JPH01183020A - Push button switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate arrangement of a large push button by forming the through hole of a housing and the sliding part of a slider which moves up and down along this hole in square cross section, and making the direction of the sliding part engaging with the through hole free in changing between 180 deg. and 90 deg., and providing a means for preventing the sliding part from jumping upward on every side of the through hole. CONSTITUTION:The engaging part 17a in square shape of a slider 17 whose cross section cut at right angle to the sliding direction of the slider 17 is square engages with the through hole 18a in square cross section of a housing 18 and is free in sliding in the vertical direction, and has projections 17c projecting outward at the ends of a pair of tongue pieces 17b provided with spring properties by longitudinally split grooves 17d provided at the engaging part 17a. At the lower part of the through hole 18a of the housing 18, recess 18b is provided at each of its every side, and the slider 17 becomes not to come out to the above of the housing 18 by the projection 17c booked at the upper end of the recess 18b which is formed from the bottom of the housing 18 to the intermediate part of the through hole 18, thus the arrangement of a large push button is made extremely easy.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Concerning the structure of a push button switch used in a keyboard, etc. - Easily changing the mounting direction of the push button and mounting a large push button corresponding to multiple switches or two switches. To this end, an operating section for operating a switch section includes a slider into which a push button is fitted, and a housing in which a through hole is formed to guide vertical movement of the slider.

The sliding portion of the slider that slides along the through hole and the through hole have a square cross section taken perpendicular to the sliding direction of the slider, and at least one of two opposing surfaces of the sliding portion Respectively,
A tongue piece having a spring property is provided integrally with the sliding portion toward the through hole, a protrusion projecting outward is provided at the tip of the tongue piece integrally with the tongue piece, and a protrusion protruding outward is provided at the tip of the tongue piece, and The end faces to which the protrusions are engaged are provided facing downward on all four sides.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to the configuration of a push button switch used in a keyboard, etc., and in particular, the direction of the slider inserted into the housing is 18.
Concerning a configuration that can be freely replaced at 0 degrees and ±90 degrees. □ [Prior Art] Fig. 5 is a schematic side sectional view (A) showing a typical example of a conventional push button switch, a bottom view (U) of the operating section as seen from arrow A-A, and a side view of the main part of the slider. The push button switch 1 is composed of a switch section 2 and an operation section 3, as shown in FIG.

The switch unit 2 includes a switch 5 generally called a membrane inch mounted on a substrate 4, and the switch 5 includes an insulating sheet 5c with a fixed contact 5a formed on the upper surface and an insulating sheet 5d with a movable contact 5b formed on the lower surface. and fixed contact 5a
and the movable contact 5b are made to face each other at an appropriate distance.

The operating section 3 includes a push button 6 made of molded plastic.
Slider 7, housing 8, and a compression coil spring 9 for returning the push button, which is wound with a metal wire having spring properties. It is equipped with a compression coil spring 10 for operating the switch section.

The cylindrical fitting part 7a of the slider 7 fits into a circular cross-section through hole 8a of the housing 8 and is slidable in the vertical direction, and has flexibility by a vertical groove 7d provided in the fitting part 7a. At the tips of the pair of tongue pieces 7b, there is a protrusion 7 that protrudes outward.
It has c.

A pair of recesses 8b corresponding to the pair of protrusions 7c are provided at the lower part of the through hole 8a of the housing 8. By locking the protrusion 7c on the end surface 8c, the slider 7 is prevented from protruding above the housing 8.

Note that a protrusion 7e for fitting the upper end of the coil spring 10 hangs down from an intermediate portion of the fitting portion 7a of the slider 7.

In the push button switch 1 configured in this way, when the push button 6 is pressed, the slider 7 descends along the through hole 8a, and the movable contact 5 is pressed down by the coil spring 10 via the insulating sheet 5d.
b contacts the fixed contact 5a. - Next, when the push-down blade is removed, the push button 6 is pushed up by the restoring force of the coil spring 9 compressed when the push button 6 is pressed, and the insulating sheet 5d
The restoring force causes the movable contact 5b to separate from the fixed contact 5a.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

FIGS. 6(A) to 6(D) are diagrams showing various push buttons of commonly used keyboards and examples of the arrangement of the push buttons. One in which a pair of switches 11 and opposing push buttons 12 are arranged in a horizontally elongated manner adjacent to the other, one in which a pair of switches 11 and two opposite push buttons 12 are arranged in a vertically elongated manner adjacent to each other in the front-rear direction, and four buttons adjacent to each other in the left-right and front-rear directions. A device equipped with a large push button 13 facing two switches 11 is used, but the arrangement of the push buttons 6, 12, 13 varies depending on the user.

