JP2002203459A - Lever switch structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lever switch structure capable of surely fitting a supporting shaft structure of an operation lever with the small number of components. SOLUTION: In a combination switch unit 3 in which switches of a directional indicator of an automobile are installed, an engaging shaft 22 formed in an operation lever 7 is rotatably supported in a supporting hole 16 of a bracket 10, and a base part 21 of the operation lever 7 is fit to the inside of the bracket 10. A rotating base 18 of the bracket 10 is engaged with a supporting rib 27 formed in a lid 11, and the bracket 10 is supported in the lid 11 so as to be rotatable on the supporting rib 27.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lever switch structure such as a combination switch unit provided with a plurality of switches for operating a turn signal or the like of an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A combination switch unit for performing a switching operation such as a turn signal operation switch, a headlight changeover switch, a washer switch, and the like is arranged around a steering shaft that supports a steering handle of an automobile. The combination switch unit includes a switch body fixed to the periphery of the steering shaft, and an operation lever unit having one end attached to the switch body. Then, various switches are operated by the driver turning the operation lever back and forth or up and down.

[0003]

The lever switch used to operate the turn signal switch and the washer switch described above does not have a rotating shaft provided by a separate member and the operating lever is supported by the rotating shaft. The number of parts increases. On the other hand, a mounting claw is formed on the bracket that supports the operation lever, and the operation lever is engaged with the mounting claw, and the operation lever is mounted on the bracket.
Some of these parts have been deleted, but if the bracket is made of an elastic member such as resin, sufficient strength cannot be obtained, so the engagement of the mounting claws is released and the operation lever is released. There was a problem that would come off. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a lever switch structure that can securely mount a support shaft structure of an operation lever with a small number of components.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a lever switch structure according to the present invention comprises an operation lever for operating switches of electric components mounted on a vehicle, and a rotatably supporting the operation lever. A bracket with a pivot support
A lid for rotatably supporting the bracket, wherein in the lever switch structure in which the pivot portion is formed of an elastic member, a regulating portion for regulating the axial extension of the pivot portion is provided on the lid; The portion is formed so as to rotatably support the bracket. In the present invention, the shaft support portion may be a shaft hole formed in opposing walls of the bracket,
Further, the regulating portion may be an arc-shaped rib, and the rib side of the wall portion may be formed in an arc shape so as to be fitted to the rib.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a lever switch structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a steering shaft 1 on which a steering handle (not shown) for steering a vehicle is mounted, and the periphery thereof. A steering lock 2 for locking the steering shaft 1 is provided around the steering shaft 1.
The combination switch units 3 and 4 are attached to both left and right sides of the steering lock 2. The combination switch units 3 and 4 are composed of switch bodies 5 and 6 and operation levers 7 and 8 that can be turned up and down or forward and backward on the switch bodies 5 and 6. The right unit 3 of the combination switch units 3 and 4 is provided with lamp switches, and the left unit 4
Is provided with a washer switch and the like. Hereinafter, the structure of the right combination switch unit 3 of the units 3 and 4 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a completed view of the combination switch unit 3, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are exploded views thereof. The combination switch unit 3 includes a resin case 9, a bracket 10, an operation lever 7, and a lid 11. Of these, the bracket 10 is the operation lever 7
And a box-shaped member having one side and a bottom open as shown in FIG. 4B.
A shaft 12 having a circular cross section is erected on the upper surface 10 a of the bracket 10, and the shaft 12 is provided with a shaft hole 14 formed in the upper wall of the case 9.
It is formed so as to fit into.

A groove 15 is formed in each side wall 10b of the bracket 10 so as to sandwich the shaft 12, a support hole 16 is formed below the groove 15, and a substantially annular circular cross section is formed below the support hole 16. Is formed by the side wall portion 10b. Also, on the inner wall surface of both side wall portions 10b,
A guide surface 19 is formed as an inclined surface that narrows the space between the side wall portions 10 b toward the upper side, and the guide surface 19 extends to the support hole 16. A pair of openings 17 is formed in the wall 10c of the bracket 10 on the steering shaft 1 side as shown in FIG. ) Are integrally formed.

