The present invention relates to a keyswitch, and more specifically, to a keyswitch utilizing a magnetic attraction force between a support member and a board for driving a cap to return to its original position.
A keyboard, which is the most common input device, could be found in variety of electronic apparatuses for users to input characters, symbols, numerals and so on. Furthermore, from consumer electronic products to industrial machine tools, they are all equipped with a keyboard for performing input operations.
A conventional keyswitch usually utilizes assembly of a scissor support device and an elastic member to provide a cap with an elastic force for driving the cap return to a non-pressed position. However, since the scissor mechanical design adopted by the scissor support device requires more space so as to further increase the overall height of the keyswitch, it is disadvantageous to the thinning design of the keyswitch. Furthermore, because the elastic member is usually made of rubber material, elastic fatigue of the elastic member may occur after the elastic member is used over a long period of time so as to shorten the life of the keyswitch.
The present invention provides a keyswitch. The keyswitch includes a board, a cap, a switch, and a support device. The board has a first magnetic portion and at least one pivot portion. The switch is disposed between the board and the cap. The support device is disposed between the board and the cap. The support device includes a first support member. The first support member has a first body and a second body. The first body has a first end portion and a second end portion. The first end portion is movably connected to the cap. The second end portion is movably connected to the at least one pivot portion. The second body has a triggering portion corresponding to the switch and a second magnetic portion corresponding to the first magnetic portion. A U-shaped slot is formed around the triggering portion to make the triggering portion form an elastic cantilever arm extending from the second body toward the board. The first body is integrally connected to the second body via an elastic connection arm. When the cap is not pressed, a magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion and the second magnetic portion keeps the cap at a non-pressed position. When the cap is pressed by an external force to make the second magnetic portion separate from the first magnetic portion at a specific distance, the elastic cantilever arm triggers the switch. When the external force is released, the magnetic force drives the second magnetic portion to approach the first magnetic portion, so as to make the cap move back to the non-pressed position with the support device.
The present invention further provides a keyswitch. The keyswitch includes a board, a cap, a switch, and a support device. The board has at least one pivot portion and a first magnetic portion. The at least one pivot portion has two bending sheets arranged alternately with each other. The switch is disposed between the board and the cap. The support device includes a first support member and a second support member. The first support member has a first end portion, a second end portion, a second magnetic portion corresponding to the first magnetic portion and a triggering portion corresponding to the switch. The first end portion is movably connected to the cap. The second end portion has a limiting arm. The limiting arm extends toward the two bending sheets to be inserted between the two bending sheets to make the second end portion rotatably connected to the at least one pivot portion. The second support member has a third end portion, a fourth end portion and an abutting portion. The third end portion is movably connected to the cap. The fourth end portion is movably connected to the board. The abutting portion is located under the second magnetic portion to support the second magnetic portion. When the cap is not pressed, a magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion and the second magnetic portion keeps the cap at a non-pressed position. When the cap is pressed by an external force to make the second magnetic portion separate from the first magnetic portion, the triggering portion triggers the switch. When the external force is released, the magnetic force drives the second magnetic portion to approach the first magnetic portion, so as to make the cap move back to the non-pressed position with the support device.
The present invention further provides a keyswitch. The keyswitch includes a board, a cap, a switch, a support device, and returning device. The board has a first pivot portion. The first pivot portion has two first bending sheets arranged alternately with each other. At least one of the two first bending sheets has a planar curved arm. The planar curved arm extends along a planar direction of the board to be connected to the board. The switch is disposed between the board and the cap. The support device includes a first support member. The first support member has a first end portion, a second end portion and a triggering portion corresponding to the switch. The first end portion is movably connected to the cap. The second end portion has a first limiting arm. The first limiting arm extends toward the two first bending sheets to be inserted between the two first bending sheets to make the second end portion rotatably connected to the first pivot portion. The returning device is disposed between the cap and the board for driving the cap to move back to a non-pressed position. When the cap is not pressed, the returning device keeps the cap at a non-pressed position. When the cap is pressed by an external force, the triggering portion triggers the switch. When the external force is released, the returning device drives the cap to move back to the non-pressed position with the support device.
