on the contact holder 1.
It is also conceivable to form the movable contact 13 (11) instead of the movable contact 13 (11). In this case, the movable contact 13 (11) needs to be formed of a member having elasticity for bending deformation of the elastic piece 28. However, the member having elasticity has low conductivity which is important for the contact. As a result, the electrical characteristics of the switch device become inferior.

In this respect, in this configuration, since the elastic piece 28 is formed on the contact holder 14 (12), the movable contact 13 (11) has a high conductivity even if it does not have a large elasticity. For example, the above-described brass plate or the like can be used, and the electrical characteristics of the switch device can be maintained well.

In the case of this structure, the elastic piece 28
A plurality is formed to extend from opposite directions. As a result, the spring load of the elastic piece 28 is applied to the movable contact 13 (11) in a well-balanced direction, and the movable contact 13 (11) with respect to the contact holder 14 (12).
, The electrical characteristics of the switch device can be favorably obtained.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings. In particular, the present invention can be widely applied not only to a lever switch device for a vehicle but also to switch devices in general. In addition, the number of the elastic pieces may be only one, or may be three or more.

[0028]

The present invention is as described above.
The following effects are obtained. According to the switch device of the first aspect, the force at which the movable contact contacts the fixed contact,
Since it can be obtained with an elastic piece integrally formed with the contact holder, there is no need for a separate component spring like the conventional one, and the number of parts used and the number of assembly steps can be reduced, leading to cost reduction. it can. Also, in this case,
Since a highly conductive member can be used for the movable contact, it is possible to maintain good electrical characteristics as a switch device.

According to the switch device of the second aspect, the spring load of the elastic piece is applied to the movable contact in a well-balanced direction, and the posture of the movable contact with respect to the contact holder is stabilized, so that the electrical characteristics of the switch device can be improved. Obtainable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a main part showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same part in an assembled state.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a half part of a lever switch device for a vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional bottom view of a half of the device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

9 and 10 are fixed contacts, 11 is a movable contact, 1
2 is a first contact holder, 13 is a movable contact,
14 denotes a second contact holder, and 28 denotes an elastic piece.

Claims (2)

[Claims] A fixed contact; a movable contact that comes into contact with and separates from the fixed contact; a contact holder that holds the movable contact; and a contact holder that is formed integrally with the contact holder and urges the movable contact in the fixed contact direction. A switch device comprising an elastic piece. 2. The switch device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of elastic pieces are formed to extend from opposite directions.