(Source topic:
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=55110.0 — I only read the Keyboards forum there, so I never saw this one)
I'm both awed at the switch, and feeling a bit of dread at having to find another name for another Alps switch.
What is "low-profile", why are the "oval" switches classed as low-profile, and what is an oval?
Do you know that it's Z mount? I can't tell from the photo. The "half Alps" switch does not take normal Alps keycaps as I understand it, so there's no reason to assume that this one does either.
I use "low travel" for switches with less than 3 mm travel, as "Low-profile" simply means "Look mum! I made the switch smaller!" For example, Cherry referred to M7 (the big switch) as "Standard Mounting Height", M9 (essentially the same size as MX) as "Low Profile" (just as Hi-Tek described space invader switches as low-profile), and M8 (what we would now class as low-profile, like ML) as "Super Low Profile". Yet, in 1973, the Cherry M6 switch (appears to be identical to M7) was described as "low profile", because it was, for its day, small.
If you look at the existing Alps switch names, not only are they a mess, but we got as far as "Ultra Low Profile" for the really, really small ones. The oval mount switches appear to be halfway between "normal" and "low": they're not "normal" as the visible height appears to be the same as how much is above the plate of a normal switch, but they're not "low" like Cherry ML.
I have always sucked at naming. I just know that the switches of several manufacturers, particularly Mitsumi and Alps, need a whole batch of fresh names, considering that we may never know the model names/part numbers.
A lot of the existing Alps switch names are just whatever rubbish I put down just to have
something to call the page. The names are for the most part not used by anyone anyway. "Vintage tee mount" gets used, but that's a misnomer as the keycaps appear to have full 90° rotational symmetry. The only marginally viable alternative at the moment is "switchplate ziggurat" to cover those switches (with switchplates) and another ziggurat type (one of several Alps switches not on the wiki) with a similar slider but a different actuation mechanism.
As for the switch in question, the name should also, I feel, suggest the relationship to the oval slider switch; that photo confirms that they're intended to be used together.