Safety edge switch

• US 5,023,418 A
• Filed: 12/04/1989
• Issued: 06/11/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Karlheinz Beckhausen
• Original Assignee: Karlheinz Beckhausen
• Inventors: Beckhausen, Karlheinz
• Primary Examiner(s): Luebke, Renee S.
• Application Number:
  US07/445,762
• Time in Patent Office: 554 Days
• Field of Search: 200/511, 200/264, 200/61.1, 200/61.11, 200/61.41-61.44, 49/26, 49/27, 187/56, 187/104, 187/DIG. 1
• US Class Current: 200/511
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/44 responsive to changes in electrical conductivity
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/106 for garages
• CPC Class Codes: F16P 3/12 with means, e.g. feelers, which in case of the presence of a body part of a person in or near the danger zone influence the control or operation of the machine F16P3/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 3/142 of the elongated strip type

Abstract

A safety edge switch for power-actuated devices such as roller gates, roller grilles, etc., and lifting platforms, working platforms and the like, as well as for the guarding of machines or spaces, for example as safety flooring, with a hollow rubber profile (1) within which there is a knife-edge rib (5), the surface of the rib and the opposing surface of the hollow rubber profile being made electrically conductive and the mutual contact of the surfaces leading to a switching pulse. The requisite conductivity of the hollow rubber profile is achieved by virtue of the fact that the rib (5) and the main part of the hollow rubber profile (1) are made wholly electrically conductive, the conductivity arising through the admixture of conductive substances such as carbon black, graphite, metal powder and the like. The rib and the main part of the hollow rubber profile are insulated from each other by virtue of the fact that ordinary nonconductive rubber is present between these parts. The conductivity in the rib of the main part of the hollow rubber profile (1) can be enhanced by means of electrically conductive wires ( 6) of metal, carbon fibers or graphite fibers and the like.

Claims

1. A safety edge switch for power-actuated devices such as roller gates, comprising:

a hollow rubber profile (1) including a tubular basic body part (2) with a hollow interior, a knife-edge rib part (5) within said interior, said rib part and said tubular basic body part presenting confronting contact surfaces which are electrically conductive and, when brought into contact, are operable to cause a switching pulse, said rib part (5) and said tubular basic body part (2) being rendered wholly electrically conductive by their being comprised of an admixture of conductive substances and an electrically conductive wire (6) disposed within one of said parts.

2. The safety edge switch of claim 1 wherein said electrically conductive wire (6) is a heating element.

3. The safety edge switch of claim 1 wherein said hollow rubber profile (1) includes a rib mounting base which is electrically nonconductive.

4. The safety edge switch of claim 1 wherein a mounting strip (3) with lateral undercut grooves (4) is molded onto the hollow rubber profile (1).

5. The safety edge switch of claim 1 wherein said one part is said rib part (5).

6. The safety edge switch of claim 1 wherein said one part is said tubular basic body part (2).

7. A safety edge switch for power-actuated devices such as roller gates, comprising:

a hollow rubber profile (1) with a hollow interior, a knife-edge rib (5) within said interior, said rib and said hollow rubber profile presenting confronting contact surfaces which are electrically conductive and, when brought into contact, are operable to cause a switching pulse, said rib (5) and a main part of said hollow rubber profile (1) being rendered wholly electrically conductive by their being comprised of an admixture of conductive substances, a mounting strip (3) molded onto said hollow rubber profile (1) and an electrically conductive wire (7) disposed within said mounting strip (3).

8. The safety edge switch of claim 7 wherein said mounting strip (3) is electrically nonconductive and said wire is uninsulated.

9. The safety edge switch of claim 7 wherein said mounting strip is electrically conductive and said wire is insulated.

10. The safety edge switch of claim 7 and further comprising an electrically conductive wire (6) disposed in said rib (5).

11. The safety edge switch of claim 10 wherein said electrically conductive wire (6) is a heating element.

12. The safety edge switch of claim 7 wherein said mounting strip (3) includes lateral undercut grooves (4).

13. The safety edge switch of claim 12 wherein each of said undercut grooves has a root and further comprising a further groove (9) inside and at said root of each of said lateral undercut grooves (4) in adjacent relation to said mounting strip (3).

14. The safety edge switch of claim 12 and further comprising a groove (10) extending along said hollow rubber profile (1) in the external surface of said hollow rubber profile (1) near said mounting strip (3).

15. The safety edge switch of claim 7 and further comprising a groove (10) extending along each of two opposite sides of said hollow rubber profile (1).

16. The safety edge switch of claim 15 wherein said grooves (10) are formed in the external surface of said hollow rubber profile (1) and possess an undercut cross section.

17. The safety edge switch of claim 16 and further comprising a sealing strip inserted in said grooves (10) in said external surfaces and extending beyond said hollow rubber profile.