JPH0656934U - Cover member for rubber push button switch - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Modified) [Purpose] The present invention has a clear visibility during daytime and dusk, and is used for in-vehicle display which has excellent visibility and prevents window reflection of light on the display during night illumination. An object of the present invention is to provide a rubber push-button switch cover member that is useful for portable telephones, dark place switches, and the like. [Structure] The cover member for a rubber push-button switch of the present invention is characterized in that a striped sheet 5 is provided on a key top portion, in which transparent layers 3 and 4, a light colored layer 1 and a dark colored layer 2 are stacked. It is what

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention has excellent visibility of a rubber push button switch cover member, particularly a key top portion. Therefore, it can be applied to, for example, in-vehicle telephones, various in-vehicle push button switches, portable telephones or push button switches for dark places. The present invention relates to a cover member for a rubber push button switch which is useful.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 A conventionally known cover member for a push button switch is, for example, a known thermoforming mold filled with uncured silicone rubber, and then the mold is closed and heated and pressure-molded. Printing or painting a light-colored coating that has a light-blocking property, and a dark-colored coating that has a light-blocking property (hereinafter abbreviated as a light-blocking layer) is printed or painted. It is supposed that some or all of the above will be removed to create codes such as letters, symbols, and patterns to make the user aware.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, this known cover member for a push button switch is required to maintain the translucency even at the time of character illumination at night and to improve the visibility during the day, so that the generation of scattered light is unavoidable, and as a result, Even if the interior of a car or the like is fixedly used, window reflections become noticeable, which has many disadvantages in ensuring a good visibility for the driver.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The present invention relates to a cover member for a rubber push button switch that solves such disadvantages, and has a striped sheet in which a transparent layer, a light colored layer and a dark colored layer are laminated on a key top portion. It is characterized by that.

That is, as a result of various investigations by the present inventors to develop a rubber cover member for a push button switch that solves the disadvantages of the conventional method, as a result, a key top portion of a conventionally known cover member for a push button switch, particularly the upper surface thereof By providing a striped sheet with a transparent layer, a bright colored layer, and a dark colored layer stacked on top of each other, it is possible to significantly reduce window reflections during night illumination and to provide clear visibility when illuminated. The inventors have completed the present invention by discovering that the visibility can be obtained, and the visibility in the daytime and dusk can be secured. This will be described in more detail below.

[0006]

[Action]

 The present invention relates to a cover member for an illuminated rubber push button switch, which is characterized in that a striped sheet having a transparent layer, a light colored layer and a dark colored layer stacked on each other is provided on a key top portion. However, according to this, since the upper surface of the key top portion has a dimming property, the visibility in the daytime and dusk is improved, and the window reflection is significantly reduced when illuminated at night. The advantage is that the visibility is also improved.

The rubber push-button switch cover member of the present invention has, on the upper surface of the key top portion, a transparent layer for realizing translucency, a light colored layer for realizing external light reflection, and a light shielding property. To achieve this, a striped pattern sheet is provided by stacking each layer consisting of dark colored layers as desired.This is a striped pattern sheet that is obtained by stacking these striped sheets in the stacking direction. Should be provided on the upper surface of the key top portion.

The colored layer constituting the striped sheet used on the upper surface of the key top portion of the cover member for a rubber push button switch of the present invention is formed by appropriately selecting or mixing colorants having various spectral reflectances. It is only necessary to reach the respective lightness levels. Light-colored thin films involved in light reflection are generally well-known white pigments such as zinc white, titanium dioxide, titanium white and lead white, and yellow pigments such as yellow lead, red lead yellow lead and gadmium yellow. , Or a mixture of these may be used as a mixture. Among them, titanium dioxide is useful because it satisfies the light resistance, the hiding power, the brightness, and the stability.

Further, it is effective to use a black pigment such as carbon black, graphite or iron oxide black as a dark colorant for the dark color thin film which is involved in the absorption of light, but the cost, light resistance and color Carbon black is particularly preferable for satisfying the requirements of darkness and hiding power.

In order to improve the visibility of the rubber push-button switch cover member of the present invention in the daytime and dusk, the thickness of the transparent layer and the colored layer is set to 100 when the repeating unit of the thickness (hereinafter, simply referred to as pitch) is set to 100%. If the ratio of the light color part excluding the dark color is less than 35, the whole is tilted to the dark color, and if it exceeds 75, the display quality is deteriorated even when the light color is illuminated, so the ratio should be within the range of 35 to 75. Is desirable.

