Abstract:
To enable to facilitate integration and part control by reducing a number of parts and a number of integrating steps and restrain electric contact performance from being deteriorated by preventing play, in a slide switch including a pole board ( 3 ) having a fixed contact and a movable board ( 11 ) made of a resin fixedly supporting a base portion ( 21 ) of a movable contact ( 19 ) and capable of sliding contact portions ( 25   a,    25   b,    25   c,    25   d,    25   e ), at a front end of the movable contact ( 19 ) relative to the fixed contact by moving along the pole board ( 3 ), the base portion ( 21 ) of the movable contact ( 19 ) is formed in a shape of a flat plate, the base portion ( 21 ) of the movable contact ( 19 ) is fixed to the movable board ( 11 ) by insert-molding of the resin and the movable contact ( 19 ) is inclinedly supported by the movable board ( 11 ).

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a movable contact structure and a movable contact attaching method of a slide switch applied to an inhibitor switch for detecting a shift position of an automobile. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   A movable board as shown by, for example,  FIG. 10A  or  FIG. 10B  is used for an inhibitor switch as a slide switch of a related art.  FIG. 10A  is a sectional view of a movable board,  FIG. 10B  is a disassembled perspective view of a movable board according to other related art and  FIG. 10C  is a partially enlarged sectional view in view from arrow marks Sc—Sc of FIG.  10 B. 
   First, according to a movable board  101  of  FIG. 10A , a movable contact  105  is fixed to a movable board main body  103  made of resin by calking a rivet  109  via a washer  107 . The movable contact  105  is formed with a bent portion  111  and a contact arm  113  is arranged to incline relative to the movable board main body  103  by the bent portion  111 . A contact portion  115  of the movable contact  105  is at a distance of H from the movable board main body  103  in a free state and the contact portion  115  is constituted to be brought into elastic contact with a side of a fixed contact by predetermined contact pressure (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1). 
   According to a movable board  101 A of  FIG. 10B , a movable contact  105 A is inserted into a movable board main body  103 A from a side direction to be fixed thereto by so-to-speak snap fit. That is, as shown by FIG.  10 B and  FIG. 10C , the movable main body  103 A is provided with a stepped portion  117  and an engaging portion  119  and the movable contact  105 A is provided with play preventive pieces  121  and  123 . When the movable contact  105 A is inserted into the movable contact main body  103 A from the side direction, the play preventive pieces  121  ad  123  are engaged with the stepped portion  117  and the engaging portion  119  and the fixed contact  105 A can be integrated to the movable board main body  103 A by one touch motion (for example, refer to Patent Literature 2). 
   (Patent Literature 1) 
   JP-UM-A-4-123038 (FIG. 8, FIG. 9) 
   (Patent Literature 2) 
   JP-A-10-134672 (page 3, FIG. 2) 
   However, the movable board  101  of  FIG. 10A  needs the rivet  109  and the washer  107  as fixing parts and needs a step of integrating the rivet  109  and the washer  107  and a step of calking the rivet  109  in integration. Therefore, there poses a problem that integration and part control are very complicated. 
   In contrast thereto, according to the movable board  101 A of  FIGS. 10B and 10C , fixing is carried out by the snap fit and therefore, there is an advantage of dispensing with the rivet or the like and facilitating integration and part control. 
   However, there poses a problem that play is liable to be produced between the play preventive pieces  121  and  123  and the stepped portion  117  and the engaging portion  119  and the contact portion  115  of the movable contact  105 A is rattled relative to a fixed contact and accuracy of switching ON/OFF is difficult to achieve sufficiently. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is a problem of the invention to facilitate integration and part control by reducing a number of parts, make play of a movable contact difficult to be brought about, facilitate accurate positioning of a position of a contact portion and restrain electric contact performance from being deteriorated. 
   A first aspect of the invention is a movable contact structure of a slide switch, the slid switch comprising a pole board having a fixed contact, and a movable board made of a resin fixedly supporting a base portion of a movable contact and capable of sliding a contact portion at a front end of the movable contact relative to the fixed contact by a predetermined contact pressure by moving along the pole board, wherein the base portion of the movable contact is formed in a shape of a flat plate, the base portion of the movable contact is fixed to the movable board by insert-molding of the resin and the movable contact is inclinedly supported by the movable board. 
