Patent ID: 8409073

Claim:
An incubator provided with a driving mechanism for lowering and raising a canopy of a newborn chamber, the incubator comprising: a control mechanism including: a detecting section which detects application of external force to the canopy; and a signal output section which outputs a signal that renders the driving mechanism non-operational when the application is detected, wherein the detecting section is a non-contact type sensor that detects displacement of at least part of the canopy, and the non-contact type sensor is an optical detector that has: a light emitting element and a light receiving element disposed opposite to each other; and a light shield extending toward a space between the light emitting element and the light receiving element, wherein light emitted from the light emitting element is intercepted by the light shield and does not enter the light receiving element while the external force is not applied, and the signal output section does not output the signal and the driving mechanism can be operated in the intercepted condition.