JP3031085B2 - Seesaw-operated electronic components - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seesaw-operated electronic component mainly used for adjusting a zoom speed of a video camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a seesaw operation type electronic component, a seesaw operation type switch which performs a switching operation by swinging an operation key is widely known. This conventional seesaw operation type switch will be described with reference to FIGS.

According to FIG. 1, the seesaw operation type switch is provided with an operation key 5 swingably mounted on an upper portion of a housing 1 via a support shaft 4, and below the operation key 5 with respect to the support shaft 4. A vertical slider receiving plate 5c is extended, and a conductive slider 7 is cantileverly fixed thereto, and a substrate 8 on which a plurality of sector-shaped fixed contacts 9a to 9i are formed in a pattern is slided in the housing. The slider 7 is fixed at a position facing the moving element receiving plate 5c, the slider 7 is elastically contacted with the surface of the substrate 8, and
A pair of spring receiving members 16 and 17 are rotatably mounted on the support shaft 4 on the opposite surface of the support shaft 4, a coil spring 18 is contracted between the ends thereof, and a housing is provided between the two spring receiving members 16 and 17. A locking projection 1i projecting from the side wall and an engagement pin 5e projecting from the slider receiving plate 5c are fitted and sandwiched. Reference numeral 3 denotes a bottom plate, and reference numeral 2a denotes a side plate provided to face the substrate 8.

When the end of the operation key 5 is pressed, the operation key 5 and the slider receiving plate 5c rotate integrally with the support shaft 4 as a center of rotation, and the slider 7 The sliding member 7 is rotated and slid on the surface of the fixed contact 9 to change the contact position with each sector-shaped fixed contact 9. To switch on the circuit by contacting the contact, or to disconnect from another contact to switch off the circuit, and to perform a switching operation on the opposite surface of the slider receiving plate 5c. The mating pin 5e rotates one spring receiving piece 17 against the elastic force of the coil spring 18.

Thereafter, when the pressing operation on the operation key 5 is released, the spring receiving piece 17 returns to the initial position by the elastic force of the coil spring 18, and accordingly, the operation key 5 and the operation key 5 are connected via the engaging pin 5e. The slider 7 returns to the original neutral position.

[0006]

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for seesaw-operated electronic components whose resistance can be adjusted steplessly, such as for adjusting the zoom speed of a video camera.

However, if a resistor is formed by printing or the like instead of the fixed contact on the substrate of the above-mentioned conventional seesaw operation type switch, it can be used as a seesaw operation type variable resistor that can be steplessly adjusted. However, in this method, a substrate is provided perpendicular to the rotation support shaft of the operation key, and the slider slides concentrically on the contact point (on the fan-shaped resistor) on the substrate surface in conjunction with the swing of the operation key. Since it is rotated and slid in a shape, it has a large height and is not suitable for being incorporated in a small electronic device such as a video camera.

[0008] In order to reduce the height dimension,
Although it is necessary to reduce the size of the substrate, that is, the size of the fan-shaped resistor formed on the surface thereof, if the resistor is set small, it is difficult to produce a resistance value as intended, and the radius of the fan-shaped resistor, that is, the slider When the rotational sliding radius is reduced, there is a disadvantage that the resistance value changes easily with respect to the right and left pressing strokes due to misalignment during printing or the like.

Further, the structure for returning the operation keys to the neutral position is complicated, and the number of components increases, which increases the cost.

The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and provides a seesaw operation type electronic component which can increase the resistance while keeping the height dimension small and has a simple operation key return structure. It is the purpose.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a resistor board or switch board attached to the tip of a leaf spring for returning a neutral position of an operation key, and elastic contacts attached to both ends of an insulating base. Are brought into sliding contact by the seesaw operation of the operation key.

[0012]

Therefore, according to the present invention, the height of the seesaw-operated electronic component can be made very small, and the neutral position return function section of the operation key can be manufactured at low cost.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A seesaw operated variable resistor which is an embodiment of a seesaw operated electronic component of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 21 denotes a hollow operation key made of a molding resin.
The left and right projections 23 are provided on the inner surface of the lower surface, and concentric support holes 24 on the front and rear surfaces of the center.
Is held so as to be able to swing.

