Patent ID: 8217282

Claim:
A combination switch including a push switch section having a contact plate elastically deformable with a pressing operation and a contacted point that enters into an electrically conductive state upon contact with the contact plate, the push switch section being configured to detect the pressing operation, and a rotary switch section having a brush unit comprised of a rotary conductive member rotatable about an axis with a lever operation and a plurality of contact shoes formed on the rotary conductive member and a plurality of fixed contacts electrically conductive with the plurality of contact shoes, the rotary switch section being configured to detect a rotary operation; wherein said contact shoes of the brush unit include a pair of main contact shoes formed adjacent on a same circle about said axis and a single auxiliary contact shoe; wherein said fixed contacts include a main contact with which said pair of main contact shoes come into contact simultaneously when said brush unit is set under a neutral posture, a pair of first contacts spaced apart from each other across said auxiliary contact shoe in the rotational direction of the brush unit, and a pair of second contacts spaced apart from each other across said main contact in the rotational direction of the brush unit; and wherein said contact shoes and said fixed contacts are arranged such that; when the brush unit is rotated in a first rotational direction from the neutral posture to a first position, one of the pair of main contact shoes located upstream in the first rotational direction comes into contact with said main contact and also said auxiliary contact shoe comes into contact with one of the pair of first contacts located downstream in the first rotational direction, and, when the brush unit is further rotated in the first rotational direction to a second position, the one of the pair of main contact shoes located upstream in the first rotational direction comes into contact with said main contact and also the other of the pair of main contact shoes located downstream in the first rotational direction comes into contact with the one of the pair of second contacts located downstream in the first rotational direction; when the brush unit is rotated in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction from the neutral posture to a third position, one of the pair of main contact shoes located upstream in the second rotational direction comes into contact with the main contact and also the auxiliary contact shoe comes into one of the pair of first contacts located downstream in the second rotational direction, and when the brush unit is further operated in the second direction to a fourth position, one of the pair of main contact shoes located upstream in the second rotational direction comes into contact with the main contact and also one of the pair of main contact shoes located downstream in the second direction comes into with one of the pair of second contacts located downstream in the second rotational direction.