Patent Application
20140174900
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a keyswitch structure, and especially relates to a keyswitch structure having a balance link and a balance link for a keyswitch structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The structure of conventional mechanical keyswitches is a keycap and a base plate with a lift mechanism therebetween such that the keycap is capable of moving up and down relative to the base plate. The movement stability, including movement stroke and even steadiness, of the keycap usually depends on the lift mechanism. If the movement of the lift mechanism itself is poor, the keycap can hardly move stably. Furthermore, if the length of the keycap such as space key is longer, a single lift mechanism cannot provide enough balance resilient force to the keycap leading to a slant easily when the keycap is pressed. Hence, in practice, the keycap with a longer length is usually provided with a plurality of lift mechanisms so that the resilient force produced after pressing the keycap is more balanced. However, in principle, each lift mechanism acts independently. Only by the structural constraint on one another through the keycap, the keycap still may slant after pressed in practice. For this problem, a common solution is using a balance link. The balance link is disposed independent of the lift mechanisms of the keyswitch structure. The balance link is provided in an n-shaped profile. The two ends thereof are movably connected to the base plate of the keyswitch structure; the middle portion thereof is rotatably connected to the bottom surface of the keycap of the keyswitch structure. Thereby, the balance link can constrain the up-and-down movement of the keycap to improve the movement stability. In general, for more constraint on the keycap by the balance link, the connection portion of the middle portion of the balance link with the keycap is as long as possible. In practice, the length of the middle portion is at least 70% of the length of the keycap. Because of the structural feature and the disposition of the lift mechanism and other components such as elastic domes (used for providing resilient force and triggering a switch) at the central portion of the keycap, the middle portion of the balance link cannot be disposed to pass through the central portion of the keycap. Hence, the middle portion of the balance link can be disposed only at a side portion of the keycap, so that the single balance link only constrains the keycap by a single side, which hardly provides effective constraint on the movement of the keycap. Furthermore, the conventional balance links are usually formed by bending flexible material. After several bending processes, the dimensions of the conventional balance link are easily out of precise control.
An objective of the invention is to provide a keyswitch structure, which uses a balance link to improve the movement stability of the keycap. The balance link has a U-shaped profile so that choosing a connection position of the balance link with the keycap is more flexible to improve the movement stability of the keycap further, which is also conducive to space usage and also to a design of structural miniaturization.
The keyswitch structure of the invention includes a base plate, a keycap, a lift mechanism, and a balance link. The base plate has an engagement structure. The keycap is disposed above the base plate. The lift mechanism is connected to and between the base plate and the keycap such that the keycap is capable of moving up and down relative to the base plate through the lift mechanism. The lift mechanism has a first recess and a second recess disposed oppositely. The balance link has a first side rotatable arm, a second side rotatable arm, and a middle portion. The middle portion connects the first side rotatable arm and the second side rotatable arm such that the balance link is formed substantially in a U-shaped profile. The middle portion is rotatably disposed on the engagement structure. The first side rotatable arm includes an L-shaped end rotatably inserted into the first recess. The second side rotatable arm includes an L-shaped end rotatably inserted into the second recess. In practice, the first recess and the second recess cooperate with a bottom surface of the keycap to form two slots for the two L-shaped ends to insert. The top (i.e. the top surface) of the L-shaped end rotatably contacts against the keycap; the bottom of the L-shaped end rotatably contacts against the lift mechanism. When keycap is pressed down, the lift mechanism is pressed down directly by the L-shaped ends, which improves the movement stability of the lift mechanism so that the keycap can move up and down steadiness. Therefore, the keyswitch structure of the invention overcomes the difficulty that the conventional balance link cannot directly improve the movement stability of the lift mechanism under its structure limitation.
Another keyswitch structure of the invention includes a base plate, a keycap, a lift mechanism, and a balance link. The base plate has an engagement structure. The keycap is disposed above the base plate. The lift mechanism is connected to and between the base plate and the keycap such that the keycap is capable of moving up and down relative to the base plate through the lift mechanism. The lift mechanism has a first slot and a second slot disposed oppositely. The balance link has a first side rotatable arm, a second side rotatable arm, and a middle portion. The middle portion connects the first side rotatable arm and the second side rotatable arm such that the balance link is formed substantially in a U-shaped profile. The middle portion is rotatably disposed on the engagement structure. The first side rotatable arm includes an L-shaped end rotatably inserted into the first slot; the second side rotatable arm includes an L-shaped end rotatably inserted into the second slot. Similarly, the balance link is directly connected to the lift mechanism so as to improve the movement stability of the lift mechanism so that the keycap can move up and down steadiness. Therefore, the keyswitch structure of the invention overcomes the difficulty that the conventional balance link cannot directly improve the movement stability of the lift mechanism under its structure limitation.
