Electric switch

Claim 1

AN ELECTRIC SWITCH FOR CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF LOAD CURRENT TO AN ELECTRIC LOAD COMPRISING A FIRST TERMINAL CONNECTIBLE TO A SOURCE OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY, A SECOND TERMINAL CONNECTIBLE TO AN ELECTRIC LOAD, A PAIR OF CONTACTS CONNECTED IN SERIES BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND TERMINALS AND FORMING A FIRST LOAD CURRENT PATH, SAID CONTACTS BEING MOUNTED FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN AN OPEN AND A CLOSED POSITION, A SECOND LOAD CURRENT PATH CONNECTED IN PARALLEL TO SAID FIRST PATH BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND TERMINALS, SAID SECOND LOAD CURRENT PATH INCLUDING SEMICONDUCTOR MEANS HAVING LOAD CURRENT ELEMENTS AND A TRIGGERING ELEMENT WITH A SIGNAL ON SAID TRIGGERING ELEMENT OF AT LEAST A MINIMUM VOLTAGE CAUSING THE SEMICONDUCTOR TO CONDUCT, ACTUATABLE MEANS CONNECTED TO THE PAIR OF CONTACTS FOR MOVING SAID PAIR OF CONTACTS FROM THEIR OPEN POSITION TO THEIR CLOSED POSITION, AND MEANS UPON OPERATION OF THE ACTUABLE MEANS FOR APPLYING A TRIGGERING SIGNAL TO SAID TRIGGERING ELEMENT PRIOR TO THE CONTACTS ENGAGING EACH OTHER FOR RENDERING SAID SECOND LOAD CURRENT PATH CONDUCTIVE OF LOAD CURRENT, SAID LASTNAMED MEANS BEING INTERCONNECTED WITH THE TERMINALS AND SUPPLYING A TRIGGERING SIGNAL ONLY WHEN THE VOLTAGE BETWEEN THE TERMINALS HAS AT LEAST A MINIMUM VALUE.