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Key Tronic
Technology company founded in 1969 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Key Tronic Corporation (branded Keytronic) is a technology company founded in 1969 by Lewis G. Zirkle.[2][3] Its core products initially included keyboards, mice and other input devices. Key Tronic currently specializes in PCBA and full product assembly. The company is among the ten largest contract manufacturers providing electronic manufacturing services in the US.[4] The company offers full product design or assembly of a wide variety of household goods and electronic products such as keyboards, printed circuit board assembly, plastic molding, thermometers, toilet bowl cleaners, satellite tracking systems, etc.
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Keyboards
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After the introduction of the IBM PC, Keytronic began manufacturing keyboards compatible with those computer system units.[5]
Most of their keyboards are based on the 8048 microcontroller to communicate to the computer. Their early keyboards used an Intel 8048 MCU. However, as the company evolved, they began to use their own 8048-based and 83C51KB-based MCUs.
In 1978, Keytronic Corporation introduced keyboards with capacitive-based switches, one of the first keyboard technologies to not use self-contained switches.[citation needed] There was simply a sponge pad with a conductive-coated Mylar plastic sheet on the switch plunger, and two half-moon trace patterns on the printed circuit board below. As the key was depressed, the capacitance between the plunger pad and the patterns on the PCB below changed, which was detected by integrated circuits (IC). These keyboards were claimed to have the same reliability as the other "solid-state switch" keyboards such as inductive and Hall-Effect, but competitive with direct-contact keyboards.
Natural Keyboard
The first generation of Microsoft ergonomic keyboards was designed by the Microswitch division of Honeywell, which was acquired by Key Tronic in early 1994.[6] Over 3 million units had been sold by February 1998, when its successor, the Natural Keyboard Elite, was introduced.[7] In 1997, Key Tronic landed the contract for the second generation.[8] It introduced three new keys purposed for Microsoft's upcoming operating system: two Windows logo keys (⊞ Win) between the Ctrl and Alt keys on each side, and a ≣ Menu key between the right Windows and Ctrl keys.[9]
ErgoForce
Keytronic's "ErgoForce" technology includes different keys having rubber domes with different stiffness. The alphabetic keys intended to be struck with the little finger need only 35 grams of force to actuate, while other alphabetic keys need 45 grams.[10]
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Corporate information
The company, which has been described as a contract manufacturer, was founded in 1969,[3] went public in 1983,[11] and has an estimated 3,500 employees.[12]
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