   A second aspect of the invention is a method of attaching a movable contact of a slide switch, the slide switch comprising a pole board having a fixed contact, and a movable board made of a resin fixedly supporting a base portion of a movable contact and capable of sliding a contact portion at a front end of the movable contact relative to the fixed contact by a predetermined contact pressure by moving along the pole board, the method comprising the steps of forming the base portion of the movable contact in a shape of a flat plate, fixing the base portion of the movable contact to the movable board by insert-molding of the resin, and inclinedly supporting the movable contact by the movable board. 
   A third aspect of the invention is a method of attaching a movable contact of a slide switch, the slide switch comprising a pole board having a fixed contact, and a movable board made of a resin fixedly supporting a base portion of a movable contact and capable of sliding a contact portion at a front end of the movable contact relative to the fixed contact by a predetermined contact pressure by moving along the pole board, the method comprising the steps of providing a positioning hole at the base portion of the movable plate, and fixedly supporting the base portion of the movable contact by the movable board by insert-molding of the resin by positioning the movable contact to a die by fitting a positioning pin of the die to the positioning hole. 
   A fourth aspect of the invention is the method of attaching a movable contact of a slide switch according to the third aspect, wherein the positioning pin of the die comprising a large diameter portion fixed to a support hole on a side of the die, and a small diameter portion fitted to the positioning hole of the movable contact, wherein a positioning position of the movable contact is changed by changing a position of the small diameter portion relative to the die by changing a boldness of the large diameter portion. 
   According to the first aspect of the invention, in the slide switch comprising the pole board having the fixed contact and the movable board made of the resin fixedly supporting the base portion of the movable contact and capable of sliding the contact portion at the front end of the movable contact relative to the fixed contact by the predetermined contact pressure by moving along the pole board, it is possible that the base portion of the movable contact is formed in the shape of the flat plate, the base portion of the movable contact is fixed to the movable board by insert-molding of the resin and the movable contact is inclinedly supported by the movable board. 
   Therefore, it is possible in attaching the movable contact to the movable board to dispense with a rivet or the like, reduce a number of parts and a number of integrating steps and facilitate integration and part control. 
   Further, since the movable contact is fixedly supported by the movable board by insert-molding of the resin, play of the movable contact is made to be difficult to be brought about relative to the movable board and accurate positioning of the contact portion can easily be carried out. 
   Further, since the base portion of the movable contact is in the shape of flat plate, a dispersion in fabrication by presence of a bent portion is eliminated, deformation in transportation is restrained, a dispersion in the contact pressure of the contact portion of the movable contact applied on the fixed contact is restrained and electric contact performance can be restrained from being deteriorated. 
   According to the second aspect of the invention, in the slide switch comprising the pole board having the fixed contact and the movable board made of the resin fixedly supporting the base portion of the movable contact and capable of sliding the contact portion at the front end of the movable contact relative to the fixed contact by the predetermined contact pressure by moving along the pole board, it is possible to form the base portion of the movable contact in the shape of the flat plate, fix the base portion of the movable contact to the movable board by insert-molding of the resin and inclinedly support the movable contact by the movable board. 
   Therefore, it is possible in attaching the movable contact to the movable board to dispense with a rivet or the like, reduce a number of parts and a number of integrating steps and facilitate integration and part control. 
   Further, since the movable contact is fixedly supported by the movable board by insert-molding of the resin, play of the movable contact is made to be difficult to be brought about relative to the movable board and accurate positioning of the contact portion can easily be carried out. 
   Further, since the base portion of the movable contact is in the shape of flat plate, a dispersion in fabrication by presence of a bent portion is eliminated, deformation in transportation is restrained, a dispersion in the contact pressure of the contact portion of the movable contact applied on the fixed contact is restrained and electric contact performance can be restrained from being deteriorated. 
   According to the third aspect of the invention, in the slide switch comprising the pole board having the fixed contact and the movable board made of the resin fixedly supporting the base portion of the movable contact and capable of sliding the contact portion at the front end of the movable contact relative to the fixed contact by the predetermined contact pressure by moving along the pole board, it is possible to provide the positioning hole at the base portion of the movable contact and fixedly support the base portion of the movable contact by the movable board by insert-molding of the resin by positioning the movable contact relative to the die by fitting the positioning pin of the die to the positioning hole. 
