JP6734051B2 - Illuminated lever switch - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an illuminated lever switch with which a handball shines, and particularly to an illuminated lever switch suitable for a pachinko machine or a slot machine.

There are two types of illuminated lever switches that illuminate the handball, such as the first type that illuminates the handball itself by incorporating a light-emitting element such as a light emitting diode into a transparent handball, and not the handball itself. The light from the separately arranged light emitting element is guided to a transparent ball by a light guide means (for example, a transparent light guide bar inserted in the core of the hollow operation lever) to illuminate the ball. Two types (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2) are known.

JP 2001-155590 A JP, 2009-131509, A

The first type of illuminated lever switch has the advantages that the structure is simple and the ball can be strongly illuminated, but on the other hand, an electric wire is used as a power supply medium to the light emitting element incorporated in the ball. Therefore, there is a drawback in that the electric wire is apt to be twisted or broken due to the violent tilting of the operation lever, resulting in poor durability.

On the other hand, in the illumination lever switch of the second type, the light emitting element itself is maintained in the stationary state regardless of the tilting of the operation lever, so that there is no fear of twisting or breaking of the wiring. On the other hand, in order to stably introduce the light from the lower end of the operation lever regardless of the tilt of the operation lever, the tilt fulcrum must be provided near the lower end of the operation lever to minimize the blurring of the light introduction end. As a result, the distance from the tilt fulcrum to the grip ball becomes long, and the tilt operation stroke increases, which impairs operability.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above-mentioned problems in the conventional illuminated lever switch, and an object thereof is to provide an illuminated lever switch which is excellent in operability and has good durability. It is in.

Other objects and effects of the present invention will be easily understood by those skilled in the art by referring to the following description of the specification.

It is considered that the above technical problems can be solved by the present invention described below.

That is, the illuminated lever switch according to the present invention,
A shaft member that is supported so as to be tiltable from a neutral position against the biasing force with the middle of the entire length as a tilt fulcrum,
A grip ball attached to the upper end of the shaft portion above the tilt fulcrum of the shaft member,
A switch portion that operates in conjunction with the movement of a shaft portion below the tilt fulcrum of the shaft member,
The grip ball is a transparent sphere to which light scattering property is imparted,
A light-transmissive sleeve extending from the vicinity of the tilt fulcrum to the vicinity of the grip ball is externally inserted to the upper portion of the shaft member,
In the vicinity of the lower end of the light-transmissive sleeve, a plurality of light-emitting devices which have a circular or oval cross section and are arranged to surround the light-transmitting sleeve at an appropriate distance to emit light that travels at a predetermined spread angle. The element is arranged so that the light emitting direction thereof is directed toward the sleeve side, and further, at the lower end portion of the sleeve, there is formed a truncated conical taper surface inclined downward from the inner peripheral surface of the sleeve to the outer peripheral surface thereof. Has been done,
Thus, in any tilting range before Symbol shaft member also is characterized in that a part of the light emitted from the light emitting element reaches to said grip ball is reflected by the frustoconical tapered surface , Is something.

According to such a configuration, the light from the light-emitting element surrounding the lower end portion of the sleeve enters the inside of the sleeve from the peripheral side surface of the lower end portion of the sleeve, and then is reflected by the inner surface of the tapered truncated cone surface, After moving upward along the axis of the sleeve, the light enters the inside of the grip ball from the bottom surface of the grip ball and is scattered there, so that the grip ball shines brightly.

Further, according to such a configuration, the light emitting element is maintained in a stationary state regardless of the tilting of the operation lever, so that there is no fear of twisting or disconnection of the electric wire, which is excellent in durability. Since the light can be incident on the sleeve not from the lower end of the sleeve but from the peripheral side surface, the tilting fulcrum is provided in the middle of the operating lever to maintain the tilting operation stroke appropriately, which improves operability. It has the advantage of not spoiling.

Furthermore, since it can be applied to existing lever switches immediately by simply inserting a translucent sleeve onto the operating lever, it has an advantage that the structure is simple and the manufacturing cost is low.

