JP2003186600A - Keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the need for waterproofing measures by improving a mounting structure of a stabilizer for correcting a tilt of an oblong or longitudinal keycap. <P>SOLUTION: In a keyboard, a key cap 6 is slidably mounted in a hollow boss installed in an upper case 3 covering a switch board 2 that is arranged on a back plate 1, and a U-shaped stabilizer 20 for correcting the tilt of the key cap 6 between the oblong or longitudinal keycap 6 and upper case 3 is placed. A supporting part 30 for detachably and turnably supporting the base part 22 of the stabilizer 20 is integrally molded on a top face of the upper case 3. Also, a pinching part 40 for slidably pinching both legs part 22 of the stabilizer 20 in the key cap 6 side is integrally molded, thereby removing a forming hole requiring the waterproofing measures by omitting the sliding part of the stabilizer 20 from the upper case 3 side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a keyboard used for computers, word processors and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Keyboards of this type are generally
As shown in FIG. 5, a boss portion 5 having a rectangular guide hole 4 is provided on the upper surface of the upper case 3 that covers the switch substrate 2 arranged on the back plate 1, and the boss portion 5 of the boss portion 5 is provided with a key. A hollow columnar portion 7 provided on the cap 6 is slidably inserted, and the dome-shaped rubber spring 8 arranged on the switch substrate 2 is compressed and deformed in response to the pushing of the key cap 6 so that the inside of the switch substrate 2 is compressed. It is configured to close the movable contact. Note that the keycap 6 is always provided with stepped portions 4 in which elastically deformable claw pieces 7 a (FIG. 6) provided on the left and right side surfaces of the columnar portion 7 are provided on the inner surface of the guide hole 4.
It is positioned at the rising end by engaging with a. Some keyboards use a bottom case in place of the back plate 1 and others use a multi-layered membrane sheet as the switch substrate 2.

By the way, there are keycaps provided in the keyboard, such as a rectangle and a vertically long or horizontally long keycap. However, with respect to the vertically or horizontally long keycap 6 as shown in the figure, if one end of the keycap is pushed, However, this causes an inclination, which makes it difficult to smoothly slide the columnar portion 7, and deteriorates the feeling of key operation. For this reason,
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 6, a steel C-shaped stabilizer 9 is prepared, and this stabilizer 9 is used as a key cap 6
L-shaped locking pieces which are rotatably held by the left and right holding sections 10 provided on the inner side of the upper case, and on the upper surface of the upper case 3, the bending pieces 9a at both ends of the stabilizer 9 are slidably locked. 11 is provided, and bending pieces 9a at both ends of the stabilizer 9 are provided.
While inserting into the sliding groove 12 inside the locking piece 11,
The columnar portion 7 of the keycap 6 is fitted into the guide hole 4. By thus interposing the stabilizer 9 between the keycap 6 and the upper case 3, when the keycap 6 is partially pushed, tension acts from the stabilizer 9 on the side opposite to the pushed side, and The inclination is corrected, while the bending pieces 9a at both ends of the stabilizer 9 slide in the sliding groove 12 inside the locking piece 11 according to the movement of the keycap 6, and as a result, the smoothness of the keycap 6 is ensured. Movement is guaranteed.

However, the upper case 3 is made of a resin (usually a styrene resin) injection-molded body, and the necessary parts including the boss portion 5, the L-shaped locking piece 11 and the like are also integrally molded. To be done. In this case, L-shaped locking piece 11
In order to integrally mold the above, it is necessary to provide the injection mold with a nest for defining the sliding groove 12 inside the locking piece 11. A through hole (forming hole) 13 is formed as a trace of the insertion of the insert. If the upper surface of the upper case 3 gets wet with water for some reason as a result of the presence of such a molding hole 13, water droplets drop onto the switch board 2 through the molding hole 13 and cause malfunction. There is a risk that the switch board 2 itself will be damaged.

