JPH0615231U - Keyboard switch key device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The stroke of the keyboard switch key can be increased, in other words, the thickness of the keyboard can be reduced. [Structure] A key top (1) is provided so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from a housing (5), a locking piece (4) is projected from a lower surface of the key top (1), and a locking claw (4a) is formed at a lower end of the key top (1). The portion 17 is formed and the locking portion 21 is formed on the upper end thereof, and the locking claw 4a of the key top 1 is locked thereto.
Escape holes 22 a and 22 b are formed in the housing 5 at positions facing the locking pieces 4 of the key top 1.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a keyboard switch key device suitable for application to a computer keyboard or the like.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 An example of this type of key device is shown in FIG. A bar-shaped key stem 3 is formed in the center of the lower surface of the square top plate 2 having a square shape, a locking piece 4 is formed near the end, and a locking claw 4a is formed at the lower end of the key top. 1 is configured. Actually, a pair of locking pieces 4 are provided symmetrically to the left and right, but only one is shown in the figure. The key top 1 is formed of a synthetic resin material.

A cylindrical guide portion 6 and a locking hole 7 are formed in the housing 5. The key stem 3 of the key top 1 is slidably guided in the guide portion 6, and the locking piece 4 of the key top 1 is inserted into the locking hole 7. A lower end of a trumpet-shaped elastic member 8 made of rubber or the like is attached around the guide portion 6, and this is interposed between the housing 5 and the key top 1 so that the key top 1 is always lifted upward in the drawing. ing. At this time, the locking claw 4a of the locking piece 4 is locked in the locking hole 7, and the steady position of the key top 1 is determined.

A plate 9 is arranged below the housing 5 in parallel therewith, and a membrane sheet 10 is arranged on the upper surface thereof, to which a pair of contacts 11a and 11b are attached in a state of facing each other. . Therefore, when the key top 1 is pressed (pressed down), the key stem 3 is guided by the guide portion 6 and slides therein, and the lower end of the key stem 3 pushes the upper surface of the membrane sheet 10 to bring the contacts 11a and 11b into contact with each other ( Turn it on).

[0005]

In this configuration, the stroke L of the key top 1 is determined by the distance between the housing sheet 5 and the membrane sheet 10. The stroke L of the key used in the keyboard is generally about 3 mm to 4 mm, which is ergonomically good, and it is desirable to keep the thickness of the keyboard as small as possible while maintaining this value. Of course, if the stroke L is made small, the thickness of the entire keyboard can be made small, but in this case, a slight touch on the key may cause an erroneous input to a computer or the like.

In consideration of the above points, the present invention proposes a key device for a keyboard switch that can reduce the thickness of the entire keyboard in a state where the stroke L is selected to be a certain constant value.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, the key top 1 is provided so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the housing 5, and the key top 1 is always kept in a state of being separated from the housing 5 by the elastic member 8. In a key device of a keyboard switch, a locking piece 4 is projected on a lower surface of a key top 1 and a locking claw 4a is formed on a lower end thereof, and a cylindrical portion 17 is formed on a housing 5 and a key top 1 is formed on an upper end thereof. A locking portion 21 for locking the locking claw 4a is formed, and escape holes 22a and 22b are formed in the housing 5 at positions facing the locking piece 4 of the key top 1.

[0008]

[Action]

 In this invention, the locking piece 4 is projected on the lower surface of the key top 1, and the locking claw 4a is formed at the lower end thereof, while the locking claw 4a is engaged at the upper end of the tubular portion 17 of the housing 5. Since the locking portion 21 is formed, and the escape holes 22a and 22b for the locking piece 4 are formed in the housing 5, the stroke S of the key top 1 is made larger than the stroke L in the case of the conventional configuration. In other words, if the stroke S of the device of this invention is the same as the conventional one, the thickness of the entire key device can be reduced.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An example of a key device of a keyboard switch according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In these figures, the portions corresponding to those in FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted. As shown in FIG. 1, the key top 1 of this example has a plurality of guide portions 16a to 16d formed on the lower surface of the top portion 2. These are preferably formed at positions sufficiently separated from the center O of the top portion 2, and in the example shown in the figure, they are formed at four corners on the diagonal of the square top portion 2. The inner surfaces of the guide portions 16a to 16d are on a cylindrical surface having a radius Rα from the center O of the key top 1, so that each guide portion 16a to 16d is equidistant from the center O of the top portion 2.

The virtual orthogonal lines passing through the center O described above are X and Y, the lines connecting the right and left ends of the guide portion 16d and the center O are x and y, respectively, and the angle between the lines X and x is αa. , Αb is the angle formed by the lines Y and y, and αc is the angle formed by the lines x and y, then αa = αb and these are selected to be 31 °, for example, and the angle αc is selected to be 28 °. The same applies to the guide portions 16a to 16c. On the lower surface of the key top 1, a pair of locking pieces 4 are provided at symmetrical positions, a locking claw 4a is formed at the lower end thereof, and a key stem 15 is formed at the center of the lower surface. The key stem 15 is formed in a cylindrical shape in this example.

