Patent 8039769 was granted and assigned to DEERE & COMPANY on October, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The invention concerns an armrest mounted joystick for communication of operator initiated control signals to a vehicle controller. A plurality of switches require that the operator be safely located in the operation position in order for the control signals to reach the vehicle controller. Only when all of the switches change state, at substantially the same time, does the joystick either activate or de-activate, in response.