CN111292991B

CN111292991B - Reinforced press key

Info

Publication number: CN111292991B
Application number: CN201910914537.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄奇聪; 林鉊鑫; 唐深军
Original assignee: Solid Year Co Ltd
Current assignee: Solid Year Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-07
Filing date: 2019-09-25
Publication date: 2023-01-20
Anticipated expiration: 2039-09-25
Also published as: CN111292991A

Abstract

The invention discloses a reinforced key, which comprises a keycap, wherein the keycap is arranged above an elastic piece, the keycap is provided with a top surface and a bottom surface, the bottom surface of the keycap is provided with a reinforcing piece, the reinforcing piece is provided with an outer surface and an abutting part arranged on the outer surface, the abutting part is provided with a contact surface sunken in the outer surface, the outer surface faces the elastic piece, the elastic piece extends into the abutting part, so that the contact surface directly abuts against the elastic piece, and the keycap and the reinforcing piece can drive the elastic piece to repeatedly touch a circuit switch.

Description

Reinforced key

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of keys, in particular to a reinforced key with a thin overall structure and good rigidity.

Background

As the notebook computer is increasingly lighter and thinner in overall design, computer manufacturers must keep setting more functional electronic circuit components in a very narrow internal space, and must still have the same function, even exert better functions than before, to meet the consumer needs and market preferences.

Taking a keyboard for a notebook computer as an example, a conventional keyboard can be classified into a mechanical keyboard and a membrane keyboard, and if an intuitive and stable key feedback feeling and a comfortable and long-lasting typing experience are required, a user prefers to use the mechanical keyboard.

In order to make the aforementioned keyboards capable of meeting the design requirements of the notebook computer for being light, thin, small and small, the keyboard design not only needs to reduce the height of each component of the keyboard, but also can reduce the actuation stroke of each key of the keyboard, or changes the pressing actuation relationship between the keys and the silica gel elastic piece into a prepressing state, thereby meeting the requirement of reducing the height of the whole keyboard.

Under the condition that the actuating stroke of the conventional scissor-type key can be reduced to 0.8mm and the design is continuously and actively carried out towards less actuating stroke, how to meet the design conditions of reducing the structure height and the actuating stroke and also consider the structure rigidity of the whole key is an important issue in the design of the keyboard, particularly aiming at strengthening the special key with larger length-width ratio.

For example, in the key switch device and the keyboard disclosed in CN104124091B, the reinforcing plate 200 is disposed on the back surface 112 of the key top 104 shown in fig. 9 to increase the structural rigidity, and the central portion of the reinforcing plate 200 includes a central hole 208, the central hole 208 is formed at a position corresponding to the biasing portion 134 (i.e., the above-mentioned silicone elastic member) of the switch mechanism 110, and the biasing portion 134 can pass through the central hole 208 of the reinforcing plate 200 to directly contact and pre-press the back surface 112 of the key 104. Like the key structure disclosed in CN105655180A, the key cap 3 is also provided with a reinforcing plate 7 on the bottom surface thereof, the reinforcing plate 7 has a through hole 71 and is hollow, and the silicone elastic member directly contacts and pre-presses the bottom surface of the key cap 3 through the through hole 71. However, after the aforesaid keys are tested in environment, the two sides of the keys often cannot move integrally when being pressed, so that the pressed keys cannot make the bias portion 134 or the silicon elastic element normally pressed to turn on the circuit switch or cause a complete non-conduction phenomenon.

In addition, as disclosed in the CN201029081Y new patent, the key cap structure is provided with a strengthening component disposed on the bottom surface of the key cap for strengthening the key cap. However, if the thickness of above-mentioned enhancement subassembly is too thin can't reach the reinforcement effect, and if thickness is too thick, will cause the pressure of pre-compaction in silica gel elastic component too big, silica gel elastic component easily surpasss the stroke position that the section fell the point of falling for the operation produces the bad or not have the problem that the paragraph felt, seriously influences the life of silica gel elastic component moreover. In summary, the conventional key has many design problems and challenges to be overcome.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a reinforced key, which has a better overall structural rigidity, is suitable for a thin keyboard, and maintains the pressing and conducting quality of the key while giving a better operation feeling.

