GB2288278A

GB2288278A - Device for coupling a lamp and microswitch holder to an illuminated push button

Info

Publication number: GB2288278A
Application number: GB9505328A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Fabrizio Alberici
Original assignee: ALBERICI SNC DI AUGUSTO ALBERI
Current assignee: ALBERICI SNC DI AUGUSTO ALBERI
Priority date: 1994-03-16
Filing date: 1995-03-16
Publication date: 1995-10-11
Anticipated expiration: 2015-03-16
Also published as: ITBO940044U1; IT234069Y1; GB9505328D0; ITBO940044V0; GB2288278B

Abstract

A lamp and microswitch holder 4 is attached to an illuminated push button 3 by a bayonet type coupling comprising at least one pair of opposed arms 14 fixed to a central cylindrical portion 12 of the lamp and microswitch holder 4 and at least one pair of opposed L shaped slots 20 extending from the lower end of a cylindrical body 8 of the illuminated push button 3. The lamp and microswitch holder 4 has a lampholder 5 attached to the cylindrical portion 12 and supporting brackets 2 for mounting a microswitch 6. The body 8 of the illuminated push button 3 contains a spring biased push button element having a coloured and translucent cover 10 and a pair of projections 11 engageable with the lower end of the body 8 to retain the push button element within the body 8. An actuator 16 of the microswitch 6 is operable by one of the projections 11. <IMAGE>

Description

"DEVICE FOR THE COUPLING t or LEMP/MICROSWITCH-T50LDER TO THE BODY OF AN ILLUMINATED PUSH-BUTTON".

The present innovation regards the technical area concerning the command functions and/or the activation functions of electric or electronic systems; in particular it refers to those systems which rust be made to stand out with respect to others, for example, by illuminating them. In particular. the present innovation regards a lighted push-button and, more precisely, the system used to couple the lamp/microswitch-holder to the body of the push-button itself.

It is a well known fact that for some time now lighted push-buttons exist which act directly on a microswitch and are continually lit during the functioning of the apparatus to which they are connected so that they are immediately individualized by the user: think, for example, of their use in video games. In these devices the lighted push-buttons are used for the most part to activate particularly repetitive actions which take place during the course of the game such as the activation of a machine gun or the launching of bombs or other similar things. One realizes immediately that on the one hand the use of such push-buttons is of vital importance for the proper functioning of a video game while on the other hand such pushbuttons are subjected to varicus uses which can sometimes be very violent and uncontrolled since it depends to a large degree on the çay with which the player uses the game. Lighted push-buttons are normally made up of a hollow head. soldered to the upper extremity of an externally threaded hollow cylindrical body. and therefore are able to be attached to the framework of the device which uses it, within which a cylindrical element also hollow. is destined to slide and which has the extremity in correspondence with the head of bhe push-button closed by a colored and translucent cover while the other extremity is fixed to a pair of peduncles which reach the lower extremity of he cylindrical body of the push-button.

These peduncles are destined to fit into special sites located on the lower extremity of the cylindrical body thereby ;voiding the unthreading, by the latter, of 'ie sliding element following the elastic activity of the spring which is compressed between appropriate counterparts on the inside of the sliding element and on the inside of the hollow cylindrical body placed cn the lower extremity. Internal ly this lower extremity of the cylindrical body also has a groove which can receive a corresponding projection fitting into it exactly and present in a a lamp/microswitch-holder in the mcment in which the latter is attached by pressure to the cylindrical body of the lighted push-button. The lamDimlcroswitch-holder is a device composed of a central cylindrical zone designed to externally support the coupling projection of the cylindrical body of the lighted pushbutton, by an end portion designed to support the housing of the light bulb and by a remaining end portion which supports a set of brackets for the fastening of a miscroswitch. As has been explained above, the lanp/microswitch-hoider is inserted from the side of the lamp support to the inside ci the spring housed in the cylindrical body of the lighted switch until the projection of the central cylindrical zone is driven by pressure into the proper groove on the lower extremity of the hollow cylindrical body of the lighted switch.

