Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Eaton Corporation

Melvin A Carrodus

Michael Jerome Whipple

Kurt A Grunert

Stephen A Mrenna

James Gerard Maloney

Alfred E Maier

Jere L McKee

Robert J Tedesco

Andrew James Male

Ronald A Cheski

John K Livesey

Garry B Theadore

Robert D Bradley

An apparatus for securing a wire with a longitudinal axis includes a glass filled polyester base having a recess for housing a segment of the wire therein; and a glass filled polyester cover for at least partially covering the segment within the recess, the cover having a resilient finger which is generally transverse to the segment, the segment being generally deformed about the resilient finger within the recess in order that tension on the wire along the longitudinal axis flexes the resilient finger which, in turn, forces a portion of the segment against a side of the recess in order to secure the segment therein. The wires may have a polytetrafluoroethylene insulation.

Wire securing block

A miniature circuit breaker with two thermal-magnetic poles has an electronic trip device providing ground fault, and sputtering arc fault (if desired), protection located entirely in a large central compartment of a molded housing between compartments housing the two mechanical poles. The molded housing is assembled from a top base and top cover forming a compartment for the thermal-magnetic trip device of the first pole, and a bottom cover and a bottom base forming the compartment for the second mechanical pole. A hollow center piece mates with the top and bottom bases to form the single, large electronics compartment.

Two-pole compartmentalized ground fault miniature circuit breaker with a

A bolt-on, duplex circuit breaker having an external, integrally formed key member designed with a truncated pyramidal shape. The pyramidal shape is used to discourage tampering aimed at its removal. A panelboard into which bolt-on, duplex circuit breakers are mounted having mounting rails onto which the circuit breakers are disposed. The mounting rails have cooperating, key member accepting notches that act in conjunction with the key member integrally formed upon the circuit breaker for limiting the number of bolt-on, duplex circuit breakers that are insertable within the panelboard.

Bolt-on, duplex circuit breaker rejection assembly

The handle of a circuit breaker is controlled manually by sliding a linkage member right, or left, upon a flat surface of the housing of the circuit breaker. The linkage member is at one end pivotally attached through a knurled pin to the handle and, at the other end, a handhold portion is provided with a recess admitting a finger, or thumb, to push or pull the linkage member and actuate the circuit breaker through its handle.

Manual-operated circuit breaker with sliding action for control and

A trip interlock assembly trips a circuit breaker any time the circuit breaker is removed from its panel mounting. The trip assembly is adapted to be disposed about a load side terminal and cooperate with the circuit breaker tripping device. In one embodiment, the trip assembly includes a housing and a spring-loaded actuation arm, disposed generally perpendicular to the circuit panel surface. The actuation arm is formed with a cam surface which cooperates with a trip pin adapted to actuate said circuit breaker tripping device. The trip pin acts as a cam follower and rides along the cam surface formed in the actuation arm. When the actuation arm is in an inward position the trip pin is in a normal position. However, when the circuit breaker is removed from the panel, the actuation arm under the influence of a biasing spring moves outwardly. This causes the cam surface on the actuation arm to actuate the trip pin to trip the circuit breaker. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the trip interlock assembly includes a bell crank with a reciprocally mounted plunger which actuates an armature in the tripping device directly, instead of by way of the trip pin, anytime the circuit breaker is removed from its panel housing.

Trip interlock design

A circuit breaker having a trip mechanism comprising a primary armature which is attracted toward a bimetal by magnetic flux produced by a predetermined overcurrent flowing through the bimetal to unlatch an operating mechanism and open electrical contacts, includes a pivoted supplemental armature which is also attracted toward the bimetal by the overcurrent and which bears against and urges the primary armature toward the bimetal to thereby reduce the predetermined overcurrent at which the breaker opens the electrical contacts. The supplemental armature comprises a flat strip of magnetically permeable material which is bent at one end to form a hook which merely drops into a recess in the breaker housing. Integral flanges on the strip form a magnetic yoke which concentrates the magnetic flux to increase the sensitivity of the magnetic trip function.

Circuit breaker with low current magnetic trip

A circuit breaker auxiliary switch structure characterized by a contact arm carrying a first contact movable between open and closed positions with a second contact. An auxiliary switch is disposed in the path of movement of the contact arm and operable to open or close an auxiliary circuit associated with a circuit breaker.

Circuit breaker auxiliary switch assembly

A trip bar interlock for a circuit breaker characterized by an electrically insulating housing having an apertured bottom wall. A rotatable trip bar is in the housing for releasably holding the circuit breaker in an untripped condition. An actuator is provided for releasing the trip bar when the circuit breaker is dismounted from a mounting surface. The trip bar and the actuator have engaging surfaces and the actuator has an end portion extending through the aperture. The actuator is biased toward the mounting wall.

Growing community of inventors

Brighton Twp., Beaver County, PA, United States of America

Melvin A Carrodus