Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Ryoichi Taniuchi

Yoshiyuki Nakade

Takeo Nakamura

Ichiro Tateishi

Naoaki Matsui

Toyoshi Fukumura

Hitokazu Shitanaka

Takeshi Fujii

Katsuya Saitou

Toshio Ozawa

A switch having good maneuverability includes a switch case, a rocker-button unit having a hole therein and a rotating shaft located at a side of the rocker button unit and held at the switch case, and a push-button unit movably disposed in the hole. Further, the switch includes a slider whose upper surface comes in contact with a lower surface of the push-button unit, and the slider is movably accommodated in the switch case.

Switch

A rotary connector, which is generally used for the steering device of an automobile, for establishing electrical connections via a flexible flat cable between an electric circuit fixed to the steering column and an electric circuit attached to the steering wheel. The rotary connector of the present invention has guiding means for the flat cable for smooth winding. Guide piece is formed at recess C on inner cylinder B, with one end formed in one piece with the bottom surface of lid A of inner case . A proximity to the inside end of flat cable is inserted into gap between the inner wall of guide piece and the periphery of recess C disposed on inner cylinder B of inner case . Flat cable is then guided out from the edge surface of edge portion A formed so as to tilt the tip of guide piece in the periphery direction. It is thus possible to provide an easy to assemble and economical rotary connector with the number of parts minimized.

Rotary connector

A revolving connector includes an outer case having a housing section for accommodating a lower section of a fixed pin, an inner case having a holder for holding part of the fixed pin and being mounted to the outer case rotatably relative to the outer case, a stopper pin extending through the fixed pin and the housing section, and a flat cable coiled and housed in a space formed between the outer and inner cases, both the ends of the flat cable being fixed to the outer and inner cases, respectively. At its lower section, the fixed pin has an engaging hole through which the stopper pin extends and a slit communicating from the hole to an end face of the fixed pin, so that an elastic tip is formed at the lower section of the fixed pin. This structure allows the flat cable to maintain its neutral position not only at assembling but also at warehousing and transporting. This flexible flat cable is used in the revolving connector employed in a steering device of a car. The connector electrically couples the outer case and the inner case that is rotatable relative to the outer case.

Revolving connector

A rotary connector, in which a guide ring is disposed in an annular space in such a manner that the guide ring elastically contacts with the lower side of the cover portion of an inner case, and the intermediate supporting portion of each of a plurality of cylindrical rollers is rotatably supported by the guide ring in the state that the rotation axis of each roller slants, also both end-sides of each roller contact with a flat cable, also the circumference-side of each roller contacts with the upper side of a lower-side-cover. The above structure realizes a highly reliable low cost rotary connector in which a noise caused by the each-other's bumps of the component parts of the rotary connector is suppressed and the stress applied to the flat cable is greatly decreased.

A multifunctional switching apparatus, preferably used as a steering switch, comprises a first switching section selecting a specific combination from a plurality of combinations resulting from any possible combination between operating functions of a second switching section and operating functions of a third switching section. The second and third switching sections are operable independent of each other in the specific combination selected by the first switching section. One operating key is provided to control a plurality of switching sections. A display of the operation key is provided to make the judgement of operational function of each switch section easy.

Multifunctional switching apparatus and a vehicle operating system using

A lighting-knob-switch comprises a first light conductor shaped in a cylinder or an oval-top pillar. The first light conductor has a light interceptor (22B) having a concave slope on its rear end and has a lighting face (22A) on its front end. The lighting knob switch further comprises a knob which houses the first light conductor axially, an opening (21C) under the light interceptor (22B) of the first light conductor (22), and a first light emitter (35) under the light interceptor (22B). The light from the first light emitter (35) reflects on the light interceptor (22B) through the opening (21C) and arrives at the lighting face (22A). This construction allows the lighting face (22A) to receive even light at anytime, realizes an easy assembly work, and achieves an inexpensive cost.

Lighting knob switch

A terminal plate 6 is formed into a circular cup shape having a bottom 6b and a cylindrical wall 6a. A plurality of terminals 14 are provided on bottom 6b of terminal plate 6. A rotor 1 is rotatably supported on terminal plate 6. A contact piece 5, resiliently engaged with rotor 1, is selectively brought into contact with terminals 14 to close a circuit. An undulated portion 10 is provided along the lower end cylindrical wall 1b of rotor 1. A ball 8, a spring 9 and undulated portion 10 cooperatively constitute an intermittent movement mechanism disposed between rotor 1 and terminal plate 6. Contact piece 5 intermittently rotates against a resilient force of spring 9 to change its rotational angle in accordance with a rotation of rotor 1. An elastically deformable portion 13 is formed on cylindrical wall 1b of rotor 1 while a rigid claw 12 is formed on the upper edge of cylindrical wall 6a of terminal plate 6, cooperatively constituting a snap-in mechanism. A guide shaft 7, extending upward from the center of terminal plate 6, is inserted into a bore 3 on the lower surface of rotor 1, so that rotor 1 is rotatably supported on terminal plate 6.

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Fukui, Japan

Ryoichi Taniuchi