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US 4,295,699 AGranted
Pressure sensitive combination switch and circuit breaker construction
AssigneeEssex International, Inc.
InventorGideon A. DuRocher
Life of this patent
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AssigneeEssex International, Inc.
InventorGideon A. DuRocher
Estimating the term…
A pressure sensitive switch and circuit breaker comprising a body formed of a resilient, deformable inorganic insulating material such as silicone rubber having dispersed therethrough, including its outer surface, a quantity of electrically conductive discrete metal particles. The particles are so oriented in the body of insulating material when the latter is in its normal, unstressed condition that the body is non-conductive, but the particles are movable relatively to one another in response to the application of a compressive force on the body so as to effect engagement of a sufficient number of particles to establish a conductive path through the body. The resilience of the body material enables it to return to its normal condition following release of the compressive force, thereby effecting relative movement of the particles out of engagement with one another and restoring the body to its non-conductive state. Should the switch be subjected to an overload current the engaged particles may be consumed, thereby rendering the switch non-conductive and protecting the other parts of the circuit. Upon correction of the cause of the overload the switch once again may be rendered conductive by subjecting it to compressive force.
In an electrical system comprising first and second electrical devices, each of said first and second electrical devices having a plurality of spaced apart contacts, at least one of said plurality of contacts comprising raised land portions, a one piece sheet connector having elastomericlike properties positioned between the devices and overlapping superimposed contacts of said first and second devices, means to compress the sheet connector between superimposed contacts of said first and second devices on opposite surfaces of said sheet connector, said sheet connector having a low resistance through the volume between superimposed contacts where compressed and a high resistance where not directly compressed between said superimposed contacts so that each pair of superimposed contacts are electrically isolated from every other pair of superimposed contacts, said sheet connector of a thickness X and has the property that when adjacent contacts on opposite sides of said sheet are positioned as close as the distance X apart and compression is applied by pressing superimposed contacts on opposite sides of the sheet together, the resistance through the sheet between superimposed contacts is low relative to the resistance between adjacent contacts, where X is 5 to 100 mils and said sheet connector comprises a homogeneous mixture of electrically conductive particles and a nonconductive binder material having elastomeric properties.
Pressure sensitive electrical apparatus comprising a body formed of electrically insulating elastomeric material throughout which discrete, electrically conductive particles are dispersed, the quantity and size of such particles being such that said body is electrically non-conductive when uncompressed and electrically conductive when compressed, the quantity and size of said particles being so proportioned to the thickness of said body as to provide the latter with the property that upon compression of said body at two zones spaced apart a distance equal to the thickness of said body a conductive path is established through said body at each of said zones while that part of said body between said zones remains non-conductive;
Pressure sensitive electrical apparatus comprising a body formed of electrically insulating elastomeric material throughout which discrete, electrically conductive metal particles are dispersed, the quantity and size of such particles being such that said body has a relatively high electrical resistance when uncompressed and a relatively low electrical resistance when compressed, the quantity and size of said particles being so proportioned to the thickness of said body as to provide the latter with the property that upon compression of said body at two zones spaced apart a distance equal to the thickness of said body a conductive path of relatively low resistance is established through said body at each of said zones while that part of said body between said zones retains its relatively high resistance.
A device according to claim 31 wherein said particles are formed of non-noble metal coated with noble metal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.