Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Alps Electronic Co., Ltd.

Yoichi Hattori

Tsuyoshi Narusawa

Jyoji Tsutsumi

Ryouichi Maeda

A coordinate inputting apparatus which facilitates minimization and a keyboard apparatus which facilitates minimization and is superior in operability are disclosed. A pointing device includes a base including a pedestal in the form of a flat plate and a columnar member in the form of a quadrangle prism provided uprightly on the pedestal, strain gauges fixedly adhered to four outer side faces of the columnar body, a flexible cable connected to each strain gauge, and a cap mounted at the top of the columnar member. The pointing device is secured to a metal plate in the inside of a keyboard inputting apparatus such that the cap projects upwardly farther than the top face of a housing of the keyboard inputting apparatus and is located between different key tops of key switches of the keyboard inputting apparatus.

Coordinate inputting device for a computer keyboard

A push-button switch of a water- and dust-proof structure wherein a good operating force charateristic is always assured. The push-button switch has a dummy terminal which is not to be directly soldered to a wiring pattern and is provided at a location of the push-button switch to which flux which appears when a terminal is being soldered to the wiring pattern does not come around. When the switch is soldered to a printed circuit board for the wiring pattern, flux may not possibly enter a gap between a case of the switch and the dummy terminal. After mounting of the switch on the printed circuit board, communication of air between inside and outside the case is assured by the gaps so that the inside of the case is maintained at an equal pressure with external air.

Water-and-dust-proof push-button switch housing dummy terminal for air

A push-button switch for use in the keyboard of an electronic typewriter, word processor, or the like comprises a casing, a stem extending through the casing for operating a movable contact, a top cover mounted on the outer end of the stem, a cylinder of an elastomeric material disposed between the top cover and the casing and loosely mounted on the outer periphery of the stem, and a circular retaining plate protruding from the outer end of the stem. The cylinder which biases the stem upward is resiliently mounted between the retaining plate and the casing, whereby the cylinder is maintained in a fixed condition.

Growing community of inventors

Iwaki, Japan

Yoichi Hattori