FIG. 5 shows the operation lever 7. In the operation lever 7, the base 21 is housed inside the bracket 10, and the width H between the side surfaces 21a of the base 21 is formed to be the same as the distance between the side walls 10b of the bracket 10, as shown in FIG.
An engagement shaft 22 having a claw shape and a circular cross section protrudes from a side surface 21 a of the base 21, and an inclined surface 23 having a shape corresponding to the guide surface 19 is formed on a tip end surface of the engagement shaft 22. The engagement shaft 22 is
The operation lever 7 is rotatably fitted into the support hole 16 of the bracket 10. The shape of the support hole 16 is not necessarily a hole but may be a groove. A pair of support arms 24 are mounted on the distal end side of the base 21 of the operation lever 7. Although the support arm 24 is provided with an arm for performing a switch operation, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

In order to assemble the operation lever 7 to the bracket 10, the tip of the support arm 24 of the operation lever 7 is inserted from the bottom of the bracket 10 into the opening 17 shown in FIG.
The base 21 of the operation lever 7 is inserted upward. At this time, as shown in FIG.
The engagement shaft 22 is guided by the zero guide surface 19, rides over the guide surface 19 formed on the rotation base 18 having a smaller width, and is rotatably fitted into the support hole 16. The rotation base 18 has elasticity, and has a guide surface 19 and an inclined surface 2.
The engagement shaft 22 is easily fitted into the support hole 16 by the guiding action of 3. Thus, the operation lever 7 is rotatably attached to the bracket 10.

[0010] A switch base 26 on which various switch substrates are provided is attached to the lid 11 shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a plan view of the lid 11. In the lid 11 shown in FIG. 3, the switch base 26 is omitted. As shown in the figure, a circular, arc-shaped or annular support rib 27 is projected upward on the upper surface 11a of the lid 11, and a rectangular restriction hole 28 is formed on the steering shaft 1 side of the lid 11. As shown in FIG. 8, the support rib 27 is arranged so that the shaft 12 and the support rib 27 are arranged concentrically with the bracket 10 attached to the lid 11. The shape of the support rib 27 is formed so that the rotation base 18 of the bracket 10 is fitted.
A pair of locking claws 29 are provided upright on the wall surface 11b of the lid 11 on the steering shaft 1 side. The locking claw 29 is formed to be locked in a locking hole 30 formed in the wall surface 9b of the case 9. The upper outer peripheral surface of the lid 11 as the bottom lid is formed so as to be in contact with the lower inner peripheral surface of the case 9 as the upper lid.

When the lid 11 and the case are assembled to the assembly of the bracket 10 and the operation lever 7, the rotation base 18 of the bracket 10 is attached to the support rib 27 of the lid 11.
And at the same time, slide part 25 with bracket 10
Into the restriction hole 28. In this state, the bracket 10 is placed on the upper surface of the lid 11 as shown in FIG. Next, when the case 9 is put on the lid 11, the case 9 is put on the shaft 12 of the bracket 10 so as to fit into the shaft hole 14 of the case 9, and finally the locking claw 29 of the lid 11 is put on the locking hole 30 of the case 9. By being fitted, the combination switch unit 3 is assembled.

