Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.

Itt Composants Et Instruments

Itt Corporation

Itt Industries, Inc.

Gemplus Electronics

Itt Compasants Et Instruments

Alain Janniere

Bernard Juret

Laurent Bouvier

Aurelien Carvalho

Jean-Pierre Teisseire

Alfred Heeb

An electrical switch assembly includes a dome-shaped switching element ( ) that closes a switch when the dome center portion ( ) is depressed against a terminal ( ), wherein an actuator member ( ) has a lower portion ( ) that extends through a hole ( ) in the dome element and into a bore ( ) that guides the actuator member lower portion in sliding movement. A coding wheel ( ) that is fixed to the actuator member, includes a conductive portion ( ) with at least one contacting tooth ( ) and a non-contacting part or space ( ) that both lie on an imaginary circle ( ). A plurality of pairs of contacts ( ) are in vertical alignment with the circle, and each contacting tooth engages a selected pair of the contacts in a selected rotational position of the actuation member about its vertical axis A.

Electrical switch single sliding/rotary actuator

An electrical switch includes a snap dome tripper ( ) whose center portion ( ) snaps down when depressed by a predetermined amount, and a contact plate ( ) with blades ( ) that move down against terminals ( ) to close the switch when the tripper snaps down, and to provide tactile feedback when the switch is closed. Instead of the center portion of the contact plate lying under the center portion of the tripper, the contact plate lies above the tripper and the contact blades project horizontally beyond the boundaries of the periphery of the tripper.

Electrical switch with snap action dome shaped tripper

An electrical switch assembly includes a lever ( ) lying on a vertical axis ( ) and pivotable about horizontal axes (NS and EW). The lever has arms ( ) extending in perpendicular horizontal directions, the arms serving to close corresponding switches ( ) when the lever is pivoted to depress a corresponding one of the arms. Each arm carries a cam follower ( ) that is biased against a cam surface ( ) and each cam follower can largely vertically slide or roll along a cam surface. A convex cam surface region ( ) results in a sudden decrease in resistance to lever pivoting as the arm closes a switch, to provide tactile feedback similar to that of a snap dome. The lever has a spherical bearing ( ) that is trapped between a spherical surface ( ) on the housing base ( ) and a spherical surface ( ) on a housing cover ( ), with the arms extending through gap areas. The housing has a square cavity shape and the arms extend toward the corners.

Multiple switch assembly

An electrical switch is provided, which is of low height and which uses a single snap dome tripper (,) to close a plurality of switch devices and provide tactile feedback to the person who has depressed the tripper. The switch includes a support (,), a plurality of contacts (,) mounted on the support with each contact having an exposed engaging surface in the lower portion of the support. An intermediate contact member in the form of a plate (,), lies over the engaging surfaces of the contacts, and the snap dome tripper lies over the intermediate contact member. The intermediate contact member has a plurality of blades (,) that are each downwardly deflected against a corresponding engaging surface (,) when the tripper is depressed.

Touch sensitive multiple electrical switch

A switch arrangement with multiple switches that can be selectively actuated by operation of a single lever, is of simple construction and occupies a minimum of space on a circuit board. The arrangement includes a housing (,) with a vertical axis (V) and an actuating lever (,) lying along the axis and pivotable about horizontal axes (,). Upper and lower West switches (,) that lie West of the axis, are actuated, one when the lever top is moved West and the other when the lever top is moved East. Similarly, upper and lower South switches (,) are actuated, one when the lever top is moved South and the other when the lever top is moved North. Each pair of switches includes a pair of resilient trip members (,W,,W and,S,,S), and with an arm (,W,,S) extending horizontally from the middle of the lever and lying between the centers of the trip members. The lever includes a spherical body (,) lying in a spherical recess (,) of the housing to enable the lever to pivot, and a plunger (,) that is vertically slideable in a passage (,) in the spherical body, so when the plunger is depressed it depresses a snap dome trip member (,) to close a fifth switch under the lever. The snap dome biases the plunger upwardly, and the plunger can press upwardly against the spherical body to hold it in the recess.

