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> German Utility Patent 1,279,693 This one's pretty amazing to see, given how close it is in appearance to the Ergodox and other "glove keyboards" (rather, the
by tiltowait 1y ago
> German Utility Patent 1,279,693
This one's pretty amazing to see, given how close it is in appearance to the Ergodox and other "glove keyboards" (rather, the other way around—they all resemble IBM's patent!).
> British Utility Patent 1,363,777 (GB1363777A)
While the buckling spring switches used in the Model M (or, for those with more rarified tastes, Model F) are rightly lauded, the beamspring is less well-known. The individual modules are absolutely massive as far as keyswitches go, but they feel wonderful to type on. They were designed to evoke the Selectric so as to be familiar to new users, and some models, such as the 3278, even included a solenoid that would click with each keypress. They also featured doubleshot keycaps and were absolute bricks that make the Model M seem a featherweight by comparison.
- Asooka 1y agoWell, there are only so many ways to design a split mirrored keyboard that fits the shape of the human hand. The other "natural" keyboards that are a standard PC keyboard cut down the middle seem entirely pointless to me - you are already making people adapt to the split form factor, why not give them something a tad more ergonomic? Or are there other patents at play that prevented it before ErgoDox etc.?
- bjoli 1y agoThe solenoids in IBMs keyboard did not click. It was more of a bang. I have had 2 (one F and one of those beamspring ones. Can't remember exactly which B it was). The F was loud, the model B was just spectacular. Amazing to type one after I fixed it, but with the solenoid plugged in it was unbearable.