This insertionis further guided by the proper counterparts on the inside of the cylidrical body and on the outside of the central cylindrical zone and is such to line up a peduncle with the command of the microswitch. In fact. the activation of the microswitch takes place through a progressive axial translation of said peduncle towards this command, consequentlv upon the application of pressure by the operator on the colored cover of tne sliding element. The greatest disadvantage presented by such Tizilted pusil-buttcns consists in the fact that the engagement of he !ampimicroswi tch-holder with the body of the lighted push-button is unstable and is frequently subject io the detaching of the two engaged bodies. In fact from a static point of view sucn a coupling" is unacceptable. but you can't say the same from a dynamic point of view. or better, of the common functioning of sucn lighted push-buttons since the users of the latter are often eager to vent their "sporting" passion on these push-buttons which activate the video games. Ihese push-buttons are often maltreated and frequently the connection becomes uncoupled: the lamp/microswitch-holder roves away from the peduncles or becomes ccmpletely unthreaded from he cylindrical body of the push-button and the microswitch cannot be activated by the lighted push-button since the peduncles can no longer reach the command of the latter.

A further disadvantage presented by this coupling consists in the fact that the installer of sucn a lighted push-button has no visual control of the corrent coupling between the lamp/microswitchholder and the body of the push-button itself and furthermore can no evaluate well if the groove of the cylindrical body is suitable and free froms scraps to the point of guaranteeing a good coupling with the relative projection of the lamp/microswitchholder. This is a further cause of weak coupling, not at all secure and destined to worsen with the passage of time. The main aim of the present innovation is therefore that of proposing a device to engage the lamp-holder to the body of a lighted push-button. on which is extremely secure from a funtional point of view. and that is capable of not unhooking accidentally even if it is subjected to extremely violent vibrations and stress. Another aim is that of proposing a coupling device which permits a visual control of the future coupling on the part of the installer. A further purpose of the innovation is that of proposing an extremely simple coupling; easy to instal, durable and easy to maintain. The above-mentioned aims are reached in accordance with the contents of the claims. An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - figure 1 illustrates a view in perspective of the engagement device de-coupled between the lighted push-button and the lamp/microswitch-holder; - figure 2 illustrate a side view of the engagement device coupled. Referring to figures 1 and 2, figure 1 indicates an engagement device between a lamp/microswitch-holder 4 and a lighted push-button 3. This lighted push-button consists of a hollow head 7 fixed to the upper extremity of a hollow cylindrical body 8, external ly threaded 8a and within which there is a hollow cylindrical sliding element 9 designed to move axially. This element 9 presents one end projecting from the head cavity 7 of the lighted push-button 3, closed by a translucent lnd colored cover 10 and partially situated inside the head cavity 7, ;nile to the other end of this element is fixed a pair of shafts provided with peduncles 11 turned towards the outside of the element itself and capable of fitting into suitable slots 15 made to start from the border of the lower extremity of the cylindrical body 8. In this way one avoids the unthreading of the sliding element 9 by the latter, otherwise provoked by the elastic reaction of the spring, not Illustrated, situated partially within this last and compressed between fixed counterparts, also not illustrat ed, placed inside the sliding element 9 and inside the body 8, corre sponding with its lower extremity. The lanp/microswitch-holder L consists of a central cylindrical part 12, which has a lamp-holder 5 fixed to one extremity. this also being cylindrical and of a smaller diameter than the spring present in the cylindrical body 8, while the remaining extremity supports a set of brackets 2 designed to bilaterally anchor the microswitch 6. The coupling device 1 consists of the imin coupling element 20 placed in corrispondence with the lower extremity of the body S of the lighted push-button 3. These main elements consist of a diametrically opposed pair of incisions 13 shaped like an upside-down "L" and angularly equidistant from each slot 15. Each incision 13 is made. starting from the lower border of the body 8. with the "shaft" l3a of the "L" arranged in an axial direction and with the base of the "L" 13b perpendicular to the latter. Both of the bases 13b of the two incisions 13 are turned in the same direction with respect to the relative "shafts' 13a. and precisely in the dissection of arrcw C in figure 1. according to the preferred form realiation. Lach incision 13 makes a tooth 25, arranged cn the internal border of the bases 13b and turned towards the inside of the "L" at t;ae point of the junction with the "shaft" 13a. The coupling device I also consists of a secondary coupling elements 30 fixed to the central part 12 of the lamgimicro- switchelolder & composed of a pair of opposing arms 1L pezzendicuk1rly fixed to the external surface of the central part 12. Each of these arm is composed of a base block ILa fixed to the central part 12 and by a projection 14b dimenslonally reduced with respect to the base block lAa, but with a width siLghtlv less than the respective bases 13b. The procedure for using this innovative device is very simple since, starting from the unccupled position D of the lighted pushbutton 3 and the lamp/microswitch-holder 4, the operator passes to a coupled position A by simply inserting the projections 14b of the arms 14 into the corresponding "shafts" 13a of the incisions 13 until the bases 13b are reached. and then rotating the lighted push-button 3 with respect to the lampimicroswitch- holder until the projections 14b occupy the portion of the bases 13b not filled by the "shafts" 13a. Contemporaneously a peduncle 11 of the sliding element is found to be directly on the same vertical command 16 of the microswitch 6 so that. when the operator applies pressure on the lighted cover 10, the peduncle 11 moves ;n the direction of the arrow B in figure 2 causing pressure on the command 16 and then the activation of the microswitch 6. In this way the lamp/microswitch-holder 4 is tightly attached to the lighted push-button 3 since the projections l'b are inserted without play into the respective bases 13b and the teeth 25 of these bases impede the mutual movement between the bases 13b and the projections 14b. The stability of such a coupling can moreover be increased by the fact that the vertically free surfaces of each base block 14a meet the internal surface of the body 8 without play.

