Editing Siemens STB (section)

==History==

*These switches were developed to be used for keyboards by Siemens and its subsidaries (esp. Tandberg). They were produced by the Siemens Electromechanical Components (EC) division, who made the complete set of switches and accessories generally available, so that also smaller German and Scandinavien manufacturers could use them for their small-series keyboards.
*Development began in 1977, after German ergonomics experts had suggested that desktop computer keyboards should have home rows no higher than 30&nbsp;mm. They started from the [[Siemens 8160 terminal]] keyboard as their gold standard and aimed at preserving its strengths while moving to something similar to the [[RAFI S77]] keyboard. Intermediately, they started using [[RAFI Full-Travel Keyswitch|RAFI RS]] family switches for their products.
*Design goal was a low-profile switch with 4&nbsp;mm travel like the [[RAFI RS 76 M]] with a feel similar to the [[Siemens ST]] switch.
*First prototype terminals with [[Siemens STB 11|STB 11]] switches were available for testing at the Siemens Ergonomics Institute in 1979.
*The STB 21 series was designed as a simpler (and cheaper) alternative for standard applications. It superseded the STB&nbsp;11 series as the preferred part in 1985.
*As far as we know, the last Siemens systems that had alphanumeric keyboards with STB keys were the Simatic programming units of the [[Siemens PG 710/730|PG 710/730]] and [[Siemens PG 750/770|PG 750/770]] series by the Siemens Automation division, the last of which were built in 1995. Siemens Data division already had given up on mechanical keyboards in 1989, shortly before they were merged with [[Nixdorf]] in 1990. They produced rubber dome boards with caps that looked like STBs, until a new rubber dome keycap shape was introduced in 1993 that dominated the Siemens-Nixdorf and [[Fujitsu Siemens Computers|Fujitsu-Siemens]] eras (cf. the [[Fujitsu Siemens KBPC S2|KBPC S2]] keyboard).
*As opposed to the STB&nbsp;11 series, the STB&nbsp;21 series seems to have already disappeared before Tyco bought Siemens EC business in 1999. Tyco took the STB 11 switches off the catalogue in the course of a general consolidation in 2001.

[[Category:Siemens switches]]