Patent ID: 7248038

Claim:
An apparatus for the detection of movements and/or positions of an object, in which a voltage pulse is in each case produced as a function of the movements and/or positions of the object in at least one coil, by means of at least one magnetic field which carries out a relative movement with respect to the coil and acts on it, with the coil at least partially surrounding a spring which is composed of magnetically permeable material and carries out a reciprocating movement under the influence of the magnetic field, on the basis of the reluctance effect, characterized in that the magnetic field is produced by a magnet pair comprising two adjacent magnets ( 6 , 7 ) of opposite polarity, which are arranged one behind the other in the direction of movement of the object ( 1 , 24 , 32 ) and whose longitudinal axes, in the same way as the longitudinal axes of the coil ( 4 ), are oriented essentially at right angles to the movement direction of the object, and in that the reciprocating movement of the spring ( 5 ) causes a polarity change, which produces the respective voltage pulse, in the magnetic field with respect to the coil ( 4 ).