HP-97 keyboard

[Kees Bouw]

Hi,

The keyboard of a HP-97 has keys with a cross shaped stick attached which fits into a cross shaped hole. See the attached picture. What I found is that on some keys, there appears to be some sort of lubricant or grease on the small stick. On most keys I could not find any trace of it however. I could see no relation to keys being frequently used or not. I can imagine that there can be some wear from moving the stick up and down over the years, so maybe some silicon grease will be beneficial. Does anyone know if there was any lubricant or grease applied in the factory? Should I put some on the sticks anyway? Or is there a good reason not to do it?

Thanks,

Kees.