In a preferred embodiment of the device of the present invention, the switch section may be configured by a single switch that switches with respect to both axis tilts in two azimuths which are separated by 180 degrees from each other. ..

With such a configuration, it is possible to realize a one-shot operation type illuminated lever switch suitable as a start switch of a slot machine.

In another preferred embodiment of the device of the present invention, the switch unit may be composed of four switches that switch for each of axis tilts in four azimuths at an angle of 90 degrees from each other.

With such a configuration, it is possible to realize a four-direction indicating type illuminated lever switch which is suitable for a game machine or the like and can give instructions in four directions such as up, down, left and right.

The illuminated lever switch of the present invention has the advantages of excellent operability and good durability.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an illuminated lever switch. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the illuminated lever switch. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the illuminated lever switch taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the illuminated lever switch. FIG. 5: is explanatory drawing which shows typically the route of the light emitted from LED. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the illumination path in the upright/inclined state. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the switch section.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of an illuminated lever switch according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an illuminated lever switch according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the illuminated lever switch, and FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 1 of the illuminated lever switch. 3 respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2, the illuminated lever switch 200 accommodates a grip ball 1, a light-transmitting light guide sleeve 2, a shaft member 3, a base 6, and a photo interrupter 13 that functions as a switch unit. The lower case 12 is mainly configured.

As shown in FIG. 3, the grip ball 1 includes a spherical core portion 1b located at the center, a surface layer portion 1a arranged on the outer surface of the spherical core portion 1b, and an insert molding under the spherical core portion 1b. It has a metal nut part 1c inserted and fixed by a technique. Both the spherical core portion 1b and the surface layer portion 1a are formed by a molding technique using a transparent resin material. The spherical core portion 1b contains a large number of air bubbles formed by mixing a foaming agent at the time of molding, and thereby the light scattering property for the grip ball 1 is imparted.

The light guide sleeve 2 is a main part of the present invention, and is a cylindrical body molded using a light transmissive resin, and the top plate 23 that closes the upper end has a threaded portion 31 of the shaft member 3 described later. An insertion hole 21 to be inserted is provided, and the inner diameter thereof is set to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the large diameter portion 32 of the shaft member 3. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the lower end portion of the light guide sleeve 2 is formed with a truncated cone-shaped tapered surface 22 that is inclined downward from the inner peripheral surface of the sleeve to the outer peripheral surface thereof.

When the light guide sleeve 2 is in the upright state, the angle of inclination of the truncated cone-shaped tapered surface 22 comes horizontally from the light emitting elements arranged around the light guide sleeve 2, and from the outer peripheral surface of the light guide sleep 2 to the inside of the light guide sleeve 2. Most of the light that enters into the light guide sleeve 2 is set so as to be reflected by the inner surface of the truncated cone-shaped tapered surface 22 and travel upward in the light guide sleeve 2. On the other hand, it is set to about 45 degrees.

The shaft member 3 is a metal stepped rod member having a circular cross section having a screw portion 31, a large diameter portion 32, a medium diameter portion 33, and a small diameter portion 34, and between the small diameter portion 34 and the medium diameter portion 33. Has an outer peripheral groove 35 for fitting the E-ring 11 which will be described later.

The base 6 integrally has a substantially square flange portion 61 and a cylindrical portion 62 projectingly provided at the center of the flange portion 61. The top plate 65 that closes the upper opening of the cylindrical portion 62 is provided with a circular insertion hole 63 into which the medium diameter portion 33 of the shaft member 3 is to be inserted. On the lower surface side of the base body 6, two boss portions 64 having screw holes for screwing in screws 14 described later are provided.

The dustproof member 4 is mounted on the base 6 (see FIG. 3 ). The dustproof member 4 has a substantially square flange portion 41 and a cylindrical portion 42 protruding from the center of the flange portion 41. An oval guide hole 43 is provided at the center of the top plate 45 that closes the upper opening of the cylindrical portion 42. The width (minor diameter) of the oval forming the guide hole 43 is set to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the light guide sleeve 2 that is externally inserted into the large diameter portion 32 of the shaft member 3. The dustproof member 4 is integrally coupled with the base 6 by locking the two claws 44 formed on the end of the flange 41 to the lower surface of the end of the flange 61 of the base 6.

