US3737817A - Push-button operated tuner - Google Patents

Abstract

A push button operated tuner is provided with a plurality of mutuner elements arranged parallel to each other in a common plane and a plurality of axially movable cores arranged for simultaneous movement into and out of the mu-tuner elements. A manually rotatable adjustor is provided for adjusting the core elements relative to the push button stems and an operator segment on each stem may be angularly adjusted relative to the stem to vary the movement of the cores into the mu-tuner elements upon movement of a push button. The push button stems are arranged in an alternating manner with the mu-tuner elements in a common plane to reduce the vertical height of the unit.

Description

Umted States Patent 1191 1 3,737,817 Ashida et al. June 5, 1973 [54] PUSH-BUTTON OPERATED TUNER 2,875,620 3 1959 Heselwood .334 7 x [75] lnventors: Takashi Ashida; Teigi Sasagawa; zi z et 3 P Akashli 3:415:129 l2/l968 Stam m: $11334 x g l g E i; Momk" 3,503,270 3 1970 01138111 .L .334 7 x o o 0 yo, a o apan [73] Assignees: Fujitsu Limited, Kanagawa-ken; Primary P Rolinec Mitsumi Electric Co Ltd" Tokyo, Assistant Examiner-Saxfield Chatmon, Jr. Japan Attorney-Sughrue, Rothwell, Mion, Zinn & Macpeak [21] Appl- 91,426 A push button operated tuner is provided with a plurality of mu-tuner elements arranged parallel to each 30 Foreign Application priority Data other in a common plane and a plurality of axially movable cores arranged for simultaneous movement NOV. 20,1969 Japan ..44/92654 into and out of the mu tuner elements- A manually NOV. 20,1969 Japan rotatable adjustor is p i d for adjusting the core elements relative to the push button stems and an 5% operator segment on each stem may be angularly ad- J 3 74 justed relative to the stem to vary the movement of 1 0 the cores into the mu-tuner elements upon movement of a push button. The push button stems are arranged [56] References cued in an alternating manner with the mu-tuner elements UNITED STATES PATENTS in a common plane to reduce the vertical height of the unlt. 3,596,217 7/1971 Chesney..... 2,651,397 9/1953 Miller ..334/7 X 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 36 79 so 30b Patentd June 5, 1973 3,737,817

2 Sheets-She t 1 FIG. I

m WWW Patented June 5, 1973 3,737,817

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PUSH-BUTTON OPERATED TUNER This invention relates to improvements in and relating to push button-operated tuners.

The main object of the invention is to provide an improved push button-operated tuner, capable of provid-. ing an unique operational mode.

A further object is to provide a push button-operated tuner having a considerably reduced overall thickness thereof than that of the conventional type similar tuner.

These and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent when read the following detailed description of the invention by reference to the accompanying drawings illustrative of a substantially preferred embodiment of the invention in comparison with a comparative conventional tuner.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conventional push buttonoperated tuner, partially broken away for demonstrating several inner working parts in a more clear way.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view thereof taken substantially along a section line II II shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a similar view to FIG. 1, illustrative of the sole embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along a section line IV IV shown inv FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a link connection employed in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

Now referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings, a comparative conventional push buttonoperated tuner will be described in detail.

In these figures, numeral 1 represents generally a stationary casing frame and a plurality of push buttons commonly shown by a single reference numeral 2, having each an elongated stem 2a rigidly attached thereto, are slidably mounted in the frame 1, with the buttons 2 being, however, positioned outside of the front wall 1a of the frame 1. More specifically, the front wall la is formed a corresponding number of openings 27 through said stems 2a slidably pass. The free end 25 of the stem 2a is formed into an angular hook, as maybe supposed by a dotted line, which is fixedly attached with outer end of a coil spring 26, the opposite end of the latter being fixedly attached to the inner end of a stationary rod 4 which is attached at its root or outer end in turn fixedly to the rear wall lb of said casing frame 1. In this way, the push button assembly 2;2a is urged resiliently towards its off-serviceposition shown. For positioning these push button assemblies in their off-service position, each of the stem 2a is provided so as to engage with an intermediate wall 1c of easing frame 1. 7

At a higher level than that where the push bottons 2 are positioned, a plurality of mu-tuner elements 3 of conventional design are arranged in a common plane and in a physical parallelism one after apother and mounted fixedly on said casing frame 1. These tuner elements 3 are connected, however, electrically in series one after another.