Another keyswitch structure of the invention includes a base plate, a keycap, a lift mechanism, and a balance link. The base plate has an engagement structure. The keycap is disposed above the base plate and has a first connection slot and a second connection slot. The lift mechanism is connected to and between the base plate and the keycap such that the keycap is capable of moving up and down relative to the base plate through the lift mechanism. The balance link has a first side rotatable arm, a second side rotatable arm, and a middle portion. The middle portion connects the first side rotatable arm and the second side rotatable arm such that the balance link is formed substantially in a U-shaped profile. The middle portion is rotatably disposed on the engagement structure. The first side rotatable arm includes an L-shaped end rotatably inserted into the first connection slot; the second side rotatable arm includes an L-shaped end rotatably inserted into the second connection slot. Thereby, the balance link is capable of being unlimitedly connected to anywhere of the keycap by requirements of product designs, which is also conducive to improvement in the movement steadiness of the keycap and solves the problem that the conventional balance link is connected only to a side of the keycap under its structure limitation.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a keyswitch structure, which uses a limitation structure to limit a lifting range of the lift mechanism so as to improve the movement stability of the lift mechanism and further improve the up-and-down movement steadiness of the keycap. The keyswitch structure has a base plate, a keycap, a limitation structure, and a lift mechanism. The keycap is disposed above the base plate. The limitation structure is disposed on the base plate. The lift mechanism includes two supports. Each of the two supports is rotatably connected to and between the base plate and the keycap such that the keycap is capable of moving up and down relative to the base plate through the two supports. The support includes a protrusion capable of been blocked by the limitation structure for controlling an angle of rotating of the support relative to the base plate. Thereby, the lift mechanism can move within a specific up-and-down movement range not by a structural constraint produced by the connection of the lift mechanism with the keycap and the base plate, which is conducive to improvement in the movement stability and also to improvement the up-and-down movement steadiness.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a balance link which includes a first side rotatable arm, a second side rotatable arm, and a middle portion. The middle portion connects the first side rotatable arm and the second side rotatable arm such that the balance link is formed substantially in a U-shaped profile. Therein, the balance link is formed by cutting a plate material. Thereby, the dimension tolerance of the balance link can be smaller than that of the conventional balance link formed by bending rod material, which is conducive to improvement in the assembly precision and movement precision and also to a structural miniaturization of the keyswitch structure. When in use, the middle portion is rotatably disposed on an engagement structure of a base plate. Two ends of the first side rotatable arm and the second side rotatable arm are formed in L-shaped ends correspondingly rotatably inserted into two slot structures oppositely disposed on a keycap or a lift mechanism or on the both, which can perform improvement in the movement steadiness of the keycap.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Please refer to
For further details, in the embodiment, the lift mechanism 16 includes a first support 162a and a second support 162b. Each of the first support 162a and the second support 162b is rotatably connected to and between the base plate 12 and the keycap 14. The first support 162a and the second support 162b are substantially symmetrically disposed at two sides of the elastic dome 20. The first support 162a and the second support 162b are not connected directly and are formed in a solid plate structure respectively. Therefore, both the first support 162a and the second support 162b have higher structural strength, conducive to improvement in movement steadiness. In the embodiment, the first support 162a and the second support 162b are pivotally connected to the engagement structures 142 of the keycap 14 and slidably connected to the engagement structure 122 of the base plate 12; however, the invention is not limited thereto. Furthermore, the lift mechanism of the invention can be realized by a conventional lift mechanism; the movement thereof is well-known by people having ordinary skill in the art and will not be described herein. In addition, in the embodiment, the base plate 12 includes four limitation structures 126. Each of the first support 162a and the second support 162b has protrusions 1624a and 1624b at its two sides. When the first support 162a and the second support 162b rotate up relative to the base plate 12, the limitation structures 126 can block the protrusions 1624a and 1624b for limiting an angle of rotating of the first support 162a and the second support 162b relative to the base plate 12, i.e. for controlling the angle of rotating. So the up-and-down movement stroke of the keycap 14 relative to the base plate 12 is constrained, which conducive to the steadiness of the up-and-down movement of the keycap 14. It is added that in the embodiment, there is no structure directly connecting the separate disposed first and second supports 162a and 162b, so the disposition of hollow structures can be reduced, which is conducive to improvement in structural strength. Therefore, compared with a scissors lift mechanism, the structural size of the lift mechanism 16 of the embodiment can be smaller but still with maintaining the needed structural strength, which is conducive to a structural miniaturization of the keyswitch structure 1.
