Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Frantz Germain

Stephen Stewart

Roger M Bradley

William R Ziegler

Nicholas L DiSalvo

David Herzfeld

Armando Calixto

David Y Chan

Steve Campolo

James Richter

Nichalas L DiSalvo

Ross Mernyk

John J Power

Richard J Ulrich

Edward Bazayev

James A Porter

Paul Gernhardt

Serge P Krzyzanowski

Nicholas L Disalvo

Resettable circuit interrupting devices using a center latch are provided. The circuit interrupting devices include those with a reset lockout, reverse wiring protection, and/or an independent trip portion.

Circuit interrupter having at least one indicator

Resettable circuit interrupting devices, such as GFCI devices, that include reverse wiring protection, and optionally an independent trip portions and/or a reset lockout portion are provided. The reverse wiring protection operates at both the line and load sides of the device so that in the event line side wiring to the device is improperly connected to the load side, fault protection for the device remains. The trip portion operates independently of a circuit interrupting portion used to break the electrical continuity in one or more conductive paths in the device. The reset lockout portion prevents the reestablishing of electrical continuity in open conductive paths if the circuit interrupting portion is non-operational or if an open neutral condition exists.

Circuit interrupting device with reverse wiring protection

Resettable circuit interrupting devices having self-test and non-resettable or limited resettable power interrupting systems are provided. The permanent power interrupting system activates when a circuit interrupting device is no longer capable of operating in accordance with applicable standards governing such devices or the device is no longer capable of operating in accordance with its design characteristics.

Circuit interrupting device with automatic test

A GFCI device which has reverse wiring protection is provided where no power is present at the face terminals even when the device is reverse wired. The device has a pair of movable bridges connected to its terminals. The terminal bridge pair makes contact with the load and face terminals providing power to these terminals when the device is reset. The device also has a reset lockout feature that prevents it from being reset after having been tripped if the circuit interrupting portion of the device is non-operational.

Circuit interrupting device and system utilizing bridge contact mechanism and reset lockout

A tamper-proof receptacle is provided wherein the receptacle comprises sliding shutters disposed between phase and neutral terminals of the receptacle and openings in the face of the receptacle. The shutters are connected to circuit interrupting circuitry such that when one of the shutters is displaced through a specific range of motion, the circuit interrupting portion of the receptacle is triggered to disconnect electrical power from the phase and neutral terminals of the receptacle. In an embodiment, a logic circuit is connected to the shutters, and a monitoring circuit monitors supply of power to the face terminals. The logic circuit is configured to detect insertion of an object into only one of the pair of openings. A signal from the logic circuit to the circuit interrupting device is effective to prevent the object from touching any of the face terminals while power is connected to the face terminals.

Tamper resistant mechanism with circuit interrupter

A resettable circuit interrupting device having a single button for activating a test/reset mechanism. The circuit interrupting device can include a reset lockout and/or reverse wiring protection.

GFCI receptacle with single button for test-reset function

Resettable circuit breakers having an independent trip mechanism and a reset lockout are provided. The trip mechanism operates independently of the fault protection operations, and the reset lockout prevents the resetting of the circuit breaker if the fault protection is non-operational or if an open neutral condition exists.

Circuit breaker with independent trip and reset lockout

Reset lockout for sliding latch GFCI

Electrical wiring devices with user accessible connections and a shutter system for preventing unwanted objects from being inserted into the devices to the user accessible connections is provided.

Electrical wiring devices with a protective shutter

Located within a GFCI is a movable contact bearing arm which cooperates with at least one fixed contact. When the movable arm is moved up to allow the at least one contact on the arm to close with at least one fixed contact, the GFCI is in a conducting state and current flows from a source of electricity through the closed contacts to a load and to the contacts of a receptacle. When the movable arm is moved down to open the contacts, the GFCI is in a non-conducting state and current cannot flow from the source of electricity to either the load or the receptacle contacts. In this invention, the up and down movement of the movable contact bearing arm is harnessed to move a blocking member located within the housing of the GFCI to a first position to block at least one opening of the receptacle as the movable arm is moved down or to a second position to allow the prongs of a plug to enter the openings of the receptacle as the movable arm is moved up. The downward movement of the movable contact bearing arm occurs when the GFCI goes into a non-conducting state. Resetting the GFCI by pressing in and then releasing a reset button causes the movable contact bearing arm to move up to make contact with the at least one fixed contact. As the movable arm moves up, the blocking member moves to the first or non-blocking position to allow the prongs of a plug to freely enter the openings in the face of the receptacle. GFCI's normally have two separate sets of internally located contacts known as bridge contacts where one set is used to connect a load to the source of electricity and the second set is used to connect a user accessible load to the source of electricity. The bridge contacts provide isolation between the conductors to the load and the conductors to the contacts of the GFCI receptacle when the GFCI is in a non-conducting state. In the GFCI here disclosed, the blocking member prevents the prongs of a plug from entering the receptacle when the GFCI is in a non-conducting state and, therefore, the need for the bridge contacts is diminished.

Ground fault circuit interrupter with blocking member

A ground fault circuit interrupter device having a single actuator for sequentially activating a circuit interrupting portion when the device is in a reset condition and a reset portion when the device is in a tripped condition. The circuit interrupting portion breaks a conductive path between a line terminal and load terminal upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition thereby placing the device in the tripped condition and the reset portion reestablishes the conductive path between the line terminal and the load terminal thereby placing the device in the reset condition.

Circuit interrupting device with a single test-reset button

Resettable circuit interrupting devices, such as GFCI devices that include a reset lockout mechanism are provided. The GFCI comprises a reset button which is selectively blocked from resetting the GFCI.

Pivot point reset lockout mechanism for a ground fault circuit interrupter

This invention relates to a circuit interrupting device having a trip button for disconnecting a load from a source of electrical power and a reset button for resetting the device after it has tripped. When the device is operating in its reset state, a source of electrical power is connected to a load through a set of contacts located within the device. The contacts are held closed by the spring loaded reset button which holds captive and urges a latch plate to move up to close normally open contacts. In the preferred mechanical trip mechanism, depressing the trip button causes the latch plate to move forward and be released from the reset button. The latch plate, upon being released from the reset button moves down to allow the contacts, which are biased to be normally open, to assume their normally open position. At this time, pressing the reset button initiates an electrical cycle which causes the normally open contacts to close only if the device is operating properly and there is no fault on the line. The device described is mechanically tripped and electrically reset, and it can be tripped without power being supplied to the device.

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Rosedale, NY, United States of America

Frantz Germain