Patent US3634805A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US3634805A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Miniature spindle potentiometers and method for producing such potentiometers
Assignee: Steatit Magnesia AG
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Filing: 1970-04-15
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Granted: 1972-01-11
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Expires: 1990-04-15
Abstract
Abstract A miniature spindle potentiometer for disturbance-free operation adjacent and generally parallel to adjacent similar potentiometers has a small-area profile of narrow width approaching the profile and width of its spindle. It is composed of simple components which may be rapidly assembled into complete potentiometers. The potentiometer has a special slotted nut having two nut sections of strong elastic and insulating polymer material which are biased into play-free threaded engagement with a rotatable spindle which moves the nut and a contact spring coupled thereto along the spindle. Elongated resistance and contact tracks extending generally parallel to the spindle and transversely to the potentiometer mounting surface are slidingly engaged by the moving contact spring. The elastic material of the slotted nut causes the nut and spindle threads to glide across and over their engaged threads without damage and wear of the nut threads, even while the nut remains stationary in an end position while the spindle continues to rotate at substantial speed. A Ushaped contact spring has two contact arms which contact the parallel resistance and contact tracks, respectively, and its sheet junction section is coupled to the moving nut by interfitting coupling projections and recesses. Thus, the nut has at least one pin projection which enters into a corresponding recess or opening in the sheet junction section of the U-shaped contact spring. All components are of simple shape which make possible their rapid production and assembly on a mass production basis into completed potentiometers. The slotted nut of elastic material enables assembly of all potentiometer components except the spindle within a plastic polymer housing. The threaded spindle is thereafter inserted into the housing and into threaded engagement with the inwardly biased threads of the slot-separated nut sections. The exterior end of the spindle which passes through a passage in a transverse housing wall is surrounded by a housing extension which forms with this exterior spindle end a labyrinthine packing which suppresses entry of dust and other contaminants into the housing interior.
Inventors
- 👤 Fritz Jestrzemski
- 👤 Dieter Korbus
- 👤 Gerhard Schulze
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 08:17
CPC Classifications
H; H01; H01C; H01C10/00; H01C10/30; H01C10/38; H01C10/40; Y; Y10; Y10T; Y10T29/00; Y10T29/49; Y10T29/49002; Y10T29/49082
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
338 words
A narrow elongated spindle potentiometer having a mounting surface affixable to an electrical device, an elongated resistance track extending generally transversely to said mounting surface, an elongated spindle having exterior threads and extending generally parallel to said track, a nut structure having two nut sections separated by a slot with each nut section having inward threads engaging said exterior spindle threads and moved by rotation of said spindle between spaced end stations along said spindle, a contact structure having contact elements slidably engaging said resistance track and connected to and moved by said nut structure along said track, said nut structure containing insulating elements and also elastic nut elements elastically biasing said inward nut threads into engagement with said spindle threads; said elastic elements biasing said inward nut threads into engagement with said exterior spindle threads and causing said spindle threads and said nut threads to glide over each other under relative axial movement between said nut structure and said spindle; said nut structure having the property of maintaining the shape of said inward nut threads after many repeated axial gliding movements of said inward nut threads and said spindle threads over each other; said spindle and said resistance track extending adjacent each other at different spacings from said mounting surface and being confined within a narrow profile approaching the width of said spindle with said movable nut structure seated thereon; an elongated housing enclosing said spindle with said nut structure and said resistance track and having side walls extending along their said narrow profile; said housing having a transverse wall with a passage through which said spindle is inserted into the interior of said housing and axially into engagement with the inward threads of said nut structure; said spindle having a spindle end region extending through said transverse wall passage to the exterior of said housing, said transverse housing wall having a housing extension surrounding the spindle end region and constituting with said spindle end region a labyrinthine packing suppressing entry of contaminants into the housing interior.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
338 words
