JPH07320588A - Push on type switch and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a push on type switch, wherein moving a tact metal plate is impeded so that a switch operation can be surely performed. CONSTITUTION:A tact metal plate 6, having an inserting action operable plate- shaped part, is mounted on an insulating substrate formed with a center part contact 2 and end part contact 3. A peripheral edge part of the tact metal plate 6 is partly brought into contact with the end part contact 3. An insulating cover member 7 is fixed to the substrate so as to cover the tact metal plate 6. The tact metal plate 6 and the insulating cover member 7 are connected through a pressure sensitive adhesive.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a push-on type switch and a manufacturing method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, with the miniaturization of electronic products, a small and thin push-on type switch which can be directly assembled on a substrate without a special case has been used. In these switches, a central contact point and an end contact point are formed on an insulating substrate, and a tact metal plate having a reversible dish-shaped portion that is curved so as to project in a direction away from the substrate is used as a dish-shaped plate. It is arranged on the substrate such that a part of the peripheral portion of the portion comes into contact with an end contact provided on the substrate.
Then, in order to hold the tact metal plate at a predetermined position on the substrate, an insulating cover member is fixed to the substrate so as to cover the tact metal plate. In this switch, when the tact metal plate is pressed from the outside of the insulating cover member, the substantially central part of the tact metal plate contacts the central contact, and the central contact and the end contact are brought into conduction.

A known example of this type of switch is shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1-100333.

[0004]

In the conventional switch,
Although the insulating cover member is fixed to the substrate, the tact metal plate is held in place by the structure that simply covers the tact metal plate, so the tact metal plate moves and the switch operation does not occur. There is a question of uncertainty.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a push-on type switch and a method of manufacturing the same in which the movement of the tact metal plate can be prevented and the switch operation can be reliably performed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a push-on type switch which can follow the deformation of the tact metal plate when the insulating cover member and the tact metal plate are joined with an adhesive. Especially.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an insulative substrate having a central contact and an end contact formed on the substrate such that a portion of the peripheral edge abuts the end contact. A tact metal plate having a dish-like portion that can be inverted so as to project in a direction away from the substrate, and a tact metal plate that covers the tact metal plate to hold the tact metal plate at a predetermined position on the insulating substrate. An insulating cover member fixed to the substrate, and when the dish-shaped portion of the tact metal plate is pressed from the outside of the insulating cover member, the substantially central portion of the dish-shaped portion abuts the central contact point and the central contact point The target is a push-on switch in which the end contact is electrically connected to the switch. And in this invention, in order to solve the said subject, a tact metal plate and an insulating cover member are joined via an adhesive agent.

The tact metal plate may be composed of only a dish-shaped portion, or may have a flange portion outside the dish-shaped portion.

If the upper surface of the tact metal plate is wholly joined to the insulating cover member with an adhesive, the tact metal plate is securely held at a predetermined position even when the tact metal plate is largely deformed. be able to. Further, if the insulating cover member is also bonded to the insulating substrate via the adhesive, not only the insulating cover member can be easily attached to the insulating substrate, but also the movement of the insulating cover member can be prevented.

In the method of the present invention, first, an insulating cover member having a back surface coated with an adhesive is prepared. Then, the tact metal plate is attached to the surface of the insulating cover member coated with the adhesive using the adhesive, and the insulating cover member is bonded to the insulating substrate via the adhesive. With this configuration, since the push-on switch can be manufactured with the tact metal plate positioned and fixed to the insulating cover member, the tact metal plate does not move or disappear during the manufacturing process, Becomes very easy.

[0011]

When the tact metal plate and the insulating cover member are joined via an adhesive as in the present invention, even when the tact metal plate is deformed by being pressed, the insulating cover member follows the tact metal plate, Since the tact metal plate can be securely held at the predetermined position, the switch operation can be surely performed.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1A is a schematic side view of the push-on type switch of one embodiment of the present invention used in a volume control circuit of a portable stereo, and FIG. 1B is a schematic rear view thereof. . FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. Further, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the switch alone, which is shown by using imaginary lines to explain the structure of the switch. In these figures, 1 is a circuit board having an insulating property. Note that a flexible substrate having flexibility may be used. A predetermined circuit pattern is formed on the substrate 1 by using copper foil, silver paint, or conductive paint such as carbon. Although the circuit patterns are not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the contact patterns of the switches are also included in the circuit patterns as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
2 and 3, 2 is a center contact, 3 is an end contact, and 4a and 4b are jumper wires. An overcoat 5 is formed on the jumper wire 4b connected to the central contact 2 by using an appropriate insulating material such as epoxy resin. In this embodiment, the thickness of the overcoat 5 is set to 5
The thickness is about 0 μm, which is about 5 times the average overcoat thickness (about 10 μm) used in a known switch. When a part of the tact metal plate described later is placed on the thick overcoat 5, the click feeling becomes large. Note that, in FIGS. 2 and 3, each part is exaggerated for ease of understanding.

