Anti-condensation mirror

Claim 1

A bathroom mirror installation comprising as separately formed elements a mirror glass, a supporting surface against which the mirror glass is mounted substantially flush, and a thin heating element sandwiched between the glass and the supporting surface and wholly covered by but separate from the glass, the heating element comprising a flexible laminate formed by a thin electrically insulative substrate layer and a plurality of conductive layers supported by said substrate layer, including a first relatively low resistivity conductive layer, and a third relatively high resistivity conductive layer in electrical contact with the first and second conductive layers, the first and second conductive layers each forming bus structures separate from one another in the plane of the layers, with the third conductive layer forming the only electrical connection between the first and second layer, said third layer being substantially continuous and formed by an electrically conductive coating, an electrically insulative support layer, to which said laminate is further laminated so that the conductive layers are sealed between the substrate and support layers, and a terminal assembly mounted on the support layer and including bus conductors disposed to make contact with the first and second conductive layers respectively, the terminal assembly having integral external connections emerging out of the plane of the element into an opening in the supporting surface beneath the mirror glass, and the heating element having a substantially uniform heat dissipation when energized of about 0.01 to about 0.02 watts per square centimeter.