Switching matrice crosspoint

Claim 1

A crosspoint comprising at least one pair of contacts with magnetic latching, each contact including a rigid inverted Lshaped electrically conductive core with at least a portion thereof constituting a remanent magnetic area and a flexible reed element made of electrically conductive, non-remanent magnetic material disposed proximate the top portion of said inverted Lshaped core, the two L-shaped cores of said at least one pair of contacts being arranged together in substantially an inverted U formation, the legs of which formation pass untouching through a pole piece arranged so as to form with said cores substantially an inverted U formation, and further comprising a coil arrangement disposed about each core on the part thereof constituting the leg portions of said inverted U formation, the arrangement of said coils and said cores being such as to provide that magnetic fluxes created in each core by its associated coil arrangement cause one of two conditions to occur in said at least one pair of contacts: (1) that said contacts achieve a rest condition as a resuLt of the magnetic fluxes closing through a series path constituting the pair of cores and the pole piece; (2) that said contacts achieve a work condition wherein the reeds are attracted to and contacting the respective cores as a result of the magnetic fluxes closing through said cores and the respective flexible reeds, constituting a parallel flux condition.