At this point the first elements 20 and the secondary elements 30 of the device 1 are completely engaged and the operator can continue installing the lighted push-button 3, first fixing it to the frame of the chosen apparatus. utilizing the thread Sa of its body thereby using the opportune electrical connestions. In a second embodiment the "shafts" 13a are slantwise placed respect to the axis of the hollow body S so forming the same inclination angle respect to its bases 13b. The principal advantage of this innovation consists in realizing a device for coupling a lamp-holder to the body of a pushbutton shich is guaranteeu to tI,e eliable and safe since it can not be unhooked accidentally even if it is subjected to extremely violent vibrations and shaking. Another advantage is that of realizing a coupling device which can be installed easily and controlled visually on the part of the instatler .mo in this way can immediately evaluate the condition of the pieces to be jointed. A further advantage of this innovation consists in making an extremely simple coupling device which is easy to install, durable and it easy to maintain. The innovation in question has obviously been described. with reference to the attached drawings, as a purely illustrative and non-limiting document and it is therefore evident that all those modifications or variaticns deriving frcm experience as well as from its realization and utilization can be carried cut, these being, however, included in the limits defined by the following claims.

Claims

Claims.

1) Coupling device for a lamp/microswitch-holder (4) and a lighted push-button (3), of the type which consists of a hollow head (7) fixed to the upper extremity of a hollow cylindrical body (8) within which is inserted a hollow. sliding, cylindrical element 9, whose extremity, in correspondence with the above-mentioned head (7) of the lighted push-button (3), is closed by a colored and translucent cover (10), while to the remaining extremity is fixed a pair of peduncles (11) capable of engaging the lower extremity of the above-mentioned cylindrical body (8) in order to avoid the unthreading of the abovementioned sliding element by the latter following the elastic reaction of a spring placed partially inside the latter and compressed between the fixed counterparts posted on the inside of the abvoe-mentioned sliding element(9) and inside the above-mentioned body (8), in corre spondence with its lower extremity; this lamp/microswitch-holder (4) which consists of a central cylindrical portion (12), which has one extremity attached to a lamp-holder (5) and the opposite extremity supporting a set of brackets (2) to block the microswitch (6); with said coupling device (1), wherein the coupling device comprises of a primary means of coupling (20) placed in correspondence with the lower extremity of the above-mentioned body (8) and is made up of at least one opposii pair of incisions (13) starting from the border of the latter with each of the incisions (;3) formed like an upside-down "L" including a "shaft" (13a) and a base (13b). with both of the said "shafts" (13a) arranged in an axial direction and with the relative bases (13b) perpendicular to them and turned in the same direction with respect to the above-mentioned corresponding "shafts" (13a), and also of a secondary means of coupling (30) fixed to the central portion (12) of the above-mentioned lamp/microswitchholder (4) which consists of at least one pair of opposing arm (14) freely and correspondingly inserted in said "shafts" (13a) and designed successively to join, as a result of the mutual rotation between the said lamp/microswitch-holder (L) and the said hollow body (8), exactly in the above-mentioned corresponding bases t13b) of the abovementioned incisions (13) being these turned in the same way with respect to the said corresponding "shafts" (13a).

2) A device according to claim 1, in which the above-mentioned means of coupling (20) also form a tooth (25) arranged in correspondence with the internal border of the above-mentioned base (13b), turned towards the inside and at the joining with said "shaft" (13a), and designed to constitute a further anti-sliding barrier of the relative arm (14) in correspondence with a coupling condition A.

3) A device according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which each said incisions (13) are shaped like an upsidedown "L" and that each said "shafts" (13a) are arranged in the axial direction of the said cylindrical body (8).

4) A device according to any preceding claim, in which each "shaft" (13a) is slantwise arranged with respect to the axial direction of the cylindrical body (8).

S) A coupling device for a lamp/microswitch-holder substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.