Therefore, conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-23474.
In the keyboard described in Japanese Patent No. 9, a drain pipe communicating with the forming hole 13 is integrally formed on the back surface of the upper case 3, and the drain pipe is passed through the switch substrate 2 and the back plate 1 to the back side of the keyboard. Measures to guide water droplets to the outside by extending the L-shaped locking piece 11
Is formed as a separate piece and the molding hole 13 is covered by the piece, or a liquid pool is provided on the upper surface of the upper case 3 and water droplets are collected using an inclined surface in this liquid pool. I was taking measures such as

[0006]

However, according to the waterproof measure described in the above publication, when a drain pipe is provided,
Since the switch board 2 and the back plate 1 have to be provided with extra through holes for penetrating the drain, the manufacturing cost thereof increases, and the L-shaped locking piece 11 is formed as a separate piece. When doing so, an increase in manufacturing costs due to an increase in the number of parts and assembly man-hours cannot be avoided,
Furthermore, when the above-mentioned liquid pool is provided, the molding hole 13 is still open at the installation portion of the L-shaped locking piece 11, so that it is not sufficient as a waterproof measure, and in any case, the problem is included. It was.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems. The problem is that the structure for mounting the stabilizer is improved to eliminate the need for special waterproofing measures, thereby improving the manufacturability. And to provide a keyboard that greatly contributes to reduction of manufacturing cost.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a key boss slidably mounted on a hollow boss portion provided in a resin upper case for covering a switch substrate, so that the key cap is horizontally or vertically long. In a keyboard having a U-shaped stabilizer for correcting the inclination of the keycap between the keycap and the upper case, the base of the stabilizer is detachably and pivotably attached to the upper surface of the upper case. It is characterized in that a supporting portion for supporting is integrally formed, and a sandwiching portion for slidably sandwiching both legs of the stabilizer is integrally formed with the key cap. In the keyboard configured in this manner, both legs of the stabilizer are slidably held by the holding portions on the keycap side, and the base of the stabilizer is rotatably supported by the support portion on the upper case side. It is not necessary to provide a sliding groove for sliding the stabilizer on the case side, and as a result, a molding hole that requires waterproofing measures is not formed around the supporting portion.

In the present invention, the support portion of the upper case may have a structure including an elastically deformable claw piece that partially engages the stabilizer and a pedestal that holds the stabilizer at an engagement position with respect to the claw piece. It is possible to push the stabilizer between the claw piece and the pedestal, so that the stabilizer can be easily attached to the support portion. In this case, the claw pieces forming the support portion may be arranged in a recessed seat formed on the upper surface of the upper case. In this case, the claw pieces may be formed as long as possible. Therefore, the elastic deformability can be sufficiently enhanced. In the present invention, the upper case may be provided with a recess on the upper surface thereof, through which the leg of the stabilizer crosses and the leading end of the pinching portion of the keycap comes in and out. By providing such a recess,
After attaching the stabilizer to the support part of the upper case, insert the keycap into the boss part of the upper case and push it down, then both legs of the stabilizer will be clamped by the clamping part, and the keycap of the automatic machine Automatic assembly becomes possible. In this case, around the concave portion of the upper case, a buffer may be arranged to which the tips of the legs of the stabilizer come into contact, whereby both legs of the stabilizer are moved in response to the pressing of the keycap. Collision with the cushioning body and collision noise with the upper case are reduced.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 and 2 show one embodiment of a keyboard according to the present invention.
The present embodiment includes the horizontally long keycap 6 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 as a constituent element, and the entire structure of the keyboard including the keycap 6 is the same as that shown in FIG. Therefore, the same reference numerals are given to the same portions here.

In the present embodiment, a C-shaped stabilizer 20 is prepared in place of the C-shaped stabilizer 9 (FIGS. 5 and 6), and two left and right sides of a base portion 21 of the stabilizer 20 are provided to the upper case 3. The support portion 30 integrally formed on the upper surface of the key is detachably and rotatably supported, and both leg portions 22 of the stabilizer 20 can be slid on a pair of left and right holding portions 40 integrally formed on the back surface of the key cap 6. To support. In the present embodiment,
On the upper surface of the upper case 3, there are provided two recesses 31 through which the tips of the holding pieces 40 on the side of the key cap 6 come in and out. The two recesses 31 are provided at positions symmetrical about the boss portion 5 (FIG. 5) having the guide hole 4 in the longitudinal direction of the key cap 6, and both leg portions 22 of the stabilizer 20. Crosses over this. The stabilizer 2 is provided around the recess 31.
Rubber plate (buffer) 32 with which the tip of the leg 22 of 0 abuts
Are arranged.