Further, the light transmittance of the striped sheet forming the upper surface of the key top portion can be adjusted to an arbitrary range by the ratio of the thickness of the transparent layer to the colored layer. However, if it exceeds 60%, the ratio of the transparent part in the striped pattern sheet becomes large, and therefore the ratio of the colored layer must be set small, and the ratio of the light colored layer is even smaller. Therefore, visibility at night is good, but visibility at daytime and dusk becomes poor. If this is less than 5%, visibility at daytime and dusk is excellent, but the light transmittance of the sheet itself is reduced. However, the visibility at night illumination becomes inferior, and the ratio of the transparent layer becomes considerably smaller than that of the colored layer, so that the clear identification of the display of characters, symbols, patterns, etc. is impaired. It is recommended to be ~ 60%.

In order to obtain the light-colored layer used here, a light-colored colorant is dispersed in a transparent or opaque resin (including rubber, plastic, and thermoplastic elastomer), and under appropriate conditions. It can be formed into a thin film by calendar molding, extrusion molding, cast molding, compression molding, or any processing method such as screen printing, coater printing, or spray coating.To obtain a dark colored layer, a dark colorant is used. It may be dispersed in a transparent or opaque resin and formed into a thin film by any similar processing means.

The reason why the resin used here is a transparent or opaque resin is that there is no problem in either case as long as the hiding power of the colorant against light is sufficiently large, but as a concrete example, The colorant described above may be dispersed in a milky-white silicone rubber compound together with a vulcanizing agent and calendered, or the colorant may be blended in liquid silicone and coated with a coater.

To obtain the rubber push-button switch cover member of the present invention, for example, a stripe obtained by superposing the transparent layer and the light-colored and dark-colored layers formed as described above on the key top portion thereof. A pattern sheet shall be provided on the upper surface of the key top part, insert it into the key top part inside the mold, put silicone rubber in this mold, heat and pressurize to form the cover member for the push button switch. This can be obtained by providing a shielding layer on the outer surface side of this striped pattern sheet, which is shielded from light by laser processing, etc. according to the symbols such as letters, symbols, and patterns. By removing the above, it is possible to obtain a cover member for a rubber illuminated push button switch with even better visibility.

Since the upper surface of the key top portion of the rubber cover member for a push button switch according to the present invention is formed of the striped sheet as described above, the visibility is good regardless of day or night. It is desirable to have a structure in which both sides of the transparent layer are supported by dark colored layers, which allows the displayed characters, symbols, and patterns to be clearly visible even if the pitch is small. .

[0016]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Example 1 (a) Production of striped sheet Silicone rubber compound KE-971TU [trade name of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.] 100 parts by weight of white colorant KE Color W2 [trade name of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.] 70 parts by thickness of 30 parts by weight and 2 parts by weight of vulcanizing agent C-2 (trade name of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) were added, and sheeting was performed using a calendar roll at 210 ° C. × 5 m / min. In addition to making white layer 1 of the above, 50 parts by weight of each of liquid silicone rubbers KE-1934A and KE-1934B [both are trade names manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.], CP-96 Black [Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. Co., Ltd. product name] 12 parts by weight, and a Fauten coater [Product name of Inoue Metal Industry Co., Ltd.] is used to coat a white layer under a curing condition of 5 ° C. at 25 ° C. for 5 m / min. Create layer 2 and add silicone rubber compound SE-1 1 88 U [Toray Dow Corning Silicone brand name] 100 parts by weight of vulcanizing agent C-8 [Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. brand name] 1.5 parts by weight were added at 210 ° C using a calender roll. Sheeting was carried out under a curing condition of 5 m / min to form a transparent layer 3 having a thickness of 56 μm, and the same material was sheeted without heating to form an unvulcanized transparent layer 4.

Then, the white layer 1, the black layer 2, the transparent layer 3 and the unvulcanized transparent layer 4 are laminated in the order shown in FIG. The sheet A is repeatedly laminated in the forward direction to form a block body, which is then heated and pressed at 160 ° C. for 12 hours under the condition of 4 kg / cm ² to cure and integrate the block body. A striped pattern sheet 5 made of silicone rubber was prepared by cutting the sheet in a direction perpendicular to.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), a surface layer material obtained by mixing 50 parts by weight of each of liquid silicone rubbers KE-1934A and KE-1934B (described above) on one surface of the striped sheet 5. 6 is provided to prevent excessive shading of the light-shielding layer by the YAG laser. When providing it, the surface thereof is sandblasted and screen-printed on the polyethylene terephthalate film 7 so that the surface material 6 has a thickness of 40 μm. Coating with a machine, sticking the striped sheet 5 to this coated surface, applying a load of 10 g / m ² , depressurizing at 0.1 Torr for 20 seconds to defoam, and after defoaming, heat cure at 130 ° C for 1 hour. After creating the striped sheet B with the surface layer material 6 to be provided on the upper surface of the key top part, punch it into the shape of the top surface part of the key top part so that the contact area with the silicone rubber is maximized in the mold. It was placed.

