Monolithic keyboard and method for making same |
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| 申请号 | US3627927D | 申请日 | 1969-11-24 | 公开(公告)号 | US3627927A | 公开(公告)日 | 1971-12-14 |
| 申请人 | SANDERS ASSOCIATES INC; | 发明人 | SCHMITZ HERBERT E; BLEAU ROBERT A; | ||||
| 摘要 | A monolithic keyboard constructed in layers with inexpensive materials and which has no conventional moving parts is disclosed. In one embodiment, the layers include a bottom or first layer of conductive material, a second layer of spongy material with holes cut therein, and a third layer of flexible printed circuit. This flexible printed circuit includes a sheet of insulating material with conductive pads placed thereunder in registration with the holes in the spongy material. Key symbols are etched on or printed over the conductive pads thereby indicating the placement of the keys. Depressing the key causes contact to be made between the respective pad and the first layer of conductive material. The spongy material gives the operator the ''''touch'''' of a standard typewriter keyboard. | ||||||
| 权利要求 | 1. A keyboard including a plurality of keys, said keyboard, comprising: A. a sheet of conductive material; B. a layer of spongy material placed over said sheet, said spongy material having holes therein where said keys are located; and C. a flexible sheet of insulating material having conductive pads attached thereunder, said flexible sheet being placed over said spongy material and said pads being in registration with said holes; whereby a depression of one of said keys causes a respective pad to make contact with said sheet of conductive material. 2. A keyboard as defined in claim 1, wherein said keys are designated by appropriate symbols appearing on the uppermost side of said flexible sheet over the respective conductive pads. 3. A keyboard as defined in claim 1, further including a mask of rigid material placed over said flexible sheet, said mask including holes in registration with said conductive pads. 4. A keyboard as defined in claim 3 further including a base to which the bottom side of said sheet of conductive material is secured and to which the edges of said mask are secured, whereby said keyboard is sealed from the surrounding environment. 5. A keyboard as defined in claim 1, further comprising; A. an encoder having inputs corresponding to each of said pads, said inputs being electrically coupled to each of said pads; and B. a voltage supply electrically coupled to said sheet of conductive material; whereby a depression of one of said keys causes a voltage from said voltage supply to be coupled to one of said encoder inputs, which encoder generates a code peculiar to said one input. 6. A keyboard as defined in claim 5 wherein a section of said sheet of conductive material is electrically isolated from the remainder of said sheet of conductive material and wherein said section is substantially the same size as and is in registration with one of said keys, whereby a depression of said of keys in registration with said section causes a respective pad to make contact with said section. 7. A keyboard as defined in claim 5, further including a key for shifting between uppercase and lowercase symbols, the conductive pad corresponding to said shift key being coupled to said encoder so that the simultaneous depression on said shift key and anyone of said other keys causes said shifting. 8. A keyboard as defined in claim 1 further including external keys adhered to the uppermost side of said flexible sheet of insulating material in registration with said pads whereby a depression of one of saId extended keys causes a respective pad to make contact with said sheet of conductive material. 9. A keyboard including a plurality of keys, said keyboard comprising: A. a base; B. conductive pads secured to said base in registration with the position of said keys; C. a layer of compressible material placed over said pads and base, said compressible material having holes cut therein at the location of said pads; D. a flexible sheet of conductive material placed over said layer of compressible material; and E. key-indicating means secured to the uppermost side of said sheet in registration with said pads; whereby a depression of one of said key-indicating means causes said sheet to make contact with a pad corresponding to said one of said key-indicating means. 10. A keyboard as defined in claim 9 wherein said indicating means is a sheet of flexible insulating material wherein said keys are designated by appropriate symbols printed thereon in alignment with said pads. 11. A keyboard as defined in claim 10, further including a mask of rigid material placed over said flexible insulating material, said mask including holes in registration with said conductive pads. 12. A keyboard as defined in claim 1, further comprising; A. an encoder having inputs corresponding to each of said pads, said inputs being electrically coupled to each of said pads; and B. a voltage supply electrically coupled to said sheet of conductive material; whereby a depression of one of said keys causes a voltage from said voltage supply to be coupled to one of said encoder inputs, which encoder generates a code peculiar to said one input. 13. A method for constructing a keyboard, said method comprising the steps of: A. placing spongy material with holes cut therein in registration with the position of said keys over a sheet of conductive material; B. placing conductive pads at positions corresponding to said keys on the underside of a flexible sheet of insulating material; and C. placing said flexible insulating material over said spongy material. 14. A method as defined in claim 13, including the additional steps of: A. adhering said flexible insulating material to said spongy material so that said holes and said pads remain in substantial registration; and B. placing a rigid mask over said flexible insulating material, said mask including holes therein in registration with said pads. 15. A method as defined in claim 14 including the additional steps of: A. printing symbol designators on said flexible insulating material over each of said pads; and B. securing said sheet of conductive material and said mask to a base thereby forming a monolithic structure sealed from the surrounding environment. 16. A method for constructing a keyboard, said method comprising the steps of: A. adhering conductive pads to the uppermost side of a base, said pads positioned in registration with said keys; B. adhering a spongy material with holes cut therein in registration with said keys over said base and said pads; C. placing a sheet of flexible conductive material over said spongy material; and D. placing a rigid mask with holes cut therein in registration with said keys over said flexible conductive material. |
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