ROCKER PADDLE SWITCH WITH FLEXIBLE CAM DRIVER

摘要

There is disclosed a paddle switch operated by pushing on the lower portion of a rocker paddle to turn the switch "on" or "off'. The lower edge of the paddle pivots in and out about its upper edge. The switch includes flexible driver means coupled to be driven by the rocker paddle. When the rocker paddle is pushed in, it urges the flexible driver means to rotate a cam means (366) in a first, clock wise direction, or a second, counter clock wise direction. Alternate rotation of the cam drives a slider member (320) having a cam follwer (370) back and forth along a axis. A shaped leaf spring (352) cooperates with the cam follwer to assist in the movement of the slider and determines its rest positions. An indicator such as an LED (112) is used to indicate the state of conduction of the switch. When the rocker paddle is released, it is biased by a spring to pivot back to its initial position. The rocker paddle of the switch is not located within the frame and has a surface along its vertical axis of positive first differential and zero second differential, comprised of a combination of splines which extend between points of varying distances from a datum plane. This surface has zero second differential when the rate of height increase of individual splines is constant.