Metallic housing for an electronic apparatus with a flat keyboard

• US 4,338,502 A
• Filed: 10/06/1980
• Issued: 07/06/1982
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Tanimoto, Akira, Komaki, Shigeki, Hashimoto, Shintaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Shepperd, John W.
• Application Number:
  US06/194,379
• Time in Patent Office: 638 Days
• Field of Search: 200/5 A, 200/5 B, 200/159 B, 200/340, 235/145 R
• US Class Current: 200/512
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 13/14 Operating parts, e.g. push-button
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 13/702 with contacts carried by or formed from layers in a multilayer structure, e.g. membrane switches
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2209/026 metallic
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2219/028 Printed information
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2221/004 U-shaped openings surrounding keys
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2223/008 metallic
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2229/016 Selective etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2231/002 Calculator, computer

Abstract

An upper member of a housing and a plurality of key actuators are unified into a single flat sheet made of stainless steel. The respective key actuators are made movable by providing a "U" shaped slot and a hinge at the corresponding limited regions of the stainless steel sheet. The hinge and key indicia are formed at the same time by a half etching step. When a particular one of the key actuators is actuated, a movable contact on a conductive silicon rubber sheet will come into contact with a stationary contact on a circuit board.

Claims

1. A hand-held electronic calculator having a keyboard comprising:

a housing having an upper member and a lower member for said hand-held electronic calculator, said upper member being made of metallic material;

said upper metallic housing member of said housing constituting a plurality of key actuators, each of said key actuators being defined by a continuous slot which connects with itself and completely penetrates the upper metallic housing member;

a flexible sheet fixed to the rear surface of the upper metallic housing member in a manner to cover all of the key actuators, said flexible sheet carrying an electrically non-conductive silicon rubber sheet and a plurality of electrically conductive silicon rubber contacts forming the movable contacts for the keyboard; and

a plurality of stationary contacts including means for their support, disposed within said housing, said stationary contacts being positioned to correspond to said movable contacts, whereby a particular movable contact comes into contact with a particular stationary contact when a particular one of said key actuators is depressed.

2. The hand-held electronic calculator of claim 1, wherein each key actuator is defined by four slots which connect with each other to form a square or rectangular configuration.