Alps Electric
| File:Alps Electric logo.svg | |
| Industry | Electronic devices |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1948 |
| Founder(s) | Katsutaro Kataoka |
| Headquarters | Ota, Tokyo, Japan |
| FCC grantee code |
CWT (Alps Electric, Japan) GYI (Alps Electric USA) |
| Website | www.alpsalpine.com |
Alps Electric Co. is a Japanese company that is known in the keyboard community primarily for the Alps SKCL/SKCM series of mechanical keyswitches. Though Alps SKCL/SKCM switches have not been in production for many years, Alps clone switches are still manufactured today.
The company name "Alps" is often mistakenly written as in all caps—"ALPS"—based on the Alps logotype. The correct capitalization is "Alps".<ref name="Alps-history" /> "ALPs" is another common incorrect capitalization.
Since 2019 the company is known as Alps Alpine after merging with Alpine, a former, separate joint venture of Alps Electric and Motorola that started itself in 1967 as Alps Motorola.<ref name="AlpsAlpine" />
Alps Electric (USA)[edit | edit source]
Alps Electric (USA), who were a major supplier to Apple, bought the Accessory Products Division from Apple.<ref name="oldmouse-Alps-USA" />
Overseas joint ventures[edit | edit source]
Alps Electric has established several overseas joint ventures; these include:
- Gold Star Alps Electronics in Korea, established in August 1970; GoldStar is now LG, and it appears that Alps may have renewed the venture in 1996<ref name="Alps-history" />
- Forward Electronics in Taiwan, established in December 1970; this 30-year venture ended in 2000
Products[edit | edit source]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Keycaps[edit | edit source]
Alps double-shot keycaps have distinctive styles that makes them easy to recognise. Evidence suggests that they were only ever sold with keyboards made by Alps, and they have been found on keyboards with a variety of Alps switches, including Alps SKFL, Alps integrated dome and Alps SKCL/SKCM series.<ref name="keycap-topic" />
As with other double-shot manufacturers, the moulding patterns vary between keycaps.
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Alps double-shot keycap from a NeXT keyboard (Alps SKCM Black) -
Alps double-shot keycap on an Alps integrated dome keyboard -
Assorted IBM 5556 keycaps, top view -
Assorted IBM 5556 keycaps, underside, showing the different moulding patterns -
Detail of IBM 5556 keycap -
Alps two-piece dye-sub keycaps from the IBM 5576-002 keyboard
Logos[edit | edit source]
-
Artistic recreation of the 1960s–1980s logo based on a number of sources; this logo showed noticeable variation over time
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Current logo (approximation)
See also[edit | edit source]
- Keyboards with Alps switches
- Alps keyboard codes
- Alps specifications
- Clones of Alps SKCL/SKCM switches
References[edit | edit source]
<references> <ref name="keycap-topic">Deskthority — Alps as a doubleshot manufacturer?</ref> <ref name="Alps-history">Alps Electric — [About Alps] History</ref> <ref name="oldmouse-Alps-USA">oldmouse.com — Apple Lisa Mouse</ref> <ref name="AlpsAlpine">Alps Alpine — History</ref> </references>
