Waterproof switch

A waterproof switch includes a switch mechanism having an operation portion, a plurality of leads, each lead having an essentially circular outer periphery, connected to said switch mechanism and a waterproof housing having an external shape which substantially corresponds to that of the switch. The waterproof housing is formed of deformable material and formed into a deformable shape and includes a first portion having an external shape which substantially corresponds to that of the operation portion of the switch, a first housing member including a portion provided with a groove having a section which substantially corresponds to a semicircle of the circular outer periphery of the leads connected to a terminal of the switch, and a second housing member including a portion provided with a groove having a section which substantially corresponds to a remaining semicircle of the essentially circular outer periphery of the leads, whereby both the housing members are fixedly joined while the leads are held between the first and second housing members. The waterproof switch further includes a holding member of unique construction and arrangement which prevents the operation portion from moving by resilience of the housing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT 
1. Industrial Field of Utilization 
The present invention relates to a waterproof switch, and more particularly 
to a waterproof switch for use in a hair drier and the like. 
2. Prior Art 
Japanese Utility Model Application No. 61-167922 discloses a waterproof 
switch including a switch and a waterproof housing having an external 
shape which substantially corresponds to that of the switch, the 
waterproof switch, comprising a first member having a shape corresponding 
to an operation portion of the switch and a second member including a tube 
into which leads are inserted, has a tapered inner diameter and a tip 
whose external shape is slightly narrower than that of the lead. 
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Problems that the Invention is to Solve 
The conventional waterproof switch described above requires a step of 
inserting leads into the tube after the leads are connected to terminals 
of the switch with solder, and a step of fixedly mounting the first member 
to the second member. 
It is a first object of the present invention to provide a waterproof 
switch on which one can perform a step of inserting leads and a step of 
fixedly joining the leads at the same time in a single operation after the 
leads have been connected to terminals of the switch with solder. 
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a member for 
holding an operation portion of the waterproof switch according to the 
first invention to prevent the operation portion from moving in an 
unintended direction due to resilience of a housing. 
Means for Solving the Problems 
The first object is achieved by providing a waterproof switch including a 
switch mechanism having an operation portion a plurality of leads 
connected to said switch mechanism, said leads having a circular outer 
periphery, a waterproof housing having an external shape which 
substantially corresponds to that of the switch mechanism, the waterproof 
housing being formed of deformable material deformable in shape and 
comprising a portion having an external shape which substantially 
corresponds to that of said operation portion of the switch, a first 
housing member including a portion provided with a groove having a 
sectional shape which substantially corresponds to a semicircle of said 
circular outer periphery of leads connected to a terminal of the switch, 
and a second housing member including a portion provided with a groove 
having a sectional shape which substantially corresponds to a remaining 
semicircle of the circular outer periphery of the leads, whereby the first 
and second housing members are fixedly joined so that the leads are held 
between the first and second housing members. 
The second object is achieved by a member for holding an operation portion, 
including a frame portion in the form of plate and two waveform resilient 
portions fixed in the frame portion, the resilient portion being disposed 
so that convex portions and concave portions of the waveform of one of the 
resilient portions correspond to convex portions and concave portions of 
the other of the resilient portions, respectively, and narrow portions are 
formed between a plurality of wide portions and adjacent wide portions, 
the rod operation portion of the switch being capable of being inserted 
into the wide portions, the narrow portion being narrower than the rod 
operation portion, the resilient portion being deformed so that the rod 
operation portion passes through the narrow portion. 
Operation 
The leads are fixedly connected to the terminals of the switch by using 
solder and the switch is then covered by the first and second housing 
members. The leads are fitted into the grooves of both the housing 
members, and both the housing members and the leads are fixedly joined by 
a heat seal or solder. 
Since both the members are fixedly joined while the leads are fitted into 
the grooves, there is no gap in a portion of the leads. Accordingly, this 
prevents water from penetrating into the waterproof switch from the 
portion of the leads. 
Effects of the Invention 
A step of inserting the leads into holes can be omitted while forming the 
waterproof switch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
FIGS. 1 to 5 show a preferred embodiment of a waterproof switch according 
to the present invention. 
Leads 3a and 3b are fixedly connected to terminals 2a and 2b of a switch 1 
by using solder or screws. The leads 3a and 3b are then transformed or 
bent so that the leads 3a and 3b are aligned in a substantially flat plane 
in this embodiment. 
