GB2195102A - Method of making a key switching device - Google Patents

Method of making a key switching device Download PDF

Info

Publication number
GB2195102A
GB2195102A GB08718504A GB8718504A GB2195102A GB 2195102 A GB2195102 A GB 2195102A GB 08718504 A GB08718504 A GB 08718504A GB 8718504 A GB8718504 A GB 8718504A GB 2195102 A GB2195102 A GB 2195102A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
key
mat
switching device
bodies
contact
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB08718504A
Other versions
GB8718504D0 (en
Inventor
Gunter Tessendorf
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Schoeller and Co Elektrotecnische Fabrik GmbH and Co
Original Assignee
Schoeller and Co Elektrotecnische Fabrik GmbH and Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Schoeller and Co Elektrotecnische Fabrik GmbH and Co filed Critical Schoeller and Co Elektrotecnische Fabrik GmbH and Co
Publication of GB8718504D0 publication Critical patent/GB8718504D0/en
Publication of GB2195102A publication Critical patent/GB2195102A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H13/00Switches having rectilinearly-movable operating part or parts adapted for pushing or pulling in one direction only, e.g. push-button switch
    • H01H13/70Switches having rectilinearly-movable operating part or parts adapted for pushing or pulling in one direction only, e.g. push-button switch having a plurality of operating members associated with different sets of contacts, e.g. keyboard
    • H01H13/78Switches having rectilinearly-movable operating part or parts adapted for pushing or pulling in one direction only, e.g. push-button switch having a plurality of operating members associated with different sets of contacts, e.g. keyboard characterised by the contacts or the contact sites
    • H01H13/785Switches having rectilinearly-movable operating part or parts adapted for pushing or pulling in one direction only, e.g. push-button switch having a plurality of operating members associated with different sets of contacts, e.g. keyboard characterised by the contacts or the contact sites characterised by the material of the contacts, e.g. conductive polymers
    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29CSHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C45/00Injection moulding, i.e. forcing the required volume of moulding material through a nozzle into a closed mould; Apparatus therefor
    • B29C45/16Making multilayered or multicoloured articles
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H13/00Switches having rectilinearly-movable operating part or parts adapted for pushing or pulling in one direction only, e.g. push-button switch
    • H01H13/70Switches having rectilinearly-movable operating part or parts adapted for pushing or pulling in one direction only, e.g. push-button switch having a plurality of operating members associated with different sets of contacts, e.g. keyboard
    • H01H13/702Switches having rectilinearly-movable operating part or parts adapted for pushing or pulling in one direction only, e.g. push-button switch having a plurality of operating members associated with different sets of contacts, e.g. keyboard with contacts carried by or formed from layers in a multilayer structure, e.g. membrane switches
    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29LINDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS B29C, RELATING TO PARTICULAR ARTICLES
    • B29L2031/00Other particular articles
    • B29L2031/46Knobs or handles, push-buttons, grips
    • B29L2031/466Keypads, keytops
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H2201/00Contacts
    • H01H2201/022Material
    • H01H2201/032Conductive polymer; Rubber
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H2209/00Layers
    • H01H2209/002Materials
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H2215/00Tactile feedback
    • H01H2215/004Collapsible dome or bubble
    • H01H2215/008Part of substrate or membrane
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H2221/00Actuators
    • H01H2221/002Actuators integral with membrane
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01HELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H2229/00Manufacturing
    • H01H2229/044Injection moulding
    • H01H2229/046Multi-colour or double shot injection moulding

