Multibreak metal-clad puffer type circuit interrupter having staggered arc-extinguishing units

Claim 1

A multibreak arc-extinguishing pole unit for a high-voltage metal-clad puffer type circuit interrupter, comprising: a grounded metal enclosure of substantially cylindrical shape adapted to contain a compressed arc-extinguishing gas of high dielectric strength; a plurality of electrically series-connected arc-extinguishing units spaced apart in said enclosure in the longitudinal direction thereof, each unit having a pair of elongated separable contact means extending parallelly to said longitudinal direction to draw an arc therebetween, and a puffer mechanism coaxial with said contact means and adapted to draw gas from the inside of said enclosure to direct a blast of compressed gas on said arc, said contact means comprising a relatively stationary contact and a movable contact; said puffer mechanism including relatively movable piston and cylinder means arranged at one end of the corresponding arcextinguishing unit adjacent said movable contact and vent opening means arranged at the opposite end of the unit adjacent said relatively stationary contact to exhaust said blast of gas into said enclosure, support beam means extending in said longitudinal direction within said enclosure, a plurality of transverse partition plates extending perpendicularly to said longitudinal direction and secured to said support beam means at regular intervals to define a number of sections therebetween corresponding to the number of arcextinguishing units, control rod means extending in said enclosure parallelly to said longitudinal direction to actuate said movable contact and said piston and cylinder means; said contact means and said puffer mechanisms of the arcextinguishing units of odd rank being aligned along a first axis and said contact means and said puffer mechanisms of the arc-extinguishing units of even rank being aligned along a second axis, said axes extending parallelly to said longitudinal direction symmetrically with respect to the axis of said cylindrical enclosure, said transverse plates supporting said units in such a manner that in all sections but the first said vent opening means of the corresponding arc-extinguishing unit is juxtaposed to said piston and cylinder means of the unit of next-higher rank so that said units overlap each other laterally thereby reducing the overall length of the assembled units of the pole.