Pullout strip allows changeable legends

Problem: Only dedicated games players can remember what particular function keys do on a PC keyboard in a particular program. If the keyboard or pad is coupled to an industrial controller, remembering wrong could do more than lead to the early death of your game character. Attempts to solve the problem in the past have included keys with built-in LCD screens, adding to cost and complexity, and blank keys on which users were supposed to write with a felt pen. Since penned legends usually rub off, this leads to conversations with IT support, such as one involving your writer which ended with the advice, "Try pressing the key which has probably got nothing written on it." Solution: Rockwell Automation has brought out a range of machine panels with a re-legendable plastic strip immediately behind the front bezel. To change legends, the user simply pulls on the tab on one side of the panel, and slides the strip out. It may then be replaced by another with different legends, or turned over and printed on in the blank spaces corresponding to key positions. Its removal and replacement in no way interferes with the integrity of the unit, which is protected to IP65, Nema 4X and may be hosed down. An additional ingenuity in the design is the way the optional communication module is attached to the logic module which is in turn attached to the back of the display module and to the front bezel by six captive screws. It is thus possible to change a damaged bezel or display module without disconnecting or having to change the logic module. Applications: Any shop floor automation system or machine. All units include TFT colour graphic displays that offer the ability to display animated diagrams or time based X-Y plots with up to eight pens per trend. The units are programmed using RSView Studio. Logic modules come with built-in Ethernet and RS232 ports as standard. TS