Dustproof and waterproof switch

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6794592
  • Patent Number
    6,794,592
  • Date Filed
    Friday, October 10, 2003
    20 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, September 21, 2004
    19 years ago
Abstract
A dustproof and waterproof switch includes a casing, a contact pole device, an axial joint member, a catch member and a covering member. The characteristic is in that the axial joint member is placed in the casing and lap joined to support members the axial joint member having a fitting hole at the center thereof and having an axial plate at the front and the rear sides thereof respectively; the catch member is formed a frame and placed in a mold to allow the concave downward plane at the top thereof joined to the upper arc recess of the covering member, which is made by way of injection molding, and the catch member is attached between the two axial plates with the bottom thereof having a central hollow post fitting with an extendable stir rod and the stir rod piercing the rod plate and the lower end of the stir rod contacting with the arc contact pole; and the covering member at the bottom edge thereof extends an inner connecting rim for fitting with the casing and covering the upper part of the casing.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to a switch and particularly to a dustproof and waterproof switch.




2. Description of Related Art




It is known that the switch has been used for years in the field of power supply as a required device for controlling the power on or off and avoiding accidents caused by continuing supplying the power. The switch usually can be classified into a constant on switch, which is off at the time of the current being not taken, and a constant off switch, which is on at the time of the current being taken. Thus, products powered by the electricity have provided with a switch and the basic principle for operating a switch is in that two electric poles are utilized to connect with each other as a close circuit for constituting a state of current taking and the two electric poles disconnect from each other as an open circuit to form a state of current not taking.




Generally, safety is also an important factor has to be considered in addition to an accurate operation of power on or power off. For instance, the switch has to be free from leakage of electricity and incorrect connection. Besides, the switch has to be dustproof and waterproof in special locations such as a working environment with floating power dust or heavy moisture such that it can prevent the contact pole device in the switch from short circuit or corrosion and prolong the life span of the switch. A Taiwanese utility model No. 202467 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,697) discloses a dust and moisture switch, which includes a casing with the bottom thereof being inserted with a stationary pole plate and a support pole plate, an arc contact pole being lap joined to the support pole and being possible to swing leftward and rightward, a catch plate at the bottom thereof having a central hollow rod fitting with an extendable stir lever with the stir lever at the lower end thereof contacting with the arc contact pole, and an isolation part made of soft high molecular plastics for being passed through by and fitting with the stir lever so as to be located at and tightly joined to the inner walls of the casing. Thus, an effect of preventing the power dust and moisture from entering the bottom of the casing can be performed. However, the prior art is belonged to inner covering type isolation and the isolation part is made of high molecular plastics and is disposed between the catch plate and the casing so as to block the power dust and the moisture entering the bottom of casing so that the contact pole device can be free from foreign influence.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The crux of the present invention is to provide a dustproof and waterproof switch, which includes a hollow casing, having a bottom with two pole holes, extending outward a case frame from a top thereof and providing a support member at an inner wall thereof; a contact pole device, having a stationary pole and a support pole being inserted into and locating at one of the pole holes and having an arc pole attached to a top of the support pole such that the arc pole can swing leftward and rightward; an axial joint member, being disposed in the casing and lap joining with the support pole, providing a central fitting hole with a front side and a rear side of which extending a joining plate; a catch member, being provided with a shape of frame with a concave downward upper plane at the central top thereof, having a front and a rear walls with an axial hole respectively to correspond to the two axial projections, at a bottom thereof extending downward a hollow post for receiving and locating an extendable stir rod, an elastic piece being placed between the hollow post and the stir rod to allow the stir rod contacting with the arc contact pole constantly; and a covering member, being made of high molecular plastic material, having inner walls of an arc recess part at a top thereof joining with the concave downward upper plane of the catch member by way of injection molding and having a joining rim at a bottom edge thereof for fitting with the casing frame and closing an upper part of the casing completely. An end of the covering member is pressed down, the stir rod can slide on the arc contact pole to selectively contacts with or detaches from a stationary contact pole in the switch for performing power on or off.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The present invention can be more fully understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:





FIG. 1

is an exploded perspective view of a dustproof and waterproof switch according to the present invention;





FIG. 2

is a sectional view of the switch according to the present invention illustrating the switch being in a state of off; and





FIG. 3

is a sectional view of the switch shown in

FIG. 1

having been assembled.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to

FIG. 1

, basically, a dustproof and waterproof switch according to the present invention includes a casing


1


, a contact pole device


2


, an axial joint member


3


, a catch member


4


and a covering member


5


.




