Mechanism for converting a hand-operated circuit breaker to a motor-operated circuit breaker

Claim 1

A circuit breaker comprising a support structure, a circuit breaker mechanism supported on said support structure, said circuit breaker mechanism comprising a closing spring means and a motor drive structure operable to charge said closing spring means, said closing spring means comprising a crankshaft supported for rotation and a pair of closing springs connected to said crankshaft, a ratcHet wheel connected to said crankshaft, a reciprocating pawl structure mounted on said crankshaft for movement relative to said crankshaft, said reciprocating pawl structure comprising a first plate, a second plate spaced from said first plate and generally parallel thereto, a bight portion connecting said first plate and said second plate, a spacer separating and positioning said first plate and said second plate, a pawl disposed between said first plate and said second plate, a pin for supporting said pawl disposed between said first plate and said second plate and partially extending beyond said first plate, a torsion spring disposed around the portion of said pin extending beyond said first plate and engaging said first plate and said pawl when said reciprocating pawl structure is in place in said breaker and the movement of said torsion spring being restricted entirely by said first plate when said ratchet and pawl structure is removed from said breaker thereby limiting the rotation of said pawl when said ratchet and pawl structure is removed from said breaker, an opening in said reciprocating pawl structure through which said crankshaft extends, said opening for receiving said crankshaft being unclosed on at least one side to permit the reciprocating pawl structure to be positioned onto said crankshaft after said crankshaft is in the final assembled position, holding means to hold said reciprocating pawl structure to said crankshaft, said motor drive structure comprising a main body motor part and a rotatable output shaft structure extending from said main body motor part, said rotatable output shaft structure comprising an end part and an intermediate part, said intermediate part being intermediate said end part and said main body motor, support means supporting said motor drive structure on said support structure, means for energization of said motor drive structure to rotate said output shaft and cause said intermediate part to operate against said reciprocating pawl structure to advance said ratchet wheel to rotate said crankshaft to charge said closing spring means.