The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 18, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 23, 1999
ITT Automotive Europe, GmbH, Frankfurt, DE;
Abstract
A compact snap switch that can be assembled mechanically and is equipped as a microswitch. The switch includes a housing for the microswitch and consists of two asymmetrically divided halves whose cut site runs along the edge of one of the large side surfaces. Thus a comparatively large assembly window and a favorable assembly direction are obtained due to the few undercuts of the components. In addition, due to the minor modifications of the machine-instrumented components, the switch can be easily modified for the different application formats. A movable contact lever with a moving contact is mounted so as to pivot in a knife-edge bearing. The free end of the contact lever has a wedge profile which with one of its two sides is exposed to a switching roller reloaded by a switching spring. Switching roller and switching spring are seated in a switching member which is movable along a straight path and abutted by a restoring towards an idle position. Upon forcing the switching member to move against the restoring spring, the switching roller passes the apex point of the wedge profile and acts on the other side of the wedge profile. Thus, the switching lever makes a pivoting movement, whereby the moving contact comes to rest with a fixed contact. Upon release of the moving force, the switching member is urged back to its idle position by the restoring spring. Thus, the switching lever returns to its original position.