JPH04504Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention relates to a push button switch equipped with a contactor integrally formed of an elastic material such as rubber, and in particular,
The present invention relates to a structure of a contact that enables two-step operation in this type of push-button switch.

Rubber or plastic contacts are more durable than metal contacts, and have the advantage of being highly reliable and resistant to harsh environments such as high humidity. A rubber contactor used in a conventional push-button switch has, for example, a structure as shown by reference numeral 1 in FIG.
Contactor 1 is integrally molded from conductive rubber,
The annular portion 2 is connected to the annular portion 2 through a conical thin portion 3, and includes a protruding portion 4 that protrudes downward at the center of the annular portion 2. The lower surfaces of the annular portion 2 and the protruding portion 4 are formed into contact portions 2a and 4a, respectively. The contact portion 4a is always in contact with a fixed contact piece 6 provided on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 5, and the fixed contact piece 7 is arranged opposite to the contact portion 2a. When the push button 8 placed on the contact 1 is pushed down, the side wall 2 is distorted and the lowered contact portion 2a contacts the fixed contact piece 7 to turn on the switch. As described above, conventional switches having rubber contacts have only a single-stage operation function for turning on and off one circuit.

The present invention uses a contact made of an elastic material such as rubber, and has a two-stage operation function that allows multiple circuits to be turned on at different times with a single key.
The object of the present invention is to provide a switch that is easy to manufacture. For this purpose, the present invention is characterized in that by incorporating a conventional contactor into a part thereof, a contactor capable of two-stage operation can be easily constructed.

Next, an embodiment in which the contactor of the push button switch of the present invention is constructed using the conventional contactor 1 described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 denotes an outer contact member integrally formed of a flexible insulating elastic material such as silicone rubber, which includes a ring-shaped base 11 and a spherical side wall 1.
2. It is equipped with a cylindrical support part 13. Support part 1
A stepped portion 14 is formed on the inner surface of the connector 3, and a contact portion 15 made of conductive rubber or the like is fixed to the lower surface. The contactor 1 is attached to the outer contact member 10 by fitting the annular portion 2 into the substantially cylindrical support portion 13 from above, thereby forming an inner contact member. A contact portion 4 is provided on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 20.
A pair of fixed contact pieces 31 and 32 are attached at positions facing a, and a pair of fixed contact pieces 41 and 42 are provided opposite to the contact portion 15.

In such a configuration, when the upper part of the contact is pushed down by pressing the push button 50 or the like, the side wall 12 of the outer contact member 10 is first distorted as shown in FIG. , 32 to turn on the first circuit. When the push button 50 is pressed down further, the thin part 3 is also distorted, and the contact part 15 is moved to the fixed contact piece 4 as shown in FIG.
1 and 42, and the second circuit is also turned on. When the push button 50 is released after this, the contact returns to the state shown in FIG. 2 due to its own restoring force, and both circuits are turned off. It goes without saying that if the push button is released in the state shown in FIG. 3 during the process, the contact will return to its original state without turning on the second circuit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the stroke of the push button 50 and the load applied to the push button 50 during switch operation. Point A of the stroke is the position where the first circuit is turned on, and point B is the position where the first circuit is turned on. This shows the position where circuit No. 2 is turned on. As is clear from this figure, a click action is obtained when the side wall 12 and thin wall portion 3 are distorted into a substantially S-shaped cross section. In addition, in this example, the stroke to point A is increased and the stroke from point A to point B is decreased, and furthermore, the load E required to turn on the first circuit and the second
Although the difference from the load F required to turn on the circuit is increased, these characteristics can be set as appropriate by changing the dimensions, shape, material, etc. of the side wall 12 and thin wall portion 3. be.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the step part 14 may be omitted, and the annular part 2 and the support part 13 may be bonded to each other.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the inner contact member of the previous embodiment is modified and a different type of contactor conventionally used is utilized. The inner contact member 60 has an annular portion 61 and a protruding portion 62 that protrudes upward at the center thereof, connected by a conical thin portion 63, and these are integrally molded from insulating rubber. A contact portion 64 made of conductive rubber or the like is fixed to the lower surface of the protrusion 62. The thin part 63 is the protruding part 62
The dimensions, shape, material, etc. are selected so that the push button 70 placed on the side wall 12 has greater strength than the side wall 12 and is less likely to be deformed by the force that is applied when the push button 70 is pressed down.

Therefore, when the push button 70 is pressed down, the side wall 12 is first distorted and the inner contact member 60 is lowered in that state. Then, the contact portion 15 is connected to the fixed contact piece 4.
1 and 42 to turn on the first circuit. Further, when the push button 70 is pushed down deeply, the thin wall portion 63 is distorted, and the contact portion 64 is moved between the fixed contact piece 31 and the thin wall portion 63.
32 to also turn on the second circuit. If the push button 70 is then released, the contact pushes down the push button 70 with its own elasticity and returns to its initial state.

In the case of this embodiment, by integrally molding the outer contact member 10 from a conductive material, it is possible to save the trouble of providing the contact portion 15 separately.

As explained above, according to the present invention, while using a contact made of an elastic material such as rubber, the first circuit is turned on at the first pressing position and the second circuit is turned on at the second pressing position. You get a push button switch that turns on. Moreover, since the conventionally used contacts can be used as the inner contact members, only the outer contact members need be newly prepared.
It has the advantage of being inexpensive to manufacture. In addition, since the outer contact member and the inner contact member are molded separately and then integrated, it is not only easy to set the operating loads for the first and second stages, but also the two are integrally molded from the beginning. There is also the effect that the dimensional accuracy of the positions of the respective contact portions can be improved compared to the manufacturing method using the above method.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a front sectional view of the main parts of a conventional push button switch, Fig. 2 is a partial front sectional view showing an embodiment of the push button switch according to the present invention, and Figs. 3 and 4 show the operating state of the switch. Partial front sectional view, 5th
The figure shows the relationship between stroke and load, and FIG. 6 is a partial front sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1... Contactor (inner contact member), 2... Annular part,
3...Thin wall part, 4,62...Protrusion part, 4a, 1
5, 64... Contact portion, 10... Outer contact member, 1
2... Side wall, 13... Support part, 20... Insulating substrate, 31, 32, 41, 42... Fixed contact piece, 60
...Inner contact member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] an outer contact member having a substantially cylindrical support portion integrally molded with an elastic material on the upper part of the substantially spherical side wall and a first contact portion provided on the lower surface of the support portion; An inner contact member made of an elastic material and having a protruding part that is connected to each other and protrudes upward or downward at the center of the annular part, and a second contact part is provided on the lower surface of the protruding part, is inserted into the support part of the outer contact member. A contact element is integrated by fitting the annular part of the inner contact member, and a pair of first fixed contact pieces facing the first contact part of the contact element and a pair of fixed contact pieces facing the second contact part are provided. A pair of second fixed contact pieces are provided on the insulating substrate, and when the upper part of the contact piece is pressed down, the first contact part and the second
1. A push-button switch, wherein the contact portions of the push-button switch contact the first fixed contact piece and the second fixed contact piece at different times.