Wherein, the casing


1


is a hollow base with two pole holes


11


,


12


at the bottom thereof for being inserted with and positioning the contact pole device


2


. The casing


1


at the top thereof extends outward a casing frame


13


to act as a stopper for the contact pole device


2


while the contact pole device


2


is inserted into preset holes of an electric appliance and being covered by the covering member


5


. Besides, the casing


1


at the left and the right walls thereof is provided with a bow-shaped elastic buckle


14


respectively and the central bent part of the casing


1


provides a buckle line section


141


and a flat section


142


at the upper and lower sides thereof. The flat section


142


performs as guidance while the contact pole device


2


is inserted into the preset holes of the electric appliance and the buckle line section


141


provides a positioning effect at rims of the preset holes. The characteristic of the present invention is In that a support member


151


is arranged at the inner wall surface of the casing


1


for being surrounded by the axial joint member


3


while the axial joint member


3


is mounted to the casing


1


. It can be seen in

FIG. 1

that the support member


15


extends longitudinally a support post section


151


at two opposite lateral inner walls respectively with an upward extending inserting projection


152


.




The contact pole device


2


is prior art and has a stationary pole


21


inserted in a pole hole


11


and a support pole


22


inserted in another pole hole


12


. Further, an arc pole plate


23


is crossly inserted in the recess opening


221


of the support pole


22


such that two opposite engaging recesses


231


at the middle of the arc pole


23


engage with the recess opening


221


of the support pole


22


.,Hence, the arc pole


23


can perform a leverage movement on the support pole


22


so that a movable joint


232


of the arc pole


23


can selectively touch or detach from a fixed joint


211


at the top of the stationary pole


21


to perform power on or off.




The axial joint member


3


is mounted on the support member


15


with, for example, being provided with fitting holes


31


corresponding to the inserting projections


152


for being pierced by the inserting projections


152


. In this way, the axial joint member


3


can be attached to the support post sections


151


. The axial joint member


3


at the center thereof has a fitting hole


32


for being passed through by a stir rod


44


and at two lateral sides thereof is provided with an a connecting plate


33


respectively with an axial projection


331


jutting out laterally at each connecting plate


33


for joining with the catch member


4


such that the catch member


4


can swing to the left and to the right on top of axial joint member


3


. Each of the axial projections


331


at the top thereof has an inclining edge


332


to facilitate the axial joint member


3


connecting with the catch member


4


. In addition, the axial joint member at the left and right sides thereof extends a left stopper


34


and a right stopper


35


respectively as limits to prevent the catch member


4


from excessive downward movement during being pressed down.




The catch member


4


is provided with a shape of frame with a concave downward upper plane


41


at the central top thereof so as to be capable of being operated with fingers. The front and rear walls


4


-


6


of the catch member


4


are provided with an axial hole


42


respectively to correspond to the two axial projections


331


such that the catch member


4


can be attached to the axial joint member


3


to facilitate operation of pressing. The catch member


4


at the bottom thereof extends downward a hollow post


43


for receiving and locating an extendable stir rod


44


. For instance, an elastic piece


45


, such as a spring, is placed between the hollow post


43


and the stir rod


44


to allow the stir rod


44


contacting with the arc contact pole


23


constantly for power ON/OFF being controlled.




The covering member


5


is made of high molecular plastic material such as PVC to form a shape of cap with upward reduced steps. The characteristic of the present invention is in that after the catch member


4


being formed by way of injection molding, the concave downward upper plane


41


is inserted into a mold before the covering member


5


being injected so that the concave downward upper plane


41


is joined to the covering member


5


between the inner walls of an arc recess part


51


at the top thereof. Hence, the covering member


5


can be associated with the catch member integrally. Besides, the covering member


5


at the bottom edge of the base step


52


thereof extends inward a joining rim


521


for fitting with the casing frame


13


such that the covering member


5


can close the top of the casing


1


completely and performance of being free from both the dust and the water cab be effective. Further, the covering member


5


with a shape of stepped cap provides an advantage of offering better flexibility of extension to avoid possible breakage during repeated operations.