Abstract

A key switching device is produced in that hard key bodies (5) on the one hand and electrically conducting contact capsules (3) on the other hand are formed on a flexible key mat (1). To simplify the manufacture, the key mat with key body and the contact capsules of thermoplastics materials are injection moulded in a multi-stage manufacturing process inside a plastics injection mould and firmly bonded together. The key body is made of plastics material; the key mat of a thermoplastic elastomer and the contact capsule of a thermoplastic elastomer containing electrical conducting additives. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Method of making a key switching device This invention relates to a method of making a key switching device.
Such a device is known wherein a flexible elastic key mat carries, on the one hand, hard key bodies which are made from plastics material, especially PBTP (polybutylene terephthalate) moulding compounds or PETP-(polye- thylene terephthalate)-modified moulding compounds, and, on the other hand, contact capsules which can be contacted with contact surfaces and are made from a material similar to that of the key mat but electrically conducting.
In the literature source Markt & Technik ("Market & Engineering"), number 4 of 28.01.1983, page 20, key mats of silicone rubber are described. These are connected by hot vulcanisation with contact capsules, which are of a rubber which has been made electrically conducting by admixing of amorphous carbons. It is possible so to mould the key mats that the key bodies are themselves formed from the silicon rubber. Such key bodies are, however, scarcely suitable for keyboards of typewriters or data input devices. In these cases, separately manufactured key bodies of PBTP-(polybutylene terephthala te)-moulding compounds or PETP (polyethylene terephthalate)-modified moulding compounds are placed upon the key mat.Such key bodies of PBTP-(polybutylene terephtha late)-moulding compounds of PETP-(polye- thylene terephthalate) modified moulding compounds have the advantage that they are sufficiently hard, wear-resistant, dimensionally stable to manufacture and can be easily printed or made multi-coloured.
In DE-OS 30 45 962, a keyboard is described, wherein the key mat is of polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride or rubber-elastic elastomers, preferably silicone rubber. Conventional key bodies of PBTP-(polybutylene terephthalate)-moulding compounds or PETP-(polyethylene terephtha late)-modified moulding compounds are not disclosed in that patent specification.
If a key switching device is manufactured from a key mat and separate key bodies, then special measures must be taken for connecting and aligning the key bodies with the key mat. This makes construction expensive and assembly complicated.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of making a key switching device, wherein a flexible elastic key mat carried hard key bodies which are made of plastics material and contact capsules, which can be contacted with contact surfaces and are made from a material similar to that of the key mat but electrically conducting, wherein the key mat is made from a thermoplastic elastomer, the contact capsules also are made from a thermoplastic elastomer, which has been made electrically conducting by additives, and the mouldings constituting the key bodies, the key mat and the contact capsules are firmly bonded to one another in a multi-stage manufacturing process inside a plastics injection mould.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a key switching device that has been made essentially by the method defined in the preceding paragraph.
Thermoplastic polyester-elastomers (polyether esters) are commercially known, for example, by the name Hytrel. The basis of such a thermoplastic elastomer is polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG) and 1.4 butane diol and terephthalic acid. By adjusting the relative proportions of these substances, differing hardnesses and elasticities can be obtained. Since, in spite of the variations in the relative components, the substances belong to one polymer group, they readily form a permanent bond with one another.
A further thermoplastic elastomer is known commercially by the name PEBAX. Here, by chemical procedures, by the deliberate choice of flexible polyether segments and stiff polyether segments, the positive properties and easy workability of the thermoplastics are combined with the flexibility of the elastomers.
Different hardnesses or flexibilities can be obtained.
The polybutylene terephthalate moulding compounds or the modified polyethylene terephthalate moulding compounds, from which the key bodies are to be moulded, are so adjusted in composition that the key bodies become hard in the usual manner. The thermoplastic elastomer, from which the key mat is to be made, is so adjusted and processed that the key mat becomes flexibly elastic. The thermoplastic elastomer, from which the contact capsules are to be made, is made conducting by electrically conducting additives, for example carbon black, or carbon black substitutes. It is of especial advantage that the mouldings consisting of the chemically like elastomers and constituting the key bodies, the key mat and the contact capsules, combine to form a one-piece whole.
For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawing, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional view of part of a switching device, and Figure 2 is a plan view of the switching device shown in Figure 1.
A plurality of key domes 2 is formed on a flexible key mat 1. The key mat is electrically non-conducting. Inside on each key dome 2, a contact capsule 3 is provided, which, in a fully assembled keyboard, is above two conductors of a base plate, not shown. The two conductors can be electrically connected with each other by the electrically conducting contact capsule 3, when the key dome 2 is pressed down.
A cylindrical neck 4 is integrally formed at the top of the key dome 2. This continues into a key body 5 of substantially rectangular form in plan (see Figure 2). The key body 5 possesses a peripheral rim 6, which engages over the neck 4 and has a shape well-known in typewriter keys. By pressure upon the key body 5, the flexible, elastic key dome 2 responds, causing its contact capsule 3 to connect together the aforementioned conductors.
After the key body 5 has been released, the key dome 2 resets the key body 5.
The key body 5 is hard compared with the key mat 1, not only because the wall thicknesses in the region of the key body 5 are larger than that of the key mat 1, but also because the material in the-region of the key body 5 is harder than that of the key mat 1.
The key body 5 is printed with appropriate symbols or made in two-colour injection moulding.
The making of the described key switching device is carried out generally as follows.
A multi-part injection mould has, in one mould part, depressions corresponding to the form of the contact capsules 3 and key dome 2 and, in another mould part, depressions corresponding to the key bodies 5. Surfaces of the mould parts facing each other are formed corresponding to the shape of the key mat 1 and its key domes 2 respectively.
A thermoplastic elastomer, e.g. polyether ester, which has been rendered electrically conducting by carbon black, is injected in the depressions of the one mould part. A nonconducting thermoplastic elastomer, e.g. polyether ester is injected into the corresponding depressions for the key domes. A polyalkylene terephthalate moulding compound, especially modified by PBTP or PETP, is injected into the depressions of the other mould part, if desired in two-colour injection, this compound being so adjusted that the key bodies 5 become hard. This is accompanied by high wear resistance and good dimensional stability of the key bodies 5. The boundary lines between the material of the key bodies 5 and that of the key mat 1 on the one hand and the material of the contact capsules 3 and that of the key mat 1 on the other hand are shown in dot-and-dash line in Figure 1.
In this multi-stage manufacturing process, the materials of the key mat 1 and the contact capsules 3, on the one hand, and of the key bodies 5, on the other hand, bond intimately together, since they are based upon the same material group. The melting points of the materials are close together.
In total, a single-piece key switching device is thereby created, which is adapted in the mechanical and electrical properties of its individual zones to the requirements demanded.
A further advantage of the described method consists in the fact that the hardening of the thermoplastics material takes place more rapidly than a vulcanisation in the case of the known silicone rubber key mats.

