Circuit breaker with heat pipe cooling means

Claim 1

For use within a closely surrounding enclosuRe such as a box or electric switchboard, a multi-pole electrical control device comprising: a. a generally rectangular housing; b. a plurality of line terminals adjacent one end of said housing, there being at least one such terminal for each pole of said device; c. a plurality of load terminals adjacent the other end of said housing, there being at least one such terminal for each pole of said device; d. heat transfer and dissipating means carried by said device, said heat transfer and dissipating means comprising at least one metallic member carried by said enclosure independent of and intermediate said terminals; e. said heat transfer and dissipating means also comprising at least one elongated heat pipe member fixedly attached to and supported entirely by said control device in good thermally conductive contact with said metallic member; f. said control device housing having a front wall and an operating handle member projecting from said front wall; g said control device having a back wall generally parallel to and spaced from said front wall; h. the combination of said metallic member and said heat pipe member extending through an opening in said back wall of said housing intermediate said ends of said housing; i. a plurality of heat dissipating fins carried by said heat pipe at least adjacent the end thereof remote from said back wall of said control device, whereby heat absorbed by said metallic member when said control device is in use is transferred away from said control device and dissipated to circumambient air at a location spaced away from said control device.