Claims
- 1. An electrical circuit breaker comprising
- a first movable electrical contact having a base portion and an elongated stop pin fixedly secured to said base portion,
- a second electrical contact and
- operating means for moving said first and second electrical contacts into a CLOSED position and into an OPEN position,
- said operating means comprising a rotatable cross bar having an enclosed opening or pocket formed therein,
- said operating means further including means for retaining said base portion of said first electrical contact in said opening, said retaining means including biasing means disposed in said opening for biasing said base portion into contact with an interior surface of said cross bar for enabling rotational movement of said first electrical contact in unison with said cross bar, said retaining means and said opening being physically configured to enable the rotational movement of said first electrical contact substantially independently of said cross bar upon the occurrence of a high level short circuit or fault current condition,
- said biasing means comprising a torsion spring having a first elongated torsion spring arm for transferring spring force from said torsion spring to said base portion through said first spring arm being disposed in physical contact with said stop pin,
- said stop pin being movable along the length of said first spring arm in a direction away from the fulcrum of said torsion spring upon the occurrence of said high level short circuit or fault current condition to reduce the spring force applied by said torsion spring to said first electrical contact.
- 2. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 1 wherein said torsion spring includes a second elongated spring arm disposed in contact with said cross bar.
- 3. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 1 wherein said biasing means comprises a second torsion spring having a third elongated spring arm disposed in contact with said stop pin.
- 4. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 3 wherein said second torsion spring includes a fourth elongated spring arm disposed in contact with said cross bar.
- 5. An electrical circuit breaker comprising
- first and second separable electrical contacts and operating means for opening and closing said first and second electrical contacts, said operating means comprising an elongated rotatable member,
- said first electrical contact having a base portion disposed at one longitudinal end thereof and contact means disposed at the other longitudinal end thereof for physically and electrically contacting said second electrical contact,
- said operating means further including spring means for enabling both the rotational movement of said first electrical contact in unison with said elongated member and rotational movement of said first electrical contact independently of said elongated member, said spring means comprising a torsion spring having a first elongated torsion spring arm disposed in contact with said base portion for biasing said base portion into contact with said elongated member,
- said first electrical contact including an elongated stop pin fixedly secured to said base portion, said first spring arm being disposed in contact with said stop pin, said stop pin being movable along the length of said first spring arm upon the occurrence of a high level short circuit or fault current condition.
- 6. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 5 wherein said stop pin is movable along the length of said first spring arm in a direction away from the fulcrum of said torsion spring to decrease the spring force applied by said torsion spring to said first electrical contact upon the occurrence of said high level short circuit or fault current condition.
- 7. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 5 wherein said torsion spring includes a second elongated spring arm disposed in contact with said elongated member.
- 8. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 7 wherein said spring means comprises a second torsion spring having a third elongated torsion spring arm disposed in contact with said stop pin to transfer spring force from said second torsion spring to said first electrical contact.
- 9. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 8 wherein said stop pin is movable along the length of said third spring arm in a direction away from the fulcrum of said second torsion spring upon the occurrence of said high level short circuit of fault current condition to decrease the spring force applied by said second torsion spring to said first electrical contact.
- 10. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 8 wherein said second torsion spring includes a fourth elongated spring arm disposed in contact with said elongated member.
- 11. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 5 further comprising a molded case formed of electrically insulating material within which said first and second electrical contacts and said operating means are disposed.
- 12. An electrical circuit breaker comprising
- a first movable electrical contact having an elongated stop pin fixedly secured thereto,
- a second electrical contact capable of being contacted by said first electrical contact and
- torsion spring means for biasing said first electrical contact comprising a fulcrum and a first elongated torsion spring arm disposed in contact with said stop pin at a first distance from said fulcrum when said first electrical contact is contacting said second electrical contact,
- said stop in being movable along the length of said first spring arm as said first electrical contact moves away from said second electrical contact to position said stop pin in engagement with said first spring arm at a second distance from said fulcurm, said second distance being greater than said first distance.
- 13. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 12 wherein said torsion spring means comprises a second elongated torsion spring arm disposed in contact with said first electrical contact.
- 14. An electrical circuit breaker, comprising:
- a first movable electrical contact movable into and out of a BLOWN-OPEN position;
- a second electrical contact; and
- operating means mechanically interconnected with said first movable electrical contact for separating said first movable electrical contact from said second electrical contact by sequencing through a trip operation;
- magnetic repulsion force means magnetically associated with said first movable electrical contact for utilizing magnetic repulsion force from a fault current condition to rapidly separate said first movable electrical contact from said second electrical contact and move said second electrical contact to said BLOWN-OPEN position without sequencing through said trip operation; and
- torsion spring means for retaining said first movable contact in said BLOWN-OPEN position.
- 15. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 14 including an elongated stop pin fixedly secured to said first movable contact, said torsion spring means physically contacting said stop pin.
- 16. An electrical circuit breaker as recited in claim 14 wherein said torsion spring means comprises a fulcrum and a first elongated torsion spring arm disposed in contact with said stop pin.
- 17. An electrical circuit breaker comprising:
- a first movable electrical contact movable into and out of a BLOWN-OPEN position;
- a second electrical contact;
- an elongated stop pin fixedly secured to said first movable contact; and
- torsion spring means for retaining said first movable contact in said BLOWN-OPEN position;
- said torsion spring means comprising a fulcrum and a first elongated torsion spring arm disposed in physical contact with said stop pin, as said first movable contact moves to said BLOWN-OPEN position, said stop pin moves along the length of said first spring arm away from said fulcrum, said spring arm biasing said stop pin to retain said movable contact in said BLOWN-OPEN position.
Parent Case Info
This application is a, continuation, of application Ser. No. 562,603, filed Dec. 19, 1982 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3290627 |
Davis et al. |
Dec 1966 |
|
4087769 |
DiMarco et al. |
May 1978 |
|
4347488 |
Mune et al. |
Aug 1982 |
|
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
562603 |
Dec 1983 |
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