Push-button
≈ 2 min read
Names in other languages
No names in other languages are held for this entry yet.
Article bodies are English and are not machine-translated. A name in another language is not a translation of the article.
A push-button (also spelled pushbutton) or simply button is a simple switch mechanism to control some aspect of a machine or a process. Buttons are typically made out of hard material, usually plastic or metal. The surface is usually flat or shaped to accommodate the human finger or hand, so as to be easily depressed or pushed. Buttons are most often biased switches, although many un-biased buttons (due to their physical nature) still require a spring to return to their un-pushed state. Terms for the "pushing" of a button include pressing, depressing, mashing, slapping, hitting, and punching.
A push-button (also spelled pushbutton) or simply button is a simple switch mechanism to control some aspect of a machine or a process. Buttons are typically made out of hard material, usually plastic or metal. The surface is usually flat or shaped to accommodate the human finger or hand, so as to be easily depressed or pushed. Buttons are most often biased switches, although many un-biased buttons (due to their physical nature) still require a spring to return to their un-pushed state. Terms for the "pushing" of a button include pressing, depressing, mashing, slapping, hitting, and punching. ==History== Push buttons were invented sometime in the late 19th century, certainly no later than 1880. The name came from the French word (something that sticks out), rather than from the kind of buttons used on clothing. The initial public reaction was curiosity mixed with fear, some of which was due to widespread fear of electricity, which was a relatively new technology at the time. ==See also== Event-driven programming Button accordion Button (computing) Keyboard (computing) Panic button Placebo button Push-button telephone Reset button Shutter button Turbo button ==References== ==Further reading== Rachel Plotnick, Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic and the Politics of Pushing, MIT Press, 2018, , reviewed in David Trotter, "Making doorbells ring", London Review of Books 22 November 2018
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373727786 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.