JP2002025381A - Operation mechanism and manufacturing method of keyboard switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a low-cost operation mechanism of a keyboard switch by facilitating an assembly work up to its unitization. SOLUTION: A first metal link member 2 and a second metal link member 3 are united at the crossing with a fulcrum bearing 4 in free turning, and at same time, shaft parts 6, 8 formed at bottom end parts of the first link member 2 and the second link member 3 are turnably fitted into bearings 7, 9 formed on a carrier 5 of flat plate metal, and further, a leaf spring 10 of either the first link member 2 or the second link member 3 is set in contact with a click action part 12 of a dome shape formed at a spring member 11 of the carrier 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pantograph-like operation mechanism for operating a keyboard switch in a keyboard used in a device such as a computer and a word processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional keyboard switch operating mechanism comprises a pantograph-like mechanism by combining two link parts made of plastic. The two link parts are combined by a shaft structure that can be fitted in the central part of the intersection. Therefore, in the process of assembling the two link parts, a difficult operation of fitting is required. In addition, the restoring force when the key top moves up and down is provided by a dome-shaped rubber part.

[0003]

According to the conventional products,
Since it is a plastic molded product, the processing cost is higher than that of a pressed part. In addition, since the key top or link part is configured to directly press the dome-shaped rubber part, the pressing characteristics are determined by the elastic properties of the dome-shaped rubber part, and the desired operating characteristics Is difficult to get out. In addition, the dome-shaped rubber part must be arranged at a predetermined position for each key when assembling the entire keyboard. Such a necessity makes the assembling work difficult. Further, the dome-shaped rubber part is too expensive to process as compared with the pressed part, which is an obstacle to providing an inexpensive product.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to facilitate the assembly of the entire keyboard by supplying the operation mechanism of the keyboard switch as a unit, and to assemble the operation mechanism of the keyboard switch up to the unit. And to provide an inexpensive keyboard switch operating mechanism.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the operation mechanism of the keyboard switch is constituted by a metal stamped product. That is, the keyboard switch mechanism of the present invention intersects the first metal link member and the second metal link member at an intermediate portion, and connects the first link member and the second link member at the intersection position. A fulcrum bearing portion rotatably connects the shaft portion formed at a lower end portion of one of the first link member and the second link member to a metal plate-shaped carrier. And a shaft formed at the lower end of the other of the first link member and the second link member with respect to a bearing formed on the carrier. The leaf spring formed on any one of the first link member and the second link member is freely and movably mounted to the outside, and the leaf spring formed on one of the first link member and the second link member is formed on a metal plate spring member integrated with the carrier. It is brought into contact with the arm-like click action section, the switch in conjunction with the movement of the click action portion and the state of the on-off.

The method of manufacturing a keyboard switch operating mechanism according to the present invention includes the steps of manufacturing a first switch member, a second link member,
After punching the carrier and the spring member from the metal plate by press punching, the first link member and the second link member are connected by crimping of the fulcrum bearing, and then the carrier and the spring member are inserted into the lower space of the bearing of the carrier. The shaft portions of the first link member and the second link member are located on the carrier, and a spring member is applied to the lower surface of the carrier so that the spring member is fixed to the carrier.

[0007]

1 and 2 show a keyboard switch operating mechanism 1 according to the present invention. The operation mechanism 1 of the keyboard switch includes a first link member 2, a second link member 3, a carrier 5 supporting these members, and a spring member 11. The first link member 2 and the second link member 3 are made of a metal plate as a material.
Manufactured by pressing (punching / bending)
They intersect at an intermediate portion and are rotatably connected by a fulcrum bearing 4 at the intersection.

The fulcrum bearing portion 4 has a projecting fulcrum shaft 14 formed on one of the first link member 2 and the second link member 3 and a U-shaped member formed on the other. And a fulcrum bearing 15 in the shape of a letter. The fulcrum bearing portion 15 wraps the fulcrum shaft 14 by caulking to make it rotatable.

