Cam operated circuit breaker with single stroke manual spring charging means

Claim 2

A circuit breaker comprising a pair of contacts, a spring closing mechanism for closing said contacts, said spring closing mechanism comprising a crank shaft, closing spring means connected to said crank shaft, said crank shaft being rotatable about a fixed pivot in an operating direction through an angle of more than 180* from a spring-discharged position to a springcharged operating position to charge said closing spring means and to position said crank shaft and said charged closing spring means overcenter such that said charged closing spring means biases said crank shaft in said operating direction toward said spring-discharged position, said charged closing spring means being dischargeable to rotate said crank shaft in said operating direction from said spring-charged operating position to said spring-discharged position, means operated by said crank shaft to close said contacts upon rotation of said crank shaft from said spring-charged operating position to said spring-discharged position, manual operating means comprising a manually operable member supported for movement about a fixed pivot through an angle of less than 180* from an initial position to an operating position, a pull member movably supported on said manually operable member, catch means on said crank shaft cooperating with said pull member, and upon a single-stroke manual operation of said manually operable member from said initial position to said operating position said pull member cooperating with said catch means to operate said crank shaft from said spring-discharged position to said spring-charged operating position.

Claim 3

A circuit breaker according to claim 1, and said pull member being pivotally supported on said manually operable member.

Claim 4

A circuit breaker according to claim 2, a first spring means biasing said manually operable member in a first direction to said initial position, and a second spring means biasing said pull member on said manually operable member in said first direction to bias said pull member into cooperative engagement with said catch means.

Claim 5

A circuit breaker according to claim 1, said crank shaft being rotatable through an angle of between 180* and 200* from said spring-discharged position to said spring-charged operating position, and said manually operable member being pivotable through an angle of between 80* and 100* to operate said crankshaft from said spring-discharged position to said spring-charged operating position.

Claim 6

A circuit breaker according to claim 1, and upon operation of said crank shaft to said spring-charged operating position said closing spring means automatically operating to move said crank shaft in said operating direction to said spring-discharged position to effect a closing operation of said contacts.

Claim 7

A circuit breaker comprising a stationary contact, a movable contact, a movable contact arm carrying said movable contact and movable to open and close said contacts, an operating linkage, releasable latch means latching said operating linkage in a reset position, means for releasing said latch means, opening spring means, upon release of said latch means with said contacts in the closed position said operating linkage moving to a collapsed position and said opening spring means operating to move said movable contact arms to the open position, a spring-closing mechanism for moving said movable contact arm to the closed position, said spring-closing mechanism comprising a crank shaft, closing spring means connected to said crank shaft, said crank shaft being rotatable about a fixed pivot in an operating direction through an angle of more than 180* from a spring-discharged position to a spring-charged operating position to charge said closing spring means and to position said crank shaft and said charged closing spring means and to position said crank shaft and said charged closing means overcenter such that said charged closing spring means biases said crank shaft in said operating direction toward said spring-discharged position, said charged closing-spring means being dischargeable to rotate said crank shaft in said operating direction from said spring-charged operating position to said spring-discharged position, cam means operated by said crank shaft to affect resetting and relatching of said collapsed linkage during movement of said crank shaft from said spring-discharged position to said spring-charged operating position, and upon rotation of said crank shaft from said spring-charged operating position to said spring-discharged position, said cam means operating through said reset linkage to move said movable contact arms to the closed position, manual operating means comprising a manually operable member supported for movement about a fixed pivot through an angle of less than 180* from an initial position to an operating position, a pull member movably supported on said manually operable member, catch means on said crank shaft cooperating with said pull member, and upon a single-stroke manual operation of said manually operable member from said initial position to said operating position said pull member cooperating with said catch means to operate said crank shaft from said spring-discharged position to said spring-charged operating position.

Claim 8

A circuit breaker comprising a stationary contact, a movable contact, a movable contact arm carrying said movable contact and movable to open and close said contacts, an operating linkage, releasable latch means latching said operating linkage in a reset position, means for releasing said latch means, opening spring means, upon release of said latch means with said contacts in the closed position said operating linkage moving to a collapsed position and said opening spring means operating to move said movable contact arms to the open position, a spring-closing mechanism for moving said movable contact arm to the closed position, said spring-closing mechanism comprising a crank shaft, closing spring means connected to said crank shaft, said crank shaft being rotatable about a fixed pivot in an operating direction through an angle of more than 180* from a spring-discharged position to a spring-charged operating position to charge said closing spring means and to position said crank shaft and said charged closing spring means and to position said crank shaft and said charged closing means overcenter such that said charged closing spring means biases said crank shaft in said operating direction toward said spring-discharged position, said charged closing-spring means being dischargeable to rotate said crank shaft in said operating direction from said spring-charged operating position to said spring-discharged position, cam means operated by said crank shaft to affect resetting and relatching of said collapsed linkage during movement of said crank shaft from said spring-discharged position to said spring-charged operating position, and upon rotation of said crank shaft from said spring-charged operating position to said spring-discharged position, said cam means operating through said reset linkage to move said movable contact arms to the closed position, manual operating means comprising a manually operable member supported for movement about a fixed pivot through an angle of less than 180* from an initial position to an operating position, a pull member movably supported on said manually operable member, catch means on said crank shaft cooperating with said pull member, and upon a single-stroke manual operation of said manually operable member from said initial position to said operating position said pull member cooperating with said catch means to operate said crank shaft from said spring-discharged position to said spring-charged operating position.

Claim 9

A circuit breaker according to claim 6, said cam means comprising a cam follower operatively connected to said operating linkage and a cam member fixedly connected to said crank shaft, said cam member comprising a reset surface a fixed radius surface and a closing surface, during said manual closing operation of said circuit breaker said cam member moving in one direction to move said reset surface against said cam follower to effect a resetting operation of said circuit breaker and then to move said closing surface against said cam follower to thrust said cam follower to the closed position to move said movable contact arm to the closed position and said cam member then moving to move said fixed radius surface against said cam follower during which movement of said fixed radius surface against said cam follower said fixed radius surface serves to prop said cam follower such that movement of said cam member while said fixed radius surface is adjacent said cam follower will not affect the closed position of said movable contact arm.

Claim 10

A circuit breaker according to claim 1, said circuit breaker comprising a linkage and latch means latching said linage in a reset position when said contacts are closed and said crank shaft is in said spring-discharged position, and said circuit breaker comprising interlock means automatically operable to prevent cooperative engagement between said pull member and said catch means when said linkage is in said reset position and said circuit breaker is in the spring-discharged contact-closed position.

Claim 11

A circuit breaker according to claim 6, said cam means comprising a cam follower connected to said linkage and a cam member connected to said crank shaft, upon operation of said manually operable member from said initial position to said operating position said pull member operating when said contact arm is in the open position and said linkage is in the collapsed position to cooperate with said catch means to rotate said crank shaft from said spring-discharged position to said spring-charged operating position during which movement of said cam member operates said cam follower to effect a resetting operation of said linkage and a relatching of said reset linkage prior to movement of said crank shaft overcenter and during which furthEr movement of said crank shaft said crank shaft moves overcenter to said spring-charged operating position whereupon said closing spring means takes over to move said crank shaft in said operating direction from said spring-charged operating position to said spring-discharged position during which movement of said cam member operates through said cam follower and said reset latched linkage to move said movable contact arm to the closed position, and interlock means operating automatically to prevent cooperative engagement between said pull member and said catch means when said contact arm is in said closed position.

Claim 12

A circuit breaker according to claim 9, and said interlock means comprising a first interlock member connected to said pull member and a second interlock member connected to said linkage.