US3790956A

US3790956A - Arrangement for presetting a television tuner

Info

Publication number: US3790956A
Application number: US00301806A
Authority: US
Inventors: K Ichikawa; S Fujie
Original assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd
Current assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
Priority date: 1971-11-05
Filing date: 1972-10-30
Publication date: 1974-02-05
Anticipated expiration: 1991-02-05
Also published as: CA979085A

Abstract

A compact arrangement for presetting a television tuner, so designed that a motor is driven in response to a signal, such as an ultrasonic wave, given thereto externally and a tuner shaft is rotated by the drive of said motor, whereby channel selection is controlled from a remote point, in which a program switch for stopping the motor at a desired channel but not stopping it at the other channels is arranged on the front side of the tuner, whereby the tuner presetting operation is facilitated.

Description

United States Patent 91 Ichikawa et al.

[451 Feb. 5, 1974 1 ARRANGEMENT FOR PRESE'I'I'ING A TELEVISION TUNER [75] Inventors: Katsumi Ichikawa; Shin Fujie, both of Aichi-ken, Japan [73] Assignee: Matsushlta Electric Industrial Co.,

Ltd., Osaka, Japan 22 Filed: on. so, 1972 21 Appl. No.2 301,806

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 5, 1971 Japan 46/103697 Nov. 30, 1971 Japan.... 46/113147 Nov. 30, 1971 Japan 46/113148 [52] US. Cl 340/148, 74/1015, 318/467, 325/392 [51] Int. Cl. H04q 1/00, H04b l/06 [58] Field of Search 340/148, 171 K; 318/467; 74/10, 10.1, 10.15, 10.2; 325/392 12/1964 Kuhl et a1. 318/467 5/1966 Eggman 318/467 X Primary Examiner-Donald J. Yusko Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Stevens, Davis, Miller 8!, Mosher [5 7] ABSTRACT [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures 3,054,957 9/1962 Shook 318/467 X I! I m.

4 l h II PATENTED 5W SHEU 2 [IF 3 FIG. 5

FIG $56 FIG. 6B

ARRANGEMENT FOR PRESETTING A TELEVISION TUNER This invention relates to an arrangement for presetting a tuner, which enables the channels of a television receiving set to be changed by a signal supplied thereto externally.

Television receiving sets in which the channel selection is effected by a signal externally supplied thereto, generally comprise a program switch by which a tuner shaft driving motor is stopped at a desired channel but is not stopped at the other channels.

In the conventional television receiving sets of the type described, the program switch has been provided rearwardly of the tuner for the reasons that mounting of the switch is easy and that a relatively wide space exists at said portion. Therefore, presetting the program switch has necessitated the removal of the backside closure panel of the television receiving set at each time of the presetting and, in addition, much difficulty has been encountered in the confirmation of positional collation between the receiving channels and the preset channels.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for presetting a television tuner, which obviates the above difficulties and is simple in construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sturcture which provides for a stable opening and closing operation of the present program switch.

The other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description given in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical plan view of an arrangement embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the arrangement of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatical elevation of a disc of the arrangment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatical plan view of another arrangement embodying the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the arrangement of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 6A 6C are diagrams illustrating a presetting operation in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are sectional views of still another arrangement embodying the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line IX--IX of FIG. 7; and

FIGS. 10 and 11 are sectional and side views respectively of a part of the arrangement of FIG. 7.

An embodiment of the invention will be described hereunder with reference to FIGS. 1 3. In FIGS. 1 3, numeral 1 designates a main body of a tuner and 2 a tuner shaft. The tuner shaft 2 has an indicator driving gear 3 fixedly mounted thereon. Numeral 4 designates a program switch mounting plate connected to a front end plate 5 of the main body 1 of the tuner and this program switch mounting plate 4 has a support post 6 fixed thereto. A rotary hub 7 is rotatably telescoped over the support post 6 and a gear 8 is fixedly mounted on said rotary hub 7 in meshing engagement with the gear 3. Also mounted on the rotary hub 7 is a disc 9 which carries a plurality of cams l0 thereon. These cams 10 are urged forwardly by a plate spring 11. As shown in FIG. 3, each cam 10 has a driver groove 12 and an arm 13 and can be rotated by a screw driver or the like applied in said driver groove, to project said arm from the peripheral edge of the disc 9. Numeral 14 designates a relay switch by which a motor (not shown) to drive the tuner shaft 2 is connected with or disconnected from a power source. An arrangement is made such that, when the arm 13 of the cam 10 is in its tilted position (as shown at A in FIG. 3), the contacts of the relay switch 14 are opened to stop the motor.

