Patent ID: 7171737

Claim:
A safety barrier for a work station having a support surface, a work piece holder on the support surface and having a front end and a rear end, a work piece being held by the work piece holder, and a tool adapted to engage and perform tasks on the work piece, the barrier comprising: a first frame member and a second frame member mounted to the support surface on opposite sides of the work piece; an elongated roller extending between the first and second frames and being mounted for rotation about a longitudinal roller axis located in spaced relation above the supporting surface; a flexible safety barrier rolled up on the roller and having an upper barrier end attached to the roller and a free barrier end adapted to move from a rolled up position adjacent the roller to a rolled down position adjacent the supporting surface in response to rotation of the roller about the roller axis; each of the first and second frame members having a guide for guiding the flexible barrier as the free end of the barrier moves from the rolled up position to the rolled down position; the guides of the first and second frame members guiding the lower barrier end sufficiently close to the work piece holder to eliminate sufficient space there between for a human being standing on the support surface; and a switch electrically connected to the tool and having an inoperative position preventing actuation of the tool and an operative position permitting actuation of the tool, the switch being biased to the inoperative position and being located so as to be responsive to engagement by the free end of the flexible barrier and to move from the first position to the second position only when the free end of the flexible barrier is in the rolled down position.