JPH08161967A - Switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a switch which allows an easy assembling operation and has a restraint mechanism with a reduced number of part items. CONSTITUTION: A holder 13 having a control knob 14 for performing a pressing operation is movably supported inside the holder chamber 12S of a case 12 while being energized by a coil spring. A restraint mechanism 30 has an elastic tongue piece 32 formed into a U-shape by the notching of the top surface of the holder 13 and having a locking portion 32a. The locking portion 32a of the elastic tongue piece 32 is locked into and unlocked from a restraint recess 34 as the holder 13 moves.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a switch having a moderation mechanism which gives a feeling of moderation to switch operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of push switch has been used as a switch for lighting a rear fog lamp of an automobile. This will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the switch 100 is installed on an instrument panel of a driver's seat of an automobile, and a holder chamber 104 in a case 102 is provided with a holder 110 that slides integrally with an operation knob 106. . A movable contact 112 is attached to the holder 110, and the movable contact 112 is
It is composed of a leaf spring supported by the mounting recess 114 of the holder 110 and is biased toward the fixed contact 120 side.

Also, the outer wall of the holder 110 and the case 10
The moderation mechanism 130 shown in FIG. The moderation mechanism 130 provides a moderation feeling to the operation of the switch 100, and accommodates the coil spring 134 and the ball 136 in the accommodation recess 132 formed in the side wall surface of the holder 110, and the inner wall surface of the case 102. The engaging recess 138 formed in the above is engaged.

[0004]

The above-mentioned switch 1
To assemble 00, the storage recess 132 of the holder 110
It is necessary to store the coil spring 134 and the ball 136 in the above, and assemble this in the holder chamber 104 of the case 102. The work of assembling the coil spring 134 and the ball 136 is a fine work and is troublesome. Further, the switch 100 has been required to further reduce the number of parts, simplify the configuration, and reduce the cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a switch that is easy to assemble, reduces the number of parts, and realizes cost reduction.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention according to claim 1 supports a holder having an operation knob for performing a pressing operation, and movably supports the holder in accordance with the operation of the operation knob. The holder includes a case, an urging unit that applies an urging force against the operation force of the operation knob to the holder, and a detent mechanism for giving a detent feel to the movement of the holder. Elastic tongue having an engaging portion, and an elastic tongue formed on the case and elastically deforming the elastic tongue as the holder moves in accordance with the operation of the operation knob. It is characterized by comprising a mating portion and an engaged portion that engages and disengages.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a holder having an operation knob for performing a pressing operation, a case for movably supporting the holder according to the operation of the operation knob, and a holder for resisting the operation force of the operation knob to the holder. An energizing means for applying a force and a detent mechanism for giving a detent to the movement of the holder are provided, and the detent mechanism is integrally formed in the case in a branched manner so as to be elastically deformable and has an engaging portion. An elastic tongue having
And an engaged portion which is formed on the holder and elastically deforms the elastic tongue piece according to the movement of the holder in accordance with the operation of the operation knob to engage with and disengage from the engaging portion.

[0008]

In the switch according to the present invention, when an operating force is applied to the operating knob, the holder integral with the operating knob moves against the biasing force of the biasing means while being supported by the case. Further, the switch is provided with a detent mechanism that straddles the holder or the case, and the detent mechanism operates the switch with a sense of moderation. That is, the elastic tongue forming the moderation mechanism is elastically deformed as the holder moves, and the engaging portion of the elastic tongue engages with the engaged portion to provide a moderation feeling. Since the elastic tongue that constitutes the moderation mechanism is branched from a part of the holder, the number of parts does not increase.

According to the present invention, the elastic tongue piece is formed on the case side and the engaged portion is formed on the holder side.

[0010]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in order to further clarify the structure and operation of the present invention described above.

