Eaton Corporation

Other

Phillip L Ulerich

Henry Anthony Wehrli, Iii

Norman J Phillips

Raymond Clyde Doran

Paul Richard Rakus

James Jeffery Benke

John A Wafer

William John Jones

Kathryn M Palmer

Keith Kearney

William Brocklebank

Gregory D Tallman

Walter B Ireland

Petros K Mantzouridis

Suzanne Marie Stewart

Ronald Paul Silich

Frank Roth

Thomas Lee Aber

Edward F Docherty

An indicator apparatus for a circuit breaker includes an indication mechanism and a latch mechanism mounted on a base, the base being mounted within the circuit breaker. The indication mechanism includes an indicator movably mounted on the base and being translatable along a longitudinal axis between a retracted position and an extended position, with the indicator in the extended position providing an indication visible from the exterior of the circuit breaker of a tripped condition of the circuit breaker. The latch mechanism includes a latch that is pivotable between a blocking position and a release position, with the latch in the blocking position being engageable with a ledge on the indicator to retain the indicator in the retracted position. The indicator is biased to the extended position by a first biasing device, and the latch is biased to the blocking position by a second biasing device. The abstract shall not be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.

Trip indicator including latch for a circuit breaker

A device for supporting semi-rigid workpieces to be embroidered. Hoop ties are mounted to a hoop frame to provide a support surface for one side of the workpiece, while a backbone further comprising at least two knurled fingers provide a frictional supporting surface for an opposing side of the workpiece. Rubber tubing can be stretched around the hoop ties for easily mounting each of the ties to the hoop frame, and which provides another frictional supporting surface that is less abrasive than the knurled hoop fingers. The angle and the height of the backbone can be adjusted to accommodate workpieces of varying rigidity and thickness.

Rigid object embroidery hoop assembly

Electrical switching apparatus such as a power circuit breaker, network protector or switch has a self-supporting operating mechanism module including a cage formed by a pair of side plates rigidly clamped in spaced relation by spacers. The cage supports all of the operating mechanism components including a helical compression close spring mounted fully between the side plates and coupled to a cam member through a rocker in a manner which maintains the forces longitudinal to the spring. The cam member has a charging cam with a charge profile for compressing the close spring and a close profile through which the spring drives the cam member to effect a controlled release of stored energy to close the contacts of the apparatus. A close prop, spring biased to an unlatched position, is latched to secure the close spring in the charged state by a latch assembly reset by a reset lever separate from the close prop which in turn is reset by rotation of the cam member during charging. An interlock prevents release of the close spring when the contacts are closed or the trip release is actuated. An indicator actuated by a driver pivoted against the cam shaft snaps from a DISCHARGED to a CHARGED indication as the close spring becomes fully charged and the driver drops into a notch created by a flat on the cam shaft. Rotating shafts are journaled solely in confronting apertures in the side plates. The cam shaft is captured between bushings seated in non-circular openings in the side plates thereby eliminating the need for any fasteners. Likewise, other parts mounted between the side plates and joined by pins having enlarged heads retained by the side plates do not need retainers. Various shafts extending between the side plates have reduced diameter ends of progressive lengths for successive insertion in one side plate to aid in assembly of the operating mechanism.

Electrical switching apparatus with operating condition indicators

Electrical switching apparatus such as a power circuit breaker, network protector or switch has a self-supporting operating mechanism module including a cage formed by a pair of side plates rigidly clamped in spaced relation by spacers. The cage supports all of the operating mechanism components including a helical compression close spring mounted fully between the side plates and coupled to a cam member through a rocker in a manner which maintains the forces longitudinal to the spring. The cam member has a charging cam with a charge profile for compressing the close spring and a close profile through which the spring drives the cam member to effect a controlled release of stored energy to close the contacts of the apparatus. A close prop, spring biased to an unlatched position, is latched to secure the close spring in the charged state by a latch assembly reset by a reset lever separate from the close prop which in turn is reset by rotation of the cam member during charging. An interlock prevents release of the close spring when the contacts are closed or the trip release is actuated. An indicator actuated by a driver pivoted against the cam shaft snaps from a DISCHARGED to a CHARGED indication as the close spring becomes fully charged and the driver drops into a notch created by a flat on the cam shaft. A snap action open/closed indicator for the switch contacts is also provided.

Electrical switching apparatus with push buttons for a modular operating

Two molded case electrical switches such as circuit breakers, network protectors, disconnect switches and transfer switches, are secured together side-by-side by joining blocks having tongues extending along their sidewalls which engage undercutting grooves undercutting the irregular surfaces of the confronting sidewalls of the switch molded casings with an interference fit. Separate joining blocks for the front and rear sections of the molded casing are driven into place and retained by bolts engaging flanges on the molded casing. The poles are paralleled by external conductors in any desired configuration so that the standard switches can be used without customization.

