JP4081091B2 - Manufacturing method of pushbutton switch - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of a push button switch, and more particularly to a structure of a push button switch used for a thin keyboard.

  A keyboard has a plurality of key switches arranged in a matrix on a board, and this keyboard is used in personal computers, word processors, information input devices of various electronic devices, and the like. Conventionally, as a pushbutton switch used for this kind of keyboard, the thing described in patent documents 1 can be mentioned, for example.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the push button switch includes a key top 101 having locking portions 102 and 103 on the back surface and an upper portion locked to the locking portions 102 and 103 of the key top 101. Guide support members 107 and 108 that guide the upper and lower portions of the guide support member 107, and a holder member 125 that is disposed below the key top 101 and has a holding portion 127 for supporting the lower portions of the guide support members 107 and 108, And a switching member 135 that performs a switching operation as the key top 101 moves up and down.

  The guide support members 107 and 108 are U-shaped with each other, and the central portions of both U-shaped arms cross each other in an X shape, and these intersections are pivotally supported with respect to each other. Yes. One end of the guide support member 107 is rotatably supported by the locking portion 102 on the back surface side of the key top 101, and the other end portion is slidably supported by the locking portion 126 of the holder member 125. One end of the guide support member 108 is slidably supported at the engaging portion 103 on the back side of the key top 101, and the other end is rotatably supported at the holding portion 127 of the holder member 125.

At all times, the elastic force of the rubber spring constituting the switching member 135 pushes up the intersecting portion of the guide support members 107 and 108 and also pushes up the key top 101 so that the push button switch is in the OFF state. When the key top 101 is pushed down from this state, the guide support members 107 and 108 assembled in a pantograph shape are lowered in height so as to be folded by the key top 101, and the guide support members 107 and 108 are lowered at the intersections. The rubber spring of the switching member 135 is crushed and the push button switch is turned on. When the depression of the key top 101 is stopped, the guide support members 107 and 108 are restored to the state shown in FIG. 6 by the restoring force of the rubber spring, and the switching member 135 is turned off.
JP-A-6-260053

  In the pushbutton switch described above, the front end of the guide support member 107 is slidably supported on the front surface side of the holder member 125 as described above, and the front end of the guide member 108 slides on the back surface side of the key top 101. In order to freely support the bearing, the U-shaped locking groove 105 and the sliding groove 132 for fitting the locking pins 115 and 123 provided at the tips of the guide support members 107 and 108 are provided on the key top 101. Must be provided on the back side of the holder and on the front side of the holder member 125. Further, as described above, the guide support members 107 and 108 assembly has a support structure that is slidable by the engaging portion 103 on the back surface side of the key top 101 and the engaging portion 126 of the holder member 125. When assembling the push button switch, it is very difficult to assemble any of the key top 101 side or the holder member 125 side, since the assembly part to be assembled later cannot be seen. In addition, the push button switch has a complicated shape due to the miniaturization and thinning of the individual parts, and it is difficult to handle and takes a long time to assemble. Further, as described above, since the locking groove 105 for slidably bearinging the tip of the guide support member 108 is provided on the back surface of the key top 101, it is difficult to obtain a large number at the time of molding, and mass productivity is achieved. In addition, the productivity is not good, and the slide groove 132 must be formed on the surface of the holder member 125 when it is molded.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and its purpose is to provide guide support without forming a groove in which the tip of the guide holding member slides and fits in both the key top and the holder member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a pushbutton switch in which the tip of a member is slidably supported at these portions, and has good productivity and assembly.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the step of narrowing the tip of the working arm to slide the tip of the working arm into the frame of the working frame, and fitting the bearing pin of the working arm into the bearing hole of the working frame;
Forming a pantograph assembly by combining the operating frame and the operating arm rotatably in an X shape;
The sliding pin of the operating arm is hooked on the sliding step of the support plate, and the support shaft of the operating frame is rotatably fitted to the support pinching portion of the support plate so that the pantograph assembly and the support plate are connected. Integrating the process;
From the back side of the holder member in which the through hole is formed, the integrated pantograph assembly and the support plate are passed through the through hole, and the sliding pin of the operating frame is moved to the sliding step portion of the holder member. And the step of hooking the support shaft of the operating arm on the shaft holding portion of the holder member to rotatably support the shaft,
Attaching the key top to the support plate;
And a step of attaching a switch substrate on which a resilient member is mounted to the back surface of the holder member.

