JPH04162317A - Switch device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily fit a rubber switch without applying special fixing machining to the rubber switch and a board by fixing the rubber switch to a key. CONSTITUTION:A key 14 is arranged on a rubber switch vertically swayably centering on one end section, and a circular projection 20 with nearly the same inner diameter as the outer diameter of the pressing section 13 of the rubber switch 8 is formed on the lower face of the key 14. When the pressing section 13 of the rubber switch 8 is coupled into the circular projection 20, the rubber switch 8 is fixed on the lower face of the key 14. The rubber switch 8 can be easily fitted without applying special machining to the rubber switch 8 and a board 6.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a switch device for closing a circuit, and is particularly suitable for application to electronic keyboard instruments, personal computers, etc.
The present invention relates to a switch device for opening a circuit by pressing a key.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in electronic keyboard instruments, etc., a switch device is used to output a predetermined signal by pressing a key, and a musical tone generator outputs a predetermined musical tone based on the output signal from the switch device. It looks like this.

FIG. 9 shows such a conventional switch device, in which a key opening 2 is formed in a flat frame 1, and a lower surface of the frame 1 near the outer periphery of this key opening 2 is provided. , an annular holding groove 3 is formed. Also,
On the outside of the holding groove 3 of the frame 1, a flexible engagement piece 4 having a roughly L-shaped cross section and a holding piece 5 having a roughly U-shaped cross section are integrally formed to protrude. There is.

A substrate 6 in contact with the frame 1 is disposed below the frame 1 so as to be supported by the engaging pieces 4 and 5, and a substrate 6 is provided on the upper surface of the substrate 6 so as to face the key opening 2. A fixed contact 7 is formed at the position. Further, a rubber switch 8 is provided on the upper surface of the board 6 and extends through the opening 2 and projects upward. A fixing piece 10 is integrally formed on the lower edge of the rubber switch 8 and extends in the outer circumferential direction and has an annular engagement protrusion 9 formed on the outer circumferential edge to be engaged with the holding groove 3. has been done.

The method for assembling this rubber switch 8 is as follows.
With the rubber switch 8 placed at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the board 6, one side edge of the board 6 is engaged with the engagement piece 4, and then the other side edge is engaged with the holding piece 5. By doing so, the board 6 is held in a predetermined position below the frame 1, and the fixing piece 10 of the rubber switch 8 is held between the frame 1 and the board 6, so that the engaging protrusion 9 is The rubber switch 8 is engaged with the holding groove 3 of the frame 1, thereby fixing the rubber switch 8.

The lower part of the rubber switch 8 is a dome part 11 having a space inside and consisting of a substantially cylindrical peripheral wall and an upper wall, and on the lower surface of the earthen wall of this dome part 11, the board 6 is fixed. A contact protrusion 12 made of carbon, which contacts the contact 7, is formed in a protruding manner. Furthermore, a cylindrical pressing portion 13 extending upward is integrally formed on the upper portion of the rubber switch 8.

A key 14 is disposed above the rubber switch 8 so as to be able to swing vertically about one end thereof.
A pushing member 15 that comes into contact with 3 is formed to protrude.

In the conventional switch device described above, the key 14
By pressing downward, the pressing member 15 of the key 14 pushes the pressing part 13 of the rubber switch 8 downward. Then, due to the pressing operation of the pressing part 13, the dome part 11 of the rubber switch 8 is bent downward, and the contact protrusion 12 inside the dome part 11 comes into contact with the fixed contact 7 of the board 6, which is not shown. The circuit is closed, and a predetermined musical tone can be output by a musical tone generating device (not shown).

Further, FIG. 10 shows another conventional switch device, in which a fixing piece 10 extending in the outer circumferential direction is integrally formed on the lower edge of the rubber switch 8.
A pair of fixing protrusions 16, each having a bulged tip, are formed protruding from the lower surface of the tip. On the other hand, a pair of fixing holes 18 into which each fixing protrusion 16 of the rubber switch 8 is press-fitted are bored in the base plate 6 which is fastened to the frame 1 with screws 17. By press-fitting each of the fixing protrusions 16 of the rubber switch 8 into the fixing holes 18 of the substrate 6, the rubber switch 8 can be fixed at a predetermined position on the substrate 6.

