Electronic foot pedal

Claim 1

A foot pedal assembly for generating an electrical signal which is representative of the angular position of a pedal comprising: a base having a track; a pedal having upper and lower sides, said pedal pivotally mounted above said base and adapted to be pivoted toward and away from said track; a lever arm having upper and lower ends, the upper end pivotably mounted on the lower side of said pedal, said lever arm including a bearing means at the lower end of the lever arm, said bearing means engaging said track and being forced to move between a depressed and an idle position along said track upon respective pivotal movement of the pedal toward and away from said track; a potentiometer carried on one of said lever arm and pedal which is responsive to the relative pivoting movement therebetween for generating an electrical signal representative of the angular position of said pedal; spring biasing means biasing said lever arm toward the idle position, said spring biasing means having a pre-loaded condition in said idle position, and a stop member mounted on said pedal for engaging the lever arm and stopping the spring biasing movement of the lever arm at said idle position, said stop member being removably mounted to said pedal whereby the lever arm and spring biasing means can be mounted to said pedal with the stop member removed and with the spring biasing means in an unloaded condition to be thereafter pivoted past the idle position and toward said depressed position for mounting the stop member to the pedal.