(B) Molding of rubber push button switch cover member In the above mold, 100 parts by weight of silicone rubber KE-78VBS [trade name of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.] and vulcanizing agent C-8 (Previously described) 0.7 part by weight of silicone rubber base material 8 which was mixed and dispersed by a mixing roll was filled, and heated and pressed under the condition of 180 ° C and 200 kg / cm ² and the above was applied to the upper surface of the keytop portion. The striped sheet B was integrated with the striped sheet B, and the polyethylene terephthalate film as the outermost layer was peeled off to prepare a rubber push-button switch cover member C according to the present invention as shown in FIG. 1 (c). There was no window reflection when illuminated at night, and clear visibility was obtained, and visibility was good during the day and at dusk.

Example 2 The following steps were performed to provide a code on the outer surface of the cover member C obtained above. (C) Molding of light-shielding layer 100 parts by weight of silicone-based paint / Silmark [trade name of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.], 10 parts by weight of carbon black as a black pigment, methylhydrogen polysiloxane / KE99 [Shin-Etsu Chemical ( Co., Ltd. product name] 9 parts by weight, platinum-based catalyst, Cat-PL-2 [Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. product name] 0.05 part by weight, toluene 350 parts by weight, and delusterant Syloid 161 [Fuji Devison Chemical Co., Ltd. (Trade name of Co., Ltd.) 10 parts by weight of the black paint 9 which was well stirred and dispersed was used by a spray gun to form the outer surface of the molded body C as shown in (a) of FIG. Was coated to a thickness of 50 μm and cured and integrated by heating at 275 ° C. for 8 minutes to form an intermediate compact D.

(D) Fabrication of Light-Transmissive Section as Blank Code Next, the light-transmissive layer 9 of the intermediate molded body D thus obtained is irradiated with a YAG laser to partially remove the light-shielding layer 9 and When the light-transmitting portion 10 was provided as a blank code, a rubber illuminated push-button switch cover member E having a blank code was obtained.

This white layer reflects the light in the visible light portion almost uniformly, and the light-transmitting portion 10 from which the light-shielding layer 9 has been removed is clearly visible even at dusk when the amount of incident light is small, so that it can be seen at night. When illuminated, light from a light source such as an LED passes through the transparent layer, so that the code of the light-transmitting portion 10 is clearly visible, and the effect of this stripe pattern creates a visible range and a light-blocking range, and light that leaks out of the visible range. Since it significantly decreases, the advantage of being able to prevent window reflection on the windshield and side windows when used in a vehicle such as an automobile is given.

Example 3 When the striped pattern sheet 5 obtained in Example 1 was provided on the upper surface of the key top portion, toluene was used as the black paint which was previously used for forming the light shielding layer 9 on the polyethylene terephthalate film. The light-shielding ink 11 made without addition was mirror-image printed with a screen printing machine to a thickness of 40 μm and heated to harden it, and then the surface layer material 6 used in Example 1 was used to form a stripe pattern on the mirror-image printed surface. The sheets are laminated, defoamed, heated, cured and punched, and the rubber illuminated push-button switch cover member F of the present invention shown in FIG. When manufactured, this product also showed the same effect as the cover member E for the illuminated type push button switch made of rubber.

[0024]

[Effect of device]

 The present invention relates to a cover member for a rubber push button switch, which has a striped sheet in which a transparent layer, a light colored layer and a dark colored layer are stacked on each other as described above. The feature is that it can significantly reduce the window reflection when illuminated at night, can obtain clear visibility even when illuminated, and is also good at daytime and dusk. Advantages are given.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the stacking order of each layer constituting a striped sheet used for the top surface of a key top portion of a cover member for a rubber push button switch of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a key top. FIG. 3C is a vertical cross-sectional view of the striped sheet before being integrated on the portion, and FIG. 3C is a vertical cross-sectional view of the rubber push button switch cover member of the present invention in which the light shielding layer is not applied.

FIG. 2 (a) is a vertical cross-sectional view before laser processing in the case where a cover member for a rubber push button switch of the present invention is provided with a light transmitting portion as a blank symbol, and FIG. 2 (b) is provided with a light transmitting portion. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a cover member for a rubber push button switch according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing another embodiment of the cover member for a rubber push button switch of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... White layer, 2 ... Black layer, 3, 4 ... Transparent layer,
5 ... Stripe pattern sheet 6 ... Surface layer material, 7 ... Polyethylene terephthalate film, 8 ... Mother rubber, 9 ... Black coating, 10
... light-shielding layer removed portion, 11 ... light-shielding ink, A ... sheet consisting of repeating units of striped pattern, B ... striped sheet with surface layer material, C, E, F ... cover member for rubber push button switch of the present invention, D ... Intermediate compact.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Kiyomi Uehara 2146, Hirooka Kenishi, Shiojiri-shi, Nagano 5146, Niishino Polymer Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A cover member for a rubber push button switch, characterized in that a striped pattern sheet having a transparent layer, a light colored layer and a dark colored layer stacked on each other is provided on a key top portion.