The rest of the configuration is the same as that shown in FIG. 9 described above, so a description thereof will be omitted.

Furthermore, FIG. 11 shows still another conventional switch device, in which a film 19 made of resin such as polyester is pasted on the upper surface of the board 6 at the mounting position of the rubber switch 8, and the above-mentioned By welding the rubber switch 8, the rubber switch 8 is attached to the substrate 6.
It is fixed on top.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional switch device shown in FIG. Since it is necessary to form the groove 3, there is a problem in that the shapes of the rubber switch 8 and the frame 1 become complicated.

Furthermore, in the conventional switch device shown in FIG.
Since it is necessary to form the fixing piece 10 and the fixing protrusion 16 on the rubber switch 8 and to form the fixing hole 18 on the board 6, in any of the above switch devices,
There are problems in that it is difficult to manufacture, increases the unit price of parts, and increases manufacturing costs.

Further, in the switch device shown in FIG. 11, processing of the rubber switch 8 and the substrate 6 itself is not required, but the film 19 is required, which results in an increase in the number of parts, and furthermore, the film 19 is processed in a separate process. Since it is necessary to perform pasting work, there are still problems in that manufacturing is difficult and manufacturing costs are high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems with the conventional ones, and allows the rubber switch to be easily installed without special processing on the rubber switch or the board, making it easy and inexpensive. An object of the present invention is to provide a switch device that can be manufactured.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, a switch device according to the present invention includes:
A rubber switch is provided, each having a dome portion that is elastically deformed by a key press operation, and a contact protrusion that comes into contact with a fixed contact formed on a predetermined circuit board by the elastic deformation of the dome portion, and the contact protrusion and the fixed contact are connected to each other. The switch device is characterized in that the rubber switch is attached to the key.

[For production]

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, since the rubber switch is fixed to the key, the rubber switch can be mounted extremely easily without special fixing processing on the rubber switch or the board. It is possible,
Moreover, it can be manufactured extremely easily and at low cost.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a switch device according to the present invention, in which a substrate 6 fixed to a flat frame (not shown) is shown.
A fixed contact 7 is attached to the board 6, and a rubber switch 8 is disposed above the board 6. At the lower part of the rubber switch 8, a substantially cylindrical dome part 11 is formed on the lower surface of the upper wall 11a and has a contact protrusion 12 protruding from the bottom surface of the upper wall 11a, which contacts the fixed contact 7 of the board 6. Above the dome part 11 of the rubber switch 8, a cylindrical pressing part 13 having a smaller diameter than the dome part 11 is integrally and concentrically formed.

Further, a key 14 is disposed above the rubber switch 8 so as to be able to swing vertically around one end, and on the lower surface of the key 14, an outer part of the pressing part 13 of the rubber switch 8 is provided. An annular protrusion 20 having an inner diameter approximately the same as the diameter
is formed.

By fitting the suppressing portion 13 of the rubber switch 8 inside the annular projection 20, the rubber switch 8 is fixed to the lower surface of the key 14.

As shown in FIG. 2, the outer diameter of the annular protrusion 20 is formed to be approximately the same as the inner diameter of the pressing part 13 of the rubber switch 8, and the suppressing part 13 is fitted on the outer side of the annular protrusion 20. , the rubber switch 8 may be fixed.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above-described configuration will be explained.

In this embodiment, by pressing the key 14 downward, the pressing portion 13 of the rubber switch 8 is pressed downward. Then, due to the pressing operation of the suppressing part 13, the dome part 11 of the rubber switch 8 is bent downward, and the contact protrusion 12 inside the dome part 11 comes into contact with the fixed contact 7 of the board 6, thereby closing the circuit. A predetermined musical tone can be output by a musical tone generating device (not shown).

