Judco Manufacturing, Incorporated

Other

The Standard Oil Company

Ideal Toy Corporation

Microcomputer Accessories Incorporated

Excel Shutter Systems, Inc.

Stephen M Bartok

Donald L Morrison

Alan Backus

Tor H Petterson

Benjamin H Stansbury, Jr

Sydney L Groves

Deo Del Rosario

A pushbutton switch has a housing with a reciprocating plunger. The plunger is made in two parts with a hollow insert pressed in place to provide a slot inside the plunger with a longitudinally extending portion and a spirally extending portion. A rotatable shaft fits within the hollow insert and has a plurality of teeth at the lower end of the shaft. An electrical contact member with three circumferentially extending fingers is on the shaft over the teeth and with the fingers extending downwardly for contacting three electrical terminals in the housing to which contact may be made by external leads. When the plunger of the switch is depressed, the shaft moves downwardly and rotates without rotating the electrical contact member. When the plunger is released, the shaft also moves upwardly and rotates in the reverse direction whereupon a tooth engages a pawl extending downwardly from the contact member, advancing the contact member in rotation and changing the state of the switch.

Quiet pushbutton switch

A pushbutton has a body including a barrel and a plunger longitudinally movable in the barrel. A plurality of longitudinally extending teeth on the plunger engage a plurality of longitudinally extending teeth on a rotatable ratchet coaxial with the plunger. The ratchet is spring loaded against the plunger. A rotatable electrical contact cup connected to the ratchet makes or breaks contact with a fixed electrical terminal in the body. The plunger teeth each include a driving face which causes rotation of the ratchet. The driving face has an angle from a normal to the longitudinal direction of the plunger wherein the angle is at least the arctangent of the coefficient of friction between the ratchet teeth and the plunger tooth plus the arctangent of the effective coefficient of friction between electrical contacts in the switch, plus a margin of safety greater than the arctangent of the effective coefficient of friction between other parts of the switch. The angle is up to about 30 degrees.

Quiet pushbutton switch ratchet mechanism

An electric rocker switch is disclosed having a gull wing shaped rocking contact. The rocking contact pivots on a center terminal between a pair of upright blades. A centering protrusion disposed on a lower surface of the rocking contact rests between the uprights blades of the center terminal when the rocking contact is in a center position, thus preventing lateral movement of the rocking contact beyond the limits of the upright blades. First and second rocker contacts are located on opposite sides of the rocking contact. The first and second rocker contacts face toward first and second fixed contacts, respectively. Thus, the first rocker contact touches the first fixed contact when the rocking contact rocks to one side and the second rocker contact touches the second fixed contact when the rocking contact rocks to the other side. Positioning surfaces and top inside edges of the upright blades serve as pivots for the rocking contact as it rocks from side to side.

Gull wing rocker switch

Optical heat-generating apparatus and methods that rapidly, controllably deliver energy (heat) to heat shrink tubing disposed over wires or other components and that may be used to fuse insulated wires together, and solder and unsolder packaged IC chips. In general, the apparatus comprises a housing having one or more reflective cavities that each comprise a linear elliptical reflective surface having first and second focal lines, and into which the heatable component is inserted and disposed along the first focal line. One or more optical heat-generating elements are disposed along the second focal line of each respective linear elliptical reflective surface that emit energy that is focused by the one or more linear elliptical reflective surfaces onto the heatable component disposed along the first focal line. A number of different embodiments of the apparatus have been developed. Lengths of heat shrink tubing may be readily shrunk using various embodiments of the present invention in less than one second.

Optical apparatus and method for shrinking heat shrink tubing, fusing wires and solder and unsolder packaged electronic components

In a three dimensional generic electric discharge machining (EDM) apparatus the positionable driver assembly (,) houses a discharge electrode (,) that is in the form of a continuous wire, exposing only a predetermined length, the working portion, of that wire for discharge machining. Additional portions of that wire are incrementally advanced (,) from the housing as needed. In one embodiment, that need arises from electrode erosion, and, as an incremental portion of the electrode's working portion is eroded away, an additional increment of wire is advanced from the housing to restore the working portion to the desired length. For automatic control of the working portion's length, a novel sensor (,) monitors the virtual location of the discharge spark that occurs off the tip of the electrode during machining; and a significant shift in position of the spark, indicative of electrode wear, is detected and acted upon by the apparatus (,) to automatically replenish the spent electrode portion. In another embodiment (FIG.,), wire (,) is automatically advanced (,, FIG.,) under control of a computer (,, FIG.,) programmed to predict the progress of workpiece cutting in which the electrode acts as a scoop. The continuous wire, in the form of a flat ribbon, is extruded (,) in increments to form continuous segments of semi-torroidal shape as the ribbon is automatically advanced over a period from the electrode housing for discharge machining that &ldquo;scoops&rdquo; material from the workpiece.