   Therefore, it is possible in attaching the movable contact to the movable board to dispense with a rivet or the like, reduce a number of parts and a number of integrating steps and facilitate integration and part control. 
   Further, since the movable contact is fixedly supported by the movable board by insert-molding of the resin, play of the movable contact is made to be difficult to be brought about relative to the movable board and accurate positioning of the contact portion can easily be carried out. 
   Further, since the movable contact is positioned relative to the die by fitting the positioning pin of the die to the positioning hole of the movable contact, accuracy of positioning the movable contact to the movable contact is promoted and accurate positioning of the contact portion can be carried out further accurately. 
   According to the fourth aspect of the invention, in addition to an effect of the third aspect of the invention, the positioning pin of the die comprises the large diameter portion fixed to the support hole on the side of the die and the small diameter portion fitted to the positioning hole of the movable contact, the positioning position of the movable contact is changed by changing the position of the small diameter portion relative to the die by changing the boldness of the large diameter portion and therefore, the position of the contact portion of the movable contact can easily be adjusted. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIGS. 1A and 1B  show an inhibitor switch to which an embodiment of the invention is applied,  FIG. 1A  is a side view and  FIG. 1B  is a bottom view; 
       FIGS. 2A ,  2 B and  2 C relate to the embodiment,  FIG. 2A  is a side view of a movable board,  FIG. 2B  is a top view of the movable board and  FIG. 2C  is a bottom view of the movable board; 
       FIG. 3  is a partial sectional side view of the movable board according to the embodiment; 
       FIG. 4  is a sectional view enlarging an essential portion of the movable board according to the embodiment; 
       FIG. 5  is a bottom view of a movable contact according to the embodiment; 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing a relationship between a positioning pin and the movable contact according to the embodiment; 
       FIG. 7  is a sectional view of an essential portion showing the relationship between the position pin and the movable contact according to the embodiment; 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of an essential portion of the positioning pin according to the embodiment; 
       FIG. 9  is an explanatory view of changing a position of positioning the movable contact by changing a boldness of the positioning pin according to the embodiment; and 
       FIGS. 10A ,  10 B and  10 C relate to related arts,  FIG. 10A  is a sectional view of a movable board,  FIG. 10B  is a disassembled perspective view of a movable board according to other related art and  FIG. 10C  is a sectional view enlarging an essential portion of  FIG. 10B  in view from arrow marks Sc—Sc. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIGS. 1A and 1B  show an inhibitor switch having a movable contact structure attached by a movable contact attaching method of a slide switch according to an embodiment of the invention,  FIG. 1A  is a side view and  FIG. 1B  is a bottom view. 
   In  FIGS. 1A and 1B , an inhibitor switch  1  is provided with a pole board  3  and a cover  5 . The pole board  3  is formed by an insulating resin and upper inner face sides of respective grooves  7   a ,  7   b ,  7   c ,  7   d  and  7   e  of the pole board  3  are respectively provided with fixed contacts by insert-molding. The cover  5  is made of a metal and respective legs  9   a ,  9   b ,  9   c ,  9   d ,  9   e  and  9   f  thereof are calked to the pole board  3 . 
   A movable board  11  is slidably arranged at an inner face side of the pole board  3  and a shaft  13  made of a metal integrally provided to the movable board  11  is projected from one-end sides of the pole board  3  and the cover  5 . A connecting pin  15  is projected from the shaft  13  and cooperatively connected to a side of a manual valve. 
   A total constitution of the movable board  11  is as shown by  FIGS. 2A ,  2 B,  2 C,  3  and  4 .  FIG. 2A  is a side view of the movable board,  FIG. 2B  is a top view,  FIG. 2C  is a bottom view,  FIG. 3  is a partial sectional side view of the movable board  11  and  FIG. 4  is a sectional view enlarging an essential portion of the movable board  11 . 
   As shown by  FIGS. 2A ,  2 B,  2 C,  3  and  4 , the movable board  11  is provided with a movable board main body  17  made of resin and the movable board main body  17  is integrally attached with the shaft  13  made of a metal. A movable contact  19  made of a metal is fixed to the movable board main body  17  made of resin by insert-molding and supported thereby to incline. 
