Brother dome and foil

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Brother dome and foil

Manufacturer	Brother
Switch type	Tactile
Sense method	Capacitive
Keycap mount	Custom cylindrical

Brother dome and foil is a capacitive dome with slider switch believed to have been manufactured by Brother since at least the early 1980s, with a patent being filed in 1974.<ref name="patent" /> It is a capacitive counterpart to Brother conductive dome and Brother membrane dome with slider, which shared the same keycap mount.

Many aspects of the switch are often compared with the Topre switch, earning it the common nickname "Prototopre". It is a capacitive rubber dome design, but uses a piece of foil attached to the underside of the domes, rather than Topre's separate conical spring. The feel is compared as well, although this switch has a shorter travel and much softer bottom out than Topre switches. Even the proprietary cylindrical keycap mounts are considered to be very similar. They may or may not be partially compatible.

Keyboards

• Various Brother typewriters and other keyboard-equipped devices (eg. printers<ref name="printer-and-seiko-epson" />)
• A family of IBM keyboards including earlier models of the IBM RT PC keyboard<ref name="rt-keyboard" />. These keyboards have a distinctive housing which blends Model F and Model M styling. Other models in this series use the membrane equivalent.
• Some Seiko and Epson brand keyboards<ref name="printer-and-seiko-epson" />, including the Epson Q603A and Seikosha 8620
• Minolta KY-1
• Burroughs B25 K2<ref name="burroughs" />

Gallery

• 
  The stem top and keycap mount on a Brother Electronic 8300 typewriter

References

<references> <ref name="patent">Google Patents - Keyboard switch arrangement</ref> <ref name="printer-and-seiko-epson">Deskthority - Tripleshot keycaps with windows</ref> <ref name="rt-keyboard">Deskthority - IBM RT E57888</ref> <ref name="burroughs">Deskthority - Burroughs B25 K2 - 3675 6104</ref> </references>