In this assembled state, the shaft 12 at the upper part of the bracket 10 is supported by the shaft hole 14 of the case 9, and the rotating base 18 at the lower part of the bracket 10 is supported by the support rib 27. By operating the operation lever 7, the bracket 10 can be rotated with respect to the lid 11 in both the left and right directions as indicated by imaginary lines in FIG. FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a state where the combination switch unit 3 is attached. In the figure, reference numeral 31 denotes a turn signal switch of a direction indicator, reference numeral 32 denotes a light switch of a headlight, and reference numeral 33 denotes a dimmer switch. This enables, for example, a switch operation of the direction indicator. On the other hand, since the engagement shaft 22 of the operation lever 7 is rotatably supported by the support hole 16 of the bracket 10,
By operating the operation lever 7, the high
Switching of the low beam becomes possible. In addition, the rotation base 1
Since the fitting 8 is fitted to the support rib 27, the rotation base 18 formed of an elastic member is restricted by the support rib 27 after mounting, and is prevented from spreading outward. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the engagement shaft 22 of the operation lever 7 from coming off from the support hole 16 provided adjacent to the rotation base 18.
This is particularly effective when the bottom surface and one side surface of the bracket 10 are open as shown in FIG. In addition, the support rib 27 is
Since it is integrally formed on the upper surface 11a during molding, a complicated structure for supporting the bracket 10 is not required, and the product can be manufactured at low cost.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is, of course, not limited thereto, and various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical concept of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the support rib 27 is formed on the lid 11, but instead of the support rib 27, the lid 11 is formed.
A concave portion may be formed in the upper surface 11a of the bracket 10, and the turning base 18 of the bracket 10 may be fitted into the concave portion, or may be a groove corresponding to the shape of the wall of the turning base 18. Good. In this embodiment, the combination switch unit 3 on the right side of the steering shaft 1 on which the light switch and the like are mounted has been described. However, the combination switch unit on which the washer switch and the like on the left side are mounted. The unit 4 can have a similar structure.

[0014]

As described above, according to the lever switch structure of the present invention, an operation lever for operating switches of electric components mounted on a vehicle, and a shaft support for rotatably supporting the operation lever are provided. And a lid for rotatably supporting the bracket, wherein in the lever switch structure in which the pivot is formed of an elastic member, the regulating portion that regulates the axial extension of the pivot is provided. Since the restricting portion is provided on the lid so as to rotatably support the bracket, it is possible to reliably prevent the engagement shaft of the operation lever from being disengaged. Since the bearing for rotating the bracket is used as the regulating member, the number of components can be reduced. Further, in the above invention, the shaft support portion is a shaft hole formed in opposing walls of the bracket, and the regulating portion is an arc-shaped rib, and the rib side of the wall is the rib. The bracket can be stably and rotatably supported by being formed in an arc shape so as to be fitted into the bracket.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state in which a combination switch unit having a lever switch structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is attached to a steering lock.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the combination switch unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the combination switch unit of FIG. 2;

4A is a bottom view of the case, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view in one direction of the bracket on the left side and a cross-sectional view in a direction intersecting the one direction on the right side. C is a sectional view of the base of the operation lever, and D is a sectional view of the lid.

5A is a cross-sectional view of a base of the operation lever, and FIG. 5B is a bottom view of the operation lever.

6 is a cross-sectional view of a state where an operation lever is mounted on the bracket of FIG. 2 and a lid.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the lid of FIG. 2;

8 is a plan view showing a state where a bracket is placed on the lid of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the combination switch unit of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 3,4 Combination switch unit 5,6 Switch body 7,8 Operation lever 9 Case 10 Bracket 11 Lid 12 Shaft 14 Shaft hole 16 Support hole 18 Rotation base 19 Guide surface 22 Engagement shaft 27 Support rib

Claims (2)

[Claims] An operating lever for operating switches of electrical components mounted on a vehicle, a bracket provided with a shaft supporting portion for rotatably supporting the operating lever, and a lid for rotatably supporting the bracket In the lever switch structure in which the pivot portion is formed of an elastic member, a regulating portion for regulating the axial extension of the pivot portion is provided on the lid, and the regulating portion rotatably supports the bracket. A lever switch structure characterized in that the lever switch structure is formed. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shaft support portion is a shaft hole formed in a wall portion facing the bracket, and the restricting portion is an arc-shaped rib, and a rib side of the wall portion is fitted to the rib. The lever switch structure according to claim 1, wherein the restricting portion rotatably supports the bracket by being formed in an arc shape so as to be fitted.