There is disclosed a paddle switch operated by pushing on the lower
portion of a rocker paddle to turn the switch "on" or "off". The lower
edge of the paddle pivots in and out about its upper edge. The switch
includes flexible driver means coupled to be driven by the rocker paddle.
When the rocker paddle is pushed in, it urges the flexible driver means
to rotate a cam means in a first, clock wise direction, or a second,
counter clock wise direction. Alternate rotation of the cam drives a
slider member having a cam follower back and forth along a linear axis. A
shaped leaf spring cooperates with the cam follower to assist in the
movement of the slider and determines its rest positions. An indicator
such as an LED is used to indicate the state of conduction of the switch.
When the rocker paddle is released, it is biased by a spring to pivot
back to its initial position. The rocker paddle of the switch is not
located within a frame and has a surface along its vertical axis of
positive first differential and zero second differential, comprised of a
combination of splines which extend between points of varying distances
from a datum plane. This surface has zero second differential when the
rate of height increase of individual splines is constant