Buckling rubber sleeve

Buckling rubber sleeve is a commonly-used term to describe a variation on the rubber dome. A buckling rubber sleeve resembles an open-top rubber dome, which is placed under the keycap instead of inside the keyboard. While rubber domes by necessity always face the same way up (hence the term "dome"), buckling rubber sleeves can be mounted either way up.

Buckling rubber sleeves are not a part of the switch's contact mechanism; they provide tactility only.

Switches

Various switches use buckling rubber sleeves, including:

• IBM buckling rubber sleeve
• Mitsumi hybrid switch
• BTC foam and foil (tactile version)
• Low-profile ITW magnetic valve

Gallery

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  IBM buckling rubber sleeve switches
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  Mitsumi hybrid switches
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  Tactile BTC foam and foil
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  Key Tronic switches