According to this embodiment, the annular projection 20 is formed on the key 14, and the pressing portion 13 of the rubber switch 8 is fitted into the annular projection 20, thereby fixing the rubber switch 8 to the key 14. Therefore, the rubber switch 8 can be easily attached. Furthermore, since it is sufficient to form the cylindrical suppressing portion 13 on the rubber switch 8, there is no need to form the rubber switch 8 in a special shape, and there is no need to perform special fixing processing on the board 6 or the frame. Therefore, it can be easily manufactured, the unit cost of parts can be reduced, and it can be manufactured at low cost.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a keyboard device to which the switch device according to the present invention is applied, in which a key opening 2 is formed in the =10-frame 1 of the musical instrument body. On the bottom surface of frame 1 near the outer periphery of
A flexible engaging piece 4 having a roughly L-shaped cross section and a holding piece 5 having a roughly U-shaped cross section are each integrally formed to protrude. Further, the engagement piece 4 and the holding piece 5 include
A substrate 6 is held, and fixed contacts (not shown) formed on this substrate 6 are exposed through the key opening 2. Furthermore, a plurality of guide rods 21 extending in the vertical direction are attached to the distal end of the frame 1 at predetermined intervals in the width direction of the frame 1.

Further, a connection plate 22 extending in the width direction of the frame 1 is attached to the rear end side of the upper surface of the frame 1 by a pin 23, and a front part of the connection plate 22 is attached to the rear end side of the upper surface of the frame 1.
A plurality of keys 14 extending in front of the keyboard and corresponding to respective pitches are fixed together via a leaf spring hinge portion 24 and a cylindrical reinforcing portion 25, respectively. An L-shaped guide member 26 disposed between the respective guide rods 21 is integrally fixed to the front lower surface of each key 14, and the key 14 While being guided by the guide rod 21, it can freely swing in the vertical direction about the connecting portion between the leaf spring hinge portion 24 and the connecting plate 22.

Further, an annular protrusion 20 is formed on the lower surface side of the key 14 at a position corresponding to the upper side of the substrate 6.
A pressing portion of a rubber switch 8 having a configuration similar to that shown in FIG. 2 described above is fitted into this annular projection 20.

According to this embodiment having such a configuration, by pressing the key 14 downward, the pressing portion 13 of the rubber switch 8 is pressed downward, thereby causing the contact protrusion (not shown) of the rubber switch 8 to be pressed downward. is brought into contact with a fixed contact on the board 6, thereby making it possible to output a predetermined musical tone.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as in the first embodiment described above, the rubber switch 8 can be easily attached, and furthermore, there is no need to form the rubber switch 8, the board 6, etc. into a special shape. It can be manufactured easily and inexpensively.

4 to 6 show another embodiment of the switch device according to the present invention, in which a rubber switch 8 is disposed above a substrate 6 on which a fixed contact 7 is formed. The lower part of the rubber switch 8 is a cylindrical contact part 27 that comes into contact with the upper surface of the board 6, and the lower surface of the upper wall 27a of this contact part 27 is provided with the fixed contact 7 of the board 6. An annular contact protrusion 12 to be contacted is formed. Further, in this embodiment, the contact portion 27 of the rubber switch 8 is
A dome portion 11 having a space inside is formed together with an upper wall 27a of the contact portion 27, and a pressing protrusion 28 is formed on the upper surface of the upper wall 27a forming the lower surface of the dome portion 11. has been done.

Further, a thick fitting flange 29 is formed at the upper end edge of the dome portion 11 of the rubber switch 8.

A key 14 is disposed above the rubber switch 8 so as to be able to swing vertically around one end.
As shown in the figure, a pressing member 15 is formed protruding from the lower surface of the key 14 and has an inclined tip surface and comes into contact with the pressing protrusion 28 of the rubber switch 8. Furthermore, two annular projections 20.20 are formed on the lower surface of the key 14 on the outer periphery of the pushing member 15, and each of these annular projections 20 forms a fitting groove 30. ing.

Then, the rubber switch 8 is placed inside the fitting groove 30.
By fitting the fitting flange 29, the rubber switch 8 can be fixed to the lower surface of the key 14.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above-described configuration will be explained.

According to this embodiment, from the state shown in FIG.
4 is pressed downward, the dome portion 11 of the rubber switch 8 is first bent downward, and the elastic resistance of the dome portion 11 of the rubber switch 8 causes the key to be pressed on the actual piano. It is designed to provide a good touch sensation similar to the one you get when touching a key. That is, at the beginning of the pressing operation of the key 14, the elastic resistance of the dome portion 11 provides a feeling of weight, and when the key 14 is pressed to a certain extent, it becomes lighter, providing a good touch sensation.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the dome portion 11 has finished elastic deformation, the push member 15 of the key
is brought into contact with the pressing protrusion 28 inside the dome portion 11. When the key 14 is further pressed from this state, the pressing member 15 of the key 14 presses the pressing protrusion 28 of the rubber switch 8 downward, as shown in FIG.
The contact protrusion 12 inside the circuit board 7 is brought into contact with the fixed contact 7 of the board 6, whereby a predetermined signal is output, and based on this signal, a predetermined musical tone is output by a musical tone generating device (not shown). .