  As described above in detail, in the present invention, when the key top is fitted and integrated with the support plate, the sliding contact surface of the key top and the sliding step portion of the support plate are combined to form a U-shaped cross section. A groove is formed, and the sliding pin of the operating arm slides and moves in the groove.

  In addition, since the slide pin of the operation frame that is loosely fitted in the slide step of the holder member is formed in a U-shaped cross section, the pantograph is formed when the slide step and the switch board are in close contact with each other. The assembly becomes extremely simple. In addition, when assembling, the sliding pin is not incorporated into the groove having a U-shaped cross section in the conventional manner, and therefore, the movable substrate attached to the elastic member is used regardless of whether the switch board is a membrane sheet. Whether the contact point is a switch board of a type that contacts or separates from a fixed contact, the push button switch is not only easily assembled, but also can be automatically assembled.

  In the present invention, even if the present invention is applied to one push button switch or the present invention is applied to a keyboard, the effects of the above invention can be enjoyed. In addition, according to the present invention, the above-described effects can be obtained regardless of whether the resilient member is a rubber spring or a compression spring.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a pushbutton switch according to the present invention. As is apparent from FIG. 1, the pushbutton switch according to the present invention includes a key top 1, a support plate 20, a holder member 40, an operating frame 60, an operating arm 80, and a switch substrate 90.

  The key top 1 has a substantially trapezoidal shape, and on the front side thereof, an operation surface 2 is formed, which is a part touched by fingers and a part for entering display characters. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the pushbutton switch shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, a shallow recess 3 is formed on the back side of the key top 1, and hooks 4, 4 and hooks 5, 5 for latching a support plate 20 described in detail later are formed therein. And are provided. Adjacent to the hooks 5 and 5, sliding contact surface 6 and 6 are formed. Reference numeral 7 denotes an alignment protrusion for aligning with the supporting plate 20 to be fitted.

  The support plate 20 is formed in a substantially flat plate shape, and a round hole 21 for positioning with the key top 1 is formed in the center. At both ends of one side of the support plate 20, flat sliding step portions 22 are formed that are lowered by one step. A shoulder 23 that engages with the hooks 5 and 5 is formed at the tip of the sliding step 22. At both ends opposite to the sliding step portion 22, bearing holding portions 24 are formed. The bearing holding portion 24 has two small arms and rotatably supports bearing shafts 61 and 61 formed on an operation frame 60 described later. A shoulder portion 25 that engages with the hooks 4 and 4 is formed at the tip of the bearing holding portion 24.

  The holder member 40 is formed of a wide synthetic resin plate, and the holder member 40 is formed with a plurality of quadrilateral through holes 41 for arranging a plurality of pushbutton switches. Sliding stepped portions 42 and 42 for sliding the sliding pin 62 of the operating frame 60 are formed on opposite edges of the through hole 41, and the support shaft 81 of the operating arm 80 is rotated. The bearing holding parts 43 and 43 which support freely are formed.

  The operation frame 60 is formed in a quadrilateral shape, and as described above, the support shafts 61 and 61 and the sliding pins 62 and 62 are formed at the corners thereof, and the arms 63 and 63 facing each other. Are provided with bearing holes 64, 64.

  The operating arm 80 is substantially U-shaped, and sliding pins 83 and 83 are provided at the tips of the arms 82 and 82 in directions facing each other. Further, bearing pins 84 and 84 are provided in the middle of the arm 82 toward the outside, and these bearing pins 84 and 84 are rotatable in the bearing holes 64 and 64 of the operation frame 60 during assembly. Mating.

  In the switch board 90, a known membrane sheet 92 is disposed on a hard flat plate 91 such as a metal plate, and a dome-shaped rubber spring 93 is placed thereon. As shown in FIG. 3, the switch substrate 90 using the membrane sheet 92 has a membrane sheet 92 laminated on an upper portion of a base plate 95 such as a metal plate. The membrane sheet 92 includes a contact substrate 97 made of an insulating plate having a wiring 97 'printed on the surface, a spacer 98 made of an insulating plate, and a movable plate 99 made of a flexible insulating plate having a movable conductor 99' printed on the back surface. Then, the rubber spring 93 is crushed, the projection 93 'inside thereof pushes down the movable plate 99, the movable conductor 99' comes into contact with the wiring 97 ', and the switch mechanism is turned on. When the pressing force to the rubber spring 93 is released, the restoring force restores the state shown in FIG. The rubber spring 93 generates a so-called click operation when it is pressed and crushed and when it returns to the current state.

