switches computer hardware founded 1950s founder walter lorraine cherry headquarters auerbach i. d. oberpf . germany and pleasant prairie wisconsin key people manfred sch ttner ceo revenue 250 mio . euro 2007 number of employees 3 100 website cherryswitches.com cherryamericas.com www.cherry.de cherry gmbh formerly cherry corporation stylized as cherry is a german american computer peripheral device maker . the company has its roots in the united states . 1 they also manufactured a large range of products including sensors input devices and automotive modules until 2008 when cherry was bought by zf friedrichshafen and renamed to zf electronics gmbh . zf division computer input devices was outsourced as cherry gmbh in january 2016 and will continue to sell products under the cherry brand . a keyboard by cherry production facility in bayreuth contents 1 history 2 cherry switches in consumer keyboards circa mid 2016 3 awards 4 references 5 external links history edit cherry was founded by walter cherry in 1953 in the basement of a highland park illinois restaurant . with the passing of its founder his son peter took over the ownership of the organization . the company s headquarters were moved to auerbach in der oberpfalz germany in 1979 . cherry has manufactured keyboards since 1967 and claims to be the oldest keyboard manufacturer still in business . 2 cherry maintains production facilities in europe most notably in bayreuth germany asia and the americas . all of its products are designed and developed at the company s headquarters in auerbach in der oberpfalz . it also has offices in the uk italy france hong kong india mexico australia and other locations with distributors in most major countries . in 2008 cherry was bought by zf friedrichshafen ag and incorporated as the zf electronics gmbh corporate division . the cherry brand continues to be used . among cherry s widely known products are its line of mx and ml key switches that have been used in industrial electronics and point of sale environments since their inception in the 1980s and more recently 2008 by numerous manufacturers of consumer pc keyboards . today the cherry brandname of zf electronics corporation is used in four market divisions keyboards and mice contract electronic manufacturing switches sensors cherry switches in consumer keyboards circa mid 2016 edit cherry mx switches in an opened mechanical keyboard cherry mx switches cherry mx blue closed left and cherry mx brown opened right . cherry mx switches were developed and patented in the early 1980s u.s. patent 4 467 160 and first marketed around 1985 . in the consumer keyboard market cherry mx switches are often referenced by the color of the key stem the part of the switch below the keycap that moves downward when pressed . 3 most common cherry mx switches are linear cherry mx black cherry mx red cherry mx silent cherry mx grey cherry mx speed tactile non clicky cherry mx brown cherry mx clear cherry mx grey tactile and clicky cherry mx blue cherry mx green cherry mx white cherry mx grey cherry mx grey switches can be found in linear tactile and clicky variants . given their use primarily in large keys like spacebars the feel is selected to match that of the other keys on the board . other types of cherry mx switches such green and grey are used for larger keys spacebar shift enter etc. . the feel of cherry mx green switches are often compared to that of the buckling spring switches on original ibm model m keyboards . 4 cherry switches have lifespan of up to 50 million actuations depending on switch type . 5 the auditory and tactile nature of each switch and the amount of force needed to actuate it vary depending on the switch type switch type clicky tactile linear actuation force tactile force product code cherry mx speed silver no no yes 0.45 n n a cherry mx black no no yes 0.60 n n a mx1a 11xx cherry mx red no no yes 0.45 n n a mx1a l1xx cherry mx silent no no yes 0.45 n n a mx1a l1nx cherry mx brown no yes no 0.45 n 0.55 n mx1a g1xx cherry mx clear no yes no 0.55 n 0.65 n mx1a c1xx cherry mx blue yes yes no 0.50 n 0.60 n mx1a e1xx cherry mx white yes yes no 0.50 n 0.70 n 0.60 n 0.80 n mx1a a1xx cherry mx green yes yes no 0.70 n 0.80 n mx1a f1xx awards edit in 2008 cherry s production facility in bayreuth received the bayerischer qualit tspreis 2008 award . 6 at the end of 2006 cherry received the automotive lean production award of the german economy magazine automobil produktion . in 2005 cherry gmbh in auerbach received the industrial excellence award as best european industrial facility . references edit about cherry cherry.de ber cherry cherry mx . deskthority wiki . 2013 09 06 . retrieved 2013 09 11 . kowaliski cyril 2013 03 07 . a first look at cherry s mx green key switches eat your heart out buckling springs . techreport.com . retrieved 2014 01 07 . in both feel and specifications though the greens are closer to the buckling spring switches of ibm s iconic model m keyboards . that makes them uniquely appealing to old school geeks . cherry mx . deskthority.net . 2014 06 05 . retrieved 2014 06 05 . long life 20 50 million operations depending on switch variant bayerischer qualit tspreis 2008 german external links edit zf electronics website cherry uk website cherry germany website overview of cherry mechanical switches retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title cherry keyboards & oldid 744408640 categories technology companies of germanytechnology companies of the united stateselectronics companies of germanyelectronics companies of the united statespoint of sale companiescomputer peripheral companiesamerican brandsgerman brands navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity 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