US3859618A

US3859618A - Device for simultaneously controlling a set of variable resistors

Info

Publication number: US3859618A
Application number: US459045A
Authority: US
Inventors: Matsuo Nishioka; Shunzo Oka
Original assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd
Current assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
Priority date: 1973-04-09
Filing date: 1974-04-08
Publication date: 1975-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-07
Also published as: CA993968A; DE2416659B2; DE2416659A1

Abstract

A device for controlling a set of variable resistors comprises a casing having a top wall, a bottom wall and a peripheral wall, a plurality of resistive bodies provided on top of the bottom wall of the casing, a rotatable guide member extending within the casing and positioned above and parallel with the individual resistive bodies, said rotatable guide member having the same number of guide arms as the number of the resistive bodies, a plurality of sliders each slidably mounted on the respective guide arms of the guide member and provided with respective brushes providing electric connection between the associated resistive bodies and a conductive portion of the guide member, an operable member having grooves receiving respective projections of the individual sliders, and a drive means for driving the operable member. The individual resistive bodies may belong to respective channels of a multi-channel system, and they may be separately controlled by operating a single operable shaft. Also, the level of output voltage from these resistive bodies may be simultaneously controlled by operating the shaft in a different way. Thus, two different control functions for controlling the same resistive bodies in different ways are provided.

Description

Nishioka et a1.

Jan. 7, 1975 DEVICE FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY CONTROLLING A SET OF VARIABLE RESISTORS Inventors: Matsuo Nishioka; Shunzo Oka, both of l-Iirakata, Japan Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Kadoma-shi, Osaka, Japan Filed: Apr. 8, 1974 Appl. N0.: 459,045

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 9, 1973 Japan 48-41049 Apr. 9, 1973 Japan 48-43388 Apr. 9, 1973 Japan t l 48-43389 Apr. 9, 1973 Japan 48-43390 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Primary ExaminerBruce A. Reynolds Attorney, Agent, or FirmStevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher [57] ABSTRACT A device for controlling a set of variable resistors comprises a casing having a top wall, a bottom wall and a peripheral wall, a plurality of resistive bodies provided on top of the bottom wall of the casing, a rotatable guide member extending within the casing and positioned above and parallel with the individual resistive bodies, said rotatable guide member having the same number of guide arms as the number of the resistive bodies, a plurality of sliders each slidably mounted on the respective guide arms of the guide member and provided with respective brushes providing electric connection between the associated resistive bodies and a conductive portion of the guide member, an operable member having grooves receiving respective projections of the individual sliders, and a drive means for driving the operable member. The individual resistive bodies may belong to respective channels of a multi-channel system, and they may be separately controlled by operating a single operable shaft. Also, the level of output voltage from these resistive bodies may be simultaneously controlled by operating the shaft in a different way. Thus, two different control functions for controlling the same resistive bodies in different ways are provided.

7 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures DEVICE FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY CONTROLLING A SET OF VARIABLE RESISTORS This invention relates to variable resistor controls and, more particularly, to a device for controlling a set of variable resistors.

An object of the invention is to provide a device for controlling a set of variable resistors separately by operating a single operable shaft in one way and also controlling the level of output voltage from the individual variable resistors simultaneously by operating the same shaft in a different way, that is, a device having two different control functions for controlling the same variable resistors in different ways.

The device for controlling a set of variable resistors comprises a casing having a top wall, a bottom wall and a peripheral wall, a plurality of resistive bodies provided on top of the bottom wall of said casing, a rotatable guide member extending within said casing and positioned above and parallel with said resistive bodies, said rotatable guide member having the same number of guide arms as the number of said resistive bodies, a plurality of sliders each slidably mounted on the respective guide arms of said guide member and provided with respective brushes providing electric conduction between the associated resistive bodies and a conductive portion of said guide member, said sliders being provided with respective projections, an operable member having grooves receiving the respective projections of said sliders, and a drive shaft for driving said operable member. With this construction, the plurality of resistive bodies, which may belong to respective channels of a multi-channel system, can be separately controlled by operating the shaft in one way, for controlling balance for instance, while they can also be simultaneously controlled for controlling their output voltage levels by operating the shaft in a different way, for controlling volume for instance. Thus, the variable resistor control device according to the invention is very useful for four-channel stereophonic systems and other multi-channel systems.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a device embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the same device with metal case and operable disc being omitted;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the operable disc member in the same device;

FIG. 4 is a side view partly in section, of the same operable disc member;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing part of the same device;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a brush used in the same device;

FIG. 7 is a top view of a resistive body used in the same device; and

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C and 8D illustrate the operation of the same device.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 7.

