Push button switch by Kotaroh Tsutsui

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Push button switch by Kotaroh Tsutsui
4249053-6.png
Country US
Patent number US4249053
Issued on 3 February 1981
Inventor Kotaroh Tsutsui
Assignee Alps Electric
Reference US4249053 

Push button switch with feedback mechanism is an invention by Kotaroh Tsutsui that introduced the tactility that most switches are known to provide. The assignee was Alps Electric Co., Ltd., and the invention was granted patent number US4249053 on 1984. It features a cam, in which after depression or release of the plunger, it slides in a carrier, providing the operator with tactile feedback. [1]

Description

Keyboard switch

  • Inventor: Kotaroh Tsutsui
  • Filing date: 4 October 1979
  • Issue date: 3 February 1981
  • Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims of the invention

The claims of the invention are as follow:

  1. A push-button switch comprising:
    1. (a) a housing;
    2. (b) a slider having a cam groove for obtaining a tactile feedback feel;
    3. (c) a return spring for the slider;
    4. (d) an insulating substrate fixe to said housing and formed with fixed contacts adapted to slidingly engage said movable contacts;
    5. (e) a plurality of terminals extending externally of said housings;
    6. (f) a cover member fixed to said housing;
    7. (g) a cam follower with one end supported in a cantilever fashion and the other end held slidable on the cam groove of the slider;
    8. (h) a wire spring
    9. (i) a protuberant strip provided on said insulating substrate and which presses a rear part of the cam follower.
  2. A push switch according to claim 1., wherein said slider has a plunger, the pair of movable contact holding portions being disposed on respective sides of said plunger;
  3. A push switch according to claim 3, wherein each of said pair of movable contact-holding portions is formed into a substantially cubic shape;
  4. A push switch according to claim 4, wherein said movable contacts and a coiled spring for biasing them upwards are received.

Referenced by

  • US4514608 Taneo Murata Locking type pushbutton switch issued 30 April 1985; assigned to Alps Electric
  • US4531032 Taneo Murata Locking type pushbutton switch issued 23 July 1985; assigned to Alps Electric
  • US6002093 James D. Curlee; Robert D. Hrehor Button with flexible cantilever issued on 14 December 1999; assigned to Dell Usa, L.P.

Images

References

  1. US patent 4249053, Kotaroh Tsutsui, "Push button switch", issued 3 February 1981, assigned to Topre Corporation