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:
Jun. 11, 2002
Filed:
May. 28, 2001
Alain Janniere, Paris, FR;
Alfred Heeb, Glienicke, DE;
ITT Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
An electrical switch assembly includes a lever ( ) lying on a vertical axis ( ) and pivotable about horizontal axes (NS and EW). The lever has arms ( ) extending in perpendicular horizontal directions, the arms serving to close corresponding switches ( ) when the lever is pivoted to depress a corresponding one of the arms. Each arm carries a cam follower ( ) that is biased against a cam surface ( ) and each cam follower can largely vertically slide or roll along a cam surface. A convex cam surface region ( ) results in a sudden decrease in resistance to lever pivoting as the arm closes a switch, to provide tactile feedback similar to that of a snap dome. The lever has a spherical bearing ( ) that is trapped between a spherical surface ( ) on the housing base ( ) and a spherical surface ( ) on a housing cover ( ), with the arms extending through gap areas. The housing has a square cavity shape and the arms extend toward the corners.