Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Howard R Ryden

John A Wafer

Paul G Slade

A latch for a circuit interrupter is provided wherein a movable member having a contact attached thereto is latched in a selected position by a spring member which is deflected by the movable member until a predetermined distance is exceeded at which time the spring member moves into a latching position with respect to a latching surface provided on the movable member. In its simplest form the latch uses a single piece of spring wire. As a movable member moves past, the spring wire moves aside and once the movable member has completely passed the wire, the wire springs back into place preventing the contacts from reclosing. A reset is provided which permits the contact arms to be closed by moving the spring member to one side. The disclosed latch is very fast acting, can be independently actuated for each phase, and can be positioned so as to not interfere with low current operation of the switching device on which it is employed.

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Forest Hills Borough, PA, United States of America

Howard R Ryden