Multiple electric switch with single actuating lever

A miniature electrical switch, of the type that includes a snap dome or tripping member (36) lying over a pair of contacts (30, 34), includes a small and effective actuator arrangement (41). The actuator arrangement includes a sheet metal force transfer member (43) with a horizontal plate (46) and with a deflectable strip or lever (48), and an actuator device or pusher (44) with a ramp (96) that can engage the lever to deflect it. Horizontal forward (F) movement of the pusher deflects the front of the lever downwardly, to depress the middle portion (40) of the tripping member.

Laterally actuated electrical switch

Electrical switch, especially for detecting the presence of an electronic memory card in a card reader device. An electrical switch (10) includes a trigger button (14) which is slidingly mounted in a switch box (12), a mobile contact element (62) which is connected to the button (14) and which interacts with at least fixed contact element (50,52) carried by the box (12) of the switch, and a spring and the mobile contact element (44,62) elastically returns the button (14) to a stable inactive position, in which the value of the reutrn force (F) decreases when the actuation travel (C) of the button (14) exceeds a predetermined value (C1), characterized in that the predetermined value (C1) of the travel corresponds to the triggering of the switch.

Electrical switch

The invention proposes a portable case for an electronic smart card (C), comprising, on one of its main faces, electrical contact bands connected to an integrated circuit containing the card memory, of the type in which provision is made for a compartment which receives the card (C) and connection means (72) for connecting the contact bands to an exploitation electronic circuit providing at least a function of reading the data contained in the card, characterized in that it comprises a casing (10, 12, 14) equipped with a window (22) permitting the insertion of the card (C), an electrical connector (72) whose electrical contact elements (73) interact with the said contact bands when the card is in the position of exploitation of the data, a device for emitting and receiving (112, 114) data towards and from an information-processing station, and a switch (120) for detecting the placing of the card (C) in an exploitation position in the casing (10).

Portable case for an electronic smart card

A connector is described with a slot for receiving an electronic memory card and with multiple terminals (32, 34 in FIG. 1) that engage card contact regions, which can be constructed at low cost. The multiple terminals are produced by cutting a strip of sheet metal to form a row of parallel elongated terminals (32 in FIG. 11) that have mount portions (40) lying between first and second terminal end portions (31, 38), and with the second end portions held on a carrier strip (204). A frame (22) of the housing is molded around the mount portions of the terminals, and thereafter the terminals are cut free of the carrier strip. A microcontact device (44 in FIG. 2) for detecting full insertion of the card, includes a first contact with a bent zone (64) projecting a distance forwardly into the slot, to be rearwardly deflected by the leading edge of a card, out of engagement with a second contact. The upper slot walls have a downwardly-facing concave portion (106 in FIG. 6) lying over terminals that contact the card contact regions, to facilitate insertion of the card.

Card connector and production method

An electrical contact switch for mounting on a printed circuit board, having a base provided with contacts, an illuminated cover movable with respect to the base and arched coil springs on the base arranged transversely to the direction of movement of the cover which resist downward movement of the cover. A shoe joined to the cover is guided for limited movement toward the base and is provided with contacts that engage the contacts on the base.

Pushbutton switch

The invention relates to a contact breaker of the type that includes a slider (22, FIG. 1) that slides longitudinally within a housing to allow a moving contact 50 (FIG. 3) on a sudden actin bimetal strip (44) to pass through a slider opening (62) against a fixed contact (40), or to keep the contacts apart after they have briefly moved apart. The state of the contact breaker is indicated by a signalling electrical circuit which includes a moving contact (80, FIG. 1) mounted on the slider and having a pair of clips that connect coplanar signalling contacts (68, 70). The slider has a lower extension (92, FIG. 4) that prevents arcing between power contacts. The housing includes two half-casings (16, 18, FIG. 7) joined at a longitudinal joint 19, one carrying power terminals (32, 34) and the other carrying signalling terminals (74, 76). The slider keeps the contacts (50, 40, FIG. 3) separate even if the front housing surface is blocked.

Growing community of inventors

Paris, France

Alain Janniere