Cherry-made Hi-Tek High Profile
Cherry were contracted by DEC to manufacture complete Hi-Tek “High Profile” keyboards, based on Hi-Tek’s drawings. The reasons for this are no longer known. Cherry produced many of the components in-house, including the switch contacts, the plungers and the PCB. The return springs were likely produced by Cherry also. It’s not clear whether Cherry moulded the switch grid frames, as these may have exceeded the size of their mould machines.
The only known keyboard is UB80-01AA, a keyboard produced for the DEC DECwriter. Additional photos can be seen at Deskthority.
Sources
- Conversation with Peter Cherry