In this way, in this example as well, as in the previous example,
The rubber switch 8 can be easily attached, and since there is no need to form the rubber switch 8, the substrate 6, etc. into a special shape, it can be manufactured easily and at low cost.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the random switch 8
Due to the elastic resistance of the dome portion 11, a good touch sensation can be obtained when the key 14 is pressed. Moreover, when the elastic deformation of the dome portion 11 of the rubber switch 8 is completed and the pressing protrusion 28 is pressed by the pressing member 15, the contact protrusion 12 is brought into contact with the fixed contact 7 of the substrate 6 disposed close to it. Since the elastic deformation operation of the dome portion 11 and the contact operation of each contact point are performed separately, the contact protrusion of the rubber switch 8 is It is possible to eliminate variations in the time it takes for the circuit to be closed after the contact 12 contacts the fixed contact 7 of the board 6, and it is possible to perform a stable circuit closing operation by operating the key 14.

FIG. 8 shows still another embodiment of the present invention,
In this embodiment, the lower surface of the upper wall 27a of the contact portion 27 formed below the rubber suit 8 is provided with the substrate 6.
An annular first contact protrusion 12a that contacts the fixed contact 7 is formed inside the first contact protrusion 12a.
A second contact protrusion 12b having a shorter length than the first contact protrusion 12a is formed to protrude. Further, above the contact portion 27 of the rubber switch 8, a pressing protrusion 2 is provided on the upper wall 27a of the contact portion 27 forming the lower surface of the dome portion 11.
8 is formed, and the rubber switch 8 engages a fitting flange 29 formed on the upper edge of the dome portion 11 with an engagement groove of a key (not shown). This allows it to be fixed to the underside of the key.

According to this embodiment, by pressing the key downward, the pressing protrusion 28 of the rubber switch 8 is pressed downward, and the first contact protrusion 12a inside the contact portion 27 is pressed downward. A fixed contact on the substrate 6 (not shown) is contacted, thereby closing the corresponding circuit, and then, with a slight time difference, the second contact protrusion 12b is brought into contact with the fixed contact, thereby closing the corresponding circuit. . By closing these two circuits with a time difference, a predetermined musical tone can be outputted by a musical tone generator (not shown).

As described above, in this embodiment as well, the rubber switch 8 can be easily attached as in the above-mentioned embodiments, and there is no need to form the rubber switch 8, the board 6, etc. into a special shape. It can be manufactured easily and inexpensively.

Further, a good touch feeling can be obtained, and variations in the circuit closing time caused by the rubber switch 8 can be eliminated. Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the rubber switch 8 is formed with two contact protrusions 12a and 12b, one rubber switch 8 can output two signals.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Various changes can be made as necessary. For example, the present invention can be applied not only to electronic musical instruments but also to personal computers and other various devices.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, since the switch device according to the present invention fixes the rubber switch to the key, the rubber switch can be attached very easily without special fixing processing on the rubber switch or the board. Moreover, it can be manufactured extremely easily and at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment of the switch device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows the switch device of FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment applied to a musical instrument, FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a deformed state of the dome portion of FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the key part of the key shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the fourth embodiment of the present invention. 9, FIG. 10, and FIG. 11 are longitudinal sectional views showing conventional switch devices, respectively. 1... Frame, 6... Board, 7... Fixed contact,
8... = 19- Rubber switch, 11... Dome portion, 12... Contact protrusion, 14... Key, 15... Pushing member, 2o... Annular protrusion, 29... Fitting flange, 3o ...Mating groove.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A rubber switch is provided, each having a dome portion that is elastically deformed by a key press operation, and a contact protrusion that comes into contact with a fixed contact formed on a predetermined circuit board by the elastic deformation of the dome portion, and the contact protrusion and the fixed contact are connected to each other. 1. A switch device for closing a circuit upon contact with the key, characterized in that the rubber switch is attached to the key.