On the other hand, in the conventional push button switch 1, as described above, the relative relationship between the slider 7 and the housing 8 is determined by the pair of tongues 7b provided on the slider 7 and the pair of grooves 8b provided in the housing 8. Although the slider 7 can be rotated 180 degrees relative to the housing 8, it is necessary to refit the push button 6 to the slider 7 in order to rotate the slider 7 90 degrees.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIGS. 6(El) and (D), when the push buttons 12 fitted with a pair of sliders 7 are used horizontally, the push buttons 13 fitted with four sliders 7 are used horizontally.
In the conventional push button switch 1 that can be used, when the push button 12 is used vertically as shown in FIG. There was the inconvenience of having to change the direction of the slider 7 by 90 degrees.

Note that providing the recesses 8b on all sides of the through hole 8a having a circular cross section increases the play in the lateral direction when the slider 7 is fitted.
It becomes necessary to increase the length of a, and the push button switch becomes large.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the present invention is aimed at eliminating the above-mentioned problems.According to the embodiment shown in FIG.
The sliding portion 17 of the slider 17 includes a slider 17 into which a push button 6 is fitted, and a housing 18 in which a through hole 18a is formed to guide the vertical movement of the slider 17, and the slider 17 slides along the through hole 18a.
a and the through hole 48a have a square cross section taken perpendicularly to the sliding direction of the slider 17, and each of two opposing surfaces of at least one side of the sliding portion 17a has spring properties toward the through hole 18a. The tongue piece 17b is provided integrally with the sliding part 17a, and the tongue piece 1 has a protrusion 17c projecting outward at the tip of the tongue piece 17b.
The push button switch 15 is provided integrally with the push button switch 7b, and has end surfaces 18c facing downward, to which the protrusions 17c are engaged, on all sides of the lower end of the through hole 18a.

[Effect]

According to the above means, the through hole of the housing and the sliding part of the slider that moves up and down along the through hole are formed to have a square cross section, so that the □ sliding part that fits into the through hole is The orientation can be freely changed to 180 degrees and ±90 degrees, and without increasing the play in the fitting between the through hole and the slider, means for preventing the sliding portion from protruding upward on all sides of the through hole are provided. (the end face on which the slider protrusion is locked) can be formed.

As a result, various large push buttons such as those shown in FIG. 6 can be used without the troubles described in the above-mentioned problems.

〔Example〕

Below, a push button switch according to the present invention will be explained using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view (A) showing a schematic configuration of a push button switch according to an embodiment of the present invention, a bottom view taken along the line B-B (B), and a side view of the main parts of the slider (C). FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view of the operating section of the push-button switch, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operating characteristics of the push-button switch.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in which the same reference numerals are used for the same parts as in FIG.

The operating section 16 disposed above the switch section 2 is a pushbutton made of plastic molded material. II 6, slider 1
7. Housing 18 and a compression coil spring 9 for returning the push button, which is wound with a metal wire having spring properties. It is equipped with a compression coil spring 10 for operating the switch section.

- The rectangular tube-shaped fitting portion 17a of the slider 17 has a square cross section when cut at right angles to the sliding direction of the slider 17.
It fits into the through hole 18a of the square cross section of the housing 18 and is slidable in the vertical direction, and the vertically divided tl provided in the fitting part 17a
The pair of tongue pieces 17b, which have spring properties due to l17d, have protrusions 17c projecting outward at their tips.

At the lower part of the through hole 18a of the housing 18, recesses 18b are provided on each of the four sides, and the housing 18
A recess 18b formed from the lower surface of the hole 18a to the middle part of the through hole 18a.
By locking the protrusion 17c on the upper end surface 18c, the slider 17 is prevented from protruding above the housing 18.

