US3674961A

US3674961A - Insertable housing

Info

Publication number: US3674961A
Application number: US130652A
Authority: US
Inventors: Thomas H Wright Jr
Original assignee: ULD ELECTRONICS CORP
Current assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc; ULD ELECTRONICS CORP
Priority date: 1971-04-02
Filing date: 1971-04-02
Publication date: 1972-07-04
Anticipated expiration: 1989-07-04

Abstract

Two like L-shaped elements mate together to form an insertable switch housing having a number of spaced grooves in opposed end walls for accommodating different types of switches and have opposed pairs of cantilevered L-shaped legs serrated at the top that may be urged inward as the housing is inserted through an opening in a chassis and then snap out to coact with an outside lip of the hosing and sandwich a portion of the chassis plate adjacent the edge of the slot through which the switch is inserted. A feature of the invention is that a number of switches may be inserted side by side in a common slot with a generally Zshaped adapter between switches arranged to coact with respective generally L-shaped members so that two of the L-shaped members and one less than the total number of side-by-side switches to be accommodated form the housing.

Description

United States Patent [451 July 4, 1972 Wright, Jr.

[54] INSERTABLE HOUSING [72] Inventor: Thomas H. Wright, Jr., Boca Raton, Fla.

[73] Assignee: ULD Electronics Corp., Hollywood, Fla.

[22] Filed: April 2, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 130,652

[51] Int. Cl ..H0lh 9/08, l-101h 9/02 [58] Field of Search ZOO/168 C, 168 B, 168 R; 174/57 [56] References Cited UNTTED STATES PATENTS 3,168,612 2/1965 Sorenson ..200/168 C 7 3,273,104 9/1966 Krol ...200/l68 C 3,337,708 8/1967 Cerveny et al. 200/168 C 3,339,050 8/1967 Mitchell 200/168 C 3,446,467 5/1969 Bailey et al. .....174/57 X 3,571,548 3/1971 Osika ..200/168 C Primary Examiner-H. 0. Jones Attorney-Charles Hieken [5 7] ABSTRACT Two like L-shaped elements mate together to form an insertable switch housing having a number of spaced grooves in opposed end walls for accommodating different types of switches and have opposed pairs of cantilevered L-shaped legs serrated at the top that may be urged inward as the housingis inserted through an opening in a chassis and then snap out to coact with an outside lip of the hosing and sandwich a portion of the chassis plate adjacent the edge of the slot through which the switch is inserted. A feature of the invention is that a number of switches may be inserted side by side in a common slot with a generally Z-shaped adapter between switches arranged to coact with respective generally L-shaped members so that two of the L-shaped members and one less than the total number of side-by-side switches to be accommodated form the housmg;

9 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PKTENIEMF-a m2 3, 674.961 SHEET 10F 2 Fl 6. 9 22 INVENTOR THOMAS H. WRIGHT JR. BY

ATTORNEY I PATENTEDJUL 4 m2 3. 6 74,961 sum 2 or 2 INVENTOR THOMAS H. WRIGHT JR. BY

ATTORNEY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates in general to insertable component housings and more particularly concerns a novel housing capable of accommodating a wide variety of switches to facilitate rapid and secure insertion of the switch into a chassis plate while presenting an attractive appearance.

It is an important object of this invention to provide a housing for facilitating the insertion of components.

It is another object of the invention to provide a housing in accordance with the preceding object for facilitating the insertion of electrical slide and rocker switches.

It is another object of the invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects with a housing that is relatively easy and inexpensive to fabricate.

It is a further object of the invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects with a housing capable of securing and neatly accommodating an electrical slide and rocker switch.

It is still a further object of the invention to achieve one or more of the preceding objects while facilitating the insertion of a relatively large number of components side-by-side with relatively few housing components.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, there is at least one generally I..- shaped element formed with an end wall having a plurality of generally parallel grooves and a side wall formed with at least one cantilevered generally L-shaped tab having its free end normally spaced from and adjacent to a lip extending from the side wall for coacting with the adjacent lip to snugly engage a chassis plate. Preferably there are two of such cantilevered legs in the side wall. Two of said housing elements coact to comprise a component housing that may be urged through a slot in a chassis plate as the legs are urged inward until the lip firmly engages the chassis plate and the legs spring outward to firmly engage the inside of the chassis plate with the opposed lip portion in engagement with the outside of the chassis plate. Preferably the portion adjacent the free end of the cantilevered leg is serrated to facilitate firm engagement with the inside of the chassis plate.