Each of the support portions 30 on the upper case 3 supporting the base portion 21 of the stabilizer 20 holds the stabilizer 20 at the engaging position with the claw piece 33 that partially engages the stabilizer 20 from above. Cradle 34
Both of them are arranged with their positions displaced in the longitudinal direction of the keycap 6. Here, the claw piece 33 is arranged in a recessed seat 35 provided on the upper surface of the upper case 3, and is raised almost vertically from the bottom surface thereof. The claw piece 33 has a sufficient length to allow the claw portion 33a on the upper end side to project from the upper surface of the upper case 3, whereby the claw portion 33a on the upper end side can be elastically deformed. There is. Further, the pedestal 34 has a thin-walled support portion 34a for supporting the base portion 21 of the stabilizer 20 at the lower portion on the front end side thereof.
have. When viewed in the longitudinal direction of the keycap 6 (FIG. 1), the front end of the pedestal 34 and the claw portion 33 a of the claw piece 33.
Is set to be slightly smaller than the diameter of the base portion 21 of the stabilizer 20, so that when the base portion 21 of the stabilizer 20 is pushed between them, the claw pieces 33 are formed.
After being elastically deformed outward, the base portion 21 returns to the original posture, and the base portion 21 has the claw portion 33a of the claw piece 33 and the support portion 3 of the pedestal 34.
It is rotatably supported between itself and 4a. Also,
When the stabilizer 20 is lifted from this supported state, the claw pieces 33 elastically deform outward similarly to the above, and the stabilizer 20 can be detached from the support portion 30. A reinforcing rib 36 is integrally formed on the back surface of the claw piece 33.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the sandwiching portion 40 provided on the back surface of the keycap 6 includes a pair of sandwiching pieces 41 for sandwiching both the leg portions 22 of the stabilizer 20 and the pair of sandwiching pieces 41. The pair of holding pieces 41 are elastically deformable in the opening direction. This pair of clamping pieces 41
Engagement recesses 43 capable of engaging with the leg portions 22 of the stabilizer 20 are formed on the opposite surfaces of the tip end portions of the stabilizers 20, and the leg portions 22 of the stabilizer 20 are engaged with the engagement recess portions 43 of the sandwiching pieces 41.
It is supposed to be pinched elastically inside. The engagement recess 43 of each of the sandwiching pieces 41 constituting the sandwiching portion 40 of the keycap 6 has a shape in which a flank surface 44 (FIG. 3) that spreads in a fan shape is arranged on both sides of the engaging recess 43 with the center position in the width direction being a middle height. As a result, the stabilizer 20 can smoothly slide (move in the axial direction) in the engagement recess 43 regardless of its tilted state.

Here, the upper case 3 is made of a resin injection molded body as in the conventional case, but as described above, the claw portion 33a of the claw piece 33 has a slight negative angle in the mold opening / closing direction. Since, for example, the back side of the claw piece 33 is molded using a slide core and the slide core is retracted prior to mold opening, the claw piece 33 can be easily released from the mold. The nail piece 33 does not hinder the molding.

In the keyboard constructed as described above, in order to attach the horizontally long keycap 6 to the upper case 3, the base portion 21 of the stabilizer 20 is attached to the two support portions 30 provided on the upper surface of the upper case 3 in advance. 2, and the entire stabilizer 20 is laid down on the upper case 3 so that both legs 22 cross the recess 31 as shown in FIG. When attaching the stabilizer 20 to the support portion 30, the base portion 21 of the stabilizer 20 is pushed between the claw pieces 33 and the pedestal 34 that form each support portion 30 as described above, and thus the stabilizer 20 can be easily attached. Can be attached to the key cap 6.

Next, the columnar portion 7 of the keycap 6 is inserted into the guide hole 4 of the upper case 3, and the rubber spring 8 is inserted.
Push in while compressing (Fig. 5). Then, the pair of holding pieces 41 forming the holding portion 31 of the keycap 6 crosses over the leg portions 13 of the stabilizer 20 and enters the recess 31.
Relative to this, the leg portion 13 of the stabilizer 20 moves upward between the pair of holding pieces 32, and enters into the engaging recesses 43 of the pair of holding pieces 32 which face each other, whereby the key cap 6 and the stabilizer 6 are separated from each other. The connection is complete. On the other hand, when the pushing force of the keycap 6 is released from this state, the rubber spring 8 expands and lifts the columnar portion 7, and as shown in FIG. The columnar portion 7 rises until it is engaged with the stepped portion 4a. At this time, both legs 22 of the stabilizer 20 are attached to the keycap 6
The pair of holding pieces 41 on the side slide in the engaging recesses 43, whereby the keycap 6 smoothly rises, and the assembly of the keycap 6 is completed.

