Square D Company

Fredrick E Woodlief

Dominick Tringali

Miklos J Orosz

Michael R Clark

The invention has an enclosure, a circuit breaker mounted inside the enclosure, and a hand lever rotatably mounted upon a door of the enclosure. A drive shaft is rotatably attached at a first end to the circuit breaker so that rotation of the drive shaft operates the circuit breaker. When the door is closed a second end of the drive shaft seats in a socket in the hand lever, and rotation of the hand lever rotates the drive shaft. A spring clip is mounted within the hand lever, and the spring clip grips the second end of the drive shaft so that force applied by the hand lever to rotate the drive shaft may deform the spring clip thereby permitting deflection in a coupling between the hand lever and the drive shaft. A retainer plate attached to the hand lever catches the drive shaft when the spring clip is deformed by the force and thereby prevents opening of the door as a safety measure. The drive shaft has a reduced cross-section region between the first end and the second end. An interlock is mounted in a fixed position with respect to the door of the enclosure, and when the door is closed the reduced cross-section region of the drive shaft is located within an opening of the interlock permitting rotation of the drive shaft, and the interlock prevents opening of the door when the drive shaft is in a position corresponding to an 'on' condition of the circuit breaker by catching the second end of the drive shaft.

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Lexington, SC, United States of America

Fredrick E Woodlief