Preferably each element is formed with means to facilitate snug engagement with a mating element, such as a pin and socket arrangement.

According to another feature of the invention, spacer elements having a side wall separating spaced end walls may be arranged for mating with each other for accommodating a number of side-by-side switches or mating with one or two of the first-mentioned elements.

Numerous other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a housing according to the invention illustration the two L-shapcd elements that coact to form a housing for facilitating insertion of switches by pressing the housing through a slot in a chassis;

FIG. 2 is a side view of an element and switch seated in a chassis slot with the chassis plate in section illustrating how a push slide switch may be readily accommodated in the housing according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a similar view illustrating how a rocker slide switch may be accommodated;

FIG. 4 is a view through section 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a similar view after insertion to illustrate how the invention snugly engages the chassis edge adjacent to the insertion slot;

FIGS. 68 are top, side and end views of a spacer for coacting with elements of FIG. 1 for accommodating a number of switches side-by-side; and

FIG. 9 shows two of the latter elements sandwiching a spacer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference now to the drawing and more particularly FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown an exploded view of an exemplary housing according to the invention. Elements 1 l and 12 are identical and may be molded plastic elements, each element being a unitary structure. The views of elements 11 and 12 illustrate the outside and inside, respectively, of the housing elements. Each element includes an end wall 13, a side wall 14, and a bezel 15. Two

half round bosses

16 and 17 are located underneath the bezel at each comer. The bottom of long end wall 13 is formed with a socket 21 for mating engagement with a pin 22 attached to the bottom of a short end wall 23.

Side wall 14 is formed with

cantilevered ears

24 and 25 that have

free ends

26 and 27, respectively, immediately below bezel 15.

Ears

24 and 25 may flex inward as the housing is inserted and then snap outward for snug engagement with the inside of a chassis plate as illustrated in FIG. 5. The inside of long end wall 13 is formed with

parallel grooves

31, 32 and 33 for accommodating the edges of switch plates for location at different depths inside the chassis plate. Short end wall 23 includes

similar grooves

34, 35 and 36 as best seen in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a push slide switch 41 seated with its metal

housing plate ears

42 and 43 in

grooves

34 and 31, respectively, with

ends

26 and 27 of

ears

24 and 25 firmly engaging the inside of chassis plate 44. Element 11 is not shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 so as not to obscure the relationship among the different elements when the housing and switch are seated in a slot in the chassis plate.

Referring to FIG. 3 there is shown a view of a rocker switch 45 having

cars

46 and 47 of the switch housing plate accom' modated in

grooves

36 and 33, respectively, to illustrate how the invention may accommodate a different type of switch while having the actuator at a convenient distance outside the chassis plate 44.

Referring to FIG. 4 there is shown a view through section 4-4 of element 12 helpful in understanding the structure of the ears. Referring to FIG. 5 there is shown the section view of FIG. 4 with chassis plate 44 interposed between bezel l5 and ear 24.

Referring to FIGS. 68 there are shown top, side and end views, respectively, of a spacer element according to the invention capable of coacting with elements, such as 11 and 12, for accommodating a number of side-by-side switches. The spacer element includes a side wall 51 separating

long end walls

52 and 53, respectively, each carrying a bezel 15'. Side wall 51 separates short end wall 54 from long end wall 52 and short end wall 55 from long end wall 53, each of the short walls being formed with a pin 22 while each long end wall is formed with a socket 23. Each long end wall is formed with

grooves

31, 32 and 33 while each short end wall is formed with grooves 34', 35 and 36'.

Referring to FIG. 9, there is shown an exploded view illustrating how the spacer element 61 may be inserted between elements 11 and 12 to accommodate a pair of side-by-side switches. Any number of additional switches may be inserted side-by-side by inserting additional spacer elements, always having elements 11 and 12 at the end of the slot in which the switches are accommodated.

Having described the physical arrangement of preferred embodiments of the invention, the method of using the invention will be described. First, if the switch housing ears, such as 46 and 47 or 42 and 43, are too long, they may be cut to a length which corresponds to the separation between opposed long and short end wall grooves. Then the switch housing ears may be inserted in opposed grooves of one of the elements, such as

grooves

33 and 36 of element 12. Then the other element, such as element 11, is placed in mating engagement with element 12 having its

grooves

33 and 36

accommodating ears

46 and 47 and its pin 22 and socket 21 in mating engagement with the socket and pin of element 12. The housing then snugly accommodates the switch, such as 45, and may be pressed into the slot in chassis plate 44 to the positions shown in FIG. 3.