In the keyboard in which the keycaps 6 have been assembled in this way, when the laterally long keycaps 6 are partially pushed, a large reaction force acts on the keycaps 6 from the stabilizer 20, and its inclination is surely corrected. . Further, the stabilizer 20 has both legs 22 slidably held by the holding portion 40 on the side of the key cap 6 and the base portion 2 thereof.
Since 1 is rotatably supported by the support portion 30 on the upper case 3 side, it is not necessary to provide a sliding groove for sliding the stabilizer 20 on the upper case 3 side, and therefore,
No molding hole is formed around the support portion 30. As a result, even if the upper surface of the upper case 3 gets wet with water for some reason, the water droplets do not drop onto the switch substrate 2, and as a result, no special waterproofing measures are required. Particularly in the present embodiment, the leg portions 22 of the stabilizer 20 cross the upper surface of the upper case 3 and the key cap 6
Since the concave portion 31 through which the tip end of the sandwiching portion 40 of the upper and lower portions of the upper portion 3 and the lower portion of the upper portion 3 is provided, the stabilizer 2 is attached to the support portion 30 of the upper case 3.
After attaching 0, the keycap 6 is inserted into the boss portion 5 of the upper case 3 and pushed down, so that the leg portions 22 of the stabilizer 20 are automatically pinched by the pinching portion 40. The automatic assembly of can be done. Further, the rubber plate 3 is attached to a portion around the recess 31 of the upper case 3 where the tips of the legs 22 of the stabilizer 20 contact.
Since 2 is arranged, when the keycap 6 is pushed in,
The collision noise with respect to the upper case 3 is reduced. As described above, the switch substrate 2 includes the multi-layered membrane sheet.

[0018]

As described above, according to the keyboard of the present invention, since the forming hole is not formed around the support portion of the stabilizer provided in the upper case,
It is not necessary to take special waterproofing measures on the upper case, the back plate, the switch substrate, and the like, and it is possible to achieve improvement in manufacturability and reduction in manufacturing cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a main structure of a keyboard according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the main structure of the keyboard.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the structure of a holding portion on the keycap side.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a general structure of a conventional keyboard and a stabilizer mounting structure.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a mounting structure of a conventional stabilizer with respect to a key cap.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 switch board 3 upper case 5 Boss 6 keycaps 20 U-shaped stabilizer 21 Stabilizer base 22 Stabilizer legs 30 Supports on upper case 31 Recess on upper case 32 rubber plate (buffer) 33 Claw pieces constituting the support portion 34 Cradle that constitutes the support 35 Recessed seat on upper case 40 Keycap side clamping part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A key cap is slidably mounted on a hollow boss portion provided in an upper case covering a switch substrate, and the inclination of the key cap is corrected between a horizontally or vertically long key cap and the upper case. In a keyboard provided with a U-shaped stabilizer, a support portion for detachably and rotatably supporting a base portion of the stabilizer is integrally formed on an upper surface of the upper case, and the keycap is provided with both legs of the stabilizer. A keyboard in which a holding portion for holding the portion in a slidable manner is integrally formed. 2. The support portion on the upper case side comprises an elastically deformable claw piece that partially engages with the stabilizer and a pedestal that holds the stabilizer at an engagement position for the claw piece. The keyboard according to 1. 3. The keyboard according to claim 2, wherein the claw pieces forming the support portion are arranged in a recessed seat formed on the upper surface of the upper case. 4. The upper case is provided with a recess on the upper surface thereof, through which a leg portion of the stabilizer crosses and a tip end portion of a holding portion of the key cap comes in and out.
The keyboard according to any one of 1. 5. The keycap according to claim 4, further comprising a cushioning body disposed around the recess of the upper case, with which the tips of the legs of the stabilizer abut.