A rotatable frame, generally shown at 5, and comprising an upper bar 5a and a lower bar 5b arranged in parallel to each other and .a pair of side plates 5c acting as connecting members for rigidly connecting the both side neighboring ends of these bars, is rotatably mounted on the casing frame 5. For this purpose, each of the side plates is provided with a pivot pin 24. The push botton stems 2a passes through the rotatable frame 5 and between the upper and lower bars 50 and 5b thereof.

Rotor 8 comprising a gear 6 positioned inside of the casing frame and a disc 7 is rotatably mounted on the casing frame 1, said disc being positioned outside of the casing frame and at a separated distance therefrom. A clutch element 10 is mounted axially slidably and relatively rotatablly on the rotor 8, said clutch element 10 comprises a crown gear 9 and is formed with a circular groove 8a. Disc 7 acts as an opposite clutch element and is kept normally in pressure contact with the movable clutch element constituted by the crown gear 9 through a rubber ring 11, which is attached thereto, thereby providing in combination a clutch unit 12.

The casing frame 1 is formed with an extension 13 which mounts rotatably a manually rotatable adjusting shaft 14 operatively connected through a universal joint 15 with a pinion shaft 17. A pinion 16 is formed on the free or opposite end of the shaft 17 and kept always in engagement of the teeth of crown gear 9.

A segmental gear 18 is attached concentrically to and fixedly with the rotatable frame 5 and kept in meshing with said gear 6.

Thus, it will be seen that by rotation of the adjusting shaft 14 in one or other direction, motion is transmitted therefrom through universal joint 15 to pinion shaft 17, thence through pinion 16 to crown gear 9. Since the crown gear 9 is kept in pressure engagement with disc 7, motion is further transmitted from the gear 9 through disc 7 and gears 6 and 18 to the rotatable frame 5, thus the latter being rotated about its pivot pins 24 correspondingly in one or another direction, as the case may be.

Slide 19 is mounted in the casing frame 1 so as to be shiftable up or down in FIG. 1. For this operation, the rotatable frame 5 is mechanically connected to the slide 19 through a mechanical linkage, although not shown for simplicity. Thus, rotation of the frame 5 will cause a corresponding upward or downward shifting of the slide 19 when seen in FIG. 1. I

To the slide 19, concentric inner cores 20 of the mutuner elements 3 are fixedly attached, each of said tuner element comprises a stationary bobbin 22 on which a coil 21 is wound as known per se. Electrically,

these coils 21 are connected in series one after another. From the thus provided coil assembly, a plurality of taps, commonly denoted by a single numeral 29 are led I out and electrically connected by respective leads, not

shown, to properly selected points in a certain radio frequency amplifier, not shown.

By pressing-in any selected one of the push-buttons 2 which are positioned at a lower level than that of the mu-tuner elements 3, a positioning piece 23 mounted on each of the stems 2a is brought into engagement with a part of the casing frame 1, thereby the related core 20 being positioned at a predetermined position relative to the related coil 21, so as to provide, in cooperation with the coil 21 and bobbin 22, a certain mu value for best reception of radio waves broadcast from a radio station destined for the selected and pushed-in push button. For other push buttons, the operation is similar to that which has been set forth hereinabove, for selecting out respectively destined broadcast stations.

Recently, the automotive dash board is so designed in consideration of safety codes and regulations that pads and the like cushioning materials are filled in the idle space thereof, thus the available effective space being reduced to a highly limited one, while car cooler, car stereo and the like various aux. machines and instruments should be fitted on the dash board of the car.

