Patent Application
20150136576
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to structural design of tactile switches, and more particularly, to a five-direction switch base structure operable in five directions, namely forward, backward, leftward, rightward, and upward.
2. Description of Related Art
A commercially-available two-stage switchable microswitch structure comprises: a base; an axial cylinder slidably disposed in the base; a receiving tank with an inner wall guiding and moving the axial cylinder to thereby enable the axial cylinder to attain a first position and a second position, wherein the receiving tank has therein a first electrode, a second electrode, and a third electrode; a conductive leaf spring disposed on the axial cylinder and movable to the first position or the second position together with the axial cylinder to come into contact with the first electrode and the third electrode and come into contact with the second electrode and the third electrode; and a light-emitting diode (LED) disposed in the axial cylinder, wherein a user presses the axial cylinder to electrically connect the first electrode to the third electrode or electrically connect the second electrode to the third electrode, thereby acquiring a sense of touch pertaining to two-stage switching and enhancing ease of use by emitting light from the LED.
Another commercially-available self-luminous tactile switch essentially comprises a seat, a base, an LED, and an embedding mold terminal and is characterized in that an n-shaped bend portion is disposed at each of the ends of conducting pins of the LED, such that the conducting pins of the LED can get connected to the embedding mold terminal twice consecutively, wherein the embedding mold terminal has a switch conducting terminal and LED positive and negative poles, such that circuit conduction begins by means of a round leaf spring as soon as a contact of the switch conducting terminal comes into contact with the round leaf spring, thereby allowing the LED to form a self-contained conducting mechanism by means of the self-contained feature of the embedding mold terminal.
The two aforesaid products indicate that conventional tactile switches operate mostly by a unidirectional mechanism from which additional functions can be derived but are seldom explored with a view to developing their multiple-direction operability. However, considering the increasingly diverse functions and intricate structures of electrical apparatuses nowadays, switches operating in a single direction are going to fall short of requirements and thus will inevitably drop out of the market in the near future.
A five-direction switch base structure of the present invention essentially comprises a bottom rest, four base components, and two outer covers. The bottom rest has a self-luminous push switch selectively centrally disposed at the bottom rest. Below the self-luminous push switch is a plurality of pins electrically connected to a circuit board on which the five-direction switch base structure is mounted. The base components each have one side selectively disposed with a self-luminous tactile switch and the other side corresponding in position to the four sides of the bottom rest and thus fixed to the bottom rest, so as to form a base structural body. A pin group electrically connected to the circuit board is disposed below each of the base components. The two outer covers cover the self-luminous push switch from above; hence, after the base components have been coupled together to form the base structural body, the base structural body and the self-luminous push switch are fixed to each other so as to form two connection layers. Hence, the base structural body composed of the bottom rest and the base components has five switch installation directions, namely forward, backward, leftward, rightward, and upward, and a switch can be installed selectively in each of the directions to display various patterns.
Another objective of the present invention is to enable the base components to be inserted into a bottom rest component in a one-to-one manner such that the base components can be coupled together to form another base structural body. A side-by-side slide slot is disposed on one of the four sides of the bottom rest component. The side-by-side slide slot corresponds in position to a sliding rail of each of the base components. A snap-engaging portion and a snap-engaging slot are disposed on two opposing ones of the four sides of the bottom rest component, respectively. The snap-engaging portion is snap-engaged with the snap-engaging slot of another bottom rest component, such that the bottom rest components can be series-connected to display another series-connected side-by-side pattern independently.
Referring to
The self-luminous push switch 3 is disposed in the receiving space 10 centrally defined at the bottom rest 1. The self-luminous push switch 3 has thereon a press cap 30. A user can press the press cap 30 from outside. Eight pins 31 are disposed below the self-luminous push switch 3. The pins 31 penetrate the bottom rest 1, such that the self-luminous push switch 3 is electrically connected to the circuit board on which the five-direction switch base structure 100 is mounted. The first outer cover 4 is made of a plastic and adapted to cover the self-luminous push switch 3 from above. The first outer cover 4 corresponds in position to the four sides of the bottom rest 1 and has a first through-hole 40 centrally disposed at the first outer cover 4 and four snap-engaging holes 41 disposed at the four corners of the first outer cover 4, respectively. The first through-hole 40 is penetrable by the self-luminous push switch 3 to expose the press cap 30. The snap-engaging holes 41 correspond in position to the cylindrical raise formed as a result of snap-engagement of the two snap-engaging raises 23 with the base components 2. Hence, after the base components 2 have been coupled together to the base structural body, the base structural body and the self-luminous push switch 3 are fixed to each other by the first outer cover 4 to thereby form a first connection layer.
The second outer cover 5 is made of a metal. Like the first outer cover 4, the second outer cover 5 not only covers the self-luminous push switch 3 from above but also has four sides. The second outer cover 5 has a second through-hole 51 disposed centrally at the second outer cover 5 and corresponding in position to the first through-hole 40. The bottoms of two opposing sides of the second outer cover 5 extend downward to form two hook-engaging holes 50. The second through-hole 51 is penetrable by the press cap 30 to expose the press cap 30. The hook-engaging holes 50 correspond in position to the two hook-engaging protuberances 22 snap-engaged with the base components 2. Hence, after the base components 2 have been coupled together to form the base structural body, the base structural body, the self-luminous push switch 3, and the first outer cover 4 are fixed to each other by the second outer cover 5 to therefore form a second connection layer.
Referring to
In the second embodiment of the present invention, the five-direction switch base structure 100 essentially comprises a bottom rest 1, four base components 2, a first outer cover 4, and a second outer cover 5. The bottom rest 1, the base components 2, and the second outer cover 5 in the second embodiment are identical to their counterparts in the first embodiment in terms of structure and connection, respectively, except that not only is the self-luminous push switch 3 of the first embodiment absent from the receiving space 10 of the bottom rest 1 of the second embodiment, but the first through-hole 40 of the first embodiment is not centrally disposed at the first outer cover 4 of the second embodiment. Hence, the upward installation direction is unavailable in the second embodiment of the present invention, and thus the five-direction switch base structure 100 in the second embodiment of the present invention has only four installation directions, namely forward, backward, leftward, and rightward.
In the third embodiment of the present invention, the five-direction switch base structure 100 essentially comprises a bottom rest 1, four base components 2, a first outer cover 4, and a second outer cover 5. The bottom rest 1, the base components 2, the first outer cover 4, and the second outer cover 5 in the third embodiment are identical to their counterparts in the second embodiment in terms of structure and connection, respectively, except that one, two, or three of the base components 2 of the third embodiment are selectively not equipped with the self-luminous tactile switch 21 of the second embodiment, such that the five-direction switch base structure 100 in the third embodiment of the present invention has only three, two, or one of the installation directions, namely forward, backward, leftward, and rightward.
In the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the five-direction switch base structure 100 essentially comprises a bottom rest 1, four base components 2, a self-luminous push switch 3, a first outer cover 4, and a second outer cover 5. The bottom rest 1, the base components 2, the self-luminous push switch 3, the first outer cover 4, and the second outer cover 5 in the four embodiment are identical to their counterparts in the first embodiment in terms of structure and connection, respectively, except that one, two, three of the base components 2 of the fourth embodiment are selectively not equipped with the self-luminous tactile switch 21 of the first embodiment, such that the five-direction switch base structure 100 in the fourth embodiment of the present invention has only four, three, or two of installation directions, namely forward, backward, leftward, rightward, and upward.
Referring to
