Transparent touch panel switch

Claim 1

A transparent non-capacitive touch membrane switch for use in front of a cathode ray tube comprising two essentially two-dimensional sheets arrayed substantially parallel to one another in the outer sheet/inner sheet sandwich configuration, the outer sheet having a light transmission value of from about 0.20 to about 0.80 and comprising a flexible transparent plastic substrate having on at least a portion of its outer surface a diffuse hardcoat and on its inner surface a first antireflective transparent electrically conductive coating, and the inner sheet comprising a flexible transparent plastic substrate having on its outer surface a second antireflective transparent electrically conductive coating and on its inner surface a third antireflective transparent electrically conductive coating, with the inner and outer sheets being mechanically spaced from one another by spacer means to a distance which can be locally traversed by finger tip pressure deformation of the outer sheet so as to make electrical contact between first and second electrically conductive coatings so as to provide an electrical switching event and with the third antireflective transparent electrically conductive coating being electrically grounded so as to provide shielding against the passage of electromagnetic and radio frequency interference through said membrane switch.