Another embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 6. In FIG. 4, numeral 1 designates a main body of a tuner and 2 a tuner shaft. An indicator driving gear 3 is fixedly mounted on the tuner shaft 2. A program switch mounting plate 4 is fixed to a front end plate 5 of the main body 1 of the tuner and a support post 6 is fixed to said program switch mounting plate 4. A rotary hub 7 is rotatably telescoped over the support post 6 and a gear 8 is fixedly mounted on said rotary hub 7 in meshing engagement with the gear 3. A disc 9 is mounted on the rotary hub 7 and a plurality of preset buttons 20 are rotatably mounted in said disc 9. These preset buttons 20 are urged forwardly by a spring plate 11.

The construction of the disc 9 will be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 5 and 6A 6C. FIG. 5 is a rear view of the disc 9 and, as seen, the disc 9 has a plurality of notches 25 formed in the peripheral edge portion thereof. Further, the disc 9 has a plurality of sectoral recesses 26 formed on the backside thereof, each extending inwardly of the disc from each notched portion of the peripheral edge thereof, and

positioning projections

27, 27 are formed on one side wall of each sectoral recess. Each preset button 20 has a leg 28 which extends perpendicularly from one side of said button and has an indent formed in its outer end face for engagement with the

positioning projections

27, 27. Further, each preset button 20 is formed with a driver groove 29 at its forward end as shown in FIG. 1. In the illustration of FIG. 5, one of the preset buttons 20 is in a position to close the notch 25 and, in this position of the preset button, a terminal 31 of a relay switch 14 is not allowed to move into the notch 25 and said relay switch 14 is held in its closed position. The other preset button 20 shown in FIG. 5 is not in the position to close the notch 25 by its leg 28 and, in this position of the preset button, the terminal 31 of the relay switch 14 is allowed to move into the notch 25 and hence the relay switch 14 is opened to stop the motor which drives the tuner shaft 2. I

For shifting the preset button 20 from the position shown in FIG. 6A to the position shown in FIG. 6C to close the notch 25 by its leg 28,.this may be achieved by applying a screw driver or the like to the driver groove 29 formed in the forward end of the preset button as shown in FIG. 6B, pushing the preset button against the biasing force of the plate spring plate 1 1 to a position in which the leg 28 is released from engagement by the positioning projection 27, and thereafter turning the preset button to a position in which the indent of the leg 28 is engaged by the other positioning projection 27'.

This embodiment has the following advantages:

I. Since the disc having a plurality of the preset buttons mounted therein is arranged forwardly of the main body of the tuner, presetting of the tuner can be achieved easily from the front side of the television set.

2. The tuner can be preset easily, simply by pushing the preset button and turning it until the indent of the leg of said preset button is engaged by the positioning projection.

3. The construction is so simple that the tuner can be reduced in size.

Still another embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 9.

In FIGS. 7 9, numeral 41 designates a disc which rotates incident to rotation of a tuner shaft (not shown) driven from a motor. This disc 41 has notches 42 formed in the peripheral edge portion thereof. Numeral 43 designates a second contactor made of an elastic material and having a contact 44 at its forward end portion, and 45 designates a first contactor similarly made of an elastic material and having a contact 46 at its forward end portion and a depression 47 for contact with the outer peripheral surface of the disc 41. The forward end portion of the first contactor 45 is bent at the opposite sides as shown in FIG. 9. The two

contactors

43, 45 are mounted on a mounting plate 48 in opposed relation to each other. A stopper 49 is attached to a bent lug 50 of the mounting plate 48 and this stopper is formed with a shoulder 51 to limit the downward movement of the second contactor 43. As shown in FIGS. and 11, the bent lug 50 is formed with a slot 52 and an internally threaded hole 53, while the stopper 49 is formed with a projection 54 and a slot 55, so that said stopper 49 may be movable vertically within a certain range.

