JP2005056766A - Locking mechanism of operating knob - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a locking mechanism of an operating knob, wherein a through hole of a case covering the operating knob can be easily made small to miniaturize the mechanism, and the positions where the operating knob can be locked can be set at one or more desired spots by a locking knob. <P>SOLUTION: This locking mechanism is equipped with a case 80 wherein a through hole 81 is provided, the operating knob 100 wherein a pressing part inserting part 101 is provided, a sliding object 30 to slide by being linked with the operating knob 100 through the case 80, the locking knob 60 formed by providing a pressing part 63 on the upper surface of a base part 61 installed between the case 80 and the sliding object 30, and a springing means 50 to spring the locking knob 60 so that the pressing part 63 is exposed from the pressing part inserting part 101 of the operating knob 100. Engagement releasing parts 83, 85, 67, 69 comprising recessed and projecting parts to lock the movement of the locking knob 60 in its sliding direction and to release the locking by pressing the pressing part 63 of the locking knob 60 is provided on both of the lower surface of the case 80 and the base part 61 of the locking knob 60. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a lock mechanism for an operation knob.

  Conventionally, a pressing portion of a locking knob is protruded into an operation knob of an electronic component such as a slide switch, and the operation knob locked at a predetermined position is released by pressing the pressing portion, and the slide There is a lock mechanism of an operation knob with a structure that enables the above. FIG. 4A is a schematic sectional side view showing a slide type switch incorporating a conventional lock mechanism of this type, and FIG. 4B is an operation explanatory view thereof (see Patent Document 1). As shown in the figure, this locking mechanism accommodates a base 277 of a locking knob 275 in a through-hole 271 provided in the case 270 so as to be movable up and down, and is placed above and below the case 270 so as to sandwich the locking knob 275. The operation knob 280 and the sliding mold 285 are respectively disposed, and the coil spring 297 is housed between the sliding mold 285 and the locking knob 275 so that the locking knob 275 is repelled upward. . A flexible substrate 295 and a reinforcing plate 297 are disposed below the sliding mold 285, and a switch pattern (not shown) in which a slider 290 attached to the lower surface of the sliding mold 285 is printed on the flexible substrate 295. Is in sliding contact.

  4A, when the pressing portion 276 of the locking knob 275 is pressed and the base 277 of the locking knob 275 is pushed into the storage recess 286 of the sliding mold 285, the base 277 and the through hole 271 are formed. When the operation knob 280 is slid in this state when the lock that has been performed by the engagement is released, the sliding type object 285 or the like slides integrally therewith as shown in FIG. The on / off state of a switch pattern (not shown) provided on the substrate 295 is switched.

However, the conventional example has the following problems.
(1) Since the base 277 of the locking knob 275 is locked by being engaged in the through hole 271 provided in the case 270, the size of the through hole 271 for inserting the base 277 is increased. When the operation knob 280 is slid in one direction as shown in FIG. 4B and the slide length is long, the through hole 271 is exposed from the end of the operation knob 280 and the inside of the case 270 can be seen. As a result, not only the beauty is impaired, but also dust or the like easily enters from the exposed portion of the through hole 271. In order to solve this problem, the operation knob 280 may be enlarged so that the operation knob 280 covers the through hole 271 even when the operation knob 280 is slid to one side. However, this increases the size of the slide switch. End up.

  (2) The position that can be locked by the locking knob 275 is limited to one place where the base 277 of the locking knob 275 is inserted into the through hole 271, and the operation knob 280 cannot be locked at another predetermined position.

(3) As shown in FIG. 4B, when the operation knob 280 is slid to one side, one end 278 of the base 277 contacts the back surface of the case 270, but the other end 279 is Since it is located in the through-hole 271 and does not contact anything, only the other end 279 side is lifted by the elastic force of the coil spring 298, and the entire locking knob 275 is tilted, and its appearance is good. bad.
JP-A-8-329775

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily reduce the size of the opening (through hole) of the case covered by the operation knob so that the position can be locked by the locking knob. Another object of the present invention is to provide a lock mechanism for an operation knob that can be installed at one or a plurality of desired positions and that does not tilt the pressing portion of the lock knob exposed in the operation knob.

