Hand Operated Control

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains to hand operated controls and more particularly relates to hand operated controls used on rough riding vehicles such as ground supported vehicles, military aircraft and boats or the like for preventing inadvertent movement of the operator from being transmitted to the control system of the vehicle.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Heretofore fast combat vehicles driven over rough terrain, aircraft flown through turbulent air, and ships on rough water have been controlled by hand held joy sticks, yokes or wheels movably connected to the vehicle at a point remote from the operator's hand. When an operator in a rough riding vehicle maintains control of the vehicle with such prior art hand held controls, the inadvertent movement of the operator's hand caused by the rough ride is transmitted to the controls causing unnecessary and/or detrimental control input to be made to the vehicle. For example, unintentional changes of direction of the moving vehicle due to rough conditions when firing guns may result in missing the intended target.

The hand operated control of the present invention is primarily intended for use with fast combat vehicles which are driven over rough terrain. The hand control includes a pedestal and a truncated sphere rigidly secured to the vehicle. A position sensing mechanism is at least partially mounted within the truncated sphere with a movable portion thereof projecting out of the sphere. A molded hand grip of relatively soft material is attached to a portion of the position sensing mechanism and is movably fitted over a major portion of the truncated sphere. When subjected to a rough ride, the operator firmly squeezes the hand grip thus clamping the grip to the sphere thereby preventing movement of the grip around the sphere and also helping to stabilize the hand and body of the operator. When the hand pressure on the grip is momentarily relaxed, the hand grip can easily be moved to allow control input to be made by the position sensing mechanism of the vehicle. Furthermore, because the control movement is centered within the grip of the hand, the radial movement of control is different than the forces typically encountered as a result of the ride. The forces resulting from a rough ride due to inadvertent body and hand movement of the operator tend to be rectilinear movements such as up/down, fore/aft and side to side movements with all combinations in between. These rectilinear movements or forces are not likely to inadvertently move the hand grip radially even when the hand grip is not firmly grasped because the radial control movement is centered within the grip of the hand.

FIG. 1 is a side perspective of the hand operated control of the present invention illustrating the hand of an operator in the centered, neutral position on the soft hand grip.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective similar to FIG. 1 but at a small scale and with the hand grip at a different angle indicating a control input.

FIG. 3 is a perspective showing only the truncated sphere and a pedestal with the hand grip removed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective of the pedestal and the lower portion of a truncated sphere with a portion of an electro-mechanical position sensing mechanism therein shown in a centered, neutral position.

FIG. 5 is a perspective similar to FIG. 4 but illustrating the upper truncated portion of the sphere in central section with a stem and grip attachment head of the sensing mechanism shown at a first angle relative to its neutral position.

FIG. 6 is a perspective similar to FIG. 5 but with the truncated portion of the sphere removed and the movable stem and head of the movable portion of the position sensing mechanism tilted in another direction.

FIG. 7 is a perspective of the electro-mechanical position sensing mechanism removed from the pedestal.

FIG. 8 is a perspective of the soft molded hand grip illustrating grooves for receiving the thumb and all fingers of the right hand of the operator.

FIG. 9 is a perspective of the rear of the hand grip of FIG. 8.

The hand operated control 20 (FIG. 1) of the present invention is rigidly secured to a vehicle (not shown) in a position within easy reach of either the right hand or left hand of an operator, only a right hand control being illustrated in the drawings. Although the hand operated control may be used for other purposes, it is ideally suited for steering a ground or water supported vehicle; or for controlling the flight of an aircraft which may simultaneously include controlled movement of the aircraft about its longitudinal axis, its transverse axis, and an axis normal to these axes in order to climb or dive, roll and make controlled turns while in any attitude.

The hand operated control 20 comprises a tubular pedestal 22 that is rigidly secured to the vehicle (not shown), but represented by a control box 24 for receiving signals from an electro-mechanical-computer position sensing mechanism 25 and/or other movement sensing controls such as an electro-optical-computer position sensing mechanism. A two piece truncated sphere 26 has a lower piece 28 rigidly secured to the pedestal 22 and an upper piece 30 with a hole 31 therein. The upper piece is removably connected to the lower piece by screw threads as best shown in FIGS. 4-6. A relatively soft hand grip 32 made from a composite material such as urethane, of between 30-50 durometers, is molded to slidably move over the truncated sphere 26 when relaxed and to be clamped to the sphere 26 when firmly gripped.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 8 and 9, the outer surface of the hand grip 32 is molded to provide grooves 34,36,38,40 and 42 for receiving the thumb and the four adjacent fingers, respectively, of the right hand of the operator. Also, thin protrusions 44,46 (FIG. 8) are provided to receive the ends of the index finger and next adjacent finger. If desired, electric switches may be placed within the hand grip 32 in alignment with the protrusions 44,46.