If it is desired to remove the switch for any reason,

cars

24 and 25 may be pressed inward and the housing and switch assembly removed.

The invention has a number of features. The cost of the housing elements is low, and they are relatively easy to fabricate in large quantities. Assembly of the switch in the housing is relatively easy to accomplish by relatively unskilled personnel. Insertion into a chassis is rapid and easy while providing a secure fastening to the chassis that is attractive and may help foreign particles from reaching the inside of the chassis. The switch may be wired while outside the chassis where it is easy and rapid to wire and then inserted into the chassis. A prewired switch may be snaked" through the chassis hole, the housing applied and then snapped into the chassis hole.

The use of the half-round bosses facilitates alignment and squaring of the assembly into the hole through which it is pressed.

The pin and socket is one approach for keeping the two identical halves together so that like elements may coact to make a complete housing. This fastening may be accomplish in many different ways. For example, tongue and groove, dovetailing, hook and receiver, a metal band, tape, rubber band, adhesive, ultrasonic welding and numerous other approaches may be used to help keep the halves together.

Still another alternate approach might involve reversing the overlook; that is, instead of the short end being under just the size of the bezel it could be the long portion of the shelves with the bezel attached in reverse approach.

Still another alternative could involve an adjustable tap bezel position so that switches of difierent exposed widths and throws could be accommodated in the same housing.

It is evident that those skilled in the art may now make numerous other modifications and uses of and departures from the specific embodiments described herein without departing from the inventive concepts. Consequently, the invention is to be construed as embracing each and every novel feature and novel combination of features present in or possessed by the apparatus and techniques herein disclosed and limited solely by the spirit and scope of the appended claims. 4

What is claimed is: 1. An insertable housing comprising,

5 means defining a wall formed with a bezel and a cantilevered ear having a free end adjacent to the bezel for colaacting therewith to snugly engage a portion of a chassis p te,

said ear being resiliently urgable toward said wall for passing through a chassis opening and then moving away frlgm said wall to snugly engage the inside of the chassis p te,

said housing comprising an element of generally L-shaped cross section having a long end wall perpendicular to'a side wall.

2. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 1 wherein said ear is of generally L-shaped cross section.

3. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 2 and further comprising at least another of said ears in a side wall thereof.

4. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising another of said L-shaped elements for mating engagement with the first of said elements.

- 5. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 1 wherein said long end wall is formed with parallel grooves for accommodating electrical switches at different depths inside said chassis plate.

6. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 5 and further cqmprisin a short end wallop ite said long end wall formed with p e] grooves therein or accommodating electrical switches at different depths inside said chassis plate.

7. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 4 and further comprising a spacer element formed with a side wall and at least long end walls separated by the latter side wall and orthogonal thereto for mating engagement with said elements.

8. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 7 and further comprising a short end wall opposite each of said long end walls with each of said short and long end walls formed with parallel grooves for accommodating electrical switches at diflerent depths inside said chassis plate.

9. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 4 wherein each comer of said L-shaped elements is fonned with a half round boss adjacent to said bezel to facilitate insertion into a slot in said chassis plate.

=0: 1: a a a will I

Claims

1. An insertable housing comprising, means defining a wall formed with a bezel and a cantilevered ear having a free end adjacent to the bezel for coacting therewith to snugly engage a portion of a chassis plate, said ear being resiliently urGable toward said wall for passing through a chassis opening and then moving away from said wall to snugly engage the inside of the chassis plate, said housing comprising an element of generally L-shaped cross section having a long end wall perpendicular to a side wall.

5. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 1 wherein said long end wall is formed with parallel grooves for accommodating electrical switches at different depths inside said chassis plate.

6. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 5 and further comprising a short end wall opposite said long end wall formed with parallel grooves therein for accommodating electrical switches at different depths inside said chassis plate.

8. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 7 and further comprising a short end wall opposite each of said long end walls with each of said short and long end walls formed with parallel grooves for accommodating electrical switches at different depths inside said chassis plate.

9. An insertable housing in accordance with claim 4 wherein each corner of said L-shaped elements is formed with a half round boss adjacent to said bezel to facilitate insertion into a slot in said chassis plate.