   Also in reference to a plane view of the movable contact of  FIG. 5 , the movable contact  19  is projected with a plurality of pieces, for example, five pieces of contact arms  23   a ,  23   b ,  23   c ,  23   d  and  23   e  from a base portion  21  thereof. The base portion  21  is formed in a shape of a flat plate and the respective contact arms  23   a ,  23   b ,  23   c ,  23   d  and  23   e  are projected straightly from the base portion  21  in the flat plate shape. Contact portions  25   a ,  25   b ,  25   c ,  25   d  and  25   e  are provided at front ends of the respective contact arms  23   a ,  23   b ,  23   c ,  23   d  and  23   e . Further, positioning holes  27   a  and  27   b  are provided at the base portion of the movable contact  19 . The positioning hole  27   a  is formed by a circular hole and the positioning holes  27   b  is formed by a long hole. 
   Further, as described above, the base portion of the movable contact  19  is fixed to the movable board main body  17  of the movable board  11  by insert-molding of resin and the movable contact  19  is supported by the movable board main body  17  to incline as shown by FIG.  3  and FIG.  4 . 
   The movable body main body  17  is provided with a recessed portion  29  continuous in a width direction (direction orthogonal to the paper face in FIG.  3  and FIG.  4 ). The recessed portion  29  is opposed to the respective contact arms  23   a ,  23   b ,  23   c ,  23   d  and  23   e  and allows elastic deformation of the respective contact arms  23   a  through  23   e.    
   In insert-molding of the movable contact  19 , by fitting positioning pins of a die to the positioning holes  27   a  and  27   b , the movable contact  19  is positioned relative to the die. Therefore, at the movable board main body  17 , there are present a recessed portion  31  formed by bringing in a portion of the die, a cylindrical hole  33  formed by bringing in a portion of the positioning pin and a conical hole  35  formed by bringing in a front end of the positioning pin. 
   The positioning pin of the die is as shown by  FIG. 6  through FIG.  8 .  FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing a relationship between positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b  and the movable contact  19 ,  FIG. 7  is a sectional view of an essential portion showing the relationship between the positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b  and the movable contact  19  and  FIG. 8  is a perspective view of essential portions of the positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b.    
   As shown by FIG.  6  through  FIG. 8 , the positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b  each comprises a large diameter portion  39  and a small diameter portion  41 . The small diameter portion  41  is a formed in a conical shape. The positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b  are fixed to support holes  45  provided on a side of a die  43  as shown by FIG.  7 . The movable contact  19  is positioned to the side of the die  43  by respectively fitting the respective small diameter portion  41  of the positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b  to the positioning holes  27   a  and  27   b  of the movable contact  19 . 
   Further, since the positioning hole  27   b  is constituted by the long hole, even when an error is brought about between the positioning holes  27   a  and  27   b  and the positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b  in a direction relative to each other, the error can be absorbed by the side of the positioning hole  27   b  of the long hole. 
   Further, by insert-molding of resin in a state in which the movable contact  19  is positioned by the positioning pin  37   a  and  37   b , the movable contact  19  can be fixed to the movable board main body  17  of resin to be inclinedly supported thereby as shown by FIG.  2 A through FIG.  4 . 
   Further, the positioning position of the movable contact  19  can be changed by changing a portion of the small diameter portion  41  relative to the die  43  by changing boldness of the positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b  such as by increasing their diameters. 
     FIG. 9  is an explanatory view of changing the boldness of the positioning pin  37   a  ( 37   b ) and when the boldness of the large diameter portion  39  of the positioning pin  37   a  ( 37   b ) is increased to constitute a positioning pin  37   a A ( 37   b A) having the large diameter portion  39 A as shown by  FIG. 9 , and a center of the small diameter portion  41  is changed to constitute a small diameter portion  41 A. Therefore, the position of the small diameter portion  41  can be changed to constitute the small diameter portion  41 A by supporting the positioning pin having the large diameter portion  39 A by enlarging the diameter of the support hole  45  of the die  43 . 
   Therefore, when the position of the movable contact  19  is intended to change by, for example, 5/100 mm, the position can easily be adjusted by changing the boldness of the large diameter portion  39  of the positioning pin  37   a  or  37   b  as shown by  FIG. 9  to constitute the large diameter portion  39 A. 
