Toggle Switch Having an Easily Assembled, Anti-Rotation Mounting Means for Its Pivotal Toggle Lever

Means for pivotally supporting the intermediate spherical portion or ball of a toggle lever within the cylindrical bushing or collar of a toggle switch housing have been known heretofore. One widely used means has been a pivot pin that extends through holes in both the bushing and the ball. Another known means has been a constriction of the bore in the bushing forming an upper seat for the ball and against which it is held from below either by spring bias, a snap ring or other retainer while being confined to pivotal movement in one plane by an elongated slot or the like guiding the lower end of the lever. Alternatively, such constriction has provided the lower seat for the ball to be held thereagainst by a cap, insert or other retainer at the upper end of the bushing. Still another known expedient has been to use a resilient sleeve or socket of rubber, polyurethane or the like that can be stretched enough to snap over the ball and that can be squeezed enough to be held in the bushing either by a flange and groove, retainer, pressure or the like. While these prior structures have been useful for their intended purposes, nevertheless they are complex and costly to make and assemble. Thus, it is desirable to provide a toggle lever and mounting means that are simple and economical to manufacture and assembly and strong and efficient to use.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved toggle switch.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a toggle switch with an improved toggle lever.

Another specific object of the invention is to provide a toggle switch with an improved toggle lever mounting means.

Another specific object of the invention is to provide a toggle switch with an improved toggle lever and improved easily assembled means mounting the same in a bushing.

Another specific object of the invention is to provide improved means affording easy, simple and economical assembly of the toggle lever into the bushing of a switch for limited pivotal movement therein and held against rotation on its longitudinal axis.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear.

FIG. 1 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the upper portion of a toggle switch taken along line 1--1 of FIG. 2 to show the toggle lever and its easily assembled, antirotation mounting means;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1 to show a transverse view of the toggle lever and its mounting means;

FIG. 3 is an outside elevational view of one of the two, like mounting inserts used in the toggle switch of FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the tapered detents thereon;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the bushing of FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the interior surface thereof including the annular groove therein;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view through one of the snap-in detents of the insert shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view showing a modification of the detent means that retains the inserts within the bushing.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a toggle switch constructed in accordance with the invention. As shown therein, this switch comprises a frame 10 that is secured to and closes the open top of an insulating housing or base (not shown) that encloses the switch contact mechanism. This switch contact mechanism may take any one of the well known forms, as for example, that disclosed in H. W. Hults U.S. Pat. No. 2,759,075, dated Aug. 14, 1956, and owned by the Assignee of this invention.

This switch also comprises a bushing 12 secured in a center hole 10a in the top of frame 10. As shown in FIG. 4, this bushing is provided with a reduced-thickness lower end section 12a that fits snugly through the hole and is radially swaged below the rim of the hole in the frame to rigidly secure the bushing to the frame as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The upper end of the cylindrical bore in the bushing is flared out about 16 degrees to provide a bevel 12b to facilitate entry of the inserts hereinafter described. The lower end of this bore is flared out to provide a bevel 12c to afford clearance for the lower end portion 14a of a toggle lever 14 when it is pivoted in opposite directions as hereinafter described. The inner surface of this bushing is also provided with a recess such as an annular groove 12d shown in FIG. 4 suitably located between the upper and lower bevels to receive snap-in protuberances or detents hereinafter described. In addition, this bushing is provided with external threads 12e and a vertical keyway 12f along one side whereby the switch is non-rotatably mounted in a hole in a panel with the addition of a washer and nut, not shown, to secure it therein. While the aforedescribed frame and bushing may be made of metal such as steel and brass, respectively, as separate pieces and then swaged together, it will be apparent that they can alternatively be molded as a single piece from plastic molding material.

