Safety system for vehicles

Claim 2

A safety mechanism for the protection of the operator of a vehicle having an operator station, comprising: means responsive to departure of said operator from said operator station for deenergizing said vehicle when said operator vacates said operator station; manually operable override means for preventing operation of said deenergizing means for a predetermined, limited time period; and means for automatically resetting said override means whenever said operator returns to said operator station to allow immediate operation of said deenergizing means.

Claim 3

A safety mechanism as defined in claim 1 wherein said operator station is an operator''s seat, and wherein said deenergizing means comprises a switch mounted on said operator''s seat and responsive to the weight of the operator on said seat.

Claim 4

A safety mechanism for the protection of the operator of a vehicle having an operator station, comprising: means responsive to the departure of said operator from said operator station for deenergizing said vehicle when said operator vacates said vehicle; and manually operable override means for preventing operation of said deenergizing means for a first time perioD if said operator vacates said operator station within a predetermined second time period after manual operation of said override means.

Claim 5

A safety mechanism for the protection of the operator of a vehicle having an operator station, comprising: means responsive to the departure of said operator from said operator station for deenergizing said vehicle when said operator vacates said vehicle; and manually operable override means for preventing operation of said deenergizing means for a first time perioD if said operator vacates said operator station within a predetermined second time period after manual operation of said override means.

Claim 6

A safety mechanism as defined in claim 3 additionally comprising: means for automatically resetting said override means when said operator returns to said operator station, thereby allowing immediate operation of said deenergizing means.

Claim 7

A safety mechanism as defined in claim 3 wherein said operator station is an operator''s seat, and wherein said deenergizing means comprises a switch mounted on said operator''s seat and responsive to the weight of the operator on said seat.

Claim 8

A safety mechanism as defined in claim 3 wherein said deenergizing means and said overrride means each include a relay, the relay of said override means being latched to an energized condition in response to energization of said override means relay and deenergization of said deenergizing means relay.

Claim 9

A safety mechanism for the protection of the operator of a vehicle having an operator station and primary ignition circuit comprising: means for sensing the departure of said operator from said operator station; first switch means connected to said ignition circuit for selectively enabling or disabling said ignition circuit, said first switch means operating in response to said sensing means; a manually operable switch; timing means, responsive to said manually operable switch for initiating a predetermined delay period; second switch means responsive to said timing means and connected to said ignition circuit for selectively enabling or disabling said ignition circuit.

Claim 10

A safety mechanism for the protection of the operator of a vehicle having an operator station and primary ignition circuit comprising: means for sensing the departure of said operator from said operator station; first switch means connected to said ignition circuit for selectively enabling or disabling said ignition circuit, said first switch means operating in response to said sensing means; a manually operable switch; timing means, responsive to said manually operable switch for initiating a predetermined delay period; second switch means responsive to said timing means and connected to said ignition circuit for selectively enabling or disabling said ignition circuit.

Claim 11

A safety mechanism as defined in claim 7 wherein said second switch means latches to a position for enabling said ignition circuit when said second switch means is positioned to enable said ignition circuit and said first switch means is positioned to disable said ignition circuit.

Claim 12

A safety mechanism as defined in claim 7 wherein said second switch means disables said ignition circuit when said first switch means is positioned to disable said ignition circuit and said predetermined delay period ends.

Claim 13

A safety mechanism as defined in claim 7 additionally comprising: means for positioning said second switch means to disable said ignition circuit whenever the operator returns to said operator station.