ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,374,513, issued on July 29, was assigned to ALPS ALPINE Co. LTD. (Tokyo).
"Rubber stem and switch apparatus" was invented by Hidetaka Sato (Miyagi, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A rubber stem for use in a switch apparatus having a dome-shaped invertible spring includes an operating portion on which a pressing action is performed, a skirt surrounding the operating portion and configured to be deformed in response to the pressing action performed on the operating portion, a base extending annularly along a lower edge of the skirt and supporting the lower edge of the skirt, and a pressing portion provided on a back side of the operat...