JP3493572B2 - Manufacturing method of key top plate - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a key top plate constituted by attaching a key top on a pressing portion forming member provided with a pressing portion for pressing a switch contact.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 12, there is a key top plate 200 constructed by mounting a key top 230 on a plate-shaped pressing portion forming member 210.

Here, the pressing portion forming member 210 is a plate of a transparent or semi-transparent elastic material (for example, rubber), and the pressing portion 211 is provided at a predetermined position on the lower surface side so as to project. The key top 230 is made of a transparent or translucent synthetic resin material, and a desired print layer 231 is formed by printing on the lower surface thereof. The key top 230 is attached to a portion directly above each pressing portion 211 of the pressing portion forming member 210 via a transparent or semitransparent adhesive layer 240.

The key top plate 200 is mounted on the switch substrate 250 to form a switch plate. At that time, each pressing portion 211 has the switch substrate 250.
Click plate 251 mounted on the switch contact provided in
Located on top. Although not shown, the switch board 2
A light emitting element is attached at a predetermined position on 50.

When the desired key top 230 is pressed, the pressing portion 211 located directly below the key top 230 is located directly below the click plate 25.
1 is pressed and inverted to turn on the switch contact. When the light emitting element on the switch substrate 250 emits light, the light passes through the pressing portion forming member 210, the print layer 231 and the key top 230, and is emitted from the surface of the print layer 231. Display patterns clearly.

The key top plate 200 does not have a structure in which the click plate 251 is directly pressed by the lower surface of the key top 230 for the following reason.

That is, the print layer 2 is formed on the lower surface of the key top 230.
In the case where 31 is provided, the lower surface must be flat, but the key top 230 directly causes the click plate 251.
This is because if the key top 230 is configured to be pressed, it is necessary to provide a pressing portion that presses the click plate 251 on the lower surface of the key top 230, and the lower surface is not flat so that the printing layer cannot be provided.

It is also possible to form the lower surface of the key top 230 in a flat shape to provide a printing layer 231 and directly press the click plate 251 with the flat lower surface provided with the printing layer 231. Then, since the click plate 251 is located directly below the printing layer 231, it becomes difficult to uniformly introduce light onto the entire surface of the printing layer 231, and the printing layer 23
This is because 1 may be scraped by the contact with the click plate 251.

However, the key top plate 20 having the above structure
In order to manufacture 0, it is necessary to accurately attach a large number of key tops 230 onto the pressing portion forming member 210 one by one with an adhesive. The cost could not be reduced.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a keytop plate, which allows easy and accurate attachment of the keytop to a pressing portion forming member. To provide.

[0011]

To solve the above problems SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a key top member formed by providing a plurality of key tops, the pressing portion of the switch contacts pressed at a position corresponding to the key tops And a key top forming member is mounted on the pressure part forming member, and the outer circumference of each key top of the key top forming member is cut to manufacture a key top plate. Configured to do so. The present invention also provides a flexible synthetic resin film.
A key top forming member having a plurality of key tops formed by molding and fixing a mold resin on the film, and a pressing portion for pressing a switch contact at a position corresponding to each of the key tops. The pressing portion forming member to be provided is prepared, and the circumference of the key top of the key top forming member is preliminarily separated between the key tops.
After cutting so as to be connected by the connecting portion made of the synthetic resin film, the key top forming member that is still connected by the connecting portion is mounted on the pressing portion forming member and the key is formed. It was configured to produce a top plate. The present invention
Is a keytop forming member that remains connected at the connecting portion.
After mounting on the pressing portion forming member,
The key top plate is manufactured by cutting the parts.
I made it.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] FIGS. 1 to 3 are views showing a method of manufacturing a key top plate according to a first embodiment of the present invention. That is, first, in this embodiment, the pressing portion forming member 10, the adhesive layer 40, and the key top forming member 50 are prepared.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a cross section of the pressing portion forming member 10 taken along the line AA shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the pressing portion forming member 10 is formed by molding a transparent or semitransparent elastic material such as rubber or elastomer into a substantially rectangular flat plate.

The pressing portion forming member 10 has a plurality of key top mounting portions 11 that are substantially oval and project upward (however, shapes other than oval may be used, or they may not project). Is provided, and each key top mounting portion 11
The lower surface of the is provided with a protruding pressing portion 13. The shape of the pressing portion 13 can be variously modified and may be a simple flat surface that does not project. Further, the lower side of each key top mounting portion 11 is a recess 15 for accommodating a click plate 73 of the switch board 70 described below. Further, the outer periphery of the pressing portion forming member 10 is provided with an outer edge portion 17 over the entire circumference, and the lower surfaces of the outer edge portions 17 are all the same surface and are located below the lower surface of the pressing portion 13. It is configured.

Next, the adhesive layer 40 shown in FIG. 1 is configured to be transparent or translucent, and is stored in a state in which protective sheets (not shown) are attached to both surfaces thereof before the adhesion.

