Reed contact unit
AssigneeSquare D Company
InventorAlan R. Beavitt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The reed contact unit comprises a pair of aligned members of magnetizable and electrically conductive material spaced apart endwise from each other. A fillet of non-magnetic electrically conductive material may be inserted between the spaced ends of the members. A flat electrically conductive resilient member supported at its opposite ends carries, at its mid-region, a magnetizable and electrically conductive armature and suspends it over the fillet and the adjacent end portions of the magnetizable members. Upon magnetization of the members, a lower contact surface of the armature engages the ends of the magnetizable members and completes an electric circuit from at least one of the magnetizable members through the resilient member to its support. The magnetizable members and the resilient member are mounted within a sealed enclosure.
Claims16
A reed contact unit comprising a pair of aligned elongated members each having a co-planar surface of a magnetizable and electrically conductive material spaced apart endwise from each other;
- a fillet of a non-magnetic electrically conductive material inserted between the space ends of the elongated members with a surface of the fillet co-planar with the co-planar surfaces of the elongated members to produce a substantially continuous contact surface with at least one of the adjacent end portions of the co-planar surfaces of the elongated members and the co-planar surface of the fillet constituting a stationary contact for the contact unit;
- a resilient member mounted to be electrically independent of the elongated members;
- a magnetizable armature secured to the resilient member and positioned to overlie the fillet and at least one of the adjacent end portions to create a contact gap between the armature and the stationary contact and to move in a direction substantially normal to the co-planar surfaces of the stationary contact upon attraction of the armature to the elongated members upon magnetization of the members to complete an electric circuit including at least one of the elongated members, the armature, and the fillet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.