US3742421A - Potentiometer having a transport screw and diamond shaped contact spring - Google Patents

Potentiometer having a transport screw and diamond shaped contact spring Download PDF

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Publication number
US3742421A
US3742421A US00190057A US3742421DA US3742421A US 3742421 A US3742421 A US 3742421A US 00190057 A US00190057 A US 00190057A US 3742421D A US3742421D A US 3742421DA US 3742421 A US3742421 A US 3742421A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
contact spring
slide
potentiometer
screw spindle
wiper
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US00190057A
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English (en)
Inventor
Rooijen J Van
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US Philips Corp
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US Philips Corp
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by US Philips Corp filed Critical US Philips Corp
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3742421A publication Critical patent/US3742421A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01C—RESISTORS
    • H01C10/00—Adjustable resistors
    • H01C10/30—Adjustable resistors the contact sliding along resistive element
    • H01C10/38—Adjustable resistors the contact sliding along resistive element the contact moving along a straight path
    • H01C10/40—Adjustable resistors the contact sliding along resistive element the contact moving along a straight path screw operated

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT A potentiometer having a slide, comprising a diamondshaped contact spring, which is rectilinearly displaceable by means of a transport screw spindle, one half of said contact spring cooperating with the screw spindle as a nut and pressing the slide onto a guide, the other half serving as a wiper.
  • the invention relates to a potentiometer having a' slide, comprising a contact spring, which is rectilinearly displaceable in a trough-shaped housing by means of a transport screw spindle and which is guided by the inner walls of the trough and ridges provided thereon.
  • a portion of the contact spring engages the screw thread electrically conducting spindle and acts as a nut and a contact.
  • a second portion of the contact spring forms a wiper which is movable over a resistance track.
  • a known contact spring (for example from Netherlands Pat. application No. 6808170) is constructed as a U-shaped metal wire. If extremely high requirements are imposed as regards the adjusting accuracy of the potentiometer and the stability of the adjustment, also in the case of shocks and vibrations, the known construction cannot always meet these requirements.
  • the object of this invention is to provide a potentiometer meeting very severe requirements as regards adjusting accuracy and stability, its dimensions being equally small as those of the known device.
  • each of the two portions of the contact spring consists of a substantially V-shaped leaf spring, the openings of the vees of said leaf springs facing each other so that a side elevation of the contact spring is approximately diamond-shaped with its longest dimension extending in the direction of that of the slide.
  • the strip-shaped ends. of the nut portion of the contact spring keep the slide pressed against the guide ridges.
  • the tip of the vee of the wiper portion engages the resistance track at a force which is smaller than that exerted by the nut portion on the screw spindle.
  • the slide As the rather wide, strip-shaped ends of the nut portion bear on the slide, the slide, being arranged against the ridges such that it cannot be tilted, prevents tilting of the nut portion. Further, since the diamond shaped contact spring provides greater rigidity in the direction of transport a major source of backlash upon adjustment is eliminated. As the slide is continuously pressed onto the ridge by the nut portion, the engaging pressure of the wiper portion is independent of the resilience of the nut portion, so that the wiper can always slide over the resistance track at the desired, predetermined pressure.
  • British Pat. specification No. 1,035,521 describes a contact spring for a potentiometer having a transport screw.
  • This contact spring has two leaf spring portions, one portion of which acts as a nut and the other portion acts as a wiper.
  • This contact spring is not accommodated in a slide, but is guided in that portions of the spring itself extend along the side walls and over the top of the side walls of the potentiometer. In this case the metal of the spring might damage the synthetic resin side walls so that in the long run the spring will no longer slide smoothly.
  • the wiper is situated at the end of a rather long spring, so that a possible small clearance at the area of the guide results in a relatively large displacement of the wiper.
  • FIGS. 1 and 2 are a longitudinal and a cross-sectional view, respectively, of an embodiment of a device according to the invention
  • FIG. 3 is a perspective view ofa detail of the same device on a large scale
  • FIGS. 4 and 5 are a longitudinal and a cross-sectional view, respectively, of another portion of the same device, likewise on a large scale, and
  • FIGS. 6 and 7 are a front and a sectional view, respectively, of another portion of the same device, also on a large scale.
  • the potentiometer shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a trough-shaped housing 1 of synthetic resin, in which a transport screw spindle 3, one end of which may be provided with a drive gear wheel 5, is located in a rotatable manner.
  • the screw spindle 3 has a conically increasing thickened portion 7 at one end (the right-hand end in FIG. 1), the conical portion of which is situated in a likewise conical cavity 8 in a plate 9 (see also FIGS. 6 and 7).