In order to achieve the above object, the reinforced key of the present invention comprises a key cap disposed above an elastic member, the key cap having a top surface and a bottom surface, the reinforced key is characterized in that the bottom surface of the key cap is provided with a reinforcement member having an outer surface and an abutting portion disposed on the outer surface, the abutting portion has a contact surface recessed in the outer surface, the outer surface faces the elastic member, the elastic member extends into the abutting portion, so that the contact surface directly abuts against the elastic member, and the key cap and the reinforcement member can drive the elastic member to repeatedly contact a circuit switch.

The details of the present invention, its components and modes of operation will be described in the following detailed description of embodiments. However, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the specific embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Drawings

The features and advantages of the present invention will be further described and understood with reference to the following drawings and embodiments, but not to limit the scope of the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing another angular position;

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2, showing generally another embodiment of a reinforcement member;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 and showing generally another embodiment of a reinforcement member;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective assembly view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a partial perspective view of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing primarily the stationary portion;

FIG. 11 is a top view of a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing primarily the underside of the keycap;

FIG. 12 is a partial cross-sectional view of a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is an exploded perspective view of a fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

It should be noted that the enhanced keys provided by the present invention can be widely applied to various types of keyboards, such as membrane keys or mechanical keys, and those skilled in the art should understand that the constituent elements, descriptive terms, and the like in the present embodiment are all described in an upper form without limiting specific elements or technical fields, and the quantitative term "a" or "an" includes one or more than one of a plurality of element quantities.

As shown in fig. 1, fig. 2 and fig. 3, the reinforced key according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention mainly includes a key cap 10 and a reinforcement 20, the key cap 10 is disposed above an elastic member 30, the elastic member 30 of the preferred embodiment is a silicone elastic member, for example, the reinforced key according to the present invention is disposed above a keyboard base 18, the base 18 is further provided with a circuit switch 40, an elastic member 30, and a scissors-type connecting mechanism 17 connecting the reinforced key and the base 18, so that the key cap 10 and the reinforcement 20 can press the elastic member 30 to repeatedly contact the circuit switch 40.

The key cap 10 has a top surface 12 and a bottom surface 14, the bottom surface of the key cap 10 of the enhanced key is provided with a reinforcement 20, the reinforcement 20 of the preferred embodiment is a long plate body, and the rigidity of the material is greater than that of the key cap 10, such as various metal plates as examples. As shown in fig. 2 and 3, a portion of the stiffener 20 corresponding to the elastic element 30 has an outer surface 22 and an inner surface 24, a first thickness T1 is formed between the outer surface 22 and the inner surface 24, the outer surface 22 is provided with an abutting portion 26, the abutting portion 26 has an edge 50, an inner wall surface 52 disposed along the edge 50, and a contact surface 28 disposed inside the edge 50 and the inner wall surface 52. The edge 50 of the preferred embodiment is formed by a closed curve, the edge 50 is formed directly on the outer surface 22, the edge 50 of the abutment portion 26 is spaced from the outer edge of the stiffener 20, the inner wall 52 extends from the edge 50 toward the inner surface 24 and surrounds the contact surface 28 to form the contact surface 28 recessed in the outer surface 22, and more specifically, the stiffener 20 has at least one long-side edge 42 and at least one short-side edge 46, and the spacing distance D1 between the edge 50 and the long-side edge 42 of the abutment portion 26 is smaller than the spacing distance D2 between the edge 50 and the short-side edge 46 of the abutment portion 26. A second thickness T2 is formed between the contact surface 28 and the inner surface 24, the second thickness T2 is smaller than the first thickness T1, an inner wall surface 52 between the outer surface 22 and the contact surface 28 may be vertical or inclined, the outer surface 22 faces the elastic member 30, and the elastic member 30 extends into the abutting portion 26 of the outer surface 22 of the reinforcement member 20 to directly press against the contact surface 28.

