Patent ID: 7161100

Claim:
A limit switch mechanism for controlling the operation of a motor over a selected range of movement, comprising: A base frame, having two end walls opposite to each other with a plurality of oblique slit pairs arranged opposite to each other, and a bottom plate; a shaft journaled at the end walls of said base frame for rotational movement, said shaft being threaded between said journaled ends; a first switch actuator and a second switch actuator threadedly received on said shaft, each of the switch actuators being generally cylindrical with an axially extending threaded bore and being formed with a plurality of radially extending slots equally spaced around the periphery; a plurality of cassettes of limit switch subassemblies, each of the cassettes containing: a limit switch mounting bracket, a first limit switch and a second limit switch fastened onto said limit switch mounting bracket by suitable screw means, each of the cassettes cassette being inserted and fixed in said pair of opposite slits, each of said limit switches having control means operating one of said limit switches, said control means for said first limit switch being positioned in the path of said first switch actuator to operate said first limit switch upon axial movement of said first switch actuator toward one of said shaft ends, said control means for said second limit switch actuator being positioned in the path of said second switch actuator to operate said second limit switch upon axial movement of said second switch actuator toward the other of said shaft ends; latch means, biased into engagement with said first switch actuator and said second switch actuator for engaging said slots to restrain rotation of said switch actuators while permitting axial movement of said switch actuators along said shaft upon shaft rotation, and manually actuatuable for an operator to readily disengage the latch function of restraining rotation of said switch actuators, wherein each of said oblique slits is inclined at an angle such that the deflection direction of said control means of each of the limit switches is directed radially towards the center of the concerned switch actuator, when each of the cassettes of the limit switch subassemblies is inserted and fixed in a pair of the slits on the opposite end walls of said base frame.