Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Hiroki Oba

Tatsuaki Kawase

Kaoru Soeta

Akira Niinuma

Nobuyuki Ninomiya

Seiichiro Sato

Takayuki Itabashi

Seiichi Aoki

In electronic equipment which includes a casing, a lid body which is rotatably supported on the casing, a hinge member which is formed by mounting a frame body on one of the lid body and the casing and by making a shaft body projected from the frame body rotatably support the other of the lid body and the casing, and a switch which detects rotation of the lid body, the switch is formed of an individual rotary switch which accommodates a rotary manipulation body having a hollow shaft hollow hole, a movable contact which is integrally rotated with the rotary manipulation body and a stationary contact which is brought into slide contact with the movable contact inside a housing, wherein the shaft body of the hinge member is inserted into the hollow shaft hole of the rotary manipulation body, and the rotation of the lid body is detected in response to the slide contact between the movable contact and the stationary contact which is generated along with rotation of the shaft body.

Lid open/close detection device of portable electronic equipment

A cordinate input device is provided in which z-coordinate of an image object and a command to scroll the image can be inputted, a positive manipulation feeling can be obtained when changing scrolling speed (the amount of scrolling) of an image, and an accurate scrolling adjustment is enabled. The coordinate input device includes a casing, an (x, y) coordinate information input unit 6, push-button switches 7 and 8 for inputting the (x, y) coordinate information detected by the (x, y) coordinate information input unit 6, and an input manipulation unit for inputting z-coordinate information and image scrolling information in addition to the (x, y) coordinate information. The input manipulation unit includes a jog/shuttle switch 9 having a jog dial and a shuttle dial coaxially disposed.

Coordinate input device capable of inputting z-coordinate of image object

A switch assembly includes a wafer defining a cavity, a case defining a guide hole and received in the cavity, and a slide reciprocally movably received in the guide hole to close or open contacts provided in the cavity. The case and slide are originally molded in a single body united by runners and they are separated by cutting the runners just before the case is mounted on the wafer, but the slide is held in the guide hole and never drops from it before the case is mounted in position of the wafer.

Switch assembly

A switch comprising a first contact leading to one terminal, a second contact in the form of a coil spring leading to the other terminal via a receiving plate with an elongate protuberance, a wafer receiving the first and second contacts, a case mounted on the wafer so as to cover an opening thereof, and a slide reciprocably received through an guide hole of the case for bringing one end portion of the second contact into and out of engagement with the first contact. The other end of the second contact extends substantially parallel to the protuberance and is disposed against the receiving plate so as to be engageable with the protuberance.

Switch

A method for manufacturing a switch includes the steps of forming integrally a clip for clamping a movable contact out of a flat terminal member configured in hoop material by bending uprightly a projected portion of the terminal member, and then insert-molding the thus bent terminal member at the bottom of a box body made of insulating material to hold the integrally formed clip inside the box body.

Wafer and method for manufacturing switch wafer

A switch of the push-type is assembled using a housing provided with a clip formed integrally from a fixed lead terminal incorporated into the base of the housing. A torsion coil spring is fixed inside the housing with a free end available to be clamped by the clip. A slide for actuating the free end of the torsion coil spring is provided with a case cover to be coupled with the housing and the cover having a thru-hole through which one end of the slide projects outward. The torsion coil spring serves as a movable contact means with respect to the clip and a returning means for the slide.

Miniature push button switch with coil spring movable contact

A latching mechanism for use in a switch such as a push switch comprises a slider capable of sliding in the casing of the switch, a spring for biasing the slider in one direction, and a driving pin disposed in the direction of movement of the slider and acting to move a movable contact relative to fixed contacts. Both ends of the pin are bent such that the pin assumes a U-shaped form. One of these ends is anchored to a hooked element so as to be horizontally rotatable. The other end is received in a heart-shaped cam groove, and is held into engagement with the bottom of the groove.

Growing community of inventors

Furukawa, Japan

Hiroki Oba