The aforementioned toggle lever 14 is a one-piece member molded of plastic insulating material such as "Valox" or "Zytel 101", or the like, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This lever has a designed handle portion 14b at its upper end extending above the upper end of the bushing for gripping by the hand of the user. Directly below this handle portion, a reduced round portion 14c extends into the bushing. A ball or spherical portion 14d connects this reduced round portion 14c to the aforementioned lower end portion 14a that is also round but slightly larger in diameter than portion 14c. Two round trunnions 14e and 14f extend in opposite directions from ball 14d on a common axis that also passes through the center of the ball, the toggle lever being pivoted by these trunnions. As shown in FIG. 2, the distance between the outer ends of these trunnions is slightly less than the diameter of the bore in the bushing thereby allowing insertion of the toggle lever into the bushing as hereinafter described. Lower end portion 14a of the toggle lever is provided with suitable means, such as shown in the aforementioned H. W. Hults patent, for actuating the movable contact or contacts within the switch housing in response to pivotal movement of handle portion 14b to the right or left as seen in FIG. 1. While a one-piece toggle lever has been shown, it could be made of two or more pieces connected together including use of different colored caps thereon.

This switch is provided with snap-in means for pivotally supporting the toggle lever by its trunnions in the bushing. This means comprises a pair of like, semi-circular or generally semi-cylindrical inserts 16 and 18 molded of plastic insulating material such as nylon, zytel 101 or the like, shown in FIG. 2, which together embrace the ball of the toggle lever. These two inserts interlock with one another at their abutting edges by projection 16a of insert 16 fitting into notch 18b of insert 18 and projection 18a of insert 18 fitting into notch 16b of insert 16. This interlocking retains the inserts in longitudinal registration with one another both during and after assembly into the bore of the bushing.

FIG. 3 shows the outer surface of insert 18. Each of these inserts is provided with a generally semi-cylindrical outer surface extending up from its lower end closely to fit the bore in the bushing and terminating in a diverging or flared upper end complementary to bevel 12b in the upper end of the bushing bore. Each insert is provided with a radial bore 16c, 18c located substantially centrally of its semi-cylindrical outer surface as shown in FIG. 3 for receiving the corresponding trunnion of the toggle lever. The bore formed by placing the two inserts in abutting engagement is beveled out at both the top and bottom as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to provide clearance for swinging the toggle lever in opposite directions while trunnions 14e and 14f spin in holes 16c and 18c. The inserts afford an interference fit inside the bushing. As they expand after being forced into the bushing, the outer walls of the inserts tend to grip the inner walls of the bushing and provide an anti-rotation feature that orients the paddle-like or other design of lever. Other means for preventing rotation of the toggle lever are apparent.

Insert 18 is provided with a pair of angularly spaced apart protuberances or detents 18d on a common circumference adjacent the lower end of its semi-cylindrical outer surface as shown in FIG. 3. Insert 16 has a pair of similar detents integrally formed therewith. The outer surface of each such detent tapers or slants down and inwardly about 15.degree. from vertical as shown in cross-section in FIG. 5 so that the four detents of the two inserts assembled on the trunnions can be inserted freely at least partway into the bevel at the top of the bushing bore, whereafter the subassembly is forced down into the bore until the detents snap into annular groove 12d within the bushing. Under this condition, the upper, flared end of the pair of abutting inserts becomes flush with the top of the bushing to provide a smooth and neat appearance.

Alternatively, detents 18d could be semi-spherical or semi-cylindrical in shape so that the rounded surface thereof cams down within the bushing and catches into annular groove 12d. Drilled holes or recesses could be used in place of annular groove 12d.

A modification of the detent means is shown in FIG. 6. In place of protuberances 18d, each insert such as 20 has rectangular holes 20a molded therein. After the two inserts and toggle lever have been placed within the bushing, a shearing and forming operation is performed. In this operation, a pair of spaced apart vertical slits are cut opposite each such rectangular hole and the strip 12g formed thereby is bumped inwardly. This forms a protuberance 12h that extends partly into such rectangular hole to secure the inserts within the bushing.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that this one-piece toggle lever and snap-in pivotal mounting means provides a structure that is simple and economical to manufacture, having fewer parts, and easy to assemble quickly, thus reducing the cost of manufacture while retaining the required structural features.

While the apparatus hereinbefore described is effectively adapted to fulfill the objects stated, it is to be understood that this invention is not intended to be confined to the particular preferred embodiments disclosed, inasmuch as they are susceptible of various modifications without departing from the scope of the appended claims.