An annular support plate 5 is attached to the lower surface (inner surface) of the top plate 45 of the dustproof member 4 by an appropriate fixing means such as an adhesive (see FIG. 3). As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, six light emitting diodes (LEDs) 52 functioning as light emitting elements are arranged on the lower surface of the annular support plate 5 along the circumference at intervals of 60 degrees. And are fixed via the support portions 51, respectively. The light emitting directions of the LEDs 52 are all directed to the center of the ring. Therefore, the light emitted from those LEDs 52 is condensed toward the center of the ring.

The electrical connection of these LEDs 52 is determined according to the lighting mode of the LEDs 52. For example, if the six LEDs 52 are made to emit light at the same time, the six LEDs 52 are connected in series via a current limiting resistor between a pair of external power supply terminals (not shown), or every other adjacent LEDs are adjacent. Two sets of three LEDs connected in series may be provided and connected in parallel to each other through a current limiting resistor. If the six LEDs 52 each emit three LEDs individually, it is sufficient to connect every three adjacent LEDs 52 in series and then lead them to each of the two pairs of external power supply terminals. According to such a configuration, by selecting between the three-light emitting state and the six-light emitting state, the brightness (in the case of six LEDs of the same color) or the color (three LEDs of the first color) can be selected. (In the case of three LEDs of the second color) can be externally selected. According to this example, since the LEDs can be distributed along the circumference, it is not necessary to centrally arrange the LEDs as in the case of introducing light from the lower end surface of the conventional shaft member. By arranging the LED, the handball can be illuminated brightly.

The lower case 12 is mounted on the lower surface side of the base 6. The lower case 12 has a central void 121 and two side voids 122 located on both sides of the central void 121. The photo interrupter 13 that constitutes a switch unit is housed in the bottom of the central space 121, and is fixed via two locking pieces 123.

The photo interrupter 13 has a U-shaped appearance in which a light projecting portion 131 and a light receiving portion 132 are arranged to face each other with a gap 133 therebetween. The width of the gap 133 is set to be larger than the outer diameter of the small diameter portion 34 at the lower end of the shaft member 3. As will be described later, when the phototransistor built in the light receiving portion 132 switches due to the small diameter portion 34 of the shaft member 3 crossing the gap 133, a switch circuit on a circuit board (not shown) operates to output a switching output signal to the outside. It is emitted to a terminal (not shown).

Next, a method of assembling this illuminated lever switch will be described. First, the light guide sleeve 2 is externally inserted into the large diameter portion 32 of the shaft member 3, and then the screw portion 31 of the shaft member 3 is screwed into the nut portion 1c of the grip ball 1, whereby the shaft member 3 and the light guide sleeve 2 are separated from each other. The handball 1 is integrated.

Next, the base 6 is covered with the dustproof member 4, and the claws 44 are locked to the lower surface of the end edge of the flange 61 of the base 6, whereby the guide hole 43 and the insertion hole are inserted into the assembly formed by integrating the two. When the shaft member 3 is penetrated through the hole 63 from the top to the bottom, the step portion 36 located at the boundary between the large diameter portion 32 and the medium diameter portion 33 contacts the top plate 65 around the insertion hole 63, The movement of the shaft member 3 from above to below is restricted.

Next, the washer 7, the spring 8 and the end member 9 are externally inserted in order to the medium diameter portion 33 and the small diameter portion 34 protruding downward from the assembly of the base 6 and the dustproof member 4, and then downward from the end member 9. When the E-ring 11 is fitted into the outer peripheral groove 35 of the medium diameter portion 33 protruding toward the shaft member 3, the compression spring 8 is accommodated in the large diameter portion 91 of the end member 9 as shown in FIG. Is attached to the base body 6 while being elastically pulled downward. Then, the shaft member 3 is supported on the base body 6 so as to be tiltable from the upright position while resisting the biasing force of the spring with the lower end peripheral edge portion of the large diameter portion 32 as a fulcrum. As a result, the shaft member 3 is supported so as to be tiltable from the neutral position against the biasing force with the middle of the entire length as the tilt fulcrum.