Next, FIG. 5 shows the key top forming member 50 as shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the cross section cut | disconnected by the BB line shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the keytop forming member 50 has a keytop 6 at a position facing each of the keytop mounting portions 11 of a flexible transparent or semitransparent synthetic resin film 51.
It is configured by providing 0. As shown in FIG. 5, each key top 60 is formed by bending and deforming the synthetic resin film 51 in the upward direction to form the outer shape of the key top 60, and is transparent or translucent in the concave portion on the lower surface side of the curved and deformed portion. It is formed by molding and fixing the molding resin 63. The lower surface of the key top 60 (that is, the molding resin 63
65) is formed in a planar shape, and a printing layer 67 in which desired numbers, symbols, and the like are omitted characters (outer pattern) is printed and formed on the lower surface 65.

When the key top forming member 50 is attached to the pressing portion forming member 10 shown in FIG. 1 via the adhesive layer 40, the state shown in FIG. 2 is obtained. At this time, the key tops 60 are exactly bonded to the upper surface of the corresponding key top mounting portion 11 once by simply sticking them so that the outer shape of the pressing portion forming member 10 and the outer shape of the key top forming member 50 match. Can be easily attached by work.

Then, the synthetic resin film 51 on the outer periphery of each key top 60 of the key top forming member 50 in the state shown in FIG. 2 is cut by laser light. At this time, the laser beam is focused on the synthetic resin film 51, and the pressing portion forming member 10 on the lower side thereof is separated from the synthetic resin film 51 by the height dimension of the keytop mounting portion 11, There is no risk of the pressing portion forming member 10 being cut. Of course, even if the synthetic resin film 51 and the pressing portion forming member 10 are configured to be closely attached to each other, there is no problem as long as the pressing portion forming member 10 is slightly cut in the thickness direction but is not cut.

Then, only the cut synthetic resin film 51 is peeled off to complete the key top plate 1 as shown in FIG. Here, FIG. 6 is a view showing a cross section of the key top plate 1 taken along the line C-C shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, each key top 60 is independently bonded onto the key top mounting portion 11.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state where the key top plate 1 is attached to the switch substrate 70, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a state where the key top plate 1 is attached to the switch substrate 70 (portion D-D in FIG. 7). FIG.

Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the switch board 70 is provided on each switch contact provided on the flat board 71 at a position facing the pressing portion 13 (see FIG. 6) of each key top plate 1. A dome-shaped click plate 73 is attached, and a light emitting portion 75 including a light emitting element or the like is provided at a predetermined position thereof. Instead of the click plate 73, this may be used as one movable contact of the switch contacts.
The click plate 73 is not always necessary, and the switch contact may be directly pressed by the pressing portion 13. The portion of the pressing portion forming member 10 without the key top 60 is actually covered with a case (not shown) from above.

Any of the key tops 60 shown in FIG.
When is pressed, the pressing portion 13 presses the click plate 73 to reverse it, and at the same time, the switch contact therebelow is turned on. On the other hand, when the light emitting unit 75 shown in FIG. 7 is turned on,
The light is introduced into the transparent or semitransparent pressing portion forming member 10, is introduced into the transparent or semitransparent key top 60 via the adhesive layer 40 and the printing layer 67, and is emitted from the surface thereof. The blank characters (blank pattern) of the print layer 67 are displayed clearly.

In the case of this embodiment, the entire lower surface of the outer edge portion 17 abuts on the entire outer peripheral upper surface of the switch substrate 70 so as to surround it, and since the outer edge portion 17 is made of an elastic material,
The outer edge portion 17 can be easily hermetically sealed only by elastically contacting the switch substrate 70, and a waterproof structure can be obtained. In order to ensure the airtightness (or when the pressing portion forming member 10 is a hard material), the outer edge portion 17 is provided on the switch substrate 70.
Needless to say, it can be adhered to.

Although the synthetic resin film 51 around the key top 60 is cut by the laser in the above embodiment, it may be cut by other heat rays (light rays) or by mechanical means such as a cutter. Various means may be used.

[Second Embodiment] FIGS. 9 and 10 are views showing a method of manufacturing a key top plate 1-2 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. That is, in the case of this embodiment, first, as shown in FIG. 9, the keytop forming member 50 having the same shape and structure as the keytop forming member 50 shown in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment.
Prepared by using various cutting means such as a laser beam, another light beam or a mechanical cutter in advance.
The synthetic resin film 51 on the outer periphery of the key top 60 is cut, but at this time, the connecting portions 55 for connecting the key tops 60 are left so that the key tops 60 do not come apart. As a result, the keytop forming member 50-2 of this embodiment is completed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, in addition to the key top forming member 50-2, a pressing portion forming member 10-2 and an adhesive layer 40-2 are prepared. Here, the pressing portion forming member 10-2
Has the same shape and structure as the pressing portion forming member 10 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. The adhesive layer 40-2 is transparent or translucent, and the key top forming member 50-
It is formed to have substantially the same shape as the lower surface shape of No. 2.

The pressing portion forming member 10- shown in FIG.
The key top forming member 50-2 is attached on top of the adhesive layer 40-2.
11 is completed, the key top plate 1-2 according to the present embodiment as shown in FIG. 11 is completed. In the case of this embodiment as well, the key tops 60 are not disjointed, but are integrally connected by the connecting portion 55, so that each key top 60 is
Can be easily attached to the upper surfaces of the corresponding key top mounting portions 11 with a single adhering operation, and the adhering workability is improved as compared with the case where the individual key tops 60 are adhered one by one.

