Patent Application
20120055772
The present invention relates to a keyboard for reducing assembly procedures and particularly to a keyboard for computers whose assembly procedures can be simplified.
With constant advance of technology and fast development of information products, computers are widely used in people's daily life. Nowadays most businesses have to rely on the computers which become indispensable. When a computer is in use, an input device has to be provided as a human machine interface to enter commands to make the computer to execute specific tasks. Keyboard is the most commonly used input device.
A conventional keyboard can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,154,059 and 6,554,442, mainly includes a baseboard, a circuit board located on the baseboard and a plurality of keycaps located on the baseboard. The baseboard has a bridge mechanism connected with each of the keycaps, and the keycap and the circuit board are interposed by an elastic element. When the keycap is depressed by a user, the bridge mechanism is driven to move downwards to compress the elastic element to trigger the circuit board to output a signal. When the keycap is released, the elastic element provides an elastic force to push the keycap and bridge mechanism upwards so that the keycap returns to its original position ready for next depression.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,154,059 and 6,554,442 mentioned above have a bridge mechanism and baseboard assembled as shown in
During assembly of the bridge mechanism of the aforesaid conventional keyboard, a vertical depressing force is applied first, then a horizontal push force is applied to install the bridge mechanism on the baseboard. As there are a great number of keys on the keyboard, and the bridge mechanism of each key has to go through two steps as previously discussed to finish installation, assembly process of the bridge mechanism is tedious. Moreover, the anchor portion of the bridge mechanism and baseboard is formed at a small size, assembly is difficult and a great care is needed. A slight negligence could damage the bridge mechanism, hence more assembly time is required.
The primary object of the present invention is to solve the aforesaid disadvantage by simplifying assembly structure for keycaps and a baseboard to reduce assembly time of a keyboard.
To achieve the foregoing object, the present invention provides a keyboard for reducing assembly procedures that includes a baseboard, a driven mechanism located on the baseboard and a holding board located on the baseboard. The baseboard has at least two horizontal detent portions to form a holding space between them. The driven mechanism has a coupling member and an elastic member located on the baseboard. The coupling member has a retaining portion at one side held in the holding space and another side coupled with a keycap. The elastic member supports the keycap. The holding board is interposed between the baseboard and the keycap, and has an opening corresponding to the driven mechanism and a vertical detent portion to cover the holding space to anchor the driven mechanism. Hence when the keycap is depressed, the coupling member is driven to move horizontally and vertically, the horizontal detent portion on the baseboard and vertical detent portion on the holding board can respectively confine the horizontal and vertical movements of the coupling member for secure positioning.
Therefore, the driven mechanism can be disposed in the holding space from the upper side to the lower side and quickly installed on the baseboard. All the elements of the keyboard are overlapped in an up and down manner, and can be assembled without complicated processes. In addition to simplifying assembly of the driven mechanism, total assembly time also can be reduced to facilitate automatic production and improve productivity.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying embodiment and drawings. The embodiment serves merely for illustrative purpose and is not the limitation of the invention.
Please refer to
Also referring to
In one embodiment of the invention, the holding board 50 and baseboard 20 have respectively a first anchor portion 53 and a second anchor portion 25 to form positioning. As shown in the drawings, the first anchor portion 53 and second anchor portion 25 are an aperture and a strut mating each other so that they can be coupled together for positioning. They also may be anchored together by thermal fusion after being coupled. Referring to
As a conclusion, the invention mainly provides at least two horizontal detent portions 21 on the baseboard 20 to form a holding space 23 between them, and a vertical detent portion 52 to cover the holding space 23. Thus the horizontal detent portions 21 and vertical detent portion 52 not only can confine the horizontal and vertical movements of the coupling member 41 while the keycap 60 is depressed, assembly processes of the driven mechanism 40 also is simplified. All the elements of the keyboard can be assembled by overlapping in an up and down manner. Total assembly time is shortened and automatic production can be implemented easier to improve productivity.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.