From these reasons, the car radio-receiving set must have its overall height or thickness must be reduced to a possible minimum.

However, with the conventional arrangement of mutuner elements bank and push button bank at different levels, the required reduction in overall height or thickness of the tuner assembly could not practically realized, since a reduction in the thickness of the push button bank per se can not be realized from technical reasons such as reduced mechanical strength and shortened durable life. This is applied to the tuner elements bank per se on account of a possible reduction of its electrical performance and efficiency, as well as an increased difficulty in the workmanship in the manufacture and assembly job of the constituents parts.

As will become more apparent as the description proceeds, it is possible by adopting the novel teachings of the invention to provide a highly improved and efficient tuner assembly capable of substantially obviating the aforementioned various conventional drawbacks, for providing a substantially changed smart appearance with improved operational efficiency from the mechanical as well as electrical viewpoints. The overall height or thickness of the tuner assembly according to this invention amounts substantially a half or less when compared those of comparative conventional tuners.

Next referring to FIGS. 3-4, a preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail.

In these figures, numeral 30 represents a stationary casing frame which is substantially similar to that shown at 1 in the foregoing.

As in the similar way, a plurality of, five in the present specific embodiment, push buttons 34 are provided each having an elongated stem 36 rigidly attached to the respective push button 34. The thus provided push button bank 35 is slidably mounted in the casing frame 30 as before and as conventionally. The front wall and the rear wall of the casing frame are shown at 30a and 30b, respectively.

A terminal board 61 made of an insulating material is attached fixedly, yet detachably to the rear casing wall 30b, by means of several fixing screws 62, FIG. 4, said board 61 being fitted with a number of taps 63 the purpose and function of which are same as before as described in the foregoing with reference to those denoted 29. Hollow cylindrical coil bobbins 31 are attached fixedly glueing or the like conventional fixing procedure on the front or inside surface of said insulator board 61 a coil 31a being wound as conventionally on each of the bobbins 31. An outer cylindrical core member and an outermost hollow cylindrical sheath are provided around each of said eoil-and-bobbin assembly 31; 31a which is fixedly mounted on an intermediate wall 30c of said casing frame 30, although not shown specifically on account of its very popularity. The thus provided tuner elements bank is shown generally by a single reference numeral 50.

A ferrite core 32 is provided so as to telescopically cooperate with each of said coil-and-bobbin assemblies 31;31a. Each of the thus provided tuner element including said bobbin, coil, outer core, outermost sheath and adjustable innermost ferrite core 32 is denoted by a common reference numeral 33, said ferrite core 32 being fixedly mounted on a slider mounted slidably on the casing frame 30. As may be well see, the axial plane of the tuner elements bank 50 and that of the push button bank 35 are positioned on an imaginary common plane. Although not shown, the intermediate wall 300 is properly perforated for allowing the entrance of the innermost ferrite into the bore of said coil bobbin for performing an adjustable cooperation between the two.

A spring 38 is attached with its one end to the tip 36a of each of the push button stem 36, while the opposite end of the latter is attached to the intermediate wall 30c of the casing frame 30, thereby each of the push buttons 34 together with its stem 36 being normally positioned in its off-service position as in the foregoing. For providing each of the push button assembly, especially the stem thereof, with the possibility for moving between its outer off-service position shown and the inner, pushed-in operating position, said intermediate wall 300 is properly perforated, although not specifically shown. As seen, each of the push button stems 36 is positioned at an intermediate position between neighboring two mu-tuner elements 33.

