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Types and Standards: Howard Frank Pearne

A computer keyboard is a text entry device that uses buttons or keys to input data into a computer. Keyboards originated from teleprinter devices used for communication, and inherited their standard layouts. The keyboard has remained the primary computer peripheral for entering text, despite the introduction of mice and touchscreens. Modern keyboards come in different formats and standards like ISO, ANSI, and JIS, and may vary in the total number of keys depending on whether they include a numpad or duplicate lesser-used keys.

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67 views2 pages

Types and Standards: Howard Frank Pearne

A computer keyboard is a text entry device that uses buttons or keys to input data into a computer. Keyboards originated from teleprinter devices used for communication, and inherited their standard layouts. The keyboard has remained the primary computer peripheral for entering text, despite the introduction of mice and touchscreens. Modern keyboards come in different formats and standards like ISO, ANSI, and JIS, and may vary in the total number of keys depending on whether they include a numpad or duplicate lesser-used keys.

Uploaded by

Ellee Hades
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A 

computer keyboard is a typewriter-style device[1] which uses an arrangement of buttons


or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Replacing early punched cards and paper
tape technology, interaction via teleprinter-style keyboards have been the main input
method for computers since the 1970s, supplemented by the computer mouse since the 1980s.
Keyboard keys (buttons) typically have a set of characters engraved or printed on them, and each
press of a key typically corresponds to a single written symbol. However, producing some symbols
may require pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in sequence.[2] While most
keyboard keys produce letters, numbers or symbols (characters), other keys or simultaneous key
presses can prompt the computer to execute system commands, such as such as the Control-Alt-
Delete combination used with Microsoft Windows.[3][4] In a modern computer, the interpretation of key
presses is generally left to the software: the information sent to the computer, the scan code, tells it
only which key (or keys) on which row and column, was pressed or released.[5]
In normal usage, the keyboard is used as a text entry interface for typing text, numbers, and symbols
into application software such as a word processor, web browser or social media app.
While typewriters are the definitive ancestor of all key-based text entry devices, the computer
keyboard as a device for electromechanical data entry and communication derives largely from the
utility of two devices: teleprinters (or teletypes) and keypunches. It was through such devices that
modern computer keyboards inherited their layouts.
As early as the 1870s, teleprinter-like devices were used to simultaneously type and transmit stock
market text data from the keyboard across telegraph lines to stock ticker machines to be
immediately copied and displayed onto ticker tape.[6] The teleprinter, in its more contemporary form,
was developed from 1907 to 1910 by American mechanical engineer Charles Krum and his
son Howard, with early contributions by electrical engineer Frank Pearne. Earlier models were
developed separately by individuals such as Royal Earl House and Frederick G. Creed.
Earlier, Herman Hollerith developed the first keypunch devices, which soon evolved to include keys
for text and number entry akin to normal typewriters by the 1930s.[7]
The keyboard on the teleprinter played a strong role in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint
communication for most of the 20th century, while the keyboard on the keypunch device played a
strong role in data entry and storage for just as long. The development of the earliest computers
incorporated electric typewriter keyboards: the development of the ENIAC computer incorporated a
keypunch device as both the input and paper-based output device, while the BINAC computer also
made use of an electromechanically controlled typewriter for both data entry onto magnetic tape
(instead of paper) and data output.[8]
The keyboard remained the primary, most integrated computer peripheral well into the era of
personal computing until the introduction of the mouse as a consumer device in 1984. By this time,
text-only user interfaces with sparse graphics gave way to comparatively graphics-rich icons on
screen.[9] However, keyboards remain central to human-computer interaction to the present, even as
mobile personal computing devices such as smartphones and tablets adapt the keyboard as an
optional virtual, touchscreen-based means of data entry.

Types and standards[edit]


Further information: Keyboard layout
A wired computer keyboard for desktop use manufactured by Lenovo

Different types of keyboards are available and each is designed with a focus on specific features that
suit particular needs.[10] Today, most full-size keyboards use one of three different mechanical
layouts, usually referred to as simply ISO (ISO/IEC 9995-2), ANSI (ANSI-INCITS 154-1988),
and JIS (JIS X 6002-1980), referring roughly to the organizations issuing the relevant worldwide,
United States, and Japanese standards, respectively. (In fact, the mechanical layouts referred such
as "ISO" and "ANSI" comply to the primary recommendations in the named standards, while each of
these standards in fact also allows the other way.) ANSI standard alphanumeric keyboards have
keys that are on three-quarter inch centers (0.75 inches (19 mm)), and have a key travel of at least
0.15 inches (3.8 mm).[citation needed]
Modern keyboard models contain a set number of total keys according to their given standard,
described as 101, 104, 105, etc. and sold as "Full-size" keyboards.[11] Modern keyboards matching
US conventions typically have 104 keys while the 105 key layout is the norm in the rest of the world.
This number is not always followed, and individual keys or whole sections are commonly skipped for
the sake of compactness or user preference. The most common choice is to not include the
numpad, which can usually be fully replaced by the alphanumeric section. Laptops and wireless
peripherals often lack duplicate keys and ones seldom used. Function- and arrow keys are nearly
always present.
Another factor determining the size of a keyboard is the size and spacing of the keys. The reduction
is limited by the practical consideration that the keys must be large enough to be easily pressed by
fingers. Alternatively, a tool is used for pressing small keys.

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