High current electrical switching apparatus with poles interleaved and

The large close spring in the operating mechanism of electrical switching apparatus is charged by a charging mechanism which includes a charging cam mounted on a cam shaft and rotated by a ratchet wheel. An elongated handle is mounted for rotation about a pivot axis offset laterally from the cam shaft. A drive link which successively engages the teeth on the ratchet wheel is pivotally connected to the handle at a point closer to the handle pivot axis than the radius of the ratchet wheel to increase the mechanical advantage of the handle. A common spring biases the drive link and a stop dog against the ratchet wheel. A turned pin on the drive link is used to engage the ratchet teeth which have an arcuate profile including a radius at the root configured to be engaged by the turned pin. A similar drive link with a turned pin to engage the ratchet teeth is reciprocated by an electric motor. A handle decoupling cam and a motor decoupling cam lift the respective drive links out of engagement with the ratchet wheel when the close spring becomes fully charged. A lifting pin and/or a lateral projection on the handle drive link disengage the handle from the ratchet wheel as the handle is stowed.

Disengageable charging mechanism for spring powered electrical switching

Electrical switching apparatus such as a power circuit breaker, network protector or switch has a self-supporting operating mechanism module including a cage formed by a pair of side plates rigidly clamped in spaced relation by spacers. The cage supports all of the operating mechanism components including a helical compression close spring mounted fully between the side plates and coupled to a cam member through a rocker in a manner which maintains the forces longitudinal to the spring. The cam member has a charging cam with a charge profile for compressing the close spring and a close profile through which the spring drives the cam member to effect a controlled release of stored energy to close the contacts of the apparatus. A close prop, spring biased to an unlatched position, is latched to secure the close spring in the charged state by a latch assembly reset by a reset lever separate from the close prop which in turn is reset by rotation of the cam member during charging. An interlock prevents release of the close spring when the contacts are closed or the trip release is actuated. An indicator actuated by a driver pivoted against the cam shaft snaps from a DISCHARGED to a CHARGED indication as the close spring becomes fully charged and the driver drops into a notch created by a flat on the cam shaft. Rotating shafts are journalled solely in confronting apertures in the side plates. The cam shaft is captured between bushings seated in non-circular openings in the side plates thereby eliminating the need for any fasteners. Likewise, other parts mounted between the side plates and joined by pins having enlarged heads retained by the side plates do not need retainers. Various shafts extending between the side plates have reduced diameter ends of progressive lengths for successive insertion in one side plate to aid in assembly of the operating mechanism.

Interlock for electrical switching apparatus with stored energy closing

An actuator assembly for an electrical power switch apparatus, the actuator assembly having a housing and a plunger positioned within the housing where the plunger is movable between a set position and an actuated position. The plunger includes a compression spring to provide a pre-load thereto that biases the plunger away from the set position and toward the actuated position. A magnet contained in the housing and positioned proximate to the plunger establishes a magnetic force which overcomes the pre-load of the compression spring and maintains the plunger in a set position. A coil assembly, that when energized, produces an electromagnetic force which bucks the magnetic force established by the magnet allowing the plunger to be propelled by the compression spring to the actuated position. A screw extends through an opening in the plunger for engagement with the compression spring so that rotation of the screw results in the adjustment or calibration of the pre-load of the compression spring.

Actuator assembly with calibration means and electrical power switch

A circuit breaker with trip indicator assembly for indicating the trip status of the circuit breaker. The trip indicator assembly includes a spring powered shaft movable between a cocked position and a trip position in which the spring powered shaft protrudes through the housing of the circuit breaker to indicate the trip status. The shaft is operatively connected to a trip actuating mechanism of the circuit breaker so as to actuate the shaft in response to the trip actuating mechanism actuating an operating mechanism of the circuit breaker. A lost motion coupling is provided to assure that the trip indicator assembly is not actuated until after actuation of the operating mechanism. A bell alarm switch assembly for signalling the trip status of the circuit breaker may be operatively connected to the trip indicator assembly.

Trip indicator and signalling switch assembly

An improved trip device for operating a trip mechanism which, in turn, operates a circuit breaker mechanism for opening a set of electrical contacts. The trip device includes a spring-biased actuating rod which is mechanically operated by a solenoid. The actuating rod has a notched end which is secured by a rotatable shaft at a notch portion of the shaft. The shaft has latch arms, and the core of the solenoid has projections extending into slots in the latch arms. When the solenoid receives a faulty current signal, the core moves and causes the projections to forcibly impact against the latch arms which rotates the shaft, whereby the notch portion of the shaft aligns with the notched end of the actuating rod and the actuating rod reciprocally moves into the notched portion of the shaft thereby actuating the trip mechanism.

Trip device for a circuit breaker

A modular trip unit for automatically tripping a switch of a circuit breaker when the circuit breaker is being removed from its panel mounting when the circuit breaker has not been manually overridden. The modular trip unit is an integral part of the circuit breaker and includes a trip interlock assembly integrally mounted in the modular trip unit. The trip interlock assembly comprises a spring biased slider extending through and out of the housing of the trip unit, and an actuator in engagement with the slider. The actuator engages a first cam surface of a trip bar and a catching member of a latching assembly is engaged by a lip member on a second cam surface of the trip bar. When the circuit breaker is being mounted on the panel mounting, the slider is forced inwardly thereby compressing a spring associated with the slider, and the slider causes the actuator to rotate in a first direction. When the circuit breaker is removed from the panel mounting, the slider is forced outwardly pulling the actuator with it and causing the actuator to rotate in a second direction and the lip member to disengage from the catching member of the latching assembly. The latching assembly becomes disengaged from the cradle of the operating mechanism for the circuit breaker, effecting separation of the main contacts and interruption of the flow of current through the circuit breaker.

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Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America

Phillip L Ulerich