FIG. 1 shows a switch 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
0 is a plan view, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. As shown in these drawings, a switch 10 is a switch for turning on a rear fog lamp of an automobile, and includes a case 12 having a holder chamber 12s, a holder 13 sliding in the holder chamber 12s, and the holder 13. The operation knob 14 that is integrally assembled and is pressed, and the holder 1 described above.
3, a coil spring 15 for urging the operation knob 14 and the operation knob 14 in the arrow direction a, a movable contact 22 mounted on the holder 13, and a fixed contact 24 that is placed on the printed circuit board PC while coming into contact with and separated from the movable contact 22. Is the main component.

The operation of the switch 10 will be briefly described. In the normal OFF state, the operation knob 14 and the holder 13
Is in the position shown in FIG. 2 due to the biasing force of the coil spring 15. At this time, the movable contact 22 mounted on the holder 13
Is in a non-contact state with the fixed contact 24. When the operation knob 14 is pushed in the arrow direction b from this off state, the operation knob 14 and the holder 13 move against the biasing force of the coil spring 15. As a result, the movable contact 22 becomes the fixed contact 2
4 is touched, the signal generated at this time is the printed circuit board PC
Input processing is performed by the upper electronic circuit EC. Then, when the operation force applied to the operation knob 14 is released, the holder 13 and the operation knob 14 return to their original positions by the biasing force of the coil spring 15.

Next, the configuration and operation of each part of the switch 10 will be described in more detail. The case 12 constituting the switch 10 has a holder chamber 12 having an opening 12a.
The guide member 26 is fixed to the upper part of the guide member 26. The guide member 26 is a plate-shaped member that comes into contact with and supports the upper surface of the holder 13 and guides it, and the rear side of the spring support portion 26a is bent and protrudes inward of the holder chamber 12s.
Has become.

The holder 13 slidably held in the holder chamber 12s has a box shape whose lower side is opened, and an operation knob 14 is fixedly engaged with a not-shown claw at a recess on the front side thereof. Further, the rear wall 1 is provided on the rear side of the holder 13.
3a is formed, and the coil spring 15 is supported between the rear wall 13a and the spring support portion 26a of the guide member 26.

On the other hand, the movable contact 22 is composed of a substantially L-shaped leaf spring, and one end of the movable contact 22 is a supporting recess 13b of the holder 13.
Is a base end portion 22a supported by the above, and the other end portion is a contact portion 22b provided so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the fixed contact 24 mounted on the holder 13.

A printed circuit board PC fixed to the case 12 is disposed below the holder chamber 12s. On the printed circuit board PC, an electronic circuit EC that is turned on and off by a signal generated when the movable contact 22 contacts the fixed contact 24 is mounted.

Further, the holder 13 and the guide member 26.
A moderation mechanism 30 is formed over the area. As shown in FIG. 4, which is an enlarged view of FIG. 3, the moderation mechanism 30 has a U-shaped cut on the upper portion of the holder 13 and the engaging portion 3 at the tip thereof.
The elastic tongue 32 (see FIG. 6) having 2a and the moderation recess 34 formed on the lower surface of the guide member 26 and engaging with the engaging portion 32a are provided. The elastic tongue 32
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the base 32 is disengaged from the moderation recess 34 as the holder 13 moves.
It is elastically deformed so as to move up and down around b.
The elastic tongue 32 can be integrally formed by resin injection molding when the holder 13 is manufactured.

Next, the operation of the switch 10 will be described. Now, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the switch 10
Is off. At this time, the engaging portion 32a of the elastic tongue piece 32 on the upper part of the case 12 is engaged with the moderation recess 34 on the case 12 side. From this state, the operation knob 14
When an operating force in the direction of arrow b is applied to, as shown in FIG.
The holder 13 moves integrally with the operation knob 14 to the inner side of the holder chamber 12s against the biasing force of the coil spring 15. At this time, the engaging portion 32a of the elastic tongue piece 32 formed on the upper portion of the holder 13 follows the inclined surface 34b of the moderation recess 34 and is elastically deformed so that the elastic tongue piece 32 is pushed downward, The engagement from the moderation recess 34 is disengaged.

