Seamless button
AssigneeAbleton AG
InventorOliver Harms
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A seamless button including a guiding element, a movable actuating element and a switch located on a mounting plate. The movable actuating element is made of elastic material with a massive middle shaft spaced from the inner walls of the chamber by an air gap. It has an upper actuating surface and crimp surrounding the actuating surface above the air gap. It also has a profile area at the outer circumference of the movement crimp, where the horizontally outwardly extending portion of the profile area rests on top of the outer wall, the downwardly extending portion of the profile area rests on the outside of the outer profile edge and the protrusion rests on the pedestal covering it at least partially. A seamless multi-button is also disclosed, with a method for manufacturing seamless buttons.
Claims16
Seamless button, comprising a guiding element (1), a movable actuating element (2) and a switch (3) which is located on a mounting plate (15),
- characterized in that
- the guiding element (1) includes a rigid outer wall (4) which forms an inner chamber (5) with a bottom opening and a top opening and which is provided on its outer side in the upper area with an inwardly offset outer profile edge (4a) and with a pedestal (4b) extending horizontally and forming the transition between the upper outer profile edge (4a) and the remaining part of the outer wall (4);
- the movable actuating element (2) is an elastic button element (2) made of elastic material and provided with a massive middle shaft (8) spaced from the inner walls of the chamber (5) by an air gap (5a) and having an upper actuating surface (8a), with a movement crimp (9) surrounding the outer rim of the actuating surface (8b) above the air gap (5a) and being located directly at the upper rim of the button and enclosing the air gap (5a) located underneath tightly outwardly, and with a profile area (10) arranged at the outer circumference of the movement crimp (9) and extending firstly horizontally outwardly and then downwardly and ending in a horizontally outwardly extending protrusion (10a);
- wherein the horizontally outwardly extending portion of the profile area (10) rests on top of the outer wall (4), the downwardly extending portion of the profile area (10) rests on the outside of the outer profile edge (4a) and the protrusion (10a) rests on the pedestal (4b) covering it at least partially.
Button according to claim 10, characterized in that the guiding element (1) is provided with inner walls (4d) and in that the elastic button element (2) is provided with recesses (14) for receiving the inner walls (4d) that are separated therefrom by an air gap such that a multi-button with partial shafts (8b) is formed.
Method for manufacturing seamless buttons, characterized by the following steps:
- molding guiding elements (1) of a rigid material which have an outer wall (4) which forms an inner chamber (5) with a bottom opening and a top opening and which is provided on its outer side in the upper area with an inwardly offset outer profile edge (4a) and with a pedestal (4b) extending horizontally and forming the transition between the upper outer profile edge (4a) and the remaining part of the outer wall (4);
- molding button elements (2) made from an elastic material into the guiding elements (1) in a molding tool which is provided with protrusions such that the button elements (2) each have a massive middle shaft (8) spaced from the inner walls of the chamber (5) by an air gap (5a) due to the recesses inside the molding tool and having an upper actuating surface (8a), a movement crimp (9) surrounding the outer rim of the actuating surface (8a) above the air gap (5a) and being located directly at the upper rim of the button and enclosing the air gap (5a) located underneath tightly outwardly, and a profile area (10) arranged at the outer circumference of the movement crimp (9) and extending firstly horizontally outwardly and then downwardly and ending in a horizontally outwardly extending protrusion (10a), wherein the horizontally outwardly extending portion of the profile area (10) adheres to the outer wall (4), the downwardly extending portion of the profile area (10) adheres to the outside of the outer profile edge (4a) and the protrusion (10a) rests on the pedestal (4b) covering it at least partially and adheres thereto such that the guiding elements (1) and the button elements (2) are united to adhering button parts (1, 2) in these areas, wherein the shaft (8) is movable due to the air gap (5a) inside the chamber (5);
- removing the adhering button parts (1, 2) from the molding tool;
- inserting the adhering button parts (1, 2) into a mounting plate (15) which is provided with switches (3) actuable by the button parts (1, 2).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.