Dome switch having contacts offering extended wear
AssigneeAtari, Inc.
InventorJames C. Asher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved dome switch is disclosed in which the configuration of the dome is modified to avoid premature wear of the circular contact. Specifically, the marginal portions of the dome is physical contact with the circular contact are provided with reverse curvature relative to the curvature of the remainder of the dome. The dome switch is incorporated in devices in which the switch is mechanically actuated, such as in a video game joy stick, or manually actuated, such as in the keyboard of a hand-held calculator.
Claims6
A dome switch comprising:
- an insulating substrate;
- a first electrical contact on the substrate;
- a second electrical contact provided by a region of electrically conductive material disposed on the substrate at least partially circumferentially about the first electrical contact;
- a resilient electrically conductive plate having a central dome shaped portion and a peripheral portion substantially all of which is reversely curved relative to the dome shape, at least one selected portion of the peripheral portion being normally in physical contact with the second electrical contact to provide both mechanical support for said plate and electrical connection with said second electrical contact;
- and
- wherein the central dome shaped portion of the conductive plate is spaced from and overlies the first electrical contact so that actuation of the conductive plate moves the central dome shaped portion into electrical contact with the first electrical contact to thereby electrically connect the first electrical contact to the second electrical contact.
In a dome switch which includes an insulating substrate, a first electrical contact on the substrate, a second electrical contact provided by a region of electrically conductive material disposed on the substrate at least partially circumferentially about the first electrical contact, a resilient electrically conductive plate having a central dome shaped portion spaced from and overlying the first electrical contact at least one selected portion of the periphery of which is in electrical contact with the second electrical contact, whereby depressing the conductive plate moves the central dome shaped portion into electrical contact with the first electrical contact to thereby electrically connect the first electrical contact to the second electrical contact, the improvement wherein the conductive plate has a peripheral portion substantially all of which is in mechanical and electrical contact with the second electrical contact, said peripheral portion being reversely curved with respect to the central dome shaped portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.