Referring to

FIGS. 2 and 3

, in practice, it is only necessary to press down the covering member


5


and the catch member


4


, which is associated with the covering member


5


, can move with the axial member


3


as a fulcrum to actuate the stir rod


44


underneath moving along the surface of the arc contact pole


23


such that the movable joint


232


can touch or skip away from stationary nodal point of the stationary contact pole


21


selectively to constitute power on or off. The covering member


5


closes the opening at the top of casing completely to prevent the dust and the water from entering the bottom of the casing


1


and to keep normal operation of the contact pole device


2


. Moreover, the covering member


5


has excellent elasticity and the catch member


4


at both end edges thereof can be biased against the left stopper


34


and the right stopper


35


to limit the catch member


4


being pressed downward excessively and result in breakage of the covering member


5


. Furthermore, it is not necessary to provide opposite fitting holes at the upper edge of the casing as it is done in the prior art so that there is no way for dust powder or liquid to pass through the casing and the life span of the switch can be extended effectively.




While the invention has been described with reference to the a preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that modifications or variations may be easily made without departing from the spirit of this invention, which Is defined by the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A dustproof and waterproof switch, comprising:a hollow casing, having a bottom with two pole holes, extending outward a case frame from a top thereof and providing a support member at an inner wall thereof; a contact pole device, having a stationary pole and a support pole being inserted into and located at one end of the pole holes and having an arc pole attached to a top of the support pole such that the arc pole can swing leftward and rightward; an axial joint member, being disposed in the casing and connected with the support pole, providing a central fitting hole with a front side and a rear side located adjacent to a connecting plate; a catch member, being provided with a shape of frame with a concave downward upper plane at the central top thereof, having a front and a rear walls with an axial hole respectively to correspond to the two axial projections, at a bottom thereof extending downward a hollow post for receiving and locating an extendable stir rod, an elastic piece being placed between the hollow post and the stir rod to allow the stir rod engaging with the arc contact pole constantly; and a covering member, being made of high molecular plastic material, having inner walls of an arc recess part at a top thereof joining with the concave downward upper plane of the catch member by way of injection molding and having a joining rim at a bottom edge thereof for fitting with the casing frame and closing an upper part of the casing completely; whereby, when an end of the covering member is pressed down, the stir rod can slide on the arc contact pole to selectively engage with or detach from a stationary contact pole in the switch for turning power on or off.
  • 2. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 1, wherein the casing at right and left sides thereof includes an outwardly extending bow-shaped buckle respectively.
  • 3. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 2, wherein the casing includes at an upper portion thereof a buckle line section and at a lower portion thereof is a flat section.
  • 4. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 1, wherein the support member at two inner walls thereof extends longitudinally a section of support post with an insert projection extending from a top thereof.
  • 5. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 1, wherein the arc contact pole and the stationary contact pole have an end respectively opposite to each other with a movable nodal point attached to the end of the arc contact pole selectively engaging a stationary nodal point attached to the end of the stationary contact pole.
  • 6. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 1, wherein a spring is disposed between the hollow post and the stir rod.
  • 7. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 1, wherein the axial joint member extends outwardly an axial projection respectively to fit with a fitting hole provided at the front and the rear walls of the catch member respectively.
  • 8. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 1, wherein the axial projection at a top thereof has an inclining line.
  • 9. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 1, wherein the axial joint member at a left and a right sides thereof includes a left stopper and a right stopper as limits for the catch member at a left end edge and a right edge thereof when pressed leftward and rightward.
  • 10. The dustproof and waterproof switch as defined in claim 1, wherein the covering member has a shape of steps and is made of PVC.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
92216607 U Sep 2003 TW
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Number Name Date Kind
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4218602 Creech Aug 1980 A
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5053591 Theurer Oct 1991 A
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6559398 Takeda et al. May 2003 B2