An actuator with a built-in reed switch includes a solenoid, a plunger made of magnetic material and movable within a coil of the solenoid, a plunger receiver made of magnetic material and fixedly mounted in the solenoid coil, a magnetic responsive reed switch connected in series to the solenoid coil and disposed near a gap between the plunger and the plunger receiver, and a sensor terminal branched from a junction between the solenoid coil and the reed switch, whereby contacts of the reed switch are closed by a magnetic field generated when a current flows through the sensor terminal in the solenoid coil. The actuator has current sensitive function which is small and has high sensitivity and sufficient driving force as an actuator.

A measuring apparatus employing hard X-rays comprises a pair of sensors receiving substantially simultaneously hard X-ray beam emitted from an X-ray source, one of which sensors receives the beam directly from the source and not passed through an object to be measured while the other sensor receives the beam passed through the object. The other sensor comprises an X-ray image receiving camera providing an X-ray image of the object and a spot X-ray sensor for receiving the beam passed through a restricted measuring zone or spot in the object, and the camera and spot sensor are shiftable alternately to a position of receiving the beam passed through the object, whereby, aftervisual observation of the X-ray image for discrimination, the restricted zone or spot can be determined for a higher precision measuring, and a precise quantitative measurement can be carried out by the spot sensor with respect to the restricted zone or spot.

A multi-positional mercury switch (1, 2, 3) for use with miniature relays (4). The mercury switch apparatus has mercury wettable magnetic contact structures (11, 12, 211, 212, 222, 311, 312) supported in a sealed envelope member (10, 20, 30) supporting to magnetic contact structures with ends thereof extending from the envelope member for interconnection with terminals of the relay. A mercury holding assembly (13, 14, 23, 24, 33, 34) is slidably located within the sealed envelope member adjacent the magnetic contact structures and is responsive to an external magnetic field generated by electrical signals in a coil (40) surrounding the sealed envelope member for engaging the magnetic contact structures and establishing an electrical conducting path between the magnetic contact structures.

A relay assembly (100) includes a switch body (10), an adaptor sleeve (102), a feed-through base (104), and an encapsulating resin (120). The switch body includes a flange (10) extending orthogonally from a portion of a housing and leads (60-1). The adaptor sleeve (102) is substantially cylindrical with apertures (114) in the sleeve wall. A first end of the adaptor sleeve (102) encircles at least a portion of the switch body (10) and is attached to the flange (50). The feed-through base (104) is attached to a second end of the adaptor sleeve (102) to enclose the second end and includes holes through which conductors (108) extend; contacts (106), inside the adaptor sleeve (102), joining each conductor (108) to one of the leads (60); and insulators (112) through which each conductor (108) extends . The flange (50), adaptor sleeve (102), and feed-through base (104) form an envelope around the portion of the housing (10), the contacts (106), and the leads (60). The resin (120) fills the envelope and encapsulates the portion of the housing (10), the contacts (106), and the leads (60).

Disclosed is a switching unit 100, such as a relay and in particular a reed relay, for switching between a first and a second state, e.g. an on- and an off-state. The switching unit comprises at least one thermo-electrically active junction. For reducing or avoiding a resulting thermo-electric voltage, the temperature at the at least one junction is kept substantially constant during the first and the second state. Preferably, the power dissipation of the switching unit is kept substantially constant during the first and the second state.

A sealed switch has a vessel (10) defining therein a hermetically sealed space which receives a pair of fixed contacts (31) and a movable contact (30) bridging the fixed contact. The movable contact (30) is movable between an ON-position of closing with the fixed contact and an OFF-position of separating from the fixed contacts. Hydrogen gas or hydrogen rich gas is filled in the sealed space in order to suppress arc development between the movable and fixed contacts. The plunger (40) carries at its axial one end the movable contact (30) and carrying at the other axial end an actuator (45) which moves the plunger (40) axially for movement of the movable contact from the OFF-position to the ON-position. An over-travel spring (34) is provided to give a bias for moving the movable contact relative to the plunger (40) in order to develop a contacting pressure between the movable and fixed contacts. The over-travel spring (34) is supported to a spring holder (70) secured to the plunger (40). The plunger is formed with a threaded portion (41) which extends through the actuator to allow the plunger (40) to move axially relative to the actuator (45) for adjustment of a contact gap between the movable (30) and fixed contact (21), and the spring holder (70) is formed with stopper protrusions which project in abuttable and slidable relation to the interior surface of the vessel such that the movable contact is prevented from rotating together with the plunger (40). Accordingly, the spring holder is best utilized to restrict the movable contact from rotating together with the actuator (45) to enable an easy adjustment of the contact gap simply by rotating the actuator (45).

A sealed contact unit (10) attains stabilized contact switching operation and effective dimensional minimization with an arrangement wherein a switching contact section is housed within a sealed container (11) together with an electrically insulating gas, a movable contacting member (29) of the contact section receiving a contact-pressure spring force and resetting spring force, a movable shaft (20) is interlocked to the movable contacting member and further interlocked with a driving section for switching movable and stationary contacts of both contacting members (22,22a), and a contact pressure spring (34) is provided to enclose the movable shaft to be coaxial therewith to exert the contact-pressure spring force on the movable contacting member.

Zur Verbesserung der mechanischen Eigenschaften des Schaltele­mentes eines Vakuumrelais ist in das Schaltelement, das aus einem Anlenkelement (11), einer Halterung (12) für einen stab­förmigen Träger (16), dem stabförmigen Träger (16) und einem Schaltkontakt (14) besteht, ein Federelement (9) integriert. Hierzu ist entweder die Halterung (12) oder der stabförmige Träger als Stabfeder (16) ausgebildet (Schaltelement mit integriertem Federelement).