Because the elastic member 30 extends into the abutting portion 26 recessed in the outer surface 22 of the reinforcement 20 and then directly abuts against the contact surface 28, the reinforcement 20 can increase the overall strength of the key cap 10 by utilizing the material characteristics of itself, the elastic member 30 abuts against the contact surface 28 recessed in the reinforcement 20, the elastic member 30 does not contact the key cap 10, and the elastic force of the elastic member 30 does not generate a deformation phenomenon on the key cap 10 in the environmental test process.

The reinforcement member 20 of the preferred embodiment is illustrated as a one-piece plate, and the opposing face of the outer surface 22 is also illustrated as a flat surface, and the opposing face of the contact surface 28 may alternatively be at approximately the same height as the opposing face of the outer surface 22, or the opposing face of the contact surface 28 may alternatively protrude beyond the opposing face of the outer surface 22 as shown in FIG. 5.

It should be noted that, in addition to the single-piece plate body, as shown in fig. 6, 7 and 8, the reinforcement 20 may further include a first coupling member 21 and a second coupling member 27, the first coupling member 21 has a through hole 23, the second coupling member 27 has an abutting portion 26, the second coupling member 27 is disposed on the first coupling member 21, the abutting portion 26 is located at a position corresponding to the through hole 23, and the elastic member can be pressed by a contact surface 28 inside the abutting portion 26 to achieve the technical features of the present invention. Alternatively, the thickness between the contact surface 28 and the inner surface 24 of the abutment portion 26 of the second bonding member 27 may be smaller than the thickness between the outer surface 22 and the inner surface 24 of the first bonding member 21. The first connecting member 21 and the second connecting member 27 can be made of metal or a combination of plastic and metal depending on the usage status, and it is within the scope of the present invention to have a thinner overall height. As shown in fig. 11 and 12, the bottom surface 14 of the key cap 10 may be provided with a recess 11, the recess 11 corresponds to the abutting portion 26 of the reinforcement 20, the abutting portion 26 extends into the recess 11, and the position of the contact surface 28 relative to the key cap 10 may be selectively equal to, higher than, or lower than the height of the bottom surface 14 of the key cap 10.

In order to increase the structural strength of the reinforcing member 20 without increasing the thickness of the reinforcing member 20, as shown in fig. 4, the extending portions 25 may be respectively disposed at two opposite edges of the reinforcing member 20, the extending portions 25 of the preferred embodiment are disposed at two long edges of the reinforcing member 20, and the extending portions may be disposed at two short edges or four edges of the reinforcing member. If the extending portions 25 extend from the reinforcement 20 toward the elastic member 30, the inner surface 24 of the reinforcement 20 may be disposed on the bottom surface 14 of the key cap 10. Alternatively, as shown in fig. 5, the extension 25 extends from the reinforcement 20 toward the key cap 10, the inner surface 24 of the reinforcement 20 may be disposed on the rib 16 on the bottom surface of the key cap 10, and the opposite surface of the contact surface 28 may be flush with or protrude from the inner surface 24. Alternatively, the material of the reinforcing member 20 may be metal or plastic material with better strength according to the structural strength.

As shown in fig. 9, the fixing portion 19 is directly disposed on the bottom surface 14 of the key cap 10, the fixing portion 19 of the preferred embodiment is a heat-fused column as an example, and the reinforcing member 20 and the key cap 10 may be bonded by gluing, hooking, or the like. As shown in fig. 10, the fixing portion 19 of the bottom surface 14 of the key cap 10 may be rectangular, circular, or oblong, and a chamfer may be provided at the front end of the fixing portion 19 to facilitate the installation of the reinforcement 20.

As shown in fig. 11, a concave 11 may be formed on the bottom surface 14 of the key cap 10 corresponding to the abutting portion 26, the inner wall surface of the concave 11 may be vertical or inclined as shown in fig. 12, and the height of the contact surface 28 of the abutting portion 26 may be equal to, higher than, or lower than the bottom surface 14.

