US3476890A - Switch - Google Patents

Description

- v. 4, 1969 v R. c. POWELL 3, 476,

SWITCH Filed Aug. 5, 195

INVENTOR.

pa/v/yzp a pan 14 United States Patent SWITCH Ronald Cecil Powell, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 750,092

Int. Cl. H01h 9/26 US. Cl. 200--5 .1 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention This invention relates to the switching art, and more particularly to a plural push buttonswitc'h. I

In the past, push button switches haveliad a complicated construction expensive to fabricate and to maintain.

Summary of the invention In accordance with the device of: the present invention, the above-described and other disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by providing a pluralityof the mating triangular insulating plates which are shifted by push buttons in between pairs of spring biased contacts. All plates but one at a time slide between and; keep all but one corresponding pairs of contacts from making through holes in the plates.

The invention may incorporate plates of an identical construction. The invention therefore, has an uncomplicated and economical construction.

The above-described and other advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings In the drawings, which are to be considered as merely illustrative:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the switch of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of the device shown in FIG. 1;;and

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the device.

Description of the preferred embodiment In the drawing in FIG. 1 a housing of an insulating material 10 is provided includinga base 11 and a cover 12. Three pairs of contacts are provided; one pair of which is indicated at 13 in FIG. 2. Contacts 14 and 15 are fixed to leaf spring conductors 16 and 17 which are fixed to base 11 by rivets 18 and 19, respectively. Output leads are provided at 20 and 21.

Note will be taken that contacts 14 and 15 are spring biased into engagement through a hole 22 in a triangularly-shaped insulator 23. Other triangularly- shaped insulators 24, 25, 26, and 27 are also provided in housing 10.

3,476,890 Patented Nov. 4, 1969 All of the insulators 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27 are identical.

Push buttons to actuate the switch are provided at 28, 29, and 30.

FIG. 3 is atop plan view of base 11 with cover 12 removed.

Cover 12 may be fixed to base 11 by any convenient means. I

Push buttons 28, 29, and 30 have slots therein as indicated at 31 in FIG. 2.

Insulators 24, 25, 26, and 27 have holes 32, 33, 34, and 35 therethrough identical to holes 22 through insulator 23. Holes 32 and 34 are not necessary to the operation of the device, and can be omitted if desired.

In one of the three alternative switch positions, a pair of contacts 36 may meet through insulator hole 33. Similarly, a pair of contacts 37 may meet through insulator hole 35.

If it is desired that contacts 36 engage each other and contacts 13 be disengaged, push button 29 is pushed downwardly as viewed in FIG. 1. In this case, contacts 36 will engage one another through insulator hole 33. At the same time, insulators 33 and 34 will be pushed to the left as viewed in FIG. 1. At the same time, insulator 23 will be pushed upward so that contacts 13 cannot engage each other through hole 22.

In the same manner, if push button 30 is depressed, all of the insulators 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27 will be moved to the left. Insulator 23 will again rise. Contacts 13 and 36 will therefore be insulated and contacts 37 will engage one another through insulator hole 35. p

In the same manner, push buttons 28 and 30 will cause contacts 13 and 37 to meet if depressed after push button 29 is depressed. The same is true of push buttons 28 and 29 after push button 30 has been depressed.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the switch of the present invention may be made of relatively inexpensive component parts. Insulator 23, for example, may be multiplied two or several other times. Many of the parts of the invention may therefore have an identical construction. The switch of the present invention is therefore relatively easy to fabricate and to maintain.

Many changes and modifications of the invention will, of course, suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. The particular embodiment shown and described herein is therefore not to be considered a limitation upon the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A switch comprising: a housing having a longitudinal slot; at least two pairs of electrical contacts spring biased toward each other; first, second, and third triangularlyshaped insulating plates slidable in said housing slot; and a push button located over said first and third plates, said first and third plates having apexes pointing toward said contacts, said second plate pointing in a direction opposite that of said first and third plates, in between the same said first and third plates having holes therethrough through which corresponding sets of contacts may make, said push buttons being movable to a position inside said housing to cause all three of said plates to move in unison between contacts in a manner to allow only one pair of said contacts to make through the hole in one corresponding plate.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein said push buttons have recesses to straddle corresponding plates, said housing having an aperteured cover to encompass said push buttons, said push buttons having lateral flanges to engage said cover, said contacts being mounted on leaf the shape of an equilateral triangle.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein said push buttons have recesses to straddle corresponding plates. 4. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing has an apertured cover to encompass said push buttons.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4, wherein said push buttons have lateral flanges to engage said cover.

'6. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein said 10 contacts are mounted on leaf spring conductors.

7. The invention as dfiened in claim 1, wherein said angles.

References Cited UNITED STATES -PATENTS- 3,183,315 5/1965 Kiely. 3,239,629 3/ 1966 Lesser.

ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Primary Examiner I. R. SCOTT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 200-61.19, 153

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