This is a preview of upcoming Admiral Shark's Keyboards content. This page is considered work-in-progress and should be treated as such.
A gallery of patents that describe technologies or illustrate designs relating to IBM and family keyboards, typewriters and keypunches. This includes keyswitch/actuator designs, ornamental designs (overall appearance), integrated pointing devices such as TrackPoints, and host systems such as PCs, laptops, terminals, consoles and electronic typewriters. All illustrations provided are from the patents themselves, which are believed to be within the public domain. A total of 112 patents have been recorded. The patent list is currently filtered to 3 patent(s).
U.S. Utility Patent 3,699,296 (US3699296A)
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Name | Catastrophically buckling compression column switch and actuator |
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Inventors | Richard H. Harris |
Assignees | IBM |
Description | An invention of a keyswitch actuator comprised of a metal coil spring that buckles after some compression, providing an immediate force to actuate something with. This is the original buckling spring patent, which was refined in 1977 (US4118611A) and 1983 (US4528431A). |
British Utility Patent 1,363,777 (GB1363777A)
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Name | Toggle mechanism |
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Inventors | Richard H. Harris, Robert J. Wolfrom |
Assignees | IBM |
Description | An invention of a keyswitch that uses a cantilever snap mechanism to provide an actuator for a capacitance-sensing PCB. The mechanism consists of a leaf spring and a blade spring coupled together; the former is bent to push a capacitive plate towards its rest position and then snaps to an inverted position to lift the plate when force is applied. This was implemented as the IBM beam spring used on all Model B family keyboards. |
U.S. Utility Patent 4,118,611 (US4118611A)
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Name | Buckling spring torsional snap actuator |
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Inventors | Richard H. Harris |
Assignees | IBM Information Products |
Description | An invention of a buckling spring actuator for use with a capacitance-sensing PCB to make a capacitive keyswitch, now typically known as "IBM capacitive buckling springs". It built upon the work of its predecessor patent from 1971 (US3699296A) and was used for all Model F family keyboards. |