Accelerometer with a cantilever beam formed as part of the housing structure

An accelerometer comprising:

• a housing structure having a cavity formed therein;
• a cantilever beam extending inwardly into said cavity from a first wall of said housing structure, said housing structure and said cantilever beam being formed as parts of a unitary structure;
• a magnet structure attached to a distal end of said cantilever beam, said distal end being movable along a first path in response to flexure of said cantilever beam;
• a magnetically sensitive component attached to a second wall of said housing structure, said magnetically sensitive component being displaced from said magnet structure by a preselected distance, said magnetically sensitive component having an output signal which is representative of the position of said magnet structure relative to said magnetically sensitive component, said magnet structure comprising two permanent magnets, said two permanent magnets being disposed within a nonmagnetic bracket, said nonmagnetic bracket being encapsulated within said distal end of said cantilever beam, said magnet structure comprising a ferromagnetic pole piece disposed in magnetic flux conducting association with said two permanent magnets;
• means for locating first and second permanent magnets of said two permanent magnets at first and second positions, respectively, which are equally spaced on opposite sides of a centerline, said centerline being disposed at a preselected position relative to said magnetically sensitive component, said bracket being made of brass and said housing structure and said cantilever beam being made of plastic, said housing structure and said cantilever beam being formed as parts of a single plastic structure which is produced by a single injection molding process;
• and
• a lid structure attached to said housing structure, said magnetically sensitive component comprising a Hall effect element.