In the Figures, reference numeral 1 designates a metal case consisting of a top wall and a peripheral wall. Its top wall is formed with a central aperture or window 2. A base 3 of an insulating material is secured to the case 1 at the bottom opening thereof by corking protuberances 4 thereof. Four sector-shaped

resistive bodies

5a, 5b, Sc and 5d are provided on the inner side of the base 3. They are arranged to form a circle as a whole and are suitably spaced from one another. They are secured to the base by

terminals

6a, 6a, 6b, 6b, 6c, 60', 6d and 6d, which are electrically connected to external circuitry. Numeral 7 designates insulating spacers intervening between adjacent resistive bodies, and these insulating spacers 7 are constituted by a part of the base 3. The

resistive bodies

5a, 5b, 5c and 5d are provided with respective silver terminal sections 811,812, and 8a, which are joined to the

respective terminals

6a, 6b, 6c and 6d. Extending above and parallel to the

resistive bodies

5a, 5b, 5c and 5d is a cross shaped guide member 9, which is rotatably supported on a support 10 extending upright from the center of the base 3. The guide member 9 consists of four

guide arms

9a, 9b, 9c and 9d, which are provided at their free end with respective stoppers 11a, 11b, 11c and 11d in contact with and slidable over the top of a peripheral raised portion 3a of the base 3. The base 3 also has stopper

portions

12a and 12b raised from the peripheral raised portion 3a. These

stopper portions

12a and 12b serve to restrict the rotation of the guide member 9, and they are located on extensions of the opposite edges of the sectorshaped resistive body 5a to subtend substantially the same angle as the resistive body 5a. The rotation of the guide member 9 is thus restricted as the stopper lla provided on the guide arm 9a strikes the

stopper portions

12a and 12b. The guide member 9 is adapted such that the guide arm 9a can rotate only over the resistive body 5a, the guide arm 912 only over the resistive body 5b, the guide arm 96 only over the resistive body 50 and the guide arm 9d only over the resistive body 5d.

The guide member 9, or at least one surface thereof, is made of a conductive material, and its

individual guide arms

9a, 9b, 9c and 9d carry

respective sliders

13a, 13b, 13c and 13d slidably mounted such as to surround the conductive material surface. These'sliders 13a to 13d are slidable between the aforesaid stoppers lla to 11d and a circular central portion 9e of the guide member 9. The

sliders

13a, 13b, 13c and 13d are provided with respective brushes 14a, 14b, 14c and 14d. which have one end in contact with the conductive portion of the guide member 9 and the other end in contact with the associated one of the

resistive bodies

5a, 511,50 and 5d. A conductive spring 15 is inserted between the conductive side of the guide member 9 and the support 10 on which the guide member 9 is also mounted, thus providing for electric connection between the conductive portion of the guide member 9 and the support 10. Also, a spring 16 is fitted on the periphery of a portion of the support 10 extending on the lower side of the base 3 opposite the guide member 9, thus biasing the guide member 9 toward the base 3 to give adequate pressure on the

brushes

14a, 14b, 14c and 14a. The support 10 is provided with a retainer ring 17 for preventing the departure of the spring 16 from it. A terminal member 18 is provided between the base 3 and the spring 16 such that it is electrically connected through the support 10 and a conductive portion of the guide member 9 to the

aforesaid brushes

14a, 14b, 14c and 14d.

The

sliders

13a, 13b, 13c and 13d have respective integral or non-integral upper projections 19a, 19b, 19c and 1911. These

projections

19a, 19b, 19c and 19d are received in respective elongated grooves 21a, 21b, 21c and 21d, which are formed on the inner side of a disc member 20 provided within the case 1. The elongated grooves 21a to 21d are arranged such that they constitute respective four sides of a square. The disc member 20 has an operable shaft 22 extending upright from its top and penetrating the aperture 2 formed in the case 1. By operating the shaft 22 sliding movement of the sliders 13a to 13d along the respective guide arms 9a to 9d can be caused.

The operation of the above construction will now be described. By moving the operable shaft 22, and hence the disc member 20, in perpendicular directions the

sliders

13a, 13b, 13c and 13d, whose

projections

19a, 19b, 19c and 19d are received in the grooves 21a, 21b, 21c and 21d formed on the inner side of the disc member 20 and arranged in the form of a square, may move along the

guide arms

9a, 9b, 9c and 9d. For example, by moving the operable shaft 22 in the directions of arrows A-C in FIG. 2, the sliders 13a and 130 can be moved along the respective guide arms 9a and 90. Also, by moving the operable shaft 22 in the directions of arrows D-B, the sliders 13b and 13d can be moved along the

guide arms

9b and 9d. With the movement of the sliders 13a to 13d along the respective guide arms 9a to 9d the

brushes

14a, 14b, 14c and 14d can be moved over the respective

resistive bodies

5a, 5b, 5c and 5d in the radial direction thereof.

On the other hand, by turning the operable shaft the guide arms 9a to 9d are rotated without sliding movement of the sliders 13a to 13d along the guide arms 9a to 9d, so that the brushes 14a to 14d can be moved over the resistive bodies 5a to 5d in the circumferential direction thereof. 7

Thus, it may be so arranged, for instance, that balance can be adjusted by moving the sliders 13a to 13d along the guide arms 9a to 9d while volume can be adjusted by rotating'the guide member 9 (Le, rotating the sliders 13a to 13d).

