Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Eaton Corporation

Paul Junker

Peter Leng

Hermann Mahr

Hans-Gunter Weiss

Thomas Reuter

An actuating element for an electric switch, especially for a steering wheel switch in a motor vehicle, impinges upon at least one switching contact and is pivotally mounted on a housing of said switch. A firm hinge is provided as a bearing, connecting the actuating element to a latched wall. The wall runs parallel to the wall of the housing or replaces the wall of the housing.

Electrical switch actuating element

A steering column switch for motor vehicles comprises at least one wiper/washer switch ( and ), which is an integral part of a switch lever ( ), whereby the contact bridge ( and ) of the wiper/washer switch is held in position on a rotary switch member ( and ) and acts with several contact arms ( ) on switch contact paths ( and ) with associate connection contacts ( and ). The contact bridge ( and ) and the switch contact paths ( and ) interact to transfer switch function data in Gray code. This type of coding permits a reduced number of connection lines ( ) and connection contacts ( and ), compared with the number of switch positions and, at the same time, permits relatively high switching reliability.

Steering column switch for motor vehicles

A steering column switch (1) comprises a carrier (2) with coordinated plug-in fastening (3), which is secured on a holder of the casing tube of the steering column of a motor vehicle, surrounded by a steering column housing, and keys (26, 30, 39) provided with switch elements. On the carrier (2) a plurality of keys (26, 30, 39) acting in different directions of activation are mounted, and these act on contact elements (13, 14) arranged in the carrier (2). The steering column switch (1) has a compact design and at the same time is capable of transmitting a plurality of switch functions, in particular, those of an electronic entertainment system present in a motor vehicle, and furthermore it is comfortable to operate and can be almost completely preassembled

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Bingen, Germany

Paul Junker