Claims (11)

1. A method of making a key switching device, wherein a flexible elastic key mat carries hard key bodies which are made of plastics material and contact capsules, which can be contacted with contact surfaces and are made from a material similar to that of the key mat but electrically conducting, wherein the key mat is made from a thermoplastic elastomer, the contact capsules also are made from a thermoplastic elastomer, which has been made electrically conducting by additives, and the mouldings constituting the key bodies, the key mat and the contact capsules are firmly bonded to one another in a multi-stage manufacturing process inside a plastics injection mould.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the key bodies are made from polyalkylene terephthalate especially PBTP (polybutylene terephthalate)-moulding compounds and/or PETP (polyethylene terephthalate) modified moulding compounds.
3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the key bodies, multicoloured if required, the key mat and the contact capsules are made in a multi-stage injection moulding process as a single plastics moulding.
4. A method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein firstly, the key bodies are injection moulded in one half-mould and the contact capsules in another half-mould, and, before the hardening of the key bodies and the contact capsules, the key mat is injected between them and thereafter the key bodies, the key mat and the contact capsules are hardened together.
5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said thermoplastic elastomer is a polyether ester.
6. A method of making a key switching device according to claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described.
7. A key switching device, made according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the key bodies are of a harder plastics material than the key mat and are integrally moulded as one piece on key domes of the key mat.
8. A key switching device according to claim 7, wherein each key body is seated on a neck of the key dome.
9. A key switching device according to claim 8, wherein the neck is of cylindrical form and the key body is rectangular in crosssection.
10. A key switching device according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the key body possesses a rim engaging over the neck.
11. A key switching device, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
GB08718504A 1986-08-14 1987-08-05 Method of making a key switching device Withdrawn GB2195102A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE19863627554 DE3627554A1 (en) 1986-08-14 1986-08-14 METHOD FOR PRODUCING A KEY SWITCHING DEVICE AND KEY SWITCHING DEVICE