Next, the lower container 12 in which the photo interrupter 13 is housed in the bottom portion and the upper surface opening is closed by the guide plate 10 is put on the base body 6 from below, and the screw 14 is screwed into the screw hole of the boss portion 64. These parts are integrated to complete the illuminated lever switch 200 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

Next, the switching function of the illuminated lever switch 200 having the above configuration will be described. When the shaft member 3 is in the upright state (neutral state), the lower end small diameter portion 34 of the shaft member 3 is located in the gap 133 of the photo interrupter 133 and blocks the optical path from the light projecting unit 131 to the light receiving unit 132 (for example, , Switched off). From this state, the shaft member 3 is guided by the guide hole 43 of the dustproof member 4 and the guide hole 101 of the guide plate 10 by the operation of the grip ball 1 and is in one of two orientations at an angle of 180 degrees from each other. When tilted to, the lower end small diameter portion 34 of the shaft member 3 is disengaged from the gap 133 of the photo interrupter 133 and enters a state where the optical path from the light projecting portion 131 to the light receiving portion 132 is not blocked (for example, a switch-on state).

In this way, by tilting the shaft member 3 in the upright state to one of the two azimuths at an angle of 180 degrees from each other, it is possible to generate and output a switching signal for one system. Can be used to realize the function of a pachi-slot start switch.

Next, the handball illumination function of the illumination lever switch 200 having the above configuration will be described. When the shaft member 3 is in the upright state (neutral state), the light a emitted from the six LEDs 52 is at the center of the ring, as shown by the alternate long and short dash lines in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6(a). After advancing toward, the light enters the inside of the light guide sleeve 2 from the outer surface of the light guide sleeve 2. Thus, the light a that has entered the light guide sleeve 2 further proceeds straight and reaches the inner surface of the truncated cone-shaped tapered surface 22, where most of the light is reflected, as shown in FIG. Then, the direction of the light guide sleeve 2 is changed vertically upward, and the light guide sleeve 2 is further advanced upward, passes through the top plate 23 of the light guide sleeve 2, and is emitted from the light guide sleeve 2 to the outside. In this way, the light a emitted upward from the upper end of the light guide sleeve 2 further enters the inside of the grip ball 1 from the lower surface of the grip ball 1, and then reaches the spherical core portion 1b, where the spherical core portion 1b. The bubbles are scattered by a large number of bubbles contained in, and as a result, the ball 1 is brightly illuminated.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, the light a emitted from the LED 51 actually has a circular or elliptical cross section (oval) and travels with a predetermined divergence angle. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 6B, even if the shaft member 3 is in an inclined state, a part of the light emitted from each of the six LEDs 51 must be inside the light guide sleeve 2. In addition to being reflected on the inner surface of the truncated cone-shaped tapered surface 22, the component of the reflected light which is not parallel to the axis of the light guiding sleeve 2 is incident on the inner peripheral surface of the light guiding sleeve 22. Alternatively, since the light travels while being reflected on the outer peripheral surface, a large amount of light reaches the upper end surface of the light guide sleeve 22, penetrates this, and illuminates the ball 1 from below.

Therefore, according to this example, as long as one of the LEDs 51 is lit, whether the shaft member 3 is upright or inclined, the handball 1 is illuminated with sufficient light from below. As a result, an illuminated lever switch is realized.

In the above embodiments, the switch unit includes a single switch (photointerrupter) that switches with respect to both axis tilts in two azimuths that are 180 degrees apart from each other. The configuration of the switch unit is not limited to this.