A narrow elongated spindle potentiometer having a mounting surface affixable to an electrical device, an elongated resistance track extending generally transversely to said mounting surface, an elongated spindle having exterior threads and extending generally parallel to said track, a nut structure having two nut sections separated by a slot with each nut section having inward threads engaging said exterior spindle threads and moved by rotation of said spindle between spaced end stations along said spindle, a contact structure having contact elements slidably engaging said resistance track and connected to and moved by said nut structure along said track, said nut structure containing insulating elements and also elastic nut elements elastically biasing said inward nut threads into engagement with said spindle threads; said elastic elements biasing said inward nut threads into engagement with said exterior spindle threads and causing said spindle threads and said nut threads to glide over each other under relative axial movement between said nut structure and said spindle; said nut structure having the property of maintaining the shape of said inward nut threads after many repeated axial gliding movements of said inward nut threads and said spindle threads over each other; said spindle and said resistance track extending adjacent each other at different spacings from said mounting surface and being confined within a narrow profile approaching the width of said spindle with said movable nut structure seated thereon; an elongated housing enclosing said spindle with said nut structure and said resistance track and having side walls extending along their said narrow profile; said housing having a transverse wall with a passage through which said spindle is inserted into the interior of said housing and axially into engagement with the inward threads of said nut structure; said spindle having a spindle end region extending through said transverse wall passage to the exterior of said housing, said transverse housing wall having a housing extension surrounding the spindle end region and constituting with said spindle end region a labyrinthine packing suppressing entry of contaminants into the housing interior.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
68 words
A spindle potentiometer as claimed in claim 1, said contact structure comprising a U-shaped sheet structure of electrically conducting spring material, said nut structure having a coupling projection extending toward said contact structure, said contact sheet structure having a coupling sheet section with a coupling recess fitting in coupling engagement with said coupling projection and causing said contact structure to move with said nut structure along said spindle.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
30 words
A spindle potentiometer as claimed in claim 1, said contact structure being a U-shaped sheet of spring material having contact elements biased into sliding contact engagement with said resistance track.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
42 words
A spindle potentiometer as claimed in claim 1, said potentiometer also comprising an elongated contact track extending generally parallel to said resistance track within said housing and at a spacing corresponding to the spacing of said resistance track from said mounting surface.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
290 words
The method of producing a spindle potentiometer having i. an elongated threaded spindle along the interior of one wall of an elongated housing having a profile of minimum area and of a width approaching the width of said spindle, and comprising further ii. a nut of strong elastic polymer material having two nut sections separated by a slot and elastically biased into threaded engagement with and movement along said spindle in response to spindle rotation, iii. an elongated resistance track and an elongated electrically conducting contacT track extending adjacent and parallel to each other and to said spindle and transversely to said one wall within said housing, and iv. a U-shaped contact spring moved by said nut and formed of elastic, electrically conducting sheet material having opposite contact arms biased into sliding engagement with said resistance and contact tracks; said method comprising a. forming said one wall with said resistance track and said contact track extending transversely to and along the interior of said one wall, b. thereafter seating said contact spring with said opposite contact arms astride of said two tracks and in engagement with said two tracks, and with said nut seated and coupled to an intermediate section of said contact spring, c. thereafter positioning the remainder of said housing over the interior of said one wall and around said above specified elements (ii), (iii) and (iv) assembled along said one wall, and d. thereafter pushing said elongated spindle into the interior of said housing, and into threaded engagement with and between said two nut sections while held along said two tracks, and e. thereafter bonding the borders of said one wall and said remainder of said housing to each other to close said housing along said borders.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
290 words