In the illustration of FIG. 7, the depression 47 of the first contactor 45 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the disc 41. In this position of the first contactor 45, the contact 46 provided on said first contactor 45 is held in contact with the contact 44 provided on the second contactor 43 and said second contactor 43 is urged upwardly by said first contactor 45.

When the disc 41 rotates further from the position shown in FIG. 7 and the depression 47 of the first contactor 45 falls in the notch 42 formed in the peripheral edge portion of the disc 41, the

contacts

44, 46 are disconnected as shown in FIG. 8 and thus the tuner shaft driving motor is disconnected from the power source.

This embodiment has the following advantages:

1. Since the downward movement of the forward end portion of the second contactor is limited by the stopper, the switch is turned on and off always at the same position.

2. Since the forward end portion of the first contactor is bent at its opposite sides, the depression of the first contactor will not be subjected to distortion or deformation when it moves upwardly from the notch of the disc.

3. Since the second contactor is urged downwardly with a constant pressure while abutting against the shoulder of the stopper, a large and constant contacting pressure can be obtained without the second contactor being substantially deflected by the first contactor and a positive contact between the contacts of said contactors can be ensured.

4. Since the oscillation widths of both contactors can be made small, the contacting pressure does not change and a highly reliable switch can be obtained.

5. The timing of the ON and OFF operation of the switch can be freely adjusted by shifting the stopper.

What is claimed is:

1. An arrangement for presetting a television tuner, comprising senser means for sensing an externally given signal, such as an ultrasonic wave, to actuate a motor, a tuner shaft driven by said motor to change the channels of the television set, an indicator driving gear mounted on the forward portion of said tuner shaft, a program switch mounting plate connected to a front end plate of a main body of the tuner, a rotary hub rotatably supported on said program switch mounting plate, a gear mounted on said rotary hub in meshing engagement with said indicator driving gear, a disc mounted on said rotary hub forward of the main body of said tuner a plurality of switch operating means provided along the outer peripheral edge portion of said disc in circumferentially equally spaced relation and a relay switch having a contact held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of said disc and adapted to connect or disconnect said motor with or from a power source upon detecting said switch operating means being in its retracted or projected position.

2. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said disc has a plurality of notches formed in the outer peripheral edge surface and sectoral recesses formed on the backside each covering each of said notches and further has through-holes formed each at a portion of each of said sectoral recesses, and preset buttons each having a leg extending from one side and a driver groove formed in the forward end thereof are inserted through said through-holes respectively from the backside of said disc and urged forwardly by a spring plate, and further a plurality of projections are formed in each of said sectoral recesses for engagement with an indent formed in the leg of each of said preset buttons.

3. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said disc has a plurality of through-holes therein along a concentric circle in circumferentially equally spaced relation and cams each having a lug projecting from one side and a driver groove formed in the forward end thereof are inserted through said through-holes respectively from the backside of said disc and urged forwardly by a spring plate. I

4. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which there is provided a relay switch comprising a first contactor made of an elastic material and having a depression in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the disc and a contact formed at one end portion thereof, a second contactor having a contact formed at one end portion thereof for cooperation with the contact of said first contactor and arranged in opposed relation to said first contactor, a contactor mounting plate supporting said first and second contactors at the other en'ds thereof and formed with a bent lug, and a stopper havshoulder.

Claims

3. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said disc has a plurality of through-holes therein along a concentric circle in circumferentially equally spaced relation and cams each having a lug projecting from one side and a driver groove formed in the forward end thereof are inserted through said through-holes respectively from the backside of said disc and urged forwardly by a spring plate.

4. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which there is provided a relay switch comprising a first contactor made of an elastic material and having a depression in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the disc and a contact formed at one end portion thereof, a second contactor having a contact formed at one end portion thereof for cooperation with the contact of said first contactor and arranged in opposed relation to said first contactor, a contactor mounting plate supporting said first and second contactors at the other ends thereof and formed with a bent lug, and a stopper having a shoulder and vertically movably attached to the bent lug of said contactor mounting plate to limit the downward movement of said second contactor by said shoulder.