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
The first magnetic portion 20 could preferably be a magnet, and the second magnetic member 36 could preferably be a magnet or be made of magnetic metal material (e.g. iron or other metal), but not limited thereto. That is to say, in another embodiment, the first magnetic portion 20 could be made of magnetic metal material (e.g. iron or other metal), and the second magnetic portion 36 could be a magnet. The second support member 26 has a third end portion 40 (preferably formed by machining an edge of the second support member 26 to be a round angle structure or an arc surface structure), a fourth end portion 42, and an abutting portion 44. The third end portion 40 is movably connected to the cap 14. The fourth end portion 42 is movably connected to the board 12. The abutting portion 44 is located under the second magnetic portion 36 to support the second magnetic portion 36.
To be more specific, in this embodiment, the second body 30 could have a U-shaped slot 46 formed around the triggering portion 38, so that the triggering portion 38 could form an elastic cantilever arm 39 extending from the second body 30 toward the board 12 to increase the structural elasticity of the triggering portion 38. Furthermore, at least one slot hole 48 (two shown in
The connection design of the first pivot portion 22 of the board 12 and the second end portion 34 of the first body 28 could be as shown in
In such a manner, during the first support member 24 is assembled with the board 12 vertically along an arrow B (as shown in
To be noted, the aforesaid design that the limiting arm is inserted between the two bending sheets could be applied to the second support member 26. In brief, the board 12 could have a second pivot portion 60 and the second pivot portion 60 could have two second bending sheets 62 arranged alternately with each other. The second limiting arm 64 extends from the fourth end portion 42 toward the two second bending sheets 62 to be inserted between the two second bending sheets 62, so that the fourth end portion 42 could be rotatably connected to the second pivot portion 60. As for related description for this embodiment and other derived embodiments (e.g. the second bending sheet 62 could have the planar curved arm 58), it could be reasoned by analogy according to
In practical application, the first support member 24 and the second support member 26 could preferably be made of magnetic metal material (e.g. iron or other metal). Accordingly, the first support member 24 and the second support member 26 could be magnetized by the magnetic attraction force between the second magnetic portion 36 and the first magnetic portion 20 to make the abutting portion 44 absorbed onto the second magnetic portion 36, so as to ensure that the second support member 26 could move together with the second magnetic portion 36. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the keyswitch 10 could further include a magnetic plate 66. The magnetic plate 66 is disposed under the board 12 (e.g. by a conventional attaching method), to prevent other mechanical or electronic components located under the board 12 from being influenced by the magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion 20 and the second magnetic portion 36. To be noted, in another embodiment, the keyswitch 10 could adopt the design that the board 12 could be directly made of magnetic metal material (e.g. iron or other metal) for achieving the aforesaid effect.
More detailed description for the triggering operation and the cap returning operation of the keyswitch 10 is provided as follows. Please refer to
When the cap 14 is pressed by an external force and the external force could overcome the magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion 20 and the second magnetic portion 36, the cap 14 presses the first support member 24 and the second support member 26 to make the second magnetic portion 36 separate from the first magnetic portion 20 and make the abutting portion 44 tilted. As shown in
To be more specific, when the cap 14 presses the first support member 24 to take the edge portion 52 as a pivot shaft to rotate relative to the board 12, the first body 28 could rotate accordingly to make the elastic connection arm 50 drive the second body 30 to rotate by elastic deformation force of the elastic connection arm 50. During the aforesaid process, when the elastic connection arm 50 is not deformed to a predetermined amount of elastic deformation, the elastic deformation force of the elastic connection arm 50 is less than the rotation torque generated by the magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion 20 and the second magnetic portion 36, to keep the second magnetic portion 36 absorbed onto the first magnetic portion 20 (at this time, the elastic connection arm 50 has been deformed elastically, the second body 30 has not been completely rotated with the first body 28, and the elastic cantilever arm 39 has not triggered the switch unit 17 of the switch 16 yet).