Electric discharge machining apparatus

A pushbutton, momentary ON switch has a body including a barrel with longitudinally extending internal splines and ways between the splines. A plunger has radially extending lugs in the ways and is longitudinally movable in the barrel. A plurality of longitudinally extending camming teeth on the plunger engage a plurality of longitudinally extending camming teeth on a rotatable ratchet coaxial with the plunger. The ratchet is spring loaded against the plunger. The ratchet has radially extending dogs which fit into the ways when the plunger is retracted and come out of the ends of the ways when the plunger is advanced. A rotatable electrical contact cup connected to the ratchet and electrically connected to an external lead makes or breaks contact with a fixed electrical terminal in the body. The plunger teeth include a leading ramp face and a trailing ramp face wherein the leading ramp face extends a greater distance in the circumferential direction than the trailing ramp face. The asymmetrical teeth permit symmetrical rotation of the ratchet and electrical contacts. In this case, the contacts rotate approximately 22&frac12;&deg; in each half of the stroke of the plunger, making contact upon depressing the plunger and breaking contact upon its retraction. Since the plunger teeth each having an apex offset from a centerline of the tooth, they advance the ratchet a sufficient distance that electrical contact between the fixed electrical terminal member and the rotatable electrical contact cup is made substantially simultaneously with a tactile and/or auditory signal from the switch as the plunger advances the ratchet.

Pushbutton switch

A quiet smooth acting push button switch, which permits partial actuation without a change of state, including a body, a cover and a contact cup having one or more tabs, the cup rotatibly mounted on the cover. A plunger, actuator and a ratchet with radially expanding helical camming ramps are mounted in the body, which incrementally rotate the contact cup and tabs upon successive actuations of the switch. Two terminals mounted on the cover are interruptably in contact with the tabs as the tabs are rotated during switch operation. The actuator may be a pawl, bail or a resilient portion of the plunger and has at least one hook for engaging a helical camming surface of the ratchet and rotatibly driving the rachet in response to a depression and release of the plunger.

Expanding helical ratchet switch

A rolling shutter system employs a variable efficiency bi-directional drive mechanism which permits easy and quick raising of the rolling shutter while protecting against self-lowering of the shutter by reason of its own weight. The system also employs a novel operator for the bi-directional drive mechanism which is characterized by an easy and comfortable to grip bead string which also is attractive in appearance. The bead string is trained about a sprocket wheel, and an overload slip clutch is provided between the sprocket wheel and worm gear drive to limit the amount of force that can be applied to the bead string during raising and lowering of the rolling shutter. Also provided is a novel shutter travel limit and locking device, a novel valance construction and a novel through the wall shaft assembly.

Rolling shutter system

An adjustable drawer assembly is disclosed comprising first and second arm members (28,30) having inward ends pivotally journaled to a housing member (4), and a carriage plate (20) for transporting the arms from a storage position within the housing to an operable position in front of the housing. Distal ends of the first and second arms include meshing teeth (44,73) for locking the arms together whereby preventing downward pivotal movement of the arms relative to the housing. A third arm member (78) is provided in support of to a keyboard support surface (104). The third arm is pivotally connected to the second arm member, whereby enabling the keyboard support surface to pivot into alternative angular attitudes. Meshing gear racks (42,90) are provided on the second and third arm members for inhibiting pivotal motion, and actuation means (92) is provided for simultaneously releasing the meshing teeth racks whereby enabling coincidental vertical and angular repositionment of the keyboard support surface.

Adjustable keyboard drawer assembly

A rolling shutter characterized by an array of edge-adjacent, parallel shutter slats and full shutter width, clear shutter segments or links articulately interconnecting respective pairs of adjacent shutter slats. The links are telescopically movable in the slats to permit relative movement of the slats between spaced-apart and juxtaposed positions. When spaced apart, the slats form therebetween a gap which exposes the clear link which permits passage of light over substantially the full extent of the gap. The clear links also provide a double hinge-like joint between adjacent slats. The shutter slats are also uniquely reinforced and have an improved exterior appearance.

Rolling shutter construction

Water temperature sensors in the form of thermisters are in physical thermal contact with the inlet and outlet pipes of a water heater and may be surrounded by insulating material to make them more insensitive to the ambient air temperature and more sensitive to the temperature of the respective water pipes and the water contained therein. These two thermisters are connected in a bridge circuit connected to an operational amplifier whose output will be of a given polarity only if the measured temperature difference exceeds a predetermined value. The operational amplifier's output is then used to adjust the effective thermostatic setting of the hot water heater in a two-valued control arrangement. Alternatively, each of the two water temperature sensors may assume a purely mechanical form, such as an enclosed volume of fluid or plastic material operating a bellows or piston arrangement, so that at higher temperatures the volume increases and the bellows or piston moves in one direction while at lower temperatures, the volume decreases, and the bellows or piston moves in an opposite direction. If two such mechanical sensor arrangements are connected to work in opposition to one another through appropriate spring linkages, the resultant mechanical movement is proportional to the difference in sensor temperatures and adjusts the thermostat setting of the heater in a proportional form of control.

Energy conserving water heater control system

A bumper mechanism is disclosed which is adapted to be mounted in a pin ball machine having a playing surface along which pin balls can be projected. The bumper mechanism comprises first and second bumper elements which define a slot therebetween for receiving pin balls projected on the play surface. One of the bumper elements is mounted for sliding movement between a first position adjacent the other of the bumper elements and a second position remote from the other of the bumper elements, in response to entrance of a pin ball into the slot. Downward movement of the bumper element causes it to engage a drive element rotatably mounted in the pin ball machine so that cooperating means on the drive element and the depressed bumper element engage each other and drive the depressed bumper element back towards its first position adjacent the other bumper element in response to rotation of the drive element. In this manner the pin ball which entered the slot between the bumper elements is squeezed by the bumper elements and projected from the bumper mechanism.

Growing community of inventors

Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, United States of America

Stephen M Bartok