   Further, although there are exemplified the small diameter portions  41  and  41 A respectively disposed at the centers of the large diameter portions  39  and  39 A, it is not necessarily needed that the small diameter portions  41  and  41 A are disposed at the centers. In sum, when an initial set position thereof needs to change, since it is easy to enlarge the support hole  45  of the die  43  for supporting the initial positioning pin  37   a  or  37   b , the large diameter portion  39 A may be made to be bolder than the large diameter portion  39  and the small diameter portion  41 A may be set at a pertinent position of the large diameter portion  39 A. 
   As described above, when the movable contact  19  is attached to the movable board  11 , a rivet or the like can be dispensed with, a number of parts and a number of integrating steps can be reduced and integration and part control can be facilitated. 
   Further, since the movable contact  19  is fixedly supported by the movable board  11  by insert-molding of resin, play of the movable contact  19  relative to the movable board  11  is difficult to be brought about and accurate positioning of the contact portions  25   a ,  25   b ,  25   c ,  25   d  and  25   e  can easily be carried out. 
   Here, according to the related arts of  FIGS. 10A ,  10 B and  10 C, the height H of spring of the movable contact  105  is set by providing the bent portion  111  at the movable contact  105  or  105 A and contact pressure of the contact portion  115  applied to the fixed point is adjusted based on the height H. Therefore, there is a concern of dispersing the contact pressure by an error in a bending step of the bent portion  111 . Further, there is a concern that the bent portion  111  is liable to deform in transportation and the contact pressure is dispersed by the deformation. Therefore, there is a concern of deteriorating electric contact performance of the movable contact  105 . 
   In contrast thereto, according to the embodiment of the invention, the base portion  21  of the movable contact  19  is in the flat plate shape and therefore, there is not the dispersion in fabrication by presence of the bent portion and the deformation in transportation is restrained, the dispersion of the contact pressure of the contact portions  25   a ,  25   b ,  25   c ,  25   d ,  25   e  of the movable contact  19  relative to the fixed point is restrained and the deterioration of the electric contact performance can be restrained. 
   Further, since the movable contact  19  is positioned relative to the die  43  by fitting the positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b  of the die  43  to the positioning holes  27   a  and  27   b  of the movable contact  19 , accuracy of positioning the movable contact  19  relative to the movable board  11  is promoted and accurate positioning of the contact portions  25   a ,  25   b ,  25   c ,  25   d  and  25   e  can further accurately be carried out. 
   Further, since the positioning position of the movable contact  19  is changed by changing the position of the small diameter portion  41  relative to the die by changing the boldness of the large diameter portion  39  of the positioning pin  37   a  or  37   b , positions of the contact portions  25   a ,  25   b ,  25   c ,  25   d  and  25   e  of the movable contact  19  can easily be adjusted. 
   Further, according to the inhibitor switch  1 , when a driver operates the manual valve by operating a shift lever, the movable board  11  is moved relative to the pole board  3  via the pin portion  15  of FIG.  1 . Thereby, the respective contact portions  25   a ,  25   b ,  25   c ,  25   d  and  25   e  of the movable contact  19  are made to be ON/OFF relative to the fix contacts on the side of the pole board  3  to selectively conduct the respective fixed points to thereby enable to detect a shift position of an automatic transmission. 
   Although according to the embodiment, an explanation has been given of the slide switch as the inhibitor switch, the slide switch can also be constituted as other switch. 
   Although according to the embodiment, the pin portion  15  is provided at the shaft  13  integrally provided with the movable board main body  17  to cooperatively connect to the side of the manual valve, a constitution of directly providing the pin portion at the movable board main body  17  can be constructed. 
   Although according to the embodiment, the base portion  21  of the movable contact  19  is formed in the flat plate shape and fixedly supported by the movable board main body  17  by insert-molding by positioning using the positioning pins  37   a  and  37   b , when the base portion  21  of the movable contact  19  is formed in the flat plate shape, the movable contact  19  can be constituted to be fixedly supported by the movable board main body  17  by the insert-molding by other method regardless of the structure of using the positioning pins. 
   Further, there can also be constructed a structure of providing the bent portion at the movable contact  19  as in the related art and a constitution in which the movable contact  19  is fixedly supported by the movable board main body  17  by insert-molding by the positioning structure using the positioning pins.