The first link member 2 and the second link member 3 are integrally formed with projecting or cylindrical shaft portions 6 and 8 extending in a direction parallel to the fulcrum bearing portion 4 at their ends. ing. These shafts 6 and 8 are formed by bearings 7 and 9 formed by bending a flat metal carrier 5.
Is mounted so as to be rotatable. In this example, one shaft portion 6 and the bearing portion 7 are rotatable, and the other shaft portion 8 and the bearing portion 9 are rotatable, and the bearing portion 9 is larger than the shaft portion 8. They are combined so that they can move outward.

Further, one of the first link member 2 and the second link member 3, in this example, the leaf spring 10 formed integrally with the first link member 2 is formed on the spring member 11. The center of the dome-shaped click action portion 12 is in contact with the center portion. Here, the spring member 11
Is applied to the lower surface of the carrier 5, is fixed to the carrier 5 by caulking or the like, projects upward from an opening 16 formed at the center position of the carrier 5, and It is in contact with the lower surface. The spring member 11 closes the lower openings of the bearings 7 and 9 and restrains the shafts 6 and 8 inside the bearings 7 and 9.

In this manner, the first link member 2, the second link member 3, the carrier 5, and the spring member 11
A mechanism similar to a pantograph is configured to move the keytop 17 up and down in parallel. Here, the first link member 2 and the second link member 3 are
9 is related to the key top 17 and the key top 1
7 is held in a state in which it can be moved vertically. Note that one engagement portion 18 is rotatably engaged with the key top 17, and the other engagement portion 19 is
It is engaged with the lower surface of the key top 17 so as to be rotatable and movable outward.

The click action section 12 presses the switch 13 incorporated below while performing the click action by the elastic reversing function of the dome-shaped portion, and electrically operates the switch 13. Turn on or off. The dome-shaped click action portion 12 is held by a frame-shaped spring member 11 by a Y-shaped connecting portion 20.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a click action unit 1.
2 is a graph of the action of the click action, in which the horizontal axis represents the stroke (mm) at the vertex position of the click action unit 12, and the vertical axis represents the relationship with the operating load (N) applied to the vertex position of the click action unit 12. Is shown. When a motion load is applied to the vertex position of the click action section 12, the stroke of the click action section 12 increases proportionally in a section from 0 to 0.5. Since the direction of the warp is reversed by the action of the action, the stroke can be reduced from 0.5 to 1.
It increases in the section up to zero. And the stroke is 1.0
In the section from to 1.5, click action part 12
Moves proportionally according to the operating load, and turns on the switch 13. After this, even if the operating load increases,
The stroke remains at 1.5. Note that this operating characteristic is represented by a leaf spring 1 as shown by a solid line and a dotted line.
0, the spring characteristics of the spring member 11 and the click action part 1
2 can be set to a desired value by changing the characteristic.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a manufacturing process of the operation mechanism 1 of the keyboard switch. The four parts of the first link member 2, the second link member 3, the carrier 5 and the spring member 11 are all made of a metal plate, each of which is stamped out of the metal plate by pressing and then bent by pressing if necessary. Be produced. In order to automate the press working, the first link member 2, the second link member 3, the carrier 5, and the spring member 11 are taken out of the strip-shaped metal plate in a hoop state, and are continuously moved to the assembling process. Assembled while doing.

The first link member 2 and the second link member 3 have a fulcrum shaft 14 inside a U-shaped fulcrum bearing portion 15.
The fulcrum bearing portion 15 is crimped in the state where is positioned, thereby becoming the fulcrum bearing portion 4 and being integrated.

In this manner, the bearings 7, 9 of the carrier 5 are combined with the bearings 7, 9 of the carrier 5 above the shafts 6, 8 of the first link member 2 and the second link member 3 integrated with each other. Thereafter, the spring member 11 is applied to the lower surface of the carrier 5 in a positioned state, and attached by crimping or fixing such as welding, and the keyboard switch operating mechanism 1 is manufactured as a product. After such assembling, the operation mechanism of the unitized keyboard switch is cut off from the strip-shaped metal plate made of the material of each component, and becomes a product.

The keyboard switch operating mechanism 1 as a product is arranged at a predetermined position for each key of the keyboard, and is incorporated in the keyboard. As described above, the operating characteristics of the keyboard switch operating mechanism 1 are adjusted according to the application by adjusting the load of the leaf spring 10 and the click action portion 12 after manufacturing, or by adjusting the spring characteristics. Can be set as

In the above example, the first link member 2, the second link member 3, the carrier 5, and the spring member 1
The shape of 1 is not limited to the shape shown in the figure, and can be configured as an appropriate shape according to the function of each component.

