JP4076937B2 - Rotary lever switch - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a rotary lever switch used for a shuttle switch or the like, and more particularly to a rotary lever switch that is strong against an impact when dropped.

  One type of shuttle switch used in cellular phones and the like is a rotary lever switch. In this switch, a rotary lever that is rotatably accommodated in the body is elastically held in a neutral position by a spring that is accommodated in the body. When the lever is rotated in either direction against the urging force of the spring, the operation direction of the lever is detected by an electric circuit in the body (for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-197407

  Depending on the model, it may double as a push switch. In this case, the lever is supported so as to be movable in the direction in which it is pushed into the body, and is urged in the anti-pushing direction by a spring in the body. When the lever is pushed against the biasing force of the spring at the neutral position, the pushing operation is detected by an electric circuit in the body.

  The body typically serves not only to house the lever, but also to act as a stopper against pushing the lever. That is, when the lever is pushed in strongly, the load is received at the bottom of the body, and the breakage of the lever shaft support portion, which is relatively difficult to ensure the mechanical strength, is prevented.

  In such a rotary lever switch, in order to facilitate the rotation operation, it is usual that the operation portion of the lever protrudes out of the body. For this reason, when the switch is dropped, there is a risk that the operation unit directly collides with the dropping surface. When the operation unit collides with the dropping surface, the lever is pushed into the body with a large force, and the load is applied to the bottom of the body, which is a stopper, so that the bottom of the body may be damaged. In addition, the lever may be damaged instead of the body.

  The present invention was devised in view of such circumstances, and the lever and the lever are protruded from the body, and the bottom of the body also serves as a stopper for the lever. It is an object of the present invention to provide a rotary lever switch that can effectively protect the device.

  In order to achieve the above object, a rotary lever switch according to the present invention is rotatably accommodated in a body, and a head part projects out of the body as an operation part and can move along the projecting direction. A rotary lever switch comprising: a supported rotary operation lever; and a spring that elastically holds the lever in a neutral position and biases the lever in a protruding direction of the operation portion. The bottom portion of the body is configured to function as a stopper for the bottom portion of the lever when receiving an impact in the pushing direction, and has an impact absorbing portion at the bottom portion of the lever that is elastically deformed in response to the impact. Is.

  The shock absorbing portion can be formed by providing a through groove extending along the bottom surface of the bottom portion of the lever.

  The rotary lever switch according to the present invention has good operability because the head portion of the lever projects out of the body as the operation portion. When the operating portion receives an impact in the pushing direction, the bottom portion of the body functions as a stopper for the bottom portion of the lever, so that it is possible to prevent damage to the lever shaft support portion, which is relatively difficult to ensure mechanical strength. Moreover, since the impact is absorbed by the elastic deformation of the impact absorbing portion provided at the bottom portion of the lever, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the body and the lever are damaged when dropped.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a rotary lever switch showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the function of the rotary lever switch.

  The rotary lever switch according to the present embodiment is a small and thin shuttle switch used for small devices such as mobile phones. As shown in FIG. 1, the lever switch includes a resin body 10, a resin lever 20 housed in the body 10, a metal spring 30 housed in the body 10 together with the lever 20, and the body 10. And a metal cover 40 that covers the opening.

  The body 10 is a shallow container whose front is fully open, and a shaft portion 11 that supports the lever 20 protrudes from the center of the body 10. The shaft portion 11 is a deformed shaft having a circular shape on the bottom side of the body 10 and a substantially triangular shape on the top side. The reason why the shaft portion 11 is formed in such a shape is to prevent the pushing operation from being performed while the lever 20 is rotated.

  A substantially flat bottom 12 of the body 10 is a stopper for the lever 20. The top of the body 10 is formed in an arc shape in accordance with the operation locus of the lever 20, and is open over a wide range to enable the operation. Then, the head portion of the lever 20 projects out of the body 10 as the operation portion 22 through the opening portion 13.

  The lever 20 includes a substantially circular main body 21 that is rotatably accommodated in the body 10, and an operation unit 22 that is connected to the head side of the main body 21. A shaft hole 23 through which the shaft portion 11 is inserted is provided in the main body portion 21 of the lever 20 at a central portion. In order to enable sliding movement along the pushing direction of the lever 20, the shaft hole 23 is a long hole that is long in the pushing direction. A concave portion 24 that accommodates the spring 30 is provided in the middle step including the shaft hole 23.

  An arc-shaped through groove 25 along the bottom surface is provided at the bottom portion of the main body portion 21. The through groove 25 is a wide slit that penetrates between both surfaces of the main body 21. By providing the through groove 25, when the bottom portion of the main body portion 21 is pressed against the bottom portion 12 of the body 10 with a relatively large pressure, the bottom portion from the through groove 25 is easily elastically deformed toward the head side. To absorb the impact. That is, the arc-shaped portion on the bottom side from the through groove 25 is the shock absorbing portion 26.

