Patent ID: 7834286
Filing Date: 2010-11-16
Classification: H01H

Abstract:
1. A switching device for producing at least one electrical signal, the device comprising a housing defining at least three legs and an externally accessible actuator cap mounted on said housing and covering top and side portions of said housing, and a plurality of coil spring-biased transmission elements mounted each in one of said legs of said housing, each of said transmission elements having a first end face facing a contoured inner surface of said actuator cap one coil spring biased toward urging engagement of the transmission element first end face with a proximate portion of a contoured inner surface of said cap, and a second end face of one of said transmission elements facing a contact switch in the housing and engageable with the contact switch when said actuator cap is activated, wherein at least three of the transmission elements are arranged in parallel in the housing spatially offset laterally and/or in height in relation to one another, and said actuator cap is pivotable about at least one axis extending through a central one of said transmission elements and is held in a linear movable arrangement in one of two axial directions by said housing, and wherein the contoured surface disposed on the inner surface of said actuator cap, is adapted to move said transmission elements axially against the spring bias, with a time delay in relation to one another in the direction of the contact switches by pivotal movement of said actuator cap about the axis disposed in the central one of said transmission elements.