Identifying: old keyboard, apparently made in Japan, unknown switch type (to me)

[voided]

Hi all,

I've recently picked up a keyboard that has me beat. This is very solidly built, with metal bottom and thick plastic housing, and weighs around 2.6kg. Has many non-standard keys. Cable has been cut, but appears to have at least 8 cores. Keys are tall, doubleshots, with a distinctive arched shape. My photos show the keyswitch, which I have so far been unable to identify.

Keyswitches give a distinct click on both downstroke and upstroke that is quite similar in sound and feel to a buckling spring -- though the weight is more like my ALPS Orange keyboards.

I opened the bottom and found a code on the circuit board:  N86D-2525-R010/04 HANDAMEN MADE IN JAPAN

My google searches turned up a few similar codes, mostly related to very modern Fujitsu ultrasound machines. Not sure whether this is red herring...

I wonder, can anybody offer any clues either on the keyswitch type or on the identity of this keyboard?

Many thanks in advance.

[CaptLock]

Not sure but I remember it is some Fujitsu swtich.

[nubbinator]

Looks like rubber dome over membrane most likely, but if someone knows for sure, chime in.

[bazh]

must be 3rd gen of Jujitsu Leaf Spring

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Fujitsu_Leaf_Spring

[voided]

Ah...yes, that's a positive ID on the keyswitch. Thanks all -- and especially bazh for the name and link.

[jacobolus]

Are you planning to do anything with this keyboard? Looks like a fun project to get it working.

[voided]

Although I find the keyboard interesting and like the key feel, I don't think I'd particularly enjoy the layout even if I could get it working. I'm leaning towards narrower keyboards and this one could never be called narrow! Besides that, my skills currently don't extend to "nutting out" the protocol of a keyboard, installing add-on converters, etc.

So I will either keep this as a novelty or pass it on to someone who might do better things with it. Do you have any interest?

(A pertinent factor here might be that I am located in Australia...so shipping to almost anywhere can be quite expensive)

[Hak Foo]

You don't have to work out the protocol in a lot of cases... you can just bypass the original controller and wire the switch matrix directly to a new controller, with programmable behaviour.