  • the plate 9 is L-shaped and also serves as an electrical connection to a contact pin 11 provided in the bottom of the trough 1.
  • the plate 9 can be displaced in a resilient-manner in the direction of the axis of the screw spindle 3, and also is provided with a slot 12 extending from the cavity 8 to the upper edge of the plate, the width of this slot being between the thickness of the thickened portion 7 on the screw spindle 3 and that of the adjoining thinner portion of the screw spindle.
  • the left-hand end wall of the housing 1 has a similar cavity and slot, in which a likewise conically increasing thickened portion of the screw spindle 3 fits.
  • the screw spindle 3 can thus be very readily mounted in the housing 1 by pushing the plate 9 to the left, for example, by means of a tool, by subsequently lowering the screw spindle into the slot 12 and the corresponding slot in the left-hand end wall, and finally by releasing the plate towards the right, so that the conical portions of the thickened portions at the ends of the screw spindle are pulled into the conical cavities of the plate and the lefthand end wall, and remain located in these cavities.
  • the housing 1 can subsequently be closed with a lid 13.
  • this construction also offers the advantage that any axial clearance of the screw spindle 3 is eliminated by the resilience of the plate 9, which considerably enhances the adjusting accuracy and the stability of the potentiometer. I
  • the transport spindle 3 serves for the rectilinear displacement of a slide 15 (see also FIGS. 4 and 5) having a contact spring 17 (see also FIG. 3).
  • the slide 15 is guided by the inner walls of the trough l and by two ridges 19 formed on these inner walls.
  • the contact spring 17 comprises two portions, i.e., a nut portion 21 and a wiper portion 23. Both portions are formed by a mainly vee-shaped leaf spring, the openings of the vees of said leaf springs facing each other, so that a side elevation of the contact spring 17 is approximately diamond-shaped.
  • the tip of the vee of the nut portion 21 of the contact spring 17 engages the screw thread of the transport screw spindle 3.
  • the limbs of the vee-shaped nut portion 21 are preferably bent near the tip such that the angle between the portions of the limbs engaging the screw thread is considerably sharper than that between the portions of the limbs which are situated farther from the tip.
  • the wiper portion 23 of the contact spring 17 preferably comprises, over a substantial portion of its length, considerably less material per unit of length than the nut portion 21. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, this is achieved by longitudinally dividing the wiper portion 23 into two portions, over the largest portion of its length, by an elongated aperture 25, which extends from a point near the end of one limb via the tip of the vee to a point near the end of the other limb.
  • an elongated aperture 25 which extends from a point near the end of one limb via the tip of the vee to a point near the end of the other limb.
  • other ways of achieving this object are also possible, for example, by making the wiper portion 23 narrower or thinner than the nut portion 21.
  • the advantage of the method used here is that not only the leaf spring constituting the wiper portion 23 is rendered more flexible, but that also the actual wiper is divided into two parts.
  • the wiper portion 23 may be shaped such that the tip of the vee is rounded off so that the wiper travels over the resistance track 27 more smoothly and with a larger contact area.
  • the contact spring 17 can be formed from a long strip of resilient material which is given the correct shape after which it is folded double, the crease in this case coinciding with the end of the left-hand protrusion of the two protrusions 29. It is equally possible, however, to manufacture both portions 21 and 23 of the contact spring 17 separately, and to place them loosely on top of each other or to join them, for example, by spot welding. In that case the rigidity of the nut portion 21 can also be increased by choosing for this portion a material other than that for the wiper portion 23.
  • a potentiometer comprising a trough-shaped housing, a resistance track carried within said housing, a slide movably arranged over said resistance track, a contact spring carried by said slide, said slide carrying said spring being rectilinearly displaceable and guided by inner walls of said trough-shaped housing and by ridges provided thereon, a transport screw spindle mounted within said housing for causing rectilinear dis placement of said slide and spring upon rotation thereof, a first portion of said contact spring in engagement with said screw thread acting as a nut and an elec trical contact, a second portion of said contact spring forming a wiper which is movable over said resistance track, each of said portions of said contact spring forming a substantially vee-shaped leaf spring having stripshaped ends, the openings of said leaf springs facing each other so that when viewed in a side elevation said contact spring is diamond-shaped the longest dimension of which extends in the direction of said slide, the strip-shaped ends of said nut portion pressing said slide against the guide ridge

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Transmission Devices (AREA)
  • Adjustable Resistors (AREA)
  • Details Of Resistors (AREA)
  • Character Spaces And Line Spaces In Printers (AREA)
US00190057A 1970-10-20 1971-10-18 Potentiometer having a transport screw and diamond shaped contact spring Expired - Lifetime US3742421A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NL707015318A NL143720B (nl) 1970-10-20 1970-10-20 Potentiometer met transportschroef.

