Patent ID: 6993990

Claim:
An operating device comprising: a rotary knob; and rotation-detecting means for detecting a rotated angle of the rotary knob and providing a rotary position output, wherein the rotary knob includes a small-diameter component to facilitate a user quickly rotating the rotary knob and a large-diameter component to permit the user to slowly rotate the rotary knob so as to finely adjust a rotary position of the rotary knob, the rotation-detecting means includes determining means for determining a rotated position of the rotary knob when the rotary knob is rotated by the user, wherein the small-diameter component and the large-diameter component of the rotary knob are arranged coaxially on a shaft, and the rotation-detection means provides the rotary-position output when the rotary knob is pressed in a direction perpendicular to an axis of the shaft of the rotary knob, and wherein the shaft passes through central holes of shaft bearings mounted for sliding in holes formed in a support element, whereby movement in the first direction perpendicular to the axis of the shaft of the rotary knob is enable, and further comprising urging means connected between the bearings and the support element for generating an urging force in a second direction opposite to the first direction.