As shown in fig. 13, in order to match various processing processes, for example, to improve the processing quality and the ease of manufacturing of the reinforcement 20 by stamping, the abutting portion 26 of the reinforcement 20 may be in a cross shape or other similar sheet-like forms having openings, so that the abutting portion 26 also has a contact surface 28 capable of pressing against the elastic member, and further has the technical features and effects of the present invention.

Through the above components of the present invention, the key cap 10, in combination with the reinforcement 20, not only increases the overall rigidity strength of the key, but also the abutting portion 26 concavely disposed on the reinforcement 20 further enables the contact surface 28 to abut against the elastic member 30, so as to maintain the structural rigidity without increasing the overall height of the key, and more importantly, the contact surface 28 of the abutting portion 26 has a lower pressure in pre-pressing on the elastic member 30, so that the reinforcement 20 of the present invention does not cause the pre-pressing force of the key to be too large, so that the elastic member 30 of the present invention can still maintain a good characteristic curve, so that the present invention can be applied to thin keys, and can also meet various mechanical and performance quality specifications, thereby achieving the purpose of the present invention.

Claims

1. A kind of enhancement type key set, include a key cap, the said key cap locates an elastic component, the said key cap has a top surface and a bottom surface, the bottom surface of the said key cap has a reinforcement, characterized by that the said reinforcement has an external surface and an internal surface, the said external surface has a butt portion corresponding to the said elastic component, the said butt portion has a contact surface sunken in the said external surface, the said external surface faces the said elastic component, the said elastic component extends into the said butt portion, thus make the said contact surface support and press the said elastic component directly, the said key cap and said reinforcement can drive the said elastic component to contact and open a circuit switch repeatedly;

the abutting part comprises an edge and an inner wall surface arranged along the edge, the contact surface is positioned inside the edge and the inner wall surface, the edge is formed on the outer surface, the inner wall surface extends from the edge to the inner surface direction and surrounds the contact surface, and then the contact surface is recessed on the outer surface;

the reinforcing piece is provided with a long edge outer edge and a short edge outer edge;

the distance between the edge of the abutting part and the outer edge of the long side is smaller than the distance between the edge of the abutting part and the outer edge of the short side.

2. The ruggedized key of claim 1, wherein the stiffener is made of a material that is more rigid than the keycap.

3. The ruggedized key of claim 1, wherein a back of the contact face protrudes from the inner face.

4. The enhanced key of claim 1, wherein the reinforcement member has at least one extension portion, and the extension portion can extend from the reinforcement member toward the elastic member or the key cap.

5. The ruggedized key of claim 1, wherein the stiffener includes a first engaging member and a second engaging member, the second engaging member having the abutting portion, the second engaging member being disposed on the first engaging member.

6. The ruggedized key of claim 1, wherein a contact surface of the abutment can be positioned flush, above, or below the bottom surface relative to the keycap.

7. The reinforced key of claim 1, wherein a dimple is formed on the bottom surface of the key cap corresponding to the abutting portion, and the inner wall surface of the dimple can be vertical or inclined.

8. The ruggedized key of claim 1, wherein the stiffener is disposed to a rib of the keycap.

9. The ruggedized key of claim 1, wherein the abutting portion of the stiffener has an opening, the abutting portion having the contact surface that abuts against the elastic member.

10. The enhanced key of claim 1, disposed above a keyboard substrate, the keyboard substrate having a circuit switch, an elastic member, and a scissors linkage connecting the enhanced key and the substrate, such that the key cap and the reinforcement member press the elastic member to repeatedly contact the circuit switch.

11. The ruggedized key of claim 1, wherein the outer surface and the inner surface have a first thickness therebetween, and the contact surface and the inner surface have a second thickness therebetween, the first thickness being greater than the second thickness.

12. A ruggedized key as recited in claim 1, wherein edges of the abutting portion are formed from closed curves.