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3742421A true US3742421A (en) 1973-06-26

Family

ID=19811333

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US00190057A Expired - Lifetime US3742421A (en) 1970-10-20 1971-10-18 Potentiometer having a transport screw and diamond shaped contact spring

Country Status (12)

Country Link
US (1) US3742421A (xx)
JP (1) JPS5138054B1 (xx)
BE (1) BE774114A (xx)
CA (1) CA938007A (xx)
DE (2) DE7136639U (xx)
DK (1) DK138820B (xx)
ES (1) ES200706Y (xx)
FR (1) FR2111548A5 (xx)
GB (1) GB1300907A (xx)
IT (1) IT942716B (xx)
NL (1) NL143720B (xx)
SE (1) SE371525B (xx)

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3868621A (en) * 1972-10-04 1975-02-25 Sony Corp Variable resistor device
US3918023A (en) * 1973-11-05 1975-11-04 Cts Corp Variable resistance control and method of assemblying the same
US3987389A (en) * 1973-12-27 1976-10-19 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Variable resistor device
US4365230A (en) * 1981-08-24 1982-12-21 Amp Incorporated Lead screw type variable resistor
US6054917A (en) * 1998-03-25 2000-04-25 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Rotatively driven type electric component with slider actuated by screw drive
US6396386B2 (en) 1999-12-08 2002-05-28 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Angle sensor which makes it possible to prevent rattling caused by backlash between gears inside the angle sensor
US6619342B2 (en) 2001-05-11 2003-09-16 General Hydrogen Corporation Wheel stop service port
US6691749B2 (en) 2002-01-10 2004-02-17 General Hydrogen Corporation Service coupling
US6722903B2 (en) 2002-01-10 2004-04-20 General Hydrogen Corporation Service plug configuration
EP2582632A1 (de) * 2010-06-21 2013-04-24 WME Gesellschaft für windkraftbetriebene Meerwasserentsalzung mbH Verfahren zur aufbereitung eines salzhaltigen rohwassers zur herstellung eines prozesswassers, damit hergestelltes prozesswasser und vorrichtung zur durchführung des verfahrens

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS60182840U (ja) * 1984-05-14 1985-12-04 日本ペイント株式会社 刷毛

Cited By (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3868621A (en) * 1972-10-04 1975-02-25 Sony Corp Variable resistor device
US3918023A (en) * 1973-11-05 1975-11-04 Cts Corp Variable resistance control and method of assemblying the same
US3987389A (en) * 1973-12-27 1976-10-19 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Variable resistor device
US4365230A (en) * 1981-08-24 1982-12-21 Amp Incorporated Lead screw type variable resistor
US6054917A (en) * 1998-03-25 2000-04-25 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Rotatively driven type electric component with slider actuated by screw drive
DE19913552B4 (de) * 1998-03-25 2004-03-25 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Rotationsmäßig betätigbares elektrisches Bauteil mit einem durch einen Gewindeantrieb betätigten Gleitstück
US6396386B2 (en) 1999-12-08 2002-05-28 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Angle sensor which makes it possible to prevent rattling caused by backlash between gears inside the angle sensor
US6619342B2 (en) 2001-05-11 2003-09-16 General Hydrogen Corporation Wheel stop service port
US6691749B2 (en) 2002-01-10 2004-02-17 General Hydrogen Corporation Service coupling
US6722903B2 (en) 2002-01-10 2004-04-20 General Hydrogen Corporation Service plug configuration
EP2582632A1 (de) * 2010-06-21 2013-04-24 WME Gesellschaft für windkraftbetriebene Meerwasserentsalzung mbH Verfahren zur aufbereitung eines salzhaltigen rohwassers zur herstellung eines prozesswassers, damit hergestelltes prozesswasser und vorrichtung zur durchführung des verfahrens
EP2582632B1 (de) * 2010-06-21 2016-05-11 WME Gesellschaft für windkraftbetriebene Meerwasserentsalzung mbH Verfahren zur aufbereitung eines salzhaltigen rohwassers

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DK138820C (xx) 1979-04-02
BE774114A (fr) 1972-04-18
GB1300907A (en) 1972-12-29
DK138820B (da) 1978-10-30
NL143720B (nl) 1974-10-15
FR2111548A5 (xx) 1972-06-02
DE2148234A1 (de) 1972-04-27
CA938007A (en) 1973-12-04
JPS5138054B1 (xx) 1976-10-19
DE7136639U (de) 1972-05-31
IT942716B (it) 1973-04-02
ES200706Y (es) 1976-02-16
DE2148234C3 (de) 1974-01-10
NL7015318A (xx) 1972-04-24
SE371525B (xx) 1974-11-18
DE2148234B2 (de) 1973-06-07
ES200706U (es) 1975-11-01

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