Reference numeral 25 denotes an insulating base made of a molding resin , which is provided with a pair of projecting pieces 50 at front and rear centers of the upper surface.
0 is fitted in the support hole 24 of the operation key 21 to support the operation key 21 in a swingable manner, and a pair of protruding pieces 50 provided with the support shaft 26 are provided . An inverted C-shaped leaf spring 27 made of a thin metal plate having elasticity is arranged on the upper surface of the interposed base, and is positioned by passing two bosses 29 of the insulating base 25 through a central hole 28 thereof.

The lower surface of the insulating base 25 is provided with a holding portion 31 having a screw hole 30 for mounting the seesaw operation type variable resistor to a device.

Reference numeral 32 denotes a T-shaped support. The boss is inserted into the hole 33 from above the leaf spring 27 so that the leaf spring 27 has a constant urging force when the operation key 21 is in the neutral position. 29, and the upper ends of the left and right arms 35 of the leaf spring 27 are pressed by the arm ends 34 on both sides to bend by a predetermined amount. Together with the insulating base 25 .

In this state, the operation keys 21
Of the left and right arms 35 of the inverted C-shaped leaf spring 27 are set just in contact with each other.

Reference numeral 36 denotes a resistance substrate having a U-shaped printed resistor 37 on one side as will be described later, and the leaf spring 27 is provided on the lower surface end of the left and right arms 35 so that the printed resistor 37 is on the lower side. It is mounted in parallel with the rotation support shaft, that is, the operation surface of the operation key 21.

Reference numerals 38A and 38B denote elastic contacts made of a thin metal plate having elasticity.
B extends upwardly in the center from both ends of the upper surface of the insulating base 25 so as to elastically contact the printed resistor 37 with a constant contact pressure.

External connection terminals 40A and 40B extend downward from the roots of the contacts 38A and 38B, respectively.

Here, the details of the U-shaped printed resistor 37 of the resistor substrate 36 will be described with reference to FIG. 4. The upper and lower parallel portions 41A and 41B of the U-shaped printed resistor 37 have a predetermined specific resistance. One end of the resistive layer is connected by a conductive layer 42 of small specific resistance such as silver.

Then, such a U-shaped printing resistor 3 is used.
7 are formed in a symmetrical shape such that the conductive layer 42 is on the outside and the opening side is on the inside.
Are mounted on the lower surfaces of the left and right arm portions 35 in an overlapping manner.

The contact portions 39A and 39B of the elastic contacts 38A and 38B are arranged at the same intervals as the resistance layers 41A and 41B, and are set so as to come into contact with the end conductive layer 42 at the neutral position.

Therefore, in the neutral position, the left and right external connection terminals 40A, 40B of the seesaw operated variable resistor
The resistance value between them is almost zero.

Next, the operation when the operation key of the seesaw operation type variable resistor is operated by the seesaw will be described with reference to FIG. 5 which is a front sectional view of the operation state.

First, one left pressing portion 22 of the operation key 21
Is pressed in the direction of the arrow, the operation key 21 rotates about the support shaft 26 (not shown), and the left protrusion 2 on the lower surface of the pressing operation unit.
3 pushes down the contact portion of the left arm portion 35 of the leaf spring 27 downward, the left arm portion 35 bends downward with the lower end 32A of the T-shaped support 32 as a fulcrum, and the middle portion thereof is a T-shaped support. 32, the left end of the arm portion 34 of the
The stopper 43 on the left side of the step 4
4 can be pushed down.

Along with this, the resistance board 36 attached to the lower surface of the left arm 35 of the leaf spring 27 is also pushed down, and the contacts 39A, 39B of the left elastic contacts 38A, 38B elastically contacting the lower surface. 39B is pushed down, and the elastic contacts 38A, 38B
It bends downward with C and 38D as fulcrums.