  The operating portion 22 of the lever 20 protrudes outside the body 10 through the opening 13. The operation unit 22 has an arc shape corresponding to the top shape of the body 10 and also serves as a cover that covers the opening 13 provided on the top of the body.

  The spring 30 is a “<”-shaped lever spring having a coil portion at the center. The spring 30 is entirely accommodated in the concave portion 24 of the lever 20, and the central coil portion is externally fitted to the shaft portion 11 of the body 10 protruding through the shaft hole 23 of the lever 20 to the front side thereof. The whole 20 is elastically pressed evenly on both sides to the head side. As a result, the lever 20 is elastically held in the neutral position, and the operation portion 22 is urged in the protruding direction (head side).

  By this urging, the lever 20 is held in a state where the operation portion 22 protrudes most to the head side in a state where no pushing force is applied, and the play in the pushing direction is removed. In addition, a sufficient gap is secured between the top portion of the body 10 and the shock absorbing portion 26 formed on the bottom portion lightly contacts the bottom portion 12 of the body 10 as a stopper [see FIG. 2 (a). ].

  The cover 40 holds the lever 20 and the spring 30 in the body 10 by covering the opening of the body 10. A central portion of the cover 40 is a pressing portion 41 cut and raised in a tongue shape inward, and the lever 20 in the body 10 is elastically pressed to fix the lever 20 in the thickness direction.

  Although not shown, a terminal plate is fixed to the inner side surface of the body 10 by insert formation, and a brush that is in sliding contact with the terminal plate is attached to the rear surface of the lever 10 that faces the inner side surface. .

  Next, the function of the rotary lever switch according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  When receiving no external force, as shown in FIG. 2A, the lever 20 is elastically held in the neutral position by the spring 30 and is urged in the direction in which the operation portion 22 protrudes (reverse pushing direction). .

  When the operating portion 22 of the lever 20 is rotated in either direction against the holding force of the spring 30, the lever 20 has the shock absorbing portion 26 at the bottom portion 12 of the body 10 as shown in FIG. It rotates along the circular-arc-shaped surrounding surface of the axial part 11 with contacting. The operation direction at this time is detected by an electric circuit composed of a terminal board and a brush. The same applies when the operation unit 22 of the lever 20 is operated in the reverse direction. Since the operation part 22 protrudes out of the body 10, the operation is easy.

  When a weak load in the push-in direction (counter-projection direction) is applied to the operation portion 22 of the lever 20, the lever 20 is held in its original position due to the urging force of the spring 30.

  When the device using the switch is dropped on the ground or the like, and the operation unit 22 of the lever 20 is violently collided with the ground or the like, the bottom of the lever 20 is formed as shown in FIG. The impact absorbing portion 26 is elastically deformed into the through groove 25 on the head side and absorbs the impact. For this reason, neither the bottom part 12 of the body 10 nor the bottom part of the lever 20 is damaged. Even when the shock absorbing portion 26 is elastically deformed to the limit to the head side, the main body portion 21 of the lever 20 does not directly contact the shaft portion 11. Therefore, the shaft portion 11 is not damaged. Furthermore, the operation part 22 does not contact the top part of the body 10.

  When the impact force is removed, the lever 20 returns to the original state shown in FIG. 2A due to the restoring force of the impact absorbing portion 26 and the restoring force of the spring 30.

  Thus, the switch is protected from drop impact and has excellent shock resistance. In the switch, the lever 20 strokes in the pushing direction. For this reason, the design change to the structure which also serves as a bush switch is extremely simple.

It is an exploded view of the rotary lever switch which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the function of the rotary lever switch.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Body 11 Shaft part 12 Bottom part 20 Lever 21 Main body part 22 Operation part 24 Shaft hole 25 Through groove 26 Shock absorption part 30 Spring 40 Cover

Claims (2)

  A rotary lever that is rotatably accommodated in the body, the head part projects out of the body as an operation part, and is supported so as to be movable along the projecting direction, and the lever is elastic in the neutral position And a spring that urges the lever in the protruding direction of the operating portion, and the bottom of the body is the bottom of the lever when the lever receives an impact in the pushing direction. A rotary lever switch characterized by having a shock absorbing portion that is configured to function as a stopper for the portion and elastically deforms in response to the shock at the bottom portion of the lever.   The rotary lever switch according to claim 1, wherein the shock absorbing portion is formed by providing a through groove extending along a bottom surface of the bottom portion of the lever.

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