Push button switch assembly with slidable interlocking means preventing simultaneous operation of two or more pushbuttons

Claim 1

A push button switch assembly comprising a housing having a plurality of aligned apertures in one side thereof; contact board means in said housing defining a plurality of electrical terminals; a plurality of aligned push button means disposed on said housing adjacent said contact board means for vertical reciprocating movement between a first position and a second position, each said push button means and contact means selectively making and breaking a circuit between respective electrical terminal pairs, each said push button means comprising a body member disposed internally of said housing and a leg member disposed outside said housing and extending upwardly through a respective housing aperture, said leg member and said aperture defining means foR preventing rotational and axial misalignment of said push button means in said housing, each said push button means further including a lower depending lip means which defines a first camming surface; and a plurality of individual discrete slide transfer means disposed in a line adjacent to one another in said housing beneath said push button means, each of said slide transfer means including an upper extending portion defining a second camming surface having a shape complementary to said first camming surface, said first camming surfaces of said push button means contacting said second camming surface of a slide transfer means and effecting lateral movement thereof when a push button means is displaced from said first position to said second position, said second camming surface of a slide transfer means contacting said first camming surface of other push button means and effecting reciprocal displacement thereof when said slide transfer means is moving laterally, whereby only one push button means can be disposed in said second position at any given time.