  The invention according to claim 1 of the present application includes a case provided with an opening, an operation knob provided with a pressing portion insertion portion and installed on the opening of the case, and the operation knob installed on the lower surface of the case. A slide-type object connected and slidably moved, a lock knob provided between the case and the slide-type object and provided with a pressing part on the upper surface, and the pressing part of the lock knob being the operation knob And a means for projecting so as to be exposed from the insertion portion of the pressing portion, and locking the movement of the locking knob in the sliding direction to the case and the locking knob, and a pressing portion of the locking knob. An operating knob locking mechanism is provided with an engagement release portion that releases the locking by pressing. It is preferable that the engagement / disengagement portion is constituted by a concave portion or a convex portion provided on the lower surface of the case and a convex portion or a concave portion provided on the upper surface of the base of the locking knob.

  In the invention according to claim 2 of the present application, an arm is provided on the sliding type object, and an engaging portion is provided on the arm. On the other hand, the sliding portion of the case is clicked to a position where the engaging portion is elastically contacted. The lock mechanism for an operation knob according to claim 1, wherein an engagement portion is provided, and a sensation of click is generated between the engagement portion and the click engagement portion by slidingly moving a sliding object. It is in.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is no need to insert the base portion of the locking knob into the opening portion of the case as in the prior art, and the opening portion can be formed smaller than the base portion. Even when sliding, the opening can be easily covered with the operation knob. In other words, it is not necessary to increase the size of the operation knob, and the size can be reduced. Further, since the opening of the case can be easily covered with the operation knob, the aesthetic appearance is not impaired, and at the same time, dust or the like is difficult to enter from the opening.
The position where the operation knob is locked can be easily changed simply by changing the installation position of the engagement / disengagement portion. Further, the operation knob can be easily locked at a plurality of positions by setting the engagement / disengagement portion at a plurality of positions.
Since the locking knob is always located on the lower surface side of the case, the opening of the case can be made small. Therefore, the locking knob does not enter the opening and the locking knob does not tilt.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the lock mechanism of the operation knob has a simple structure and can be easily provided with a click mechanism.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a sliding electronic component with a locking mechanism (hereinafter simply referred to as “sliding switch” in this embodiment) 1 incorporating a locking mechanism for an operation knob according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the slide switch 1, and FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) show a locked state and an unlocked state, respectively. As shown in FIG. 1, the slide type switch 1 has a flexible switch board 20 mounted on a mounting member 10 and a coiled spring 50 and a locking knob 60 housed thereon. , And a case 80 is placed thereon, and an operation knob 100 is attached so that the case 80 is fixed to the sliding object 30 from above the case 80. Each component will be described below.

  The mounting member 10 is made of a molded resin (for example, ABS resin) plate, on which the flexible switch substrate 20 is placed. The flexible switch board 20 is configured by providing switch patterns 21-1 to 5 on a synthetic resin film having flexibility (for example, polyethylene terephthalate film). One switch pattern 21-1 is a common switch pattern, the other switch patterns 21-2 to 5-5 are switch patterns for switching, and a slider 47 described below is common to any one of the switch patterns 21-2 to 5-5. The switch pattern 21-1 is brought into contact with each other at the same time to conduct between the switch patterns.

  The sliding mold 30 is made of molded resin (for example, POM resin). A side wall 33 is provided around the substantially rectangular bottom plate 31 to form a storage portion 35 at the center of the upper surface thereof. A circular through-hole support hole 37 is provided at the center, linear through-hole engaging holes 39 are provided on both sides of the support hole 37, and an arm 41 having a substantially T-shape is formed on one side surface of the sliding object 30. Further, projecting engaging portions 43, 43 facing outward from the side surface of the sliding mold 30 are provided at both ends of the arm 41 along the sliding direction of the sliding mold 30. Notches 45 are provided on both sides of the side wall 33. On the lower surface of the sliding mold 30, a metal plate slider 47 (see FIG. 2A) that slides on the switch patterns 21-2 to 5-5 of the flexible switch substrate 20 is attached. .