If the key top plate 1-2 shown in FIG. 11 is placed on the same switch substrate 70 as shown in FIG. 7,
By pressing each key top 60, the switch contact of the switch board 70 can be turned on / off. Each key top 60
Are connected by the connecting portion 55, the operation of each key top 60 is substantially independent.

If the connecting portion 55 of the key top plate 1-2 shown in FIG. 11 is cut by various cutting means such as a laser beam, another light beam or a mechanical cutter, each key top 60 is completely different from that of the first embodiment. It also works independently as well.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications such as the following are possible. In the above embodiment, an example in which a curved portion is provided in the synthetic resin film as the key top forming member and the molding resin is molded in the curved portion is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this structure, and for example, the key top of the synthetic resin film is formed. It is also possible to form a key top by forming a hole penetrating the portion where the key is formed and molding a mold resin above and below the hole.

In the above embodiment, the key top forming member 5
The circumference of the key top 60 of 0 was cut in the same shape as the outer shape of the key top 60, but the shape of the cut is not particularly limited, and the point is that each key top 60 is completely or almost completely independent. In addition, any shape may be used as long as it cuts the periphery of each key top 60. For example, one key line may be used to separate the key tops 60 from each other. In addition, in the first embodiment, the connecting portion as in the second embodiment may be left at the time of cutting.

The attachment of the key top forming member 50 to the pressing portion forming member 10 is not limited to the adhesive layer 40 adhered to the protective sheet, but may be performed by directly applying an adhesive or by a mechanical fixing means. Other various attachment means (attachment method), such as, for example, can be applied.

In the above embodiment, an elastic material such as rubber or elastomer is used as the pressing portion forming member 10, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an elastic material made of other material may be used. Depending on the case, instead of the elastic material, a hard material (for example, mold resin) may be used. Further, for example, the pressing portion forming member 10 may be made of two or more kinds of materials, such as a synthetic resin film molded with a molding resin to be the pressing portion.

In the above embodiment, the pressing portion forming member 10, the key top forming member 50 and the adhesive layer 40 are made of a transparent or semi-transparent material. However, they may be made of an opaque material if they are not made to transmit light. good.

[0035]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily and accurately attach a plurality of key tops to the pressing portion forming member at one time, which facilitates the manufacture of the key top plate. Therefore, there is an excellent effect that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a method of manufacturing a key top plate 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a method of manufacturing the key top plate 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a key top plate 1 according to the present invention.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the pressing portion forming member 10 taken along the line AA shown in FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view of the keytop forming member 50 taken along line BB shown in FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view of the key top plate 1 taken along the line C-C shown in FIG.

7 is a perspective view showing a state in which the key top plate 1 is attached to the switch board 70. FIG.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the key top plate 1 is attached to the switch board 70.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a method of manufacturing the keytop forming member 50-2 according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a method of manufacturing the key top plate 1-2 according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a key top plate 1-2.

FIG. 12 shows a conventional key top plate 200 and a switch substrate 2
It is a sectional side view which shows the state mounted on 50.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 key top plate 10 Pressing portion forming member 11 Key top mounting part 13 Pressing part 17 outer edge 40 Adhesive layer 50 key top forming material 55 Connection 60 key top 70 Switch board 1-2 key top plate 10-2 Pressing portion forming member 40-2 Adhesive layer 50-2 Keytop forming member

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (56) Reference JP-A-7-211187 (JP, A) JP-A-59-157924 (JP, A) JP-A-58-133716 (JP, A) JP-A-10- 162689 (JP, A) JP 4-366514 (JP, A) JP 10-294037 (JP, A) JP 11-144547 (JP, A) JP 11-144548 (JP, A) JP-A-11-144549 (JP, A) JP-A-8-287772 (JP, A) Actual development Sho 59-86621 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01H 11/00 H01H 13/14 H01H 13/70 H01H 13/02

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A prepared a plurality of key tops to provided comprising key top forming member, and the pressing portion formed member formed by providing the pressing portion of the switch contacts pressed at a position corresponding to the key tops, the pressing A method of manufacturing a keytop plate, comprising manufacturing a keytop plate by mounting a keytop forming member on a part forming member and then cutting an outer periphery of each keytop of the keytop forming member. 2. A synthetic resin film having flexibility
Prepare a key top forming member provided with a plurality of key tops by molding and fixing a resin and a pressing portion forming member provided with a pressing portion for pressing a switch contact at a position corresponding to each key top. and, after cutting the periphery of the key top in advance the key top member as between each key top in the state of being connected by a connecting portion made of the synthetic resin film, it is connected by the connecting portion
A method of manufacturing a keytop plate, characterized in that a keytop forming member as it is attached is attached onto the pressing portion forming member to manufacture a keytop plate. 3. A method of manufacturing the key top plate according to claim 2.
In law, The key top forming member that is still connected at the connecting portion
After mounting on the pressing portion forming member, the connecting portion
A method for manufacturing a key top plate, which is characterized by cutting.