In the embodiment, the first recess 1622a and the second recess 1622b are formed on the top of the first support 162a and the second support 162b respectively and cooperate with the bottom surface 14a of the keycap 14 to form slots respectively. The L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b are inserted into the slots respectively, such that the first side rotatable arm 182a is rotatably connected to the first support 162a, and the second side rotatable arm 182b is rotatably connected to the second support 162b. In practice, the keycap 14 can form recess structures on the bottom surface 14a corresponding to the first recess 1622a and the second recess 1622b so as to cooperate with the first recess 1622a and the second recess 1622b to form slots for reducing disadvantageous influence of the first recess 1622a and the second recess 1622b on the structural strength of the first support 162a and the second support 162b. Such slot design is conducive to enhance flexibility of the engagements between the members. The engagement structures 124 of the base plate 12 are formed in slot structures. The middle portion 184 is slidably disposed in the engagement structures 124. When the keycap 14 moves up and down, the L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b rotate in the first recess 1622a and the second recess 1622b respectively, and the middle portion 184 rotates and slides in the engagement structure 124. Thereby, the balance link 18 can directly constrain the lift mechanism 16 such that the first support 162a and the second support 162b move synchronously for keeping the keycap 14 moving up and down steadily. In addition, in practice, if the structural size of the keyswitch structure 1 is smaller, the balance link 18 can be formed by cutting a plate material, for example by a pressing process. The dimensional precision is much controllable relative to that by a bending process, so more precise dimensions can be obtained. It is added that if the balance link 18 is made by a plate material, a chamfer surface can be formed on the balance link 18 where the balance link 18 contacts other members for enhancing movement smoothness. In the embodiment, the L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b have chamfer surfaces 1824a and 1824b corresponding to the first recess 1622a and the second recess 1622b respectively such that the cross profile of the L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b approximates to circle relatively, which is conducive to rotating of the L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b in the first recess 1622a and the second recess 1622b. The middle portion 184 has a chamfer surface 1842 corresponding to the engagement structure 124, which is conducive to sliding and rotating of the middle portion 184 in the engagement structure 124. In practice, the chamfer surfaces 1824a, 1824b and 1842 also can be formed in a pressing process.
In the embodiment, the first support 162a and the second support 162b are rotatable parallel to a first direction D1 relative to the base plate 12, so the movement balance of the keycap 14 in the first direction D1 is maintained by the lift mechanism 16. The middle portion 184 is rotatable parallel to a second direction D2 relative to the base plate 12, so the movement balance of the keycap 14 in the second direction D2 is maintained by the balance link 18. Therein, the first direction D1 is perpendicular to the second direction D2, so the keycap 14 can move up and down relative to the plane parallel to the first direction D1 and the second direction D2 (i.e. relative to the base plate 12) steadily. It is added that in principle, as long as the first direction D1 and the second direction D2 are not parallel, a planar constraint can be formed for movement balance of the keycap 14 moving up and down relative to the plane; therefore, the invention is not limited to the case that the first direction D1 and the second direction D2 are perpendicular to each other in the embodiment. In addition, in the embodiment, the base plate 12 and the engagement structures 122, 124 and 126 are integrated to be formed in one piece, for example by pressing and bending a plate material; however, the invention is not limited thereto.
In the above embodiment, the L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b of the balance link 18 can be regarded as being disposed between the lift mechanism 16 and the keycap 14 in logic, but the invention is not limited thereto. Please refer to
As discussed for the above embodiments, the L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b of the balance link 18 are directly connected to the lift mechanisms 16 and 36 so as to obtain synchronous movement of the first support 162a and the second support 162b; however, the invention is not limited thereto. Please refer to
For further details, in the embodiment, the keycap 54 has a first connection slot 144a and a second connection slot 144b (shown by dashed lines in
As discussed for the embodiments, the connection portions of the balance link with the lift mechanism or the keycap of the invention can just be two L-shaped ends, which there is no direct connection structure between, so even when the two L-shaped ends are disposed at two sides of the elastic dome (i.e. a line segment bounded by the two L-shaped ends passing through the elastic dome), the two L-shaped ends will not interfere with the elastic dome to affect the movement of the elastic dome. In a conventional keyswitch structure, its balance link can be engaged with only one side of the keycap for avoiding any interference with other components, leading to that the balance link can hardly constrain the movement of the keycap efficiently. On the contrary, the determination of the connection portions of the balance link with the lift mechanism or the keycap of the invention is more flexible. In the above embodiment, the L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b are located at the two sides of the elastic dome 20, and the projections thereof are located at the middle portion of the keycaps 14 and 54 for connecting the L-shaped ends 1822a and 1822b with the lift mechanisms 16 and 36 or the keycap 54 such that the balance links 18 and 58 perform constraint on the lift mechanisms 16 and 36 or the keycap 54 for the steady movement of the lift mechanisms 16 and 36 and the keycaps 14 and 54. But the invention is not limited thereto. Briefly, compared with the conventional keyswitch structure having a balance link, the keyswitch structure of the invention has a more flexible structural design because of the structural features of the balance link (i.e. being disposed in the U-shaped profile, different from being disposed in C-shaped profile), so as to obtain more steady movement and for miniaturization. In addition, the keyswitch structure of the invention can use the limitation effect by the limitation structure to the protrusion of the lift mechanism to limit the angle of rotating of the support of the lift mechanism relative to the base plate, so that the keycap can move up and down only within a certain movement range. Therefore, the keyswitch structure of the invention can provide the keycap a better steadiness in height and level of movement; that is, the keycap of the keyswitch structure of the invention has an omnidirectional movement steadiness.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101148651 | Dec 2012 | TW | national |
