Unknown keyboard with Stackpole switches from 1974

snuci · 05 Dec 2016, 23:36

Thought I'd hare another keyboard that was a throw-in for something else I had acquired. This turned out to be the star of the lot as this keyboard mechanism is from 1974 and has Stackpole switches in it. You might think they are the folks who cloned the Hi-tek Waffle design (or perhaps it was the other way around?) but these switches are very early. These are currently undocumented but will go up in the wiki soon.

You can tell by the PCB that it is quite old and you will see some yellow on the key stems. The key caps were glued on which is pretty unusual but worked as there is not a missing key cap

You can also see a very early alternate action caps lock key. Oddly enough, if the spring is not in place, it doesn't work and the key stem does not stay up like all of the other switches.

Here are some pics.

: Unknown Stackpole - front.JPG; Unknown Stackpole - front.JPG (322.33 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

: Unknown Stackpole - back; Unknown Stackpole - back.JPG (315.81 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

: Unknown Stackpole - with springs; Unknown Stackpole - with springs.JPG (271.93 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

: Unknown Stackpole - key caps removed; Unknown Stackpole - key caps removed.JPG (310.73 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

: Unknown Stackpole - key switches; Unknown Stackpole - key switches.JPG (376.81 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

: Unknown Stackpole - keyboard controller; Unknown Stackpole - keyboard controller.JPG (361.93 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

: Unknown Stackpole - caps lock spring; Unknown Stackpole - caps lock spring.JPG (334.3 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

: Unknown Stackpole - caps lock up; Unknown Stackpole - caps lock up.JPG (314.82 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

: Unknown Stackpole - key caps; Unknown Stackpole - key caps.JPG (210.19 KiB) Viewed 1852 times

snuci · 05 Dec 2016, 23:36

Here are some pictures of the Stackpole key switches. I tried to stump Daniel Beardsmore with this one but he got the damn thing right on the first guess from the patent picture. He already had a Wiki page for it with no example here: wiki/Stackpole_discrete_switch I added these pics below.

You will note that these switches are oblong. As such, there is a short side and a long side so I took pics of both. Sorry, no internal pics or I'd have to destroy a switch because they are sealed. You'll have to check out the wiki page for the patent to see the internals here: http://www.google.com/patents/US3767878

Long side with key cap and spring removed

Short side with key cap and spring removed

Overhead angled view

External parts (mainly the spring and key cap to hold the spring on

Long side assembled

Short side assembled

Bottom with Stackpole markings (or I would never have known what it was)

seebart · 06 Dec 2016, 18:24

Love it, thanks for sharing. It's only a little bit younger than me.