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB8718504D0 GB8718504D0 (en) 1987-09-09
GB2195102A true GB2195102A (en) 1988-03-30

Family

ID=6307367

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB08718504A Withdrawn GB2195102A (en) 1986-08-14 1987-08-05 Method of making a key switching device

Country Status (4)

Country Link
DE (1) DE3627554A1 (en)
FR (1) FR2602909A1 (en)
GB (1) GB2195102A (en)
IT (1) IT1222452B (en)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2301794A (en) * 1995-06-06 1996-12-18 Nec Corp Composite moulded product and method of manufacturing the same
EP0999515A2 (en) * 1998-11-02 2000-05-10 PSC Scanning, Inc. Multi-stage trigger for a data reading device
CN100431080C (en) * 2005-04-29 2008-11-05 乐金电子(昆山)电脑有限公司 Press button module and its producing method

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH0611507B2 (en) * 1986-10-08 1994-02-16 末広産業株式会社 Molding method for resin molded product having a plurality of movable protrusions
JPH02146725U (en) * 1989-05-16 1990-12-13
DE19844614C1 (en) * 1998-09-29 2000-11-02 Veeser Plastik Werk Gmbh & Co Circuit board for foil keyboard has circuit foil incorporating key contacts applied to profiled carrier substrate and overlaid with spacer element having complementary surface profile

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2476900A1 (en) * 1980-02-27 1981-08-28 Telephonie Ind Commerciale PUSH BUTTON FOR CONTROL KEYBOARD AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME
US4425263A (en) * 1981-06-03 1984-01-10 E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. Flexible screen-printable conductive composition
DE3144084C2 (en) * 1981-11-06 1988-08-18 Preh, Elektrofeinmechanische Werke Jakob Preh Nachf. Gmbh & Co, 8740 Bad Neustadt Process for the manufacture of a contact mat suitable for a push button panel
DE3307659C2 (en) * 1983-03-04 1986-10-30 Standard Elektrik Lorenz Ag, 7000 Stuttgart Push button switch
JPS60110938U (en) * 1983-12-28 1985-07-27 日通工株式会社 Contact structure in key switch

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2301794A (en) * 1995-06-06 1996-12-18 Nec Corp Composite moulded product and method of manufacturing the same
GB2301794B (en) * 1995-06-06 1998-04-08 Nec Corp Composite molded product and method of manufacturing the same
US5779230A (en) * 1995-06-06 1998-07-14 Nec Corporation Method of making a composite button of an electrical device
US6238771B1 (en) 1995-06-06 2001-05-29 Nec Corporation Composite molded product for use as a button for electric devices and method of manufacturing the same
EP0999515A2 (en) * 1998-11-02 2000-05-10 PSC Scanning, Inc. Multi-stage trigger for a data reading device
EP0999515A3 (en) * 1998-11-02 2001-08-29 PSC Scanning, Inc. Multi-stage trigger for a data reading device
CN100431080C (en) * 2005-04-29 2008-11-05 乐金电子(昆山)电脑有限公司 Press button module and its producing method

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
IT8721599A0 (en) 1987-08-06
GB8718504D0 (en) 1987-09-09
IT1222452B (en) 1990-09-05
DE3627554A1 (en) 1988-02-25
FR2602909A1 (en) 1988-02-19

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
WAP Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1)