In this case, the brushes 14a to 14d are moved in the direction of arrows XX in FIG. 7 (the radial direction of the resistive bodies 5a to 5d), while they are moved in the direction of arrows Y-Y' (the circumferential direction of the resistive bodies 5a to 5d) for adjusting the volume.

FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C show output voltages for individual channels corresponding to the respective resistive bodies as typically shown in FIG. 8D. FIG. 8A represents a case with the operable shaft 22 assuming the central position of the device, FIG. 88 represents a case with the operable shaft assuming a left position in FIG. 2, and FIG. 8C represents a case with the operable shaft assuming an upper left position in FIG. 2 (see FIG. 8D which illustrates the operating positions of the respective resistive bodies and the positions of the respective channels). In the individual cases, by turning the operable shaft 22 the individual channel voltages for balance as indicated by dots are varied along the associated dashed lines. Here, input voltages appear between

terminals

6a and 6a, between

terminals

6b and 6b, between

terminals

60 and 6c and between

terminals

6d and 6d, and voltages between

terminals

14a and 6a, between terminals 14b and 6b, between terminals 14c and 6c and between

terminals

14d and 6d are taken out as output voltage.

While in the above embodiment four resistive bodies are provided, this is by no means limitative, but it is possible to provide any desired number of resistive bodies.

What we claim is:

l. A device for controlling a set of variable resistors comprising a casing having a top wall, a bottom wall and a peripheral wall, a plurality of resistive bodies provided on top of the bottom wall of said casing, a rotatable guide member extending within said casing and positioned above and parallel with said resistive bodies, said rotatable. guide having the same number of guide arms as the number of said resistive bodies, a plurality of sliders each slidably mounted on the respective guide arms of said guide member and provided with respective brushes providing electric conduction between the associated resistive bodies and a conductive portion of said guide member, said sliders being provided with respective projections, an operable member having grooves receiving the respective projections of said sliders, and a drive means for driving said operable member.

2. The device for controlling a set of variable resistors according to claim 1, said guide members having Stoppers for restricting the slidable range of said sliders, said stoppers being provided at the free ends of the respective guide arms, the bottom wall of said casing having raised stopper portions adapted to engage with some of said stoppers for restricting the rotation of said guide member.

3. The device for controlling a set of variable resistors according to claim 1, wherein four sector-shaped resistive bodies are provided on top of the bottom wall of said casing and arranged at a suitable spacing from one another to form a circle, said guide member having four arms and being cross-shaped, said grooves formed in said operable member being arranged to form a square.

4. The device for controlling a set ofvariable resistors according to-claim 1, wherein said casing comprises a metal case having a top wall and a peripheral wall and a base of an insulating material, said base being secured to said case at the bottom opening thereof by corking protuberances of said case.

5. The device for controlling a set of variable resistors according to claim 1, said casing having an aperture formed in the top wall, said drive means penetrating said aperture.

6. The device for controlling a set of variable resistors according to claim 1, which further comprises a support extending upright from the bottom wall of said casing, said guide member being mounted on said support, aconductive spring inserted between said support and the conductive portion of said guide member, and a spring provided on the periphery of a portion of said support extending on the lower side of said bottom wall of the casing opposite said guide member for biasing said guide member toward said bottom wall of the cas-- guide member.

Claims

1. A device for controlling a set of variable resistors comprising a casing having a top wall, a bottom wall and a peripheral wall, a plurality of resistive bodies provided on top of the bottom wall of said casing, a rotatable guide member extending within said casing and positioned above and parallel with said resistive bodies, said rotatable guide having the same number of guide arms as the number of said resistive bodies, a plurality of sliders each slidably mounted on the respective guide arms of said guide member and provided with respective brushes providing electric conduction between the associated resistive bodies and a conductive portion of said guide member, said sliders being provided with respective projections, an operable member having grooves receiving the respective projections of said sliders, and a drive means for driving said operable member.

4. The device for controlling a set of variable resistors according to claim 1, wherein said casing comprises a metal case having a top wall and a peripheral wall and a base of an insulating material, said base being secured to said case at the bottom opening thereof by corking protuberances of said case.

6. The device for controlling a set of variable resistors according to claim 1, which further comprises a support extending upright from the bottom wall of said casing, said guide member being mounted on said support, a conductive spring inserted between said support and the conductive portion of said guide member, and a spring provided on the periphery of a portion of said support extending on the lower side of said bottom wall of the casing opposite said guide member for biasing said guide member toward said bottom Wall of the casing.

7. The device for controlling a set of variable resistors according to claim 3, said guide member having stoppers for restricting the slidable range of said slider, said stoppers being provided at the free ends of the respective guide arms, the bottom wall of said casing having raised stopper portions adatped to engage with some of said stoppers for restricting the rotation of said guide member.