Sealed, sliding-cursor potentiometer or conductor tapping device - has flexible elastic skirts which enclose parallel conductor rails and are deformable in vicinity of cursor to permit contact

摘要

Two parallel conducting bars, which may be resistors, are connected by a sliding cursor. The conductors are held in an insulating container with a close-fitting lid. Two parallel V-shaped tongues run longitudinally along the container base and, in their normal position, press against the container base and lid forming a seal which encloses the conductors and thus protects them. The tongues are made of a resilient, flexible, elastic material which may be insulating or, if coated or made from metal, allow the container base and lid to be electrically connected to provide an improved earthing arrangement. The cursor runs on guiding ribs. It has a deflecting plate inclined at a shallow angle to the rails which flattens the tongues in the vicinity of the cursor without causing an abrupt flexing of the material. A central control rod allows the cursor to be locked in a fixed position.