OPERATOR CONTROL- AND DETECTOR DEVICE HAVING DIFFERENTIATED SIGNAL GENERATION

A command and signaling device responsive to movement of an actuating tappet includes a spring element to which the tappet is operatively connected to compress the spring element in response to movement of the tappet. A plurality of contact pads are defined on the surface of a printed circuit board. The spring element has a conical portion that is mounted on the printed circuit board proximate the contact pads, and a cylindrical part to which the tappet is connected. As the tappet movably advances, it drives the spring element into increasingly compressed positions that are sensed by contact of the spring element conical portion with multiple ones of the contact pads so that the spring element provides monitoring contact in a first compression position, a command and messaging signal in a second compression position and return urgency for return movement of the tappet.