When the elastic connection arm 50 is deformed to the predetermined amount of elastic deformation to make the elastic deformation force of the elastic connection arm 50 larger than the rotation torque generated by the magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion 20 and the second magnetic portion 36, the second body 30 of the first support member 24 could take the edge portion 52 as a pivot shaft to rotate relative to the board 12. At this time, with rotation of the second body 30 of the first support member 24, the magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion 20 and the second magnetic portion 36 is reduced rapidly as the distance between the second magnetic portion 36 and the first magnetic portion 20 is increased, so as to cause elastic deformation of the elastic connection arm 50 of the first support member 24 for accelerating rotation of the second body 30. Accordingly, the second magnetic portion 36 moves toward the cap 14, and the elastic cantilever arm 39 moves toward the board 12 with rotation of the first support member 24. During the aforesaid process, the edge portion 52 keeps rotatably connecting to the board 12 via the magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion 20 and the second magnetic portion 36, so as to make the first support member 24 surely abut against the board 12 without lifting.
Subsequently, when the second magnetic portion 36 of the second body 30 is separate from the first magnetic portion 20 at a specific distance D1, as shown in
To be noted, even if the external force is exerted upon a side of the cap 14 close to the second support member 26 to cause uneven pressing force exerted upon the cap 14, the abutting portion 44 could still be tilted to upwardly push the first support member 24 with rotation of the second support member 26 via the design that the abutting portion 44 supports the second magnetic member 36, to ensure that the second magnetic portion 26 of the first body 30 could be separate from first magnetic portion 20. In such a manner, when the second magnetic portion 26 is separate from the first magnetic portion 20 at the specific distance D1, the elastic cantilever arm 39 of the second body 30 could trigger the switch unit 17 of the switch 16 to execute a corresponding input function.
On the other hand, when the external force is released, the magnetic attraction force between the first magnetic portion 20 and the second magnetic portion 36 magnetically attracts the second magnetic portion 36 to approach the first magnetic portion 20 and then makes the second magnetic portion 36 absorbed onto the first magnetic portion 20, so as to drive the cap 14 to move from the pressed position as shown in
It should be mentioned that the present invention could only adopt the design that the first support member has the first limiting arm to be inserted between the two second bending sheets in an alternate arrangement with omitting the design that the triggering portion could trigger the switch when the second magnetic member is separate from the first magnetic member at the specific distance, or could omit disposal of the second support member, for simplifying the structural design of the keyswitch, and the related description could be reasoned by analogy according to the aforesaid embodiments and omitted herein. Furthermore, the cap returning design of the present invention is not limited to the aforesaid embodiments, meaning that the present invention could utilize other returning device for generating the returning force in another embodiment. For example, in another embodiment, the keyswitch could include the board, the cap, the switch, the support device, and a returning device. The returning device could preferably be a rubber dome or a spring (but not limited thereto) and could be disposed between the cap and the board. In such a manner, when the cap is not pressed, the returning device keeps the cap at the non-pressed position. When the cap is pressed by the external force, the triggering portion triggers the switch to execute a corresponding input function. When the external force is released, the returning force (i.e. the elastic force) provided by the returning force could drive the cap to move back to the non-pressed position with the support device, so as to generate the automatic cap returning effect. As for the related description for this embodiment and other derived embodiments (e.g. the support device could only have one single support member to be assembled with the board, the cap, the switch and the returning device), it could be reasoned by analogy according to the aforesaid embodiments and omitted herein.
In summary, since there is no scissor mechanism and elastic member disposed in the keyboard provided by the present invention, the present invention could greatly reduce the overall space occupied by the keyswitch, so as to be advantageous to the thinning design of the keyboard and effectively prolong the life of the keyswitch.
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 |
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105118930 | Jun 2016 | TW | national |