Електромеханічний завод «Магніт»

Contents

• Overview
• Products
  • ПКМ 1Б

Overview

Електромеханічний завод «Магніт»—Electromechanical Plant “Magnet”—is a technology and plastics fabrication company in Kaniv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1969 as the Kaniv Electromechanical Plant “Magnet” (Ukrainian: Каневський електромеханічний завод «Магніт», Russian: Каневский электромеханический завод «Магнит»), part of the Ministry of Radio Industry in the former USSR. Magnit produced peripheral equipment such as tape drives and human-computer interface devices for Soviet Unified Computer System (ЭВМ) computers. In the post-Soviet era, Magnit is now a joint-stock company in Ukraine.

The curious face-like logo was FIPS trademark 44711, filed in 1972 and granted in 1973.

Although the company’s short name translates to “Magnet”, Google Translate prefers a transliteration from both Russian and Ukrainian of “Magnit”. The name “Magnit” is used here.

Products

ПКМ 1Б

ПКМ 1Б (“PKM 1B”) is type of fairly low profile reed switch, whose design may have been inspired by RAFI’s keyboard switches (especially as the keycap mount is very similar). The switch has four legs, of which two are the reed capsule terminals and two are for retaining the switch. All switches are marked “ПКМ 1Б”. Some have the reed terminals marked “1” and “2”, and some have the term “ЖРВИ” written in between these. There can instead be the Magnit logo in its place. The following photos of an unbranded type come from Deepak Kandepet:

As with many other European-made reed switch types (but not those from Clare) the reed capsule is placed horizontally across the bottom of the switch. Just as with ИЗОТ switches, these seem to also use whatever colour of plastic was available, although curiously the lower and upper shell pieces are normally moulded from different-coloured plastics. The plunger is typically colourless.

Unlike competitors’ designs, though, Magnit switches position the reed switch parallel with the back of the switch, and the back of the switch is wider than the front, to make room for it. A photo marked “размен 14*14 мм” shows the switches placed in alternating orientation to accommodate the asymmetric shape. That example may be a keyboard with reduced spacing instead of the normal 19.05 mm spacing, with 14 × 14 mm keycaps, but it does seem fairly normal to alternate the orientation with these switches.

These switches are also found in the “ЕС7927” (“ES7927”) keyboard or computer.