Rocker switch

Claim 1

A rocker switch comprising: a housing having a cavity defined by opposite, longitudinally extending side walls and a base which mounts a pair of longitudinally spaced apart central and end contacts which each have transversely extending stationary contact surfaces; a longitudinally extending sliding contact including a central cam portion, and oppositely and upwardly inclined end ramps having transversely extending sliding contact surfaces slidable over and complementally engagable upon the stationary contact surfaces, respectively, the sliding contact also including side portions located adjacent the housing side walls to longitudinally align the sliding contact in the housing cavity, the sliding contact further including a load distribution and pivot means transversely extending between and mounted to the side portions of the sliding contact, the sliding contact being characterized by a first switch position in which the cam portion lies between the central and end contacts, and below the contact surface of the central contact, with the ramps engaged upon the central and end contacts, respectively, and further characterized by a second switch position in which the ramp which engaged the end contact in the first switch position is engaged upon the central contact; an operator rocker mounted in the housing for pivotal movement about a transverse axis and including an actuable portion located exteriorly of the housing, and further including an elongated shaft portion extending interiorly of the housing and terminating in a lower extremity having an elongated, transversely oriented slot which receives the pivot means for pivotal movement about a transverse axis and for slidable movement in the slot along the longitudinal axis of the elongated shaft portion; and a compression spring carried by the shaft portion of the rocker and bearing against the pivot means to carry the bias of the spring to both side portions of the sliding contact and thereby assure good electrical contact across the full width of the contact surfaces of the end ramps, the actuable portion of the rocker being operable to pivot the rocker shaft portion in opposite directions for sliding the cam portion across the central contact to move the sliding contact between its first and second switch positions, the pivotal and slidable movement of the pivot means relative to the rocker shaft portion enabling free pivoting and raising and lowering of the sliding contact cam portion as it moves across the stationary contact.