Reference numeral 6 is a tact metal plate which is composed only of a dish-shaped portion which is curved so as to project in a direction away from the substrate 1 and which can be inverted. The tact metal plate 6 is placed on the substrate 1 such that a part of the peripheral edge portion 6a thereof is in constant contact with the end contact 3. 7 is an insulating cover member having insulating properties and flexibility, such as polyester.
It can be formed using a sheet or the like. In this embodiment, a flat polyester sheet cut according to the circuit pattern formed on the substrate 1 is used as the insulating cover member 7. In order to facilitate positioning during assembly, it is preferable to use a transparent or translucent insulating cover member 7. In the present embodiment, two slits 8, 8 are formed in a portion of the insulating cover member 7 corresponding to the tact metal plate 6 so as to be arranged at a predetermined interval, and both ends of the slit 8 are tact. It extends to a position beyond the peripheral edge 6a of the metal plate 6. 2 and 3, the gap width dimension of the slit 8 is exaggeratedly drawn, but these slits 8 are formed by cutting the insulating cover member 7 with a blade, and actually, the slit 8 is slightly small. Is.

An adhesive 9 is applied to the back surface of the insulating cover member 7, and the insulating cover member 7 and the tact metal plate 6 are bonded to each other via the adhesive 9. The adhesive 9 may be any adhesive as long as it can follow the deformation of the insulating cover member 7 and the tact metal plate 6 to some extent without hardening and having adhesiveness and holding power. In this embodiment, FS is used as the adhesive 9.
An acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive sold under the trade name of PL Shin by K Corporation was used. This adhesive has excellent transparency, and even if it is peeled off, it is rejoined to the article to be joined if a predetermined pressing force is applied again.

The two slits 8 and 8 are formed by the tact metal plate 6.
Is provided as a deformation accelerating groove portion for keeping the deformation of the insulating cover member 7 to hold the tact metal plate at a predetermined position. The portion 7a of the insulating cover member 7 sandwiched between the two slits 8 and 8 has a structure in which both ends are fixed to the substrate 1 with the adhesive 9, and thus the degree of freedom of deformation is high. Therefore, when the tact metal plate 6 is deformed by being pressed, when the adhesive force or the holding force of the adhesive 9 is not so great, or when the holding force of the adhesive 9 is lowered due to aging, the outside of the slit 8 is exposed. Even if the part 7b of the insulating cover member 7 located and the tact metal plate 6 are separated from each other, the part 7a and the tact metal plate 6 are hardly separated from each other. Particularly, as in this embodiment, when both ends of the slit 8 are sufficiently extended to the position beyond the peripheral edge portion 6a of the tact metal plate 6, the deformation of the portion 7a becomes easy. Further, the air in the space formed between the tact metal plate 6 and the substrate 1 can be discharged to the outside through a part of the slit 8, and the air can be satisfactorily discharged.

The number, position and shape of the slits 8 are not limited to those in the above embodiment, but three or more slits may be formed if necessary. The interval between the slits 8 and 8 can be arbitrarily changed as long as the deformation of the corresponding portion 7a of the insulating cover member 7 can follow the deformation of the tact metal plate 6.

In FIGS. 1A and 1B, 10 is a push-on type switch having the structure of the above embodiment, and 11
Is a variable resistor, and 12 is an electronic component such as a transistor. A process of assembling the circuit device of FIG. 1 will be described.

First, the circuit board 1 having a predetermined contact pattern on the back surface is manufactured. Positioning recesses or holes 1a are formed in at least two locations on the circuit board. The necessary overcoat 5 is also formed on the substrate 1 in advance.
Then, the substrate 1 is placed on a jig (not shown) having two protrusions for positioning, with the variable resistor 11 facing downward while inserting the hole 1a of the substrate 1 into the protrusion. Next, the tact metal plate 6 is attached to the portion of the insulating cover member 7 having the back surface coated with the adhesive 9 and having the slit 8 formed therein. The surface of the insulating cover member 7 to which the adhesive 9 is applied is the substrate 1
Stick on the back of the. The insulating cover member 7 includes the substrate 1
Positioning hole or recess 7 provided corresponding to the hole 1a
c is formed, and the concave portion 7c is fitted to the projection of the jig to lower the insulating cover member 7 toward the substrate 1 side, thereby positioning the tact metal plate 6 on a predetermined contact pattern of the substrate 1. You can After the insulating cover member 7 is placed on the substrate 1, a predetermined pressure is applied between the two to cover the insulating cover member 7.
Is bonded to the substrate 1, the substrate 1 is separated from the jig, and the assembly is completed.

Although the slit 8 is formed in the insulating cover member 7 in the above embodiment, the slit 8 is not necessarily formed in the present invention. As another configuration for facilitating the insulating cover member 7 to follow the tact metal plate 6 to be deformed, the configuration shown in FIG. 4 can be considered. Figure 4
3 is a view similar to FIG. 3, and the same members as those shown in FIG. 3 are given the same reference numerals as those given in FIG. In this example, two grooves 1 each having an elongated bottomed groove are formed in a portion of the outer surface of the insulating cover member 7 corresponding to the tact metal plate 6.
8 and 18 are formed as deformation promoting grooves. This groove 1
The end portions of 8 and 18 extend to a position beyond the peripheral edge portion 6a of the tact metal plate 6, and a through hole 19 penetrating the insulating cover member 7 in the thickness direction is formed at this end portion. The grooves 18 and 18 facilitate the deformation of the insulating cover member 7,
The through hole 19 is used for venting air. The number of the grooves 18 may be at least one, and the shape thereof may be any shape as long as it promotes the deformation of the insulating cover member.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a switch provided with a tact metal plate with a flange portion. In FIG. 5, 15 is an overcoat, 16 is a tact metal plate with a flange portion, and 28 is a slit. When the tact metal plate 16 with the flange portion is used as in this embodiment, the tact metal plate can be easily positioned. However, since it is difficult to bleed air, in this embodiment, in order to facilitate air bleeding, notches 16C ... Are formed in the outer peripheral edge portion of the flange portion 16B corresponding to the slit 28, and the dish-shaped portion 16A and the flange portion are formed. Windows 16D are formed so as to extend over the portion 16B. The cutout portion 16C and the window portion 16D make air venting smoother. In this embodiment, the slits 28, 28 are bent outward (the wide-angle V-shape) so that the center of the bend is oriented. As a result, the area of the portion 7a of the insulating cover member 7 sandwiched between the two slits 28 is increased. Further, in this embodiment, the overcoat 15 is formed to be large corresponding to the side of the flange portion 16a of the tact metal plate 16, and the thickness thereof is about 5 times the normal as in the embodiments of FIGS. And the thickness. By doing so, it is possible to obtain a relatively large click feeling by using the tact metal plate with the flange portion in which the click feeling tends to be smaller than that in the tact metal plate including only the dish-shaped portion.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a switch having a tact metal plate with a flange portion. In this embodiment, the slits 38 forming the deformation promoting groove are radially formed. Further, in correspondence with these slits 38, the window portion 16D ...
Has been formed. When one end of the radially formed slits 38 is formed to extend to a position beyond the outer peripheral edge of the tact metal plate 16, the tact metal plate 16 has a window portion 16D.
Need not be formed.

When carrying out the present invention, the slits 8, 2
If neither 8, 38 nor the through hole 19 is provided, the substrate 1
A through hole for venting air may be provided to remove air, or the insulating cover member 7 may be vented by providing a hole or a notch for venting air.

