Keyboard Key Guide Surfaces for Grease Retention and Stable Touch
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing keyboard technologies face issues with the degradation of the key pressing feeling due to grease being scraped out from the sliding parts between the keys and the guiding projecting portions, leading to unstable key guidance and a compromised user experience.
Innovation Solution
The keyboard device incorporates a design with guide surfaces that face the guided surfaces at an initial position, forming gaps that widen towards the lower end sides, ensuring that grease is retained and preventing its scraping off during key movement, thereby enhancing the key pressing sensation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If keys are swingably supported by a support member with guide surfaces, then key guidance is achieved, but grease is scraped out during key swinging leading to degraded key pressing feeling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-forming gaps at the lower end sides of the guided surfaces before key operation begins. These gaps are designed to prevent grease from being scraped out during subsequent key swinging movements, thus maintaining lubrication and improving key pressing feeling while preserving guidance stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating a non-uniform gap structure where gaps are specifically formed at the lower end sides of the guided surfaces rather than uniformly across the entire surface. This localized gap formation targets the specific region where grease scraping occurs during key movement, preventing lubricant loss without compromising the overall guidance function.
2Measurement precision
If guide surfaces are designed to face guided surfaces at initial position, then key positioning is improved, but gaps must be formed which may affect guidance precision
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by forming gaps only at specific locations (lower end sides of guided surfaces) rather than across the entire guide surface. This partial gap formation maintains alignment precision in the critical upper regions while providing relief at the lower regions where grease scraping occurs, thus balancing positioning accuracy with lubrication preservation.
Data Source
AI summary
Since an entire guided surface (from an upper end of an inclined surface to a lower end of a curved surface) faces a guide surface in a scale direction at an initial position before key pressing, even if grease is scraped upward due to swinging of a white, the grease is likely to stay in sliding regions on the guided surfaces. In addition, since a spacing between the guide and guided surfaces gradually widens from the upper end sides to the lower ends of the guided surfaces, even if the guided surfaces slides downward with respect to the guide surface when the white key is pressed, the grease applied to each of the surfaces is unlikely to be scraped off downward. This also makes it easier to retain the grease in the sliding regions on the guided surfaces. Thus, a feeling of pressing the white key can be improved.