An explanatory view showing another example of the switch section is shown in FIG. The switch portion 15 has a substantially square wiring board 154 having a circular insertion hole 154a into which the middle diameter portion 33 of the shaft member 3 is inserted, and the insertion hole 154a formed on the wiring board 154. It has four microswitches 151 arranged in point symmetry as the center. Each of the four micro switches 151 is configured to direct the push button 152 toward the insertion hole 154 a and operate the push button 152 via the hinge lever 153.

The switch portion 15 having the above-described structure is arranged in parallel with the base body below a base body (not shown) that supports the shaft member 3 so as to be tiltable in four directions against the biasing force by a known structure. Through the insertion hole 154a located at the center thereof, the middle diameter portion of the shaft member or the end member that also functions as a spring receiver is inserted.

Then, when the shaft member 3 is tilted in any of the four azimuth directions at an angle of 90 degrees from each other, among the four microswitches 151, the pushbutton 152 of the microswitch 151 corresponding to the tilted azimuth causes the hinge lever to move. It is actuated by being pressed alternatively via 153. Then, the single-pole double-throw type contact incorporated in the microswitch is turned on or off, thereby switching between normally open (NO) and normally closed (NC) corresponding to each tilting direction (UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT). The signal is output to the terminal pin rows 155a and 155b. By utilizing this, a function as a four-way switch of an arcade game machine can be realized.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an illuminated lever switch that is excellent in operability and has good durability.

1 Hand Ball 1a Surface Layer 1b Core 1c Nut Member 2 Light Guide Sleeve 3 Shaft Member 4 Dustproof Member 5 Support Plate 6 Base 7 Washer 8 Spring 9 End Member 10 Guide Plate 11 E-Ring 12 Lower Case 13 Photointerrupter 14 Screw 15 Switch Part 21 Insertion hole 22 Frustum-shaped tapered surface 31 Screw part 32 Large diameter part 33 Medium diameter part 34 Small diameter part 35 Peripheral groove 36 Step part 41 Flange part 42 Cylindrical part 43 Guide hole 44 Claw part 45 Top plate 51 LED
52 Support part 61 Flange part 62 Cylindrical part 63 Insertion hole 64 Boss part 65 Top plate 91 Large diameter part 92 Small diameter part 101 Guide hole 121 Central space 122 Side space 123 Locking piece 131 Light emitting part 132 Light receiving part 133 Gap 151 Micro Switch 152 Push Button 153 Hinge Lever 154 Wiring Board 154a Insertion Hole 155a Terminal Pin Row (Normally Open)
155b Terminal pin row (normally closed)
a light

Claims (3)

A shaft member that is supported so as to be tiltable from a neutral position against the biasing force with the middle of the entire length as a tilt fulcrum,
A grip ball attached to the upper end of the shaft portion above the tilt fulcrum of the shaft member,
A switch portion that operates in conjunction with the movement of a shaft portion below the tilt fulcrum of the shaft member,
The grip ball is a transparent sphere to which light scattering property is imparted,
A light-transmissive sleeve extending from the vicinity of the tilt fulcrum to the vicinity of the grip ball is externally inserted to the upper portion of the shaft member,
In the vicinity of the lower end of the light-transmissive sleeve, a plurality of light-emitting devices which have a circular or oval cross section and are arranged to surround the light-transmitting sleeve at an appropriate distance to emit light that travels at a predetermined spread angle. The element is arranged so that the light emitting direction thereof is directed toward the sleeve side, and further, at the lower end portion of the sleeve, there is formed a truncated conical taper surface inclined downward from the inner peripheral surface of the sleeve to the outer peripheral surface thereof. Has been done,
Thus, in any tilting range before Symbol shaft member also is characterized in that a part of the light emitted from the light emitting element reaches to said grip ball is reflected by the frustoconical tapered surface Illuminated lever switch. 2. The illuminated lever switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch portion is configured by a single switch that switches with respect to both axis tilts in two directions at an angle of 180 degrees from each other. The illumination type lever switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch unit is configured by four switches that switch for each of axis tilts in four azimuths which are separated from each other by 90 degrees.

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