  The locking knob 60 is made of molded resin (for example, made of ABS resin), and is flat and protrudes from the upper surface of the base 61 and a base 61 that is housed in the housing 35 of the sliding mold 30 so as to be movable up and down. A pressing portion 63 is provided. Insertion holes 65 and 65 that are slightly larger in size than the locking holes 39 and 39 are provided at positions of the base 61 facing the locking holes 39 and 39 of the sliding object 30. Further, convex engagement / disengagement portions 67 and 69 are provided on both sides of the pressing portion 63 on the upper surface of the base portion 61. The width of the engagement / disengagement portion 67 (length in the sliding direction) is formed smaller than the width of the engagement / disengagement portion 69. Further, a support protrusion 71 (see FIG. 2A) that is inserted in a support hole 37 provided in the sliding mold 30 so as to be movable up and down is provided from substantially the center of the lower surface of the base 61. A concave spring receiver 73 (see FIG. 2A) is provided around the periphery.

  The case 80 is made of molded resin (for example, made of ABS resin), and has a space where the sliding mold 30 can be slidably moved at the center of the lower surface. The cross section is long in the sliding direction and orthogonal to the sliding direction. Has a substantially U-shaped rectangular parallelepiped shape with an open bottom surface, a rectangular opening (hereinafter referred to as a “through hole”) 81 is provided on the top surface, and concave shapes are formed on both sides of the through hole 81 on the bottom surface of the case 80. The engagement / disengagement portions 83 and 85 are provided, and a click engagement portion 89 having an uneven shape that repeats unevenness in the sliding direction is provided on the inner side surface of one side wall 87 of the case 80.

  The operation knob 100 is formed by molding a molding resin (for example, ABS resin) into a substantially rectangular shape, and a pressing portion insertion portion 101 that penetrates the pressing portion 63 of the locking knob 60 to move up and down is provided at the center. Is provided. On both sides of the pressing portion insertion portion 101 on the lower surface of the operation knob 100, plate-like guide members 103, 103 are provided so as to protrude, and a crimping portion 105 is provided on the tip thereof. Both guide members 103, 103 are provided at positions to be inserted into the insertion holes 65, 65 of the locking knob 60 and the locking holes 39, 39 of the sliding mold 30.

  In order to assemble the slide type switch 1, the two guide members 103 and 103 of the operation knob 100 are inserted into the through hole 81 of the case 80 from the upper surface side. Next, the locking knob 60 is disposed on the lower surface side of the case 80, and at this time, the pressing portion 63 of the locking knob 60 is inserted into the pressing portion insertion portion 101 of the operation knob 100, and at the same time the guide members 103, 103 of the operation knob 100. Is inserted into the insertion holes 65 of the locking knob 60. Next, the elastic means 50 composed of a coil spring that elastically springs up and down is inserted into the support protrusion 71 on the lower surface of the locking knob 60.

  Next, the sliding mold 30 is disposed on the lower surface side of the locking knob 60, and the base 61 of the locking knob 60 is stored in the storage section 35 of the sliding mold 30. At this time, the support of the locking knob 60 is supported. The protrusion 71 is slidably inserted into the support hole 37 of the sliding object 30, and the caulking portions 105, 105 of the operation knob 100 are inserted into the locking holes 39, 39. At this time, the two engaging portions 43 and 43 of the sliding object 30 are brought into elastic contact with the click engaging portion 89 of the case 80, respectively. And the crimping | crimped part 105 and the front-end | tip of the 105 are thermally crimped by the lower surface of the sliding mold 30, and the sliding mold 30 and the operation knob 100 are fixed integrally. If the flexible switch substrate 20 and the mounting member 10 are arranged below the case 80 to which the sliding object 30 or the like is attached and the case 80 and the mounting member 10 are fixed by a fixing means (not shown), the sliding switch 1 Is completed.

  2A, the sliding switch 1 includes a case 80 provided with a through hole 81, an operation knob 100 provided with a pressing portion insertion portion 101 and installed on the through hole 81 of the case 80, The sliding part 30 installed on the lower surface of the case 80 and slidably connected to the operation knob 100, and the pressing part of the operation knob 100 inserted on the upper surface of the base 61 installed between the case 80 and the sliding mold 30 A locking knob 60 provided with a pressing portion 63 to be inserted into the portion 101, and a bulleting means 50 for bouncing the locking knob 60 so that the pressing portion 63 is exposed from the pressing portion insertion portion 101 of the operation knob 100. It comprises.

  Here, the state shown in FIG. 2A is a state when the engagement / disengagement portions 67 and 69 provided on the upper surface of the locking knob 60 are engaged with the engagement / disengagement portions 83 and 85 provided on the lower surface of the case 80. Therefore, the movement of the operation knob 100 in the sliding direction is locked. At this time, the slider 47 abuts against the switch patterns 21-1 and 21-3 of the flexible switch substrate 20 to conduct between them.

  In order to operate the locked operation knob 100, first, the pressing portion 63 of the locking knob 60 in the state shown in FIG. 2A is pushed down against the elastic force of the elastic means 50, and FIG. As shown in b), the base 61 of the locking knob 60 is pushed into the storage part 35 of the sliding object 30, whereby the engagement / disengagement parts 83, 85 on the lower surface of the case 80 and the upper surface of the locking knob 60 are engaged. Engagement (locking) with the detaching portions 67 and 69 is released. If the operation knob 100 is slid with the pressing portion 63 being pressed down, the operation knob 100 and the sliding object 30 fixed to the operation knob 100 are simultaneously slid, and the slider 47 is moved to the switch pattern 21-1. And slide on the switch patterns 21-2 to 5-5, and switch their conduction states. When the operating knob 100 is slid, the engaging portions 43, 43 provided on the sliding mold 30 get over the uneven click engaging portion 89 provided on the case 80. A click sensation is generated, and the click engagement portion 89 is locked at the concave portion. Therefore, in the case of this slide switch 1, since there are four recesses of the click engagement portion 89 for each engagement portion 43, four positions are stop positions, and one of them is a lock position. 3A, 3B and 3C show the respective stop positions other than the lock position. And in each stop position of Drawing 3 (a), (b), and (c), between switch patterns 21-1 and 21-2, between switch patterns 21-1 and 21-4, and switch patterns 21-1 and 21 respectively. Conduction between -5.