A pivotable frame 37 comprising a pair of parallel arrangement of upper bar 39 and lower bar 40 and side plates 37a connecting the corresponding ends of these bars rigidly as before, is pivotably mounted in the easing frame 30 by means of two pivots 71, although only right-hand one of them is shown in FIG. 3. Between the upper and lower bars 39 and 40, when seen in the elevational view shown in FIG. 4, the bank of push button stems 36 and the bank of innermost and movable ferrite cores 32 being positioned in an imaginary common horizontal plane. The positioning of the upper and lower bars 39 and 40 is so selected that they have ample idle gaps from the ferrite cores 32 and push button stems 36 for avoiding otherwise possible mechanical interference with the every pivotal movement of the pivotable frame 37 in spite of the arrangement of the ferrite cores in the common axial plane with the push button stems.

In practice, the left-hand side plate of the pivotable frame 37 is formed into a segmental gear 41 or, the side plate under consideration can be connected to a gear. This segmental gear 41 is in permanent meshing with a gear 77. A pin 73 extends horizontally form the segmental gear 41 and an inner tooth type segmental gear 74 is fixed onto the free end of the pin 73. Since gear 74 is only shown in its plan view in FIG. 3, the inner teeth are not shown but are constantly in mesh with gear 51 which is integral with disc 52 to constitute a rotor 99. This rotor 99 corresponds to that shown at 8 in the foregoing. Members 51 and 52 correspond to those denoted 6 and 7 in the foregoing. A movable clutch element 53 is comprised of a crown gear 42, a rubber ring 72 fixedly attached thereto as before and a cylindrical sleeve 43 concentrically mounted on the rotor 99.

Casing frame 30 is formed with an extension 55 having a substantially a Z-shape and an adjusting shaft 44 similar to that shown at 14 in the foregoing is rotatably mounted on that extension 55. This shaft 44 is connected through an universal joint 45 to a pinion shaft 57 having a pinion 56 rigidly formed thereon and kept in permanent engagement with the crown gear 42, in the similar way as before.

Segmental gear 41 is kept in meshing with a gear 77 I which is made integral with a lever 79 by means of a pin being pivotably mounted on a side plate 58 of said casing frame 30. Slider 70 having an elongated L-shape when seen in FIG. 3 is formed with a horizontally and outwardly extending extension 101 which is perforated near its tip end so as to receive relatively slidably a guide rod 102 extending from upper to lower in FIG. 3 and fixedly attached with its both ends to the front and rear walls 30a and 30b.

Arm 70a of the slider 70 is formed with an elongated I a guide bar 102' as in the similar way at the left-hand end of the slider relative to the guide bar 102, although not specifically shown and described.

Lever 79 is linked at 80 with one end of a link member 58, the latter being linked at its opposite end in turn at 110 with the slider 70. At the right-hand end of the slider, the latter is linkedly connected with the pivot-' able frame 37, although the link connection at this side is not specifically shown and described for avoiding a double description of a similar mechanism.

The upper end of lever 89 is linked at 91 with a link member 90 which is further linked at 92 with an intermediate link 93. This link 93 is pivotably connected at 103 with said bell crank lever 85, as is most clearly seen from FIG. 5.

On the front wall 30a, a guide rail 95 is fixedly mounted and a pin 96 formed on the lower end of lever 89 is slidably guided there'along.

A positioning member 60 is pivotably mounted at 60a on an intermediate point of each of the push button stem 36 between its both extremities.

The operation of the tuner assembly so far shown and described by reference to FIGS. 3-5 is as follows.

As commonly known, the five push buttons 34 are attributed respective certain five local radio desired to receive the broad cast waves from a certain radio station attributed to, for instance, the left-hand one of the push buttons 34, this specific button is pushed-in from its off-service position shown to its somewhat advanced operating position as is commonly known.

In this way, the related stem 36 is advanced from right to left in FIG. 4, with the positioning member 60 fixed at a certain rotational angle relative to the central axis of the stem. As seen, and as a preferred embodiment of the positioning member 60, the latter is formed into a semicircular shape and the straight edge part directing forward so as to provide a specifically selected inclined angle relative to the stem axis, as above set forth.