At this time, the left arm portion 35 of the leaf spring 27
And the elastic contacts 38A, 38B make circular motions with the lower end 32A of the T-shaped support 32 and the lower ends 38C, 38D of the elastic legs as fulcrums, respectively, thereby forming a contact on the lower surface of the left resistance substrate 36, which is the contact point between the two. Letter print resistor 37 and elastic contact 39
A and 39B, as shown by the arrow, come closer to the center with the downward bending, and the elastic contact 3
The contact points 39A and 39B of 8A and 38B are connected from the conductive layer 42 of the U-shaped printed resistor 37 to the parallel resistance layers 41A and 41B.
Moving upward, the resistance value between the external connection terminals 40A and 40B increases in accordance with the downward bending amount, that is, the pressing operation amount of the operation key 21.

When the pressing force applied to the left pressing operation portion 22 of the operation key 21 is removed, the operation key 21 is moved to the projection 23 by the elastic force of the left arm portion 35 of the leaf spring 27.
1 and is returned to the neutral position (the state shown in FIG. 1), and the contact position between the U-shaped printed resistor 37 and the elastic contacts 38A and 38B also returns to the original contact with the conductive layer 42.

The pressing operation unit 2 on the left side of the operation keys 21
At the time of the second operation, the right arm 35 of the inverted C-shaped leaf spring 27 does not operate at all because it is regulated by the right arm tip 34 of the T-shaped support 32, and therefore the right arm 35 is not operated. The resistance value between the external connection terminals 40A and 40B on the side remains substantially zero.

[0032] Similarly, when pushed down the push force to the other of the right side of the pressing operation portion 22 of the operation keys 21, the external connection terminals 40A of the right side corresponding to the pressing amount, 4
Only the resistance between 0B can be changed.

In the above description, the relationship between the U-shaped printed resistor 37 of the left resistor board 36 and the resistance of the U-shaped printed resistor 37 of the right resistor board 36 has not been described. Of course, the values can be set to the same value or to different values.

In the above embodiment, the resistance substrate 3
6, a seesaw-operated variable resistor is formed by providing a U-shaped printed resistor 37, but a seesaw-operated switch using a switch substrate having a plurality of fixed contacts instead of the U-shaped printed resistor. In this case, there is no effect of stepless adjustment, but there is an effect of downsizing and cost reduction.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above embodiment, the seesaw operation type electronic component of the present invention has the following features. (1) The resistance board or the switch board is small and mounted in parallel with the operation surface of the operation key. Of the operation key together with the return leaf spring and the elastic contact element, the size, especially the height, of the entire seesaw operation type electronic component can be extremely reduced.

(2) The resistance layer of the U-shaped printed resistor on the resistor substrate or the fixed contact on the switch substrate is linear, and it is unlikely that a displacement at the time of printing or the like will occur, and high precision can be achieved.

(3) The component for returning the operation key to the neutral position is a single leaf spring made of a thin metal plate, and the number of components as a whole seesaw operation type electronic component is small. Is advantageous. And the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a seesaw operated variable resistor which is an embodiment of a seesaw operated electronic component of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a front view thereof, and FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of the same operation state.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a seesaw operated switch which is a conventional seesaw operated electronic component.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a substrate, which is a main part of the same.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the same.

FIG. 9 is a front view for explaining the operation of a return mechanism which is a main part of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Operation key 23 Projecting part 25 Insulating base 26 Support shaft 27 Leaf spring 32 T-shaped support 35 Arm part 36 Resistance board 38 Elastic contact 50 Projecting piece part

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A and operation keys, the operation keys can swing
A pair of protruding pieces provided with supporting shafts are
An insulating substrate having, projecting a central portion of the upper surface of the insulating substrate
An inverted U-shaped leaf spring fixed between the one part , the upper end of the left and right arms abutting on the left and right protrusions of the lower surface of the operation key to hold the operation key in the neutral position, and in the neutral position of the operation key as for pressing an upper surface middle portion of the left and right arms of the leaf spring in order to provide a constant biasing force to said leaf spring
The insulating and T-shaped support fixed to the substrate, a resistor substrate attached respectively to the underside of the left and right arms of the leaf spring, extended respectively from the top end portions of the insulating substrates, the
The contact points provided on each of the
And seesaw manipulation-type electronic component comprising an elastic contacts are. 2. The seesaw operation type electronic component according to claim 1, wherein a switch board having a plurality of fixed contacts is mounted on the lower surface of the left and right arms of the leaf spring instead of the resistance board.