  The locking mechanism applied to the slide switch 1 is configured to lock the movement of the locking knob 60 in the sliding direction on the lower surface of the case 80 and the base portion 61 of the locking knob 60 and press the pressing portion of the locking knob 60. Since the engagement disengaging portions 67, 69, 83, 85 for releasing the locking by pressing 63 are provided, the base portion 277 of the locking knob 275 penetrates the case 270 as in the conventional example shown in FIG. The through hole 81 can be formed smaller than the base 61 without being inserted into the hole 271 (the length of the through hole 81 in the sliding direction is the distance between the guide members 103 and 103 and the stroke of the operation knob 100). Plus the length). That is, in the prior art, since the end portion 278 on the outer side (L dimension) of the guide portion 281 of the operation knob 280 and the end portion of the opening portion 271 of the case 270 in FIG. However, in the present invention, the length of the through hole 81 in the sliding direction is the length obtained by adding the stroke of the operation knob 100 to the distance between the guide members 103 and 103 as described above. Thus, the L dimension required in the conventional example is not necessary, and the dimension of the through hole 81 corresponding to the L dimension can be made smaller than in the conventional case. Therefore, even if the operation knob 100 is slid, the through-hole 81 can be easily covered with the operation knob 100, and it is not necessary to enlarge the operation knob 100, and the sliding switch 1 can be downsized. Further, the position where the operation knob 100 is locked can be easily changed by simply changing the installation positions of the engagement / disengagement portions 67, 69, 83, 85 to the bottom surface of the case 80 and the base 61 of the locking knob 60, and the engagement knob 100 can be engaged. The operation knob 100 can be easily locked at a plurality of locations by setting the disposition portions 67, 69, 83, and 85 at a plurality of locations. Further, since the base 61 of the locking knob 60 is always located on the lower surface of the case 80, the through hole 81 of the case 80 can be configured to be smaller than the base 61. Therefore, the base 61 does not enter the through hole 81, and the locking The knob 60 does not tilt.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims and the specification and drawings. Is possible. Note that any shape, structure, or material not directly described in the specification and drawings is within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention as long as the effects and advantages of the present invention are exhibited. For example, the shape of the engagement release portions 67 and 83 provided on the lock knob 60 and the case 80 is different from the shape of the engagement release portions 69 and 85 because the installation direction of the lock knob 60 is reversed. In order to avoid this, if they may be installed in the opposite direction, they may have the same shape. Further, only one set of the engagement / disengagement portions 67 and 83 and the engagement / release portions 69 and 85 may be provided, and the other sets may be omitted. In the above-described embodiment, the engagement / disengagement portions 83 and 85 on the case 80 side are concave portions and the engagement / disengagement portions 67 and 69 on the lock knob 60 side are convex portions. The detaching portions 83 and 85 may be convex portions, and the engaging / disengaging portions 67 and 69 on the locking knob 60 side may be concave portions. Further, the engagement / disengagement portion may have various shapes other than the uneven shape, and in summary, the movement of the lock knob 60 in the sliding direction is locked to the lower surface of the case 80 and the base portion 61 of the lock knob 60. Any shape and structure may be used as long as it is an engagement / disengagement part that releases the locking by pressing the pressing part 63 of the locking knob 60.

  Further, the lock mechanism of the operation knob according to the present invention is not limited to the slide type switch, and has various other slide type electronic parts such as a slide type variable resistor, and other operation knobs for sliding movement. It can also be attached to the mechanism. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied not only to a sliding electronic component that slides in a linear direction but also to a rotating electronic component that slides on a circumference. In the above embodiment, the coil spring is used as the elastic means, but various other elastic means such as a leaf spring may be used. In short, any means may be used as long as it is a means for projecting the lock knob so that its pressing portion is exposed from the insertion hole of the operation knob.

It is a disassembled perspective view of the slide type switch 1 incorporating the lock mechanism of the operation knob concerning one embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the slide switch 1 (a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1), and FIGS. 2A and 2B show a locked state and an unlocked state, respectively. 3A, 3B, and 3C are views showing the stop position of the operation knob 100 at a position other than the lock position, respectively. FIG. 4A is a schematic side sectional view showing a slide type switch incorporating a conventional lock mechanism, and FIG. 4B is an operation explanatory view thereof.

Explanation of symbols

1 Sliding switch (sliding electronic component with locking mechanism)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Mounting member 20 Flexible switch board | substrate 30 Sliding type | mold 47 Slider 50 Elasting means 60 Locking knob 61 Base 63 Press part 67, 69 Engagement release part 80 Case 81 Through-hole (opening part)
83, 85 Disengagement part 100 Operation knob 101 Press part insertion part

Claims (2)

A case with an opening;
An operation knob provided on the opening of the case with a pressing portion insertion portion;
A sliding-type object installed on the lower surface of the case and slidably connected to the operation knob;
A locking knob that is installed between the case and the sliding mold and has a pressing portion on the upper surface;
A means for projecting the locking knob so that its pressing portion is exposed from the pressing portion insertion portion of the operation knob;
The case and the locking knob are provided with an engagement / disengagement portion for locking the movement of the locking knob in the sliding direction and releasing the locking by pressing the pressing portion of the locking knob. A lock mechanism for the operation knob.   An arm is provided on the sliding type object, and an engaging part is provided on the arm. On the other hand, a click engaging part is provided at a position where the engaging part of the sliding type object of the case is in elastic contact, and the sliding type object is slid 2. The operation knob locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a click feeling is generated between the engaging portion and the click engaging portion by moving.

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