The method of producing a spindle potentiometer having i. an elongated threaded spindle along the interior of one wall of an elongated housing having a profile of minimum area and of a width approaching the width of said spindle, and comprising further ii. a nut of strong elastic polymer material having two nut sections separated by a slot and elastically biased into threaded engagement with and movement along said spindle in response to spindle rotation, iii. an elongated resistance track and an elongated electrically conducting contacT track extending adjacent and parallel to each other and to said spindle and transversely to said one wall within said housing, and iv. a U-shaped contact spring moved by said nut and formed of elastic, electrically conducting sheet material having opposite contact arms biased into sliding engagement with said resistance and contact tracks; said method comprising a. forming said one wall with said resistance track and said contact track extending transversely to and along the interior of said one wall, b. thereafter seating said contact spring with said opposite contact arms astride of said two tracks and in engagement with said two tracks, and with said nut seated and coupled to an intermediate section of said contact spring, c. thereafter positioning the remainder of said housing over the interior of said one wall and around said above specified elements (ii), (iii) and (iv) assembled along said one wall, and d. thereafter pushing said elongated spindle into the interior of said housing, and into threaded engagement with and between said two nut sections while held along said two tracks, and e. thereafter bonding the borders of said one wall and said remainder of said housing to each other to close said housing along said borders.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
278 words
The method of producing a spindle potentiometer having i. an elongated threaded spindle along the interior of one wall of an elongated housing having a profile of minimum area and of a width approaching the width of said spindle, and comprising further ii. a nut of strong elastic polymer material having two nut sections separated by a slot and elastically biased into threaded engagement with and movement along said spindle in response to spindle rotation, iii. an elongated resistance track and an elongated electrically conducting contact track held adjacent and parallel to each other and to said spindle and transversely to said one wall within said housing, and iv. a U-shaped contact spring moved by said nut and formed of elastic, electrically conducting sheet material having opposite contact arms biased into sliding engagement with said resistance and contact tracks; said method comprising a. producing said one wall of insulating material with at least two opposite sets of elongated, strong and elastic connectors extending from and transversely to said one wall, b. thereafter inserting said parallel resistance and contact tracks between and into engagement with said opposite sets of connectors, c. thereafter seating said contact spring with said opposite contact arms astride and over and in engagement with said resistance and contact tracks and coupling said nut to said contact spring, and d. thereafter positioning the remainder of said housing over the interior of said one wall around and over said above specified elements (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), e. and thereafter pushing said spindle through a housing wall into the operative position in the interior of said housing and into threaded engagement with and between said nut sections.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
278 words
The method of producing a spindle potentiometer having i. an elongated threaded spindle along the interior of one wall of an elongated housing having a profile of minimum area and of a width approaching the width of said spindle, and comprising further ii. a nut of strong elastic polymer material having two nut sections separated by a slot and elastically biased into threaded engagement with and movement along said spindle in response to spindle rotation, iii. an elongated resistance track and an elongated electrically conducting contact track held adjacent and parallel to each other and to said spindle and transversely to said one wall within said housing, and iv. a U-shaped contact spring moved by said nut and formed of elastic, electrically conducting sheet material having opposite contact arms biased into sliding engagement with said resistance and contact tracks; said method comprising a. producing said one wall of insulating material with at least two opposite sets of elongated, strong and elastic connectors extending from and transversely to said one wall, b. thereafter inserting said parallel resistance and contact tracks between and into engagement with said opposite sets of connectors, c. thereafter seating said contact spring with said opposite contact arms astride and over and in engagement with said resistance and contact tracks and coupling said nut to said contact spring, and d. thereafter positioning the remainder of said housing over the interior of said one wall around and over said above specified elements (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), e. and thereafter pushing said spindle through a housing wall into the operative position in the interior of said housing and into threaded engagement with and between said nut sections.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
75 words
The method of producing a potentiometer as claimed in claim 6, said method comprising, after step (d), the further step of d-1. testing the operation of the potentiometer components (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) assembled in said housing and, after step (e), the further step of f. thereafter bonding the borders of said one wall and of said remainder of said housing into a joint suppressing entry of dust into the interior of said housing.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1975-01-10 | 1975-07-12 | 1976-01-11 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1979-01-10 | 1979-07-12 | 1980-01-11 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1983-01-10 | 1983-07-12 | 1984-01-11 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |