Patent Application
20130146435
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a key structure, and in particular to a key structure of a keyboard.
2. Description of Prior Art
With the rapid advancement of science and technology, computers are widely used in our daily life. Most of the computers, such as desktop computers and notebook computers need to cooperate with a keyboard during their operation for allowing a user to input characters or commands. Thus, the keyboard is a necessary input peripheral device of personal computers for inputting characters, symbols or numerals. Further, some consumptive electronic products used in our daily life and some large-sized machining apparatuses used in the industrial industry also have a key structure as an input means, so that the user can input characters or commands into the consumptive electronic products or the machining apparatuses for operation.
However, since the electronic products are made more and more compact, the key structure has to be made smaller accordingly. When the user presses one side edge of a key structure, since the dimension of the head portion 301 is small, so that such a small head portion 310 cannot generate a sufficient supporting force, which causes the keycap 10 to incline toward the pressed one side edge. As show in
In view of this, the present Inventor proposes a novel and reasonable structure based on his expert knowledge and deliberate researches.
The present invention is to provide a key structure of a keyboard, in which a neck portion of an elastic body is provided with a flange, so that the flange can still exert an even force to the neck portion to prevent the neck portion from inclining or swaying even when the keycap is subjected an uneven external force. In this way, the present invention can increase the convenience in using the keyboard and the stability during its operation.
The present invention provides a key structure of a keyboard, including: a base plate, a keycap, and an elastic body sandwiched between the base plate and the keycap. The elastic body has a neck portion. One end of the neck portion is provided with a bowl-shaped support toward the base plate, and the other end of the neck portion extends toward the keycap to form a flange. The outer peripheral dimension of the flange is larger than that of the outer peripheral dimension of the neck portion.
The present invention further provides a key structure of a keyboard, including: a base plate, a keycap, and an elastic body sandwiched between the base plate and the keycap. The elastic body has a neck portion. One end of the neck portion is provided with a bowl-shaped support toward the base plate. The present invention further includes a flange fixed to the keycap. The outer peripheral dimension of the flange is larger than that of the outer peripheral dimension of the neck portion. The flange is provided with an engaging portion. The engaging portion is engaged with the neck portion, thereby clamping the flange between the keycap and the neck portion.
The present invention has advantageous features as follows. The outer peripheral dimension of the flange is larger than that of the outer peripheral dimension of the neck portion. Further, the flange is clamped between the keycap and the neck portion, so that the flange can exert an even force to the neck portion even when the keycap is subjected to an uneven external force. In this way, the neck portion is prevented from deforming, inclining or swaying and thus the pressing portion is prevented from swaying or inclining, thereby making the pressing portion to abut against the membrane switch accurately. Thus, the convenience in using the keyboard and the stability during its operation are increased. Further, since the flange can exert an even force to the neck portion, the neck portion cannot generate a plastic deformation easily even through the keycap is subjected to an uneven external force for a long period of time. Thus, the lifetime of the key structure of the present invention is extended. When the keycap is pressed, the keycap is moved vertically toward the base plate together with a supporting element. Thus, when the keycap moves up and down, the keycap and the elastic body can be prevented from swaying leftwards or rightwards. Thus, the key structure of the present invention is very convenient in use, stable in its operation, and long in lifetime. Further, the inner peripheral dimension of the bowl-shaped support is larger than or equal to the outer peripheral dimension of the flange. By this arrangement, when the keycap is pressed, the flange can be prevented from affecting the deformation of the bowl-shaped support, so that the bottom area of the elastic body is larger than the top area of the elastic body, thereby avoiding uneven distribution of gravity force of the elastic body, i.e. a “top-heavy” phenomenon causing the swaying of the flange. Thus, the stability of the elastic body can be increased.
The detailed description and technical contents of the present invention will become apparent with the following detailed description accompanied with related drawings. It is noteworthy to point out that the drawings is provided for the illustration purpose only, but not intended for limiting the scope of the present invention.
Please refer to
The base plate 1 is provided with a membrane circuit board 11. The membrane circuit board 11 is provided with a membrane switch 111.
The keycap 2 is located above the base plate 1. The keycap 2 has a bottom surface 21.
The elastic body 3 is sandwiched between the base plate 1 and the keycap 2. The elastic body 3 has a neck portion 31. The neck portion 31 is formed into a cylindrical shape. One end of the neck portion 31 protrudes toward the base plate 1 to form a bowl-shaped support 32. The other end of the neck portion 31 extends toward the keycap 2 to form a flange 4. The flange 4 is integrally formed with the elastic body 3 by means of an injection molding process. The outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4 is larger than the outer peripheral dimension of the neck portion 31. The inner peripheral dimension a of the bowl-shaped support 32 is larger than or equal to the outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4. The flange 4 is arranged to correspond to the center of the bottom surface 21 of the keycap 2. Further, the neck portion 31 extends toward the interior of the bowl-shaped support 32 to form a pressing portion 33. The pressing portion 33 is provided at a position corresponding to the membrane switch 111. A separation space is formed between the pressing portion 33 and the membrane switch 111. By this arrangement, when the keycap 2 is pressed, the bowl-shaped support 32 generates an elastic deformation to make the pressing portion 33 to abut against the membrane switch 111, thereby generating a signal corresponding to the action of pressing the keycap 2.
According to the key structure of the present invention, the keycap 2 is disposed above the base plate 1. The elastic body 3 is sandwiched between the base plate 1 and the keycap 2. The elastic body 3 has a neck portion 31. One end of the neck portion 31 protrudes toward the base plate 1 to form a bowl-shaped support 32. The other end of the neck portion 31 extends toward the keycap 2 to form a flange 4. The outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4 is larger than the outer peripheral dimension of the neck portion 31. Since the outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4 is larger than the outer peripheral dimension of the neck portion 31, and the flange 4 is sandwiched between the keycap 2 and the neck portion 31, the flange 4 can exert an even force to the neck portion 31 even though the keycap 2 is subjected to an uneven external force, thereby preventing the neck portion 31 from deforming, inclining or swaying and thus preventing the pressing portion 33 from deforming, inclining or swaying. Thus, the pressing portion 33 can abut against the membrane switch 111 accurately. In this way, the convenience in using the keyboard and the stability during its operation can be increased greatly. Further, since the flange 4 exerts an even force to the neck portion 31, the neck portion 31 cannot generate a plastic deformation easily even though an uneven external force is exerted to the keycap 2 for a long period of time, so that the lifetime of the key structure of the present invention can be extended. On the other hand, the inner peripheral dimension a of the bowl-shaped support 32 is larger than or equal to the outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4. By this arrangement, when the keycap 2 is pressed, the flange 4 causes the bowl-shaped support 32 to generate a deformation and makes the bottom area of the elastic body 3 to be larger than the top area of the elastic body 3. In this way, uneven distribution of the gravity force of the elastic body 3, i.e. a “top-heavy” phenomenon causing the swaying of the flange 4, can be avoided. Thus, the stability of the elastic body 3 can be increased.
Please refer to
The base plate 1 is provided with a membrane circuit board 11. The membrane circuit board 11 is provided with a membrane switch 111.
The keycap 2 is located above the base plate 1. The keycap 2 has a bottom surface 21.
The elastic body 3 is sandwiched between the base plate 1 and the keycap 2. The elastic body 3 has a neck portion 31. The neck portion 31 is formed into a cylindrical shape. One end of the neck portion 31 protrudes toward the base plate 1 to form a bowl-shaped support 32. The neck portion 31 extends toward the interior of the bowl-shaped support 32 to form a pressing portion 33. The pressing portion 33 is provided at a position corresponding to the membrane switch 111. A separation space is formed between the pressing portion 33 and the membrane switch 111. By this arrangement, when the keycap 2 is pressed, the bowl-shaped support 32 generates an elastic deformation to make the pressing portion 33 to abut against the membrane switch 111 accurately, thereby generating a signal corresponding to the action of pressing the keycap 2.
The flange 4 is fixed to the keycap 2. The outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4 is larger than the outer peripheral dimension of the neck portion 31. The flange 4 is provided with an engaging portion 41. The engaging portion 41 is recessed for allowing the neck portion 31 to be engaged there with, thereby sandwiching the flange 4 between the keycap 2 and the neck portion 31. The inner peripheral dimension a of the bowl-shaped support 32 is larger than or equal to the outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4. The flange 4 is disposed in the center of the bottom surface 21 of the keycap 2.
By this arrangement, the outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4 is larger than the outer peripheral dimension of the neck portion 31. The flange 4 is sandwiched between the keycap 2 and the neck portion 31. Further, the inner peripheral dimension a of the bowl-shaped support 32 is larger than or equal to the outer peripheral dimension b of the flange 4. By this arrangement, the present embodiment can achieve the same effects and functions as those in the previous embodiment.
Please refer to
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the foregoing preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various equivalent variations and modifications can still occur to those skilled in this art in view of the teachings of the present invention. Thus, all such variations and equivalent modifications are also embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