Further, when the operation knob 14 moves to bring the movable contact 22 into contact with the fixed contact 24, a signal is output and the electronic circuit EC on the printed circuit board PC is turned on. Then, when the operating force on the operating knob 14 in the arrow direction b is released, the holder 13 and the operating knob 14 are returned to their original positions by the biasing force of the coil spring 15. At this time, the moderation mechanism 30
The engaging portion 32 a of the elastic tongue piece 32 is engaged with the moderation recess 34.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the elastic tongue 32 having the engaging portion 32a is formed as the moderating mechanism 30 for giving a feeling of moderation to the operation of the operation knob 14, and the elastic tongue 32 is formed. By branching integrally with the holder 13 and molding with resin, the elastic tongue 32 itself becomes the holder 1.
It is not a separate part from the third grade. Therefore, the moderation mechanism 30 does not use the coil spring, the ball, etc. described in the related art, the number of parts can be reduced, the configuration is simple, the assembling work is easy, and the cost reduction is realized. can do.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be carried out in various modes without departing from the scope of the invention, and the following modifications can be made.

(1) In the above embodiment, the elastic tongue piece 3 is used.
2 as the engaged portion that engages with the engaging portion 32a of
However, the present invention is not limited to this, as long as the engaging portion 32a of the elastic tongue piece 32 is engaged to give a moderation sensation.
For example, it may be a mountain-shaped engaging projection over which the engaging portion 32a rides.

(2) In the above embodiment, the elastic tongue 32 is formed by cutting out a part of the case 12 in a U-shape. The elastic tongue may be used, and in any case, the structure is not particularly limited as long as it is formed integrally with the case.

(3) In the above embodiment, the push-type switch 10 has one depressing concave portion 34, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of engaged portions (for example, three places) are provided. It may be applied to a slide-type or rotary-type switch in which the engaging portion is selectively engaged with one of the engaged portions by the movement of the holder.

[0025]

As described above, according to the switches of claims 1 and 2 according to the present invention, one of the holder and the case is used as a moderating mechanism for giving a feeling of moderation to the operation of the operation knob. By configuring an elastic tongue part of which is branched and has an engaging part, and an engaged part which is formed on the other of the holder or the case and engages with the engaging part of the elastic tongue, Unlike the conventional moderation mechanism, many parts such as coil springs and balls are not used. Therefore, the number of parts can be reduced, the structure is simple, the assembling work is easy, and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a switch according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a peripheral portion of the moderation mechanism of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the device is turned on from FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an elastic tongue piece of a moderation mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a conventional switch.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a moderation mechanism related to a conventional switch.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Switch 12 ... Case 12s ... Holder chamber 12a ... Opening 13 ... Holder 13a ... Rear wall 13b ... Support recess 14 ... Operation knob 15 ... Coil spring 22 ... Movable contact 22a ... Base end 22b ... Contact part 24 ... Fixed Contact point 26 ... Guide member 26a ... Spring support part 30 ... Moderation mechanism 32 ... Elastic tongue piece 32a ... Engagement part 32b ... Base part 34 ... Moderation recess 34b ... Inclined surface EC ... Electronic circuit PC ... Printed circuit board

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A holder having an operation knob for performing a pressing operation, a case for movably supporting the holder according to the operation of the operation knob, and a biasing force for applying a biasing force against the operation force of the operation knob to the holder. Means and a detent mechanism for giving a detent to the movement of the holder, wherein the detent mechanism has an elastic tongue that is integrally formed in the holder so as to be elastically deformable and has an engaging portion. An engaged portion which is formed in the case and elastically deforms the elastic tongue piece according to the movement of the holder in accordance with the operation of the operation knob to engage and disengage from the engaging portion. switch. 2. A holder having an operating knob for performing a pressing operation, a case for movably supporting the holder according to the operation of the operating knob, and a biasing force for applying a biasing force against the operating force of the operating knob to the holder. Means and a detent mechanism for imparting a detent to the movement of the holder, the detent mechanism having an elastic tongue piece integrally formed with the case so as to be elastically deformable and having an engaging portion. An engaged portion which is formed on the holder and elastically deforms the elastic tongue piece according to the movement of the holder in accordance with the operation of the operation knob to engage and disengage from the engaging portion. switch.