Note that a protrusion 17e for fitting the upper end of the coil spring 10 hangs down from an intermediate portion of the fitting portion 17a of the slider 17.

The push button switch 15 configured in this way has an operation section 16.
operates in the same manner as the conventional operating section 3, connecting and disconnecting the movable contact 5b and the fixed contact 5a. The push button 12 shown in FIG. 6 can be mounted in the horizontal and vertical directions without changing the fit between the push button 6 and the slider 17.
The operating characteristics of the push button switch 15, which operates in the same manner as the conventional push button switch 1, are as shown in FIG. When the stroke is S (mm), the movable contact and the fixed contact come to connect when the pressing blade is 40 g and the stroke is 2 mm, as shown by the solid line in the figure, for example.

In FIG. 3, the increase in the number of push-down blades in the stroke range of 0 to 1 mm is due to the compression of the coil spring 9, and the increase in the number of push-down blades in the stroke range of 1 to 3.8 mm is due to the compression of the coil springs 9 and 10. .

In FIG. 4, in which the same reference numerals are used for parts common to the previous figure, the push button switch 21 is composed of a switch section 22 and an operating section 23, and the switch section 22 is formed by integrally connecting a pair of switch sections 2. In addition, the operating section 23 is provided with a housing 24 in which a pair of housings 18 are connected, and a push button 12 is fitted into a pair of sliders 17. The slider 17 located above one of the movable contacts 5b to be operated is equipped with coil springs 9 and 10;
This configuration is such that the coil springs 9 and 10 are removed from the slider 17 located above the other movable contact 5b that is not operated.

In this way, the configuration for connecting the switch section 2 and the housing 18 is further expanded, and a keyboard can be constructed by arranging a large number of switch sections 2 and the housing 1B in the left-right and front-back directions and integrally forming the keyboard. According to the user's wishes, the push button 6 and the push buttons 12 and 13 can be used without changing the fitting of the slider 17.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the through hole of the housing and the sliding part of the slider that moves up and down along the through hole are formed to have a square cross section. The direction of the sliding part can be changed to 180 degrees and ±90 degrees,
In addition, since means for preventing the sliding portion from protruding upward (the end face where the slider protrusion is locked) can be formed on all sides of the through hole, there is no need to replace the sliders that fit various large push buttons into the push buttons. This has the effect that the large push button can be extremely easily arranged according to the user's wishes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a push-button switch according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view of the operating section of the push-button switch shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the push-button switch not shown in FIG. Operation characteristic diagram - Figure 4 is a side cross-sectional view of a push button switch in which two push buttons are fitted according to the present invention, Figure 5 is a conventional push button switch, and Figure 6 is an example of various push buttons of a keyboard and the arrangement of the push buttons. In the figure, 2.22 is a switch part, 6 and 12.13 are push buttons, 16.23 is an operation part, I7 is a slider, 17a is a sliding part of the slider, 17b is a tongue piece, and 17c is a protrusion , 18.24 is a housing, 18a is a through hole for fitting a sliding part, 18c is an end face for locking a slider, and 15.21 is a push button switch. Agent Patent Attorney Sada Igata - Koshigo c'iHiri W -13: (c) Various types of keyboards! Lead & ffi I series fla 6th (d) Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] The operating section (16) for operating the switch section (2) includes a slider (17) fitted with a push button (6), and a slider (17) fitted with a push button (6).
7) and a housing (18) formed with a through hole (18a) for guiding the vertical movement of the slider (17), which slides along the through hole (18a).
The sliding part (17a) and the through hole (18a) have a square cross section taken perpendicular to the sliding direction of the slider (17), and at least one of the sliding parts (17a) and the through hole (18a) have a square cross section. A tongue piece (17b) having a spring property is provided on each of the surfaces toward the through hole (18a) integrally with the sliding portion (17a), and a tip of the tongue piece (17b) projects outward. Protrusions (17c) are provided integrally with the tongue piece (17b), and the protrusions (17c) are provided on all sides of the lower end of the through hole (18a).
A push button switch characterized in that an end surface (18c) to which the button is locked is provided facing downward.