  In place of the membrane switch as described above, a fixed substrate having a circuit mechanism made of printed wiring including a fixed contact on the surface is used, and a dome-shaped rubber spring 93 is disposed on the fixed contact of the fixed substrate, When the top of the rubber spring 93 is pressed by the key top to collapse it, the movable contact provided inside the rubber spring 93 is pressed onto the fixed substrate, the movable contact contacts the fixed contact, and the switch mechanism is turned on. Such a switch mechanism may be used.

  Next, the assembly of the pushbutton switch according to the present invention will be described. First, the tips of the operating arms 80 are narrowed and the tips of the operating arms 80 are slid into the operating frame 60 into the operating frame 60, and the bearing pins 84, 84 are connected to the bearing holes 64 of the operating frame 60. 64, and the operating frame 60 and the operating arm 80 are combined with each other so as to be rotatable and X-shaped like a pantograph. A combination of the operating frame 60 and the operating arm 80 is referred to as a pantograph assembly.

  The sliding pin 83 of the operating arm 80 is hooked on the sliding step portion 22 of the support plate 20, and the support shaft 61 of the operation frame 60 is rotatably fitted to the shaft holding portion 24 of the support plate 20. Thus, the combination of the pantograph assembly and the support plate 20 is applied from the back side of the holder member 40, that is, from the back side of the holder member 40 in FIG. 1, and from the upper side of the holder member 40 in FIG. Since the size of the support plate 20 is smaller than the through hole 41 of the holder member 40, it passes through this. The operating frame 60 and the operating arm 80 can pass through the through hole 41, but the sliding pin 62 of the operating frame 60 is caught by the sliding step portion 42 of the holder member 40, and the support shaft 81 of the operating arm 80 is the holder member 40. Is caught by the bearing holder 43. The bearing shaft 81 is pushed into the bearing holding portion 43 so as to be rotatably supported.

  After that, when the alignment protrusion 7 of the key top 1 and the round hole 21 of the support plate 20 are aligned, and the key top 1 is pushed firmly in the direction of the support plate 20, the hooks 4, 4 become the shoulder portions 25 of the support plate 20, 25, the hooks 5 and 5 are fitted to the shoulder portions 23 and 23, and the key top 1 is fitted to the support plate 20. When the key top 1 is fitted and integrated with the support plate 20, the sliding contact surface 6 of the key top 1 and the sliding step portion 22 of the support plate 20 are combined to form a groove having a U-shaped cross section. The sliding pin 83 of the operating arm 80 slides and moves in the groove.

  As described above, as shown in FIG. 4, the switch board 90 is directed to the back surface of the holder member 40 holding the key top 1 and the pantograph assembly, and the switch board 90 and the holder member 40 are positioned. After the alignment, when the rubber spring 93 passes through the through hole 41 of the holder member 40 and is fixed to the back surface of the support plate 20 held by the key top 1 by screwing or by suitable fixing means. Push up. For this reason, the key top 1 is brought up. Of course, the switch mechanism is off. Further, since the switch substrate 90 is in close contact with the holder member 40 along the back surface side, the support shaft 81 of the operating arm 80 fitted to the shaft holding portion 43 of the holder member 40 is the shaft holding portion. The slide pin of the operating frame 60 that is rotatably held in the slide 43 and is loosely fitted to the slide step 42 of the holder member 40 has a cross-section U constituted by the slide step 42 and the switch substrate 90. It slides while rotating in the letter-shaped groove.

  When the key top 1 is pushed down with fingers or the like from the state shown in FIG. 4, the pressing force is transmitted from the support plate 20 to the rubber spring 93, which is crushed and the pantograph assembly is also folded. Then, the movable contact in the rubber spring 93 comes into contact with the contact on the switch substrate 90, and the switch mechanism is turned on as shown in FIG. When pressing of the key top 1 is stopped, the pantograph assembly is pushed up by the restoring force of the rubber spring 93, and the pushbutton switch is restored to the state shown in FIG.

  As described above, when more than 80 key tops are assembled in the holder member 40, the holder member 40 can be easily assembled using a jig. That is, in FIG. 2, the width between the hooks 4 and 5 of the key top 1 is configured to be substantially the same as the width H of the through hole 41 formed in the holder member 40. In the push button switch having such a configuration, the assembly procedure is such that the key top 1 is first placed in a tray-like depression prepared separately with the character face down, and the holder member 40 is placed thereon.