The position sensing mechanism 25 (FIGS. 4-7) is mounted within the control box 24, pedestal 22 and sphere 26 with a control portion 48 connected to the inner surface of the grip 32. The illustrated sensing mechanism is an electro-mechanical mechanism which transmits control signals to a computer (not shown) for operating the steering system of the vehicle. The sensing mechanism 25 is mounted within the pedestal 22 and truncated sphere as by bolting, and communicates with the control box 24. As illustrated in FIGS. 4-6, a motion sensing arm 52 has a rectangular upper end 54 which may be pivoted 360.degree. about a vertical axis. The rectangular upper portion of the arm 52 is slidably received in a rectangular opening in a stem 56 that is rigidly secured to a spherical segment 58 which is bonded to the inner surface of a hand grip 32. It will be noted that the pivot point of the motion sensing lever or arm 52 (FIG. 5) is placed within the cupped hand of the operator, and that the operator makes control inputs by moving his hand around the upper portion of a small sphere sized so that the hand nearly encloses the sphere. This allows the operator to easily get a firm stabilizing grip on the sphere. It is important to note that since the pivot point of the motion sensing arm 52 is centered within the grip of the operator's hand, the radial control movement of the grip 32 is considerably different from the generally linear forces applied by the operator's hand to the grip due to a rough ride.

In operation of the hand operated control 20 (FIGS. 1 and 2) of the present invention, it will be assumed that the hand control is provided for controlling the attitude of a vehicle such as an aircraft, which requires coordinated movement of the hand grip 32 about three axes normal to each other.

When it is desired to climb along a linear path, the pilot or operator with his hand on the soft hand grip 32 (FIG. 1), relaxes his grip on the hand grip 32 and pivots the grip aft the desired amount to cause the aircraft to climb at a desired rate. In order to roll the aircraft about the longitudinal axis of the aircraft the operator would pivot his forearm and wrist (about the longitudinal axis of the forearm and wrist) to the right or left the desired amount to roll the aircraft to the right or left at the desired degree for the speed of roll desired. When making a left climbing turn, the operator would move his hand to a position similar to that shown in FIG. 2; and would pivot his wrist in the opposite direction to make a right climbing turn. It will be understood that in many of these maneuvers, the operator's hand may be moved diagonally or in several directions at the same time to maintain the aircraft in the desired attitude at all times. It will also be understood that the direction of movement of the motion sensing arm 52 (FIG. 5) resembles that of a joy stick in an aircraft provided with a conventional joy stick control system.

When the aircraft is flying in turbulent air, it will be understood that the pilot will relax his grip on the soft hand grip 32 when changing the attitude of the aircraft; and that he will firmly grip or squeeze the hand grip 32 in order to prevent unintentional motion of the hand grip and unintentional steering of the aircraft when a change of control is not required.

If the hand operated control 20 is to be used to steer a ground supported vehicle about an axis that is substantially normal to the vehicle supporting surface, then the hand grip 32 may be pivoted about the axis of the pedestal 22 to turn the vehicle to the left or right when the operator's grip is relaxed. When driving over rough ground, the operator firmly squeezes the soft hand grip 32 when not making steering changes in order to prevent the rough ride from causing unintended operator movement from inadvertently steering the vehicle.

Alternately, when steering a vehicle, the position sensing mechanism may be of the type which when pivoted to the right in a plane transverse to the vehicle's longitudinal axis causes the vehicle is turned to the right; and when pivoted to the left causes the vehicle to turned to the left.

Although the above description relates to using the hand operated control 20 as means for controlling the direction of movement of the vehicle, it will be understood that the control 20 may be used to actuate other components when a vehicle or other object that is to be controlled is subjected to severe vibration or the like.

Although an electro-mechanical position sensing mechanism has been illustrated herein, it will be understood that other types of sensing mechanisms may be used within the truncated sphere, hand grip and pedestal.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the hand operated control of the present invention enables an operator of a rough riding vehicle to control the direction of the vehicle while preventing inadvertent operator movement due to the rough ride from being transmitted to the steering control system while at the same time allowing precise intentional control inputs to be made to the steering control system.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent that modification and variation may be made without departing from what is regarded to be the subject matter of the invention.