With advancing movement of the push button stem 36, the positioning member 60 is brought by its forward straight edge into engagement with the upper and lower bars 39 and 40, thereby these bars being normally rotated about the axis common to the pivot pins 71 and 73 until they will represent an inclination relative to the stem axis which is equal to the inclination of said straight edge.

Naturally, the pivotable frame 37 as a whole will perform the same pivotable movement carried out by the twobars 39 and 40 thereof v Upon performing this operation, finger pressure is released from the push button 34 under consideration.

Then the push button will go back to its original offservice position under the influence of the related return spring 38. I

With the pivotable movement of the frame 37, motion istransmitted from segmental gear 41a through gear 77, lever 79,.link 58 and pivot 110 to the slider which is thus shifted along guide bars 102 and 102 in the advancing or receding direction, as the case may be depending upon the direction of the pivotal movement of the frame 37. More specifically, the slider 70 will be advanced with clockwise rotation of the frame 37.

Since all the cores 32 are fixedly attached by its core rods 32a appearing directly therebelow in FIG. 3 to the slider 70, these cores are advanced or receded equal amount to the said sliding movement of the slider 70. In this way, the value of mu which means the mutual conductance between the related movable inner core 32 and the stationary outer core-coil assembly contained in the tuner element 33, so as to obtain the desired tuning to the specifically selected radio frequency. I

In the similar manner, any one of the remaining push buttons 34 can be manipulated for reception of the radio program broadcast from the attributed radio station. 1 1 t With the clutch unit 54 coupled as shown, a reverse action would'be feared by reverse transmission of motion from the slider to the adjusting shaft. But, with push-in operation, motion is transmitted from the button stem 36 through a certain conventional cam means, not shown, to a clutch lever 180 so as to pivot it in clockwise direction against the action of spring 182, said lever 180 being kept in engagement with a circular groove 181 formed on the clutch element 53 substantially in the similar manner shown at 8a in FIG. 1. Thus, the movable clutch element 53 is slidably shifted axially in the right-hand direction in FIG. 3, so as to disengage the clutch unit 54. Since this kind of clutch structure and operation is highly popular in conventional various car tuners, the detailed description thereof may be omitted without sacrifice of better understanding of the nature of the invention.

For presetting service, the push button, for instance the most right-hand one, is pulled out from the shown off-service position. Although not specifically described hereinbefore, the stem 36 has a root stem part 136 (see FIG. 3) which is movable axially a certain small distancerelative to the stem proper 36. For this purpose, the stem proper 36 is formed with an axially elongated slot, not shown, with which one arm a of a hook-shaped cam member 75 fixedly mounted on the root stem part 136 is kept in slidable engagement. A substantially elongated Z-bar 178 is pivoted at its upper end when seen in FIG. 3 by means ofa pivot means 177 and at its lower end kept in pressure contact with the cam member 75 under the spring action of an elongated spring strip 176 which is equally attached at its upper end, FIG. 3, to the stem 36 at 177.

With draw-out of the button 34, the stem root part 136 together therewith is drawn out a certain small distance from the position shown, until the cam member 75 has been mechanically separated from contact with the free end 76 of Z-bar 178. Thus, the upper end, FIG. 3, of Z-bar 178 is somewhat loosened from its normally tight-engagement with the neighboring positioning member 60. The common pin to the member 60, Z-bar 178 and spring strip 176 is shown at 60a in FIG. 4. In this way, the lock for the member 60 is released, and thus the latter is free to rotate relative to the stem 36.

By manual turning of the adjusting shaft 44, motion is transmitted to slider 70 in the similar way in connection with the conventional tuner shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, so that the slider is shifted as desired forward or backwards to the desired degree for fine adjustment of the value of mu. Upon completion of this mu-adjusting operation with the positioner 60 kept in its lockreleased position, the related push button 34 kept in its extended or pull-out state, is pushed in. With advance movement of the extended push-released positioner 60 is brought into the bars 39 and 40 so as to occupy a newly adjusted or inclined position. With further exerting a push-in finger force to the related button 34, the latter is brought into shown contracted state by advancing the root stem part 136 relative to the stem proper 36. In this way, the positioner 60 is locked at its now adjustedly inclined position relative to the stem proper, and so on.

