Lid latch off-balance switch

Claim 1

In a washing machine haVing an outer housing enclosing a rotatable tub operative for centrifugally extracting water from clothes therein and support structure for said tub subject to gyrations caused by an unbalanced clothes distribution within said tub, a lid hingedly mounted on said housing for movement between a first position allowing access to said tub and a second position blocking access to said tub, an electrical circuit for providing power to the operative structure and including a timer for controlling the mode of operation of said structure, and further including a switch assembly supported in said housing and responsive both to gyrations of the support beyond a predetermined limit and to movement of the lid from its second position to deenergize the electrical circuit, said switch assembly including: a. switch means operative between a circuit energization position and a circuit deenergization position; b. an arm mounted for movement between a first position permitting said switch means to assume said circuit deenergization position and a second position placing said switch means in said circuit energization position, said arm including a portion which is flexible in a plane generally transverse to said movement between said first and second positions; c. means normally biasing said arm to said first position; d. abutment means mounted on said lid for contacting said arm and moving said arm from said first position to said second position in response to said door moving to its second position; e. means movable in accordance with a predetermined degree of tub gyration to flex said arm sufficiently to release it from said abutment means and permit said biasing means to return said arm to said first position and deenergize the machine.