Strain sensitive apparatus and elements therefor

Claim 1

A STRAIN SENSITIVE ELEMENT COMPRISING: A MONOCRYSTALLINE BODY OF SEMICONDUCTIVE MATERIAL IN THE FORM OF A CLOSED FIGURE HAVING FOUR INTEGRAL STRIPS JOINED TO DEFINE A COMPLETE UNITARY FOUR ACTIVE ARM RESISTANCE BRIDGE WHEREIN EACH OF SAID STRIPS DEFINES ONE RESISTANCE ARM THEREOF, THE RATIO OF RESISTANCES OF TWO OF THE RESISTANCE ARMS DEFINING ONE CONTINUOUS CURRENT PATH WITHIN THE SEMICONDUCTIVE MATERIAL OF SAID BRIDGE BEING EQUAL TO THE RATIO OF RESISTANCES OF OTHER TWO RESISTANCE ARMS DEFINING ANOTHER CONTINUOUS CURRENT PATH WITHIN THE SEMICONDUCTIVE MATERIAL THEREOF, THE ARMS OF SAID BRIDGE UNIT BEING ORIENTED WITH RESPECT TO THE CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC ORIENTATION OF SAID MONOCRYSTALLINE BODY SUCH THAT THE BRIDGE WILL EXHIBIT ANISTROPIC ELASTORESISTANCE CHARACTERISTICS IN RESPONSE TO A FORCE SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF TENSILE AND COMPRESSIVE FORCES ACTING ON SAID ELEMENT; SAID MONOCRYSTALLINE BODY INCLUDING AN EXTENSION PROTRUDING FROM EACH JUNCTION OF SAID STRIPS, EACH SAID EXTENSION BEING FORMED SO THAT ONLY A SMALL FRACTION OF THE PERIMETER OF SAID EACH EXTENSION IS INTEGRAL WITH THE PAIR OF STRIPS FORMING SAID EACH JUNCTION, RESPECTIVELY; AND NONRECTIFYING TERMINALS CONNECTED TO SAID EXTENSIONS.