Inventors:
Carlo Faustini - Silver Spring MD
International Classification:
H01H 2918
G08C 900
Abstract:
A self-encoding key switch is formed of a body having a well for storing a pool of mercury, a plurality of contact chambers with encoding contacts therein and having channel portions communicating with the well of a size to resist flow of the mercury therethrough due to surface tension of the mercury, and a plunger movable into the well to force the mercury through the channel portions into the contact chambers to momentarily connect the encoding contacts thereby providing tactile feedback, self-encoding and N-key rollover. A keyboard system utilizes a plurality of the above-described self-encoding key switches along with a register, and a strobe contact is disposed in a contact chamber of each key switch such that the trailing edge of the signal from the strobe contact precedes the breaking of electrical connection between a supply contact in the body and the encoding contacts to trigger the register and enter coded data from the encoding contacts. A keyboard formed of a plurality of the above-described, self-encoding key switches is constructed with the bodies of each of the key switches formed of a single piece of plastic material mounted on a base member carrying electrical connectors forming the contacts in the key switches. In one embodiment, the electrical connectors are in the form of conductor bars extending through the base member which is integrally formed with the switch bodies as a single unit.
