Patent ID: 7775072

Claim:
A safety switch for generating an enable signal as a function of a position of a moveable guard door moveable relative to a mating door piece, the safety switch comprising a door part to be fixed to the moveable guard door and a frame part to be fixed to the mating door piece, the door part having an activator adapted to be displaced between a first and a second position, and the frame part having a cutout adapted to receive the activator in the second position, further comprising a locking element moveable between a third position and a fourth position and spring biased toward said third position, said locking element being responsive to movement of said activator into the second position to automatically move into said third position and lock the activator in the second position, and a sensor designed to detect at least one of the positions of the activator in order to generate the enable signal as a function thereof, wherein the locking element is arranged on the door part, wherein the door part has a handle adapted to be moved between an extended position in which it can be gripped and a retracted position in which it cannot be gripped, with the handle being integrally connected to the activator to enable a user to move the activator from the first to the second position, such that the handle is only located in the retracted position when the activator is in the second position, and is only located in the extended position when the activator is in the first position.