  At this time, the hooks 4, 4, 5, 5 provided on the back surface of the key top 1 are fitted into the through holes 41 of the holder member 40, and the holder member 40 is positioned on the jig by the hooks. A combination of the operating frame 60 and the operating arm 80 is first sub-assembled into the pantograph assembly and the support plate 20, and this sub-assembly is assembled into the holder member 40. For this incorporation, the support plate 20 of the sub-assembly is placed on the holder member 40, and the alignment protrusion 7 of the key top 1 and the round hole 21 of the support plate 20 are aligned and fitted.

  By this operation, the shoulder portions 23 and 25 of the support plate 20 are engaged with the hooks 4 and 5 of the key top 1. With the key top 1 and the support plate 20 engaged, they are assembled to the holder member 40. Further, the sliding pin 62 of the operating frame 60 is loosely fitted to the sliding step portion 42 of the holder member 40, and the support shaft 81 of the operating arm 80 is rotatably fitted in the bearing holding portion 43 of the holder member 40. The switch board 90 or 95 may be stacked, and a rubber spring 93 attached thereto may be inserted into the through hole 41 of the holder member 40, and the switch board may be positioned and fixed to the back surface of the holder member 40 with an appropriate fixing means. In such assembling, there is no troublesome alignment process as in the prior art, so that the assembling is simplified and the push button switch can be easily assembled even if it is small and each component is fine.

  Although the present invention has been described above by the embodiment, various modifications and applications are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, the push button switch is configured as one single push button switch. Furthermore, the rubber spring is made of a foamed synthetic resin, a metal wire or a metal plate, and a compression spring which is compressed and deformed by the pressing and returns to the current state when the pressing is stopped can be used. Is not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the pushbutton switch of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a state where the pushbutton switch is turned over and disassembled. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the membrane switch. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an off state of the push button switch. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an ON state of the push button switch. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional pushbutton switch.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Key top 2 ... Operation surface 3 ... Indentation 4 ... Hook 5 ... Hook 6 ... Sliding contact surface 7 ... ..Alignment projection 20 ... support plate 21 ... round hole 22 ... sliding step 23 ... shoulder 24 ... bearing clamping part 25 ··· shoulder 40 ··· holder member 41 ··· through hole 42 ··· sliding step portion 43 ··· bearing holding portion 60 ··· operating frame 61 ······· Support shaft 62 ··· Slide pin 63 ··· Arm 64 ··· Bearing hole 80 ··· Actuating arm 81 ··· Bearing shaft 82 ... Arm 83 ... Slide pin 84 ... Bearing pin 90 ... Switch board 91 ... Flat plate 92 ... Membrane sheet 93 ... Rubber spring 94 Substrate 95... Base plate 97 .. contact substrate 97 ′... Wiring 98... Spacer 99... Movable plate 99 ′. ··· Key top 102 ··· Locking portion 103 ··· Locking portion 105 ··· Locking groove 107 ··· Guide support member 108 ··· Guide Support member 115... Lock pin 123... Lock pin 125... Holder member 126... Lock portion 127.・ Sliding groove 135 ... Switching member

Claims (7)

Narrowing the tip of the working arm and sliding the tip of the working arm into the frame of the working frame, and fitting the bearing pin of the working arm into the bearing hole of the working frame;
Forming a pantograph assembly by combining the operating frame and the operating arm rotatably in an X shape;
The sliding pin of the operating arm is hooked on the sliding step of the support plate, and the support shaft of the operating frame is rotatably fitted to the support pinching portion of the support plate so that the pantograph assembly and the support plate are connected. Integrating the process;
From the back side of the holder member in which the through hole is formed, the integrated pantograph assembly and the support plate are passed through the through hole, and the sliding pin of the operating frame is moved to the sliding step portion of the holder member. And the step of hooking the support shaft of the operating arm on the shaft holding portion of the holder member to rotatably support the shaft,
Attaching the key top to the support plate;
Attaching a switch substrate on which a resilient member is mounted to the back surface of the holder member.   The method for manufacturing a pushbutton switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch substrate comprises a membrane sheet switch mechanism. 2. The method of manufacturing a pushbutton switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch substrate operates by moving a movable contact provided on the elastic member to a fixed contact provided on the switch substrate.   2. The method of manufacturing a push button switch according to claim 1, wherein the push button switch is a single push button switch having one key top.   2. The method of manufacturing a push button switch according to claim 1, wherein the push button switch is a switch element of a keyboard having a plurality of key tops arranged on the holder member. 2. The method of manufacturing a pushbutton switch according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a rubber spring having a cup shape in cross section and having a click action. 2. The method of manufacturing a pushbutton switch according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a compression spring member that is compressed by pressing and returns to the current state by releasing the pressing.

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