A first housing member 4 covers an operation portion 5 of the switch. Since 
the operation portion of the switch is moved, a first portion of the first 
housing member 4 corresponding to the operation portion 5 of the switch is 
formed of a deformable material such as, for example, vinyl chloride or 
urethane resin correspondingly and also formed into a deformable shape. As 
apparent from the sectional view of FIG. 1 and the top plan view of FIG. 
2, the first portion of the first housing member in the embodiment 
comprises a cylindrical portion 4a in contact with the operation portion 
5, a hollow annular portion 4b which surrounds the periphery of the 
cylindrical portion 4a and a loop frame portion 4c which surrounds the 
outside of the hollow annular portion 4b, and the shape of the first 
portion is deformed correspondingly when a position of the operation 
portion 5 is changed. 
In the embodiment, the lead 3a includes a four-wire type lead in which four 
leads are combined in a plane and the lead 3b includes a two-wire type 
lead in which two leads are combined in a plane. Accordingly, portions 4d 
of the first housing member 4 being in contact with the leads 3a and 3b 
are formed correspondingly to a first half of the external shape of the 
four-wire type lead and the two-wire type lead, respectively, as shown in 
FIGS. 4 and 5. 
A second housing member 6 covers the base portion of the switch. Portions 
6a of the second housing member 6 corresponding to the leads 3a and 3b are 
formed correspondingly to a second half of the four-wire type lead and the 
two-wire type lead, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. 
Substantially rectangular reinforcement plates 7 formed of hard synthetic 
resin are disposed or fixed at sides of the switch 1 and a holding member 
8 of the operation portion which is formed of hard synthetic resin and 
formed into a resiliently deformable shape is disposed or fixed at one 
surface of the switch 1. The reinforcement plate 7 and the holding member 
8 are covered by the first housing member 4. The second housing member 6 
is disposed at the base portion of the switch 1 and both the housing 
members 4 and 6 are joined with heat or adhesion at the surface in which 
both the housing members are brought into abutment with each other. 
Both the housing members 4 and 6 and the leads are fixed to each other 
while the leads are held between both the housing members 4 and 6 so that 
water does not penetrate into the waterproof switch from the portion 
between housing members 4 and 6 into which the leads are inserted. Both 
the housing members 4 and 6 are formed of resilient material, and both the 
housing members and the leads are fixed in position while the leads are 
pressed strongly between both the housing members so that the waterproof 
characteristic can be obtained. It is preferable in view of the waterproof 
characteristic that an insulating sheath 3c for the leads is formed of the 
same material as that of the housing members and both the housing members 
and the sheath of the leads are joined with heat. 
Further, it is not necessary that the shape of the portion of the housing 
member which comes into contact with the lead is previously and strictly 
formed to be completely identical with the external shape of the lead, and 
both the housing members can be pressurized from the outside thereof to be 
transformed by heat so that the shape of the portion of the housing member 
can be formed to correspond to the external shape of the sheaths for the 
leads when both the housing members are joined. 
In order to prevent the operation portion 5 from being moved in an 
unexpected direction due to resilient force produced by deformation of the 
first portion of the first housing member 4 when the operation portion 5 
is moved to operate the switch, the holding member 8 is disposed at the 
first portion of the switch 1. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the holding 
member 8 includes a plate member including a substantially rectangular 
frame portion 8a and resilient waveform portions 8b formed in the 
rectangular frame portion 8a and having three wide portions 8c and two 
narrow portions 8d. The operation portion 5 is positioned in any one of 
the three wide portions 8c so that the position of the operation portion 5 
is maintained stably. When the operation portion 5 is moved longitudinally 
from one wide portion 8c to another wide portion 8c adjacent said one wide 
portion, the resilient portion 8b deforms resiliently. 
The embodiment shows an example of a selection switch which turns off a 
power source when the leads 3b are connected to a power source and the 
operation portion 5 is moved to, for example, a central wide portion 8c 
and which supplies an electric power to two leads of the leads 3a at the 
output side to energize circuits when the operation portion 5 is moved to 
a left or right wide portion 8c. 
FIGS. 8 to 12 show another preferred embodiment according to the present 
invention. The embodiment shows an example of an on-and-off switch which 
is provided between leads 9a consisting of two solid wires and a two-wire 
type combined lead 9b. This embodiment is substantially identical with the 
embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 7 except that the configuration of the lead 
is different. Accordingly like numerals is given to the corresponding 
elements and description thereof is omitted. In this embodiment, the 
holding member 8 of the operation portion includes two adjacent wide 
portions 8c and one narrow portion 8d interconnecting said adjacent wide 
portions 8c as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14.