As shown in FIG. 2, the housing 5 is provided with a tubular portion 17 and four guide portions 18a to 18d. As can be seen from FIG. 3, the tubular portion 17 is composed of a large diameter portion 17a on the lower side and a small diameter portion 17b on the upper side, and the key stem 15 of the key top 1 is loosely inserted into the small diameter portion 17b. The outer surfaces of the guide portions 18a to 18d are on a cylindrical surface having a radius Rβ from the center P of the tubular portion 17. The radius Rβ is equal to or slightly smaller than the radius Rα described above, and the inner surfaces of the guide portions 16a to 16d of the keytop 1 are slidably guided.

In FIG. 2, imaginary lines corresponding to the imaginary lines X and Y shown in FIG. 1 are indicated by W and Z, and lines connecting the right end and the left end of the guide portion 18d to the center P are shown in FIG. w and z, the angle between the lines W and w is βa, the angle between the lines Z and z is βb, and the angle between the lines w and z is βc, then βa = βb = βc, Each is selected at 30 °. The same applies to the guide portions 18a to 18c.

At a position where the large-diameter portion 17a of the tubular portion 17 makes a left-right pair, a part of the large-diameter portion 17a extends upward to form a locking portion 21, to which the locking claw 4a of the key top 1 is engaged. The key top 1 is fixed so that the steady position of the key top 1 is determined. An elastic member (recovering rubber) 8 is interposed between the lower end of the key stem 15 and the upper surface of the membrane sheet 10 to lift the key top 1 upward. In this example, the elastic member 8 is composed of a tubular portion 8a, a trumpet-shaped portion 8b, and an inner wall 8c continuous to the lower end of the tubular portion 8a, and a convex portion 8d is formed at the center of the inner wall 8c. There is. The tubular portion 8a is fitted into the key stem 15 of the key top 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, escape holes 20a to 20d are formed in the housing 5 on the outer side of the guide portions 18a to 18d, and a pair of protrusions 19a and 19b are formed on the left and right edges of these escape holes. Is formed, and guides the left and right edges of the guide portions 16a to 16d of the keytop 1 which are slidably guided as shown in FIG. Further, escape holes 22a and 22b are formed in the lower portion of the locking portion 21 of the tubular portion 17.

In this structure, when the key top 1 is pushed down against the elasticity of the elastic member 8, the guide portions 16a to 16d are slidably guided by the guide portions 18a to 18d of the housing 5, respectively. Then, the convex portion 8d of the elastic member 8 pushes the upper surface of the membrane sheet 10 to turn on (contact) the contacts 11a and 11b. At this time, the lower ends of the guide portions 16a to 16b of the keytop 1 respectively escape into the escape holes 20a to 20d of the housing 5, and the lower ends of the locking pieces 4 of the keytop 1 escape into the escape holes 22a and 22b. Therefore, the housing 5 does not get in the way. When the fingertip is released from the key top 1, the elastic member 8 returns the key top 1 to the original position.

In the key device according to the present invention, since the engaging portion 21 for the engaging claw 4a of the key top 1 is formed near the upper end of the tubular portion 17, as shown in FIG. Compared with the case of engaging with the housing 5, the stroke S of the key top 1 can be configured to be larger than the conventional L (S> L) (provided that the distance between the housing 5 and the membrane sheet 10 is the same). Then, if S = L is selected, the distance between the housing 5 and the membrane sheet 10 can be made smaller than that shown in FIG. 5, that is, the thickness of the entire key device can be reduced.

[0017]

[Effect of device]

 According to the key device of the keyboard switch according to the present invention, the stroke S of the key-top 1 can be made larger than the conventional L (S> L). In other words, by selecting S = L, the housing 5 and the membrane sheet can be selected. There is an effect that the distance between the key device and the key device 10 can be made smaller than that of the conventional structure, that is, the thickness of the entire key device can be reduced accordingly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a bottom view showing an example of a key top that can be used in a key device of a keyboard switch according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a part of a housing that can be used in the key device of the keyboard switch according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1 (on the line BB of FIG. 2) showing the engagement state of the key top with the housing.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a key device of a conventional keyboard switch.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A key device of a keyboard switch, wherein a key top is provided so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from a housing, and the key top is normally kept in a state of being separated from the housing by an elastic member. A locking piece is projected to the bottom of the housing, and a locking claw is formed on the lower end thereof, and a locking portion for locking the locking claw of the key top is formed on the upper end of the tubular portion formed on the housing. A key device for a keyboard switch, wherein an escape hole is formed in the housing at a position facing the locking piece of the key top.