[0019]

According to the operating mechanism of the keyboard switch of the present invention, the first link member, the second link member, the carrier and the spring member are constituted by metal plates instead of plastic or rubber molded products. The desired operating characteristics can be freely adjusted by greatly reducing the processing cost of them, adjusting the bending load of the click action part formed by the leaf spring integrated with the link member and the spring member, and adjusting the spring characteristics. Since the first link member, the second link member, and the carrier that constitute the puncture-graph-like mechanism and the spring member that forms the click action portion are assembled as an integrated unit, their handling becomes easy. , Making it easier to assemble the keyboard switch.

Further, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, after four parts such as a first link member, a second link member, a carrier and a spring member are punched into a predetermined shape by press working, the four parts are punched out. Since the two components are continuously combined and unitized in a predetermined processing step, the manufacturing process of the operation mechanism of the keyboard switch can be continuously produced by the press processing step.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an operation mechanism of a keyboard switch according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an operation mechanism of the keyboard switch of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph of stroke-operation load characteristics of the operation mechanism of the keyboard switch of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a process chart of a method for manufacturing a keyboard switch operating mechanism according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Keyboard switch operation mechanism 2 1st link member 3 2nd link member 4 Support point bearing part 5 Carrier 6 Shaft part 7 Bearing part 8 Shaft part 9 Bearing part 10 Leaf spring 11 Spring member 12 Click action part 13 Switch 14 Support point Shaft 15 Support point bearing part 16 Opening part 17 Key top 18 Engagement part 19 Engagement part 20 Connection part

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yuji Umehara 4-8-1, Higashishinden, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture Inside Fuji Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuhiko Watanabe 4-8, Higashishinden, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture No. 1 Fuji Electronics Co., Ltd. (72) Noboru Kawabobo 4-81, Higashi-Nitta, Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture No. 8-1 Inside Fuji Electronics Co., Ltd. (72) Shogo Maeda, 4-chome Higashi-Shinda, Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka No. 8-1 Fuji Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Koichiro Uno 4-81-1, Higashi-Nitta, Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture F-Terminus in Fuji Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. CB08 CD02 CD07 DB03 FB04 5G023 BA03 CA05 CA06 CA12

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first metal link member and a second metal link member intersect at an intermediate portion, and the first link member and the second link member are intersected by a fulcrum bearing at the intersection. The first link member and the second link member are rotatably connected to each other, and the shaft formed at the lower end of one of the first link member and the second link member is moved with respect to the bearing formed on the flat metal carrier. The shaft portion formed at the lower end of the other of the first link member and the second link member is rotatably mounted on the bearing portion formed on the carrier and is rotatable. And a dome-shaped click action portion formed on a metal plate spring member integrated with the carrier with a leaf spring formed on one of the first link member and the second link member. To An operation mechanism of a keyboard switch, wherein the switch is turned on / off in accordance with the movement of the click action section when the switch is brought into contact with the click action section. 2. A first link member made of metal and a second link member made of metal intersect at an intermediate portion, and the first link member and the second link member are intersected by a fulcrum bearing at the intersection position. The first link member and the second link member are rotatably connected to each other, and the shaft formed at the lower end of one of the first link member and the second link member is moved with respect to the bearing formed on the flat metal carrier. The shaft portion formed at the lower end of the other of the first link member and the second link member is rotatably mounted on the bearing portion formed on the carrier and is rotatable. And a dome-shaped click action portion formed on a metal plate spring member integrated with the carrier with a leaf spring formed on one of the first link member and the second link member. To The operation mechanism of the keyboard switch, which is brought into contact with the click action unit to turn the switch on and off in conjunction with the movement of the click action unit, the first operation mechanism of the keyboard switch in the manufacturing process.
After punching the link member, the second link member, the carrier and the spring member from the metal plate by press punching, connecting the first link member and the second link member by crimping the fulcrum bearing portion The first link member and the second link member are positioned in the space below the bearing portion of the carrier, and the spring member is applied to the lower surface of the carrier to fix the spring member to the carrier. A method for manufacturing a keyboard switch operating mechanism.