By arranging the button bank 35 and the mu-tuner elements bank 33 on a common imaginary plane in this case, the mu-adjusting operation through the push button can be performed with substantially higher accuracy, because there is almost none of rotary movements during motion-transmission from button to ferrite core 32. In addition, a highly ecomized space requirement can be attained.

By the sliding shift of slider 70, motion is transmitted therefrom through 83-84-8Sa-8S-93-92-90-91-9- 4-87 to the indicator lever 89 so as to show the occasionally adjusted and selected out position of the tuner by the pointer 96 which cooperates a frequency display dial, not shown, but in a highly known way.

What is claimed is:

l. A push button operated tuner assembly comprising a frame, a plurality of mu-tuner elements mounted parallel to each other in a common plane on said frame, a plurality of core means slidably mounted on said plane for simultaneous movement relative to said elements for cooperation therewith, a plurality of push buttons slidably mounted on said frame for individual movement, each of said push buttons having a stem portion disposed parallel to and arranged alternately with respect to said elements ina common plane therewith and connecting means operativelydisposed between said stems and said core means for moving said core means relative to said elements upon movement of said push buttons, said connecting means being comprised of a positioning member adjustably secured to each stem and transmission means for transmitting movement from each positioning member to said core means, said transmission means being comprised of gear means common to each of said positioning members for selective rotation by a positioning member upon operation of a selected push button, common operating slider means secured to said core means for simultaneously moving said core means and linkage means operatively connected between said gear means and said slider means for moving said slider means and core means in response to a selected rotation of said gear means by a selected positioning member.

2. A push button operated tuner assembly as set forth in claim 1 further comprising pivoted means adapted to be engaged by each of said positioning members, said gear means comprising a first gear secured to said pivoted means for rotation upon pivotal movement of said pivoted means and a second gear disposed in mesh with said first gear and connected to said linkage means for transmitting the pivotal movement of said pivoted member to said linkage means.

3. A push button operated tuner assembly as set forth in claim 1 further comprising manually rotatable adjustment means for adjusting the position of said core means relative to said elements to assist in adjustment of each positioning member relative to its respective push button stem.

Claims (3)

1. A push button operated tuner assembly comprising a frame, a plurality of mu-tuner elements mounted parallel to each other in a common plane on said frame, a plurality of core means slidably mounted on said plane for simultaneous movement relative to said elements for cooperation therewith, a plurality of push buttons slidably mounted on said frame for individual movement, each of said push buttons having a stem portion disposed parallel to and arranged alternately with respect to said elements in a common plane therewith and connecting means operatively disposed between said stems and said core means for moving said core means relative to said elements upon movement of said push buttons, said connecting means being comprised of a positioning member adjustably secured to each stem and transmission means for transmitting movement from each positioning member to said core means, said transmission means being comprised of gear means common to each of said positioning members for selective rotation by a positioning member upon operation of a selected push button, common operating slider means secured to said core means for simultaneously moving said core means and linkage means operatively connected between said gear means and said slider means for moving said slider means and core means in response to a selected rotation of said gear means by a selected positioning member.

2. A push button operated tuner assembly as set forth in claim 1 further comprising pivoted means adapted to be engaged by each of said positioning members, said gear means comprising a first gear secured to said pivoted means for rotation upon pivotal movement of said pivoted means and a second gear disposed in mesh with said first gear and connected to said linkage means for transmitting the pivotal movement of said pivoted member to said linkage means.

3. A push button operated tuner assembly as set forth in claim 1 further comprising manually rotatable adjustment means for adjusting the position of said core means relative to said elements to assist in adjustment of each positioning member relative to its respective push button stem.

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