By joining the insulating cover member and the tact metal plate with an adhesive, the insulating cover member can be deformed following the tact metal plate. However, if the switching operation is frequently performed for a long period of time, the adhesiveness and adhesiveness of the adhesive may be deteriorated, which may cause a situation in which the insulating cover member cannot be deformed by following the tact metal plate. is expected. Therefore, as in the present embodiment, at least two slits are formed in a portion of the insulating cover member corresponding to the tact metal plate so as to be arranged at a predetermined interval, and both end portions of the slit are the peripheral edges of the tact metal plate. When it is extended to the position beyond the portion, both ends of the portion of the insulating cover member located between the two slits are fixed. Compared with the case where the entire periphery is fixed without forming the slit, the degree of freedom of the portion sandwiched between the slits and where the both ends are fixed is high. Therefore, even when the switch operation is frequently performed over a long period of time, a part of the insulating cover member can be surely made to follow the deformation of the tact metal plate, and the tact metal plate can be held at a predetermined position. Further, since the slit also functions as an air vent, the operability of the switch is improved. In particular, when the slit is formed, air can be smoothly removed through the slit.

Further, according to this embodiment, by providing at least one deformation promoting groove on the outer surface of the insulating cover member, the insulating cover member can follow the tact metal plate.

Further, according to the present embodiment, by providing the insulating cover member with the deformation promoting groove including the slit, even if the switch operation is frequently performed for a long period of time, a part of the insulating cover member is covered with the tact metal plate. It is possible to hold the tact metal plate at a predetermined position by reliably following the deformation.

[0027]

According to the present invention, since the tact metal plate and the insulating cover member are joined to each other via the tacky adhesive, the insulating cover member can be deformed by following the tact metal plate. Therefore, it is possible to reliably hold the tact metal plate at a predetermined position and to reliably perform the switch operation.

Particularly, if the insulating cover member is entirely bonded to the upper surface of the tact metal plate via an adhesive, the tact metal plate can be securely held at a predetermined position even if the tact metal plate is largely deformed. There is an advantage that can be done. Further, if the insulating cover member is also joined to the insulating substrate via the adhesive, not only the insulating cover member can be easily attached to the insulating substrate, but also the insulating cover member can be prevented from moving.

Further, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, since the push-on type switch can be manufactured with the tact metal plate positioned and fixed to the insulating cover member, the tact metal plate moves during the manufacturing process. It has the advantage of being extremely easy to manufacture, without being lost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a side view of a circuit device including a push-on type switch according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a side view of FIG.
It is a back view of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the configuration of a push-on switch according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining the configuration of a push-on type switch according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a switch including a tact metal plate with a flange portion.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a switch including a tact metal plate with a flange portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Circuit Board 2 Center Part Contact 3 End Part Contact 5,15 Overcoat 6,16 Tact Metal Plate 6a Tact Metal Plate Edge 7 Insulation Cover Member 8, 28, 38 Slit 9 Adhesive 10 Push-on Switch 18 Groove 19 Through hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An insulative substrate having a central contact and an end contact, and an insulating substrate disposed on the substrate so that a part of a peripheral edge thereof abuts the end contact and facing away from the substrate. A tact metal plate having a dish-like portion that can be turned over so as to project and a tact metal plate that covers the tact metal plate to hold the tact metal plate at a predetermined position on the insulating substrate. An insulating cover member is fixed, and when the dish-shaped portion is pressed from the outside of the insulation cover member, a substantially central portion of the dish-shaped portion abuts the central contact point and the central contact point and the central contact point. A push-on switch that is electrically connected to an end contact, wherein the tact metal plate and the insulating cover member are joined together via an adhesive having an adhesive property. 2. The insulating cover member is wholly bonded to the upper surface of the tact metal plate via the adhesive, and the insulating cover member also applies the adhesive to the insulating substrate. The push-on type switch according to claim 1, wherein the push-on type switch is joined via a switch. 3. An insulative substrate having a central contact and an end contact formed thereon, and an insulating substrate disposed on the substrate so that a part of a peripheral edge thereof abuts the end contact and facing away from the substrate. A tact metal plate having a dish-like portion that can be turned over so as to project and a tact metal plate that covers the tact metal plate to hold the tact metal plate at a predetermined position on the insulating substrate. An insulating cover member is fixed, and when the dish-shaped portion is pressed from the outside of the insulation cover member, a substantially central portion of the dish-shaped portion abuts the central contact point and the central contact point and the central contact point. A method for manufacturing a push-on switch that conducts electricity to an end contact, wherein the insulating cover member having a back surface coated with an adhesive is prepared, and the surface of the insulation cover member coated with the adhesive is adhered. Tact metal plate with agent Stuck, then the insulation manufacturing method of push-on switch, characterized in that the cover member is joined via the adhesive to the insulating substrate.