Eaton Corporation

William C Farrow

Lance Gula

Richard Paul Malingowski

Roger William Helms

Joseph F Changle

Trent A Chontas

Kenneth N Skoug

David Curtis Turner

Robert Michael Slepian

William George Eberts

Michael Thomas Little

H Richard Beck

A molded case circuit breaker is taught with a housing base and a primary cover disposed on the housing base. The primary cover has a recess therein for an auxiliary module which is disposed in the recess. A secondary cover is disposed on the primary cover for covering the recess when the auxiliary module is disposed therein. A combination manual trip and secondary cover interlock is provided which is accessible from outside of the secondary cover for manually opening separable main contacts or for automatically opening separable main contacts when the secondary cover is removed. There is also provided on the back plane of the housing a single piece DIN rail attachment for securing the back plane to a DIN rail. There is provided an under voltage release mechanism for actuating the circuit breaker to trip on the occurrence of an under voltage condition of predetermined magnitude across the lines served by the circuit interrupter. The under voltage release mechanism has an adjustment spring which is controlled by a nut or thumb screw on a shaft to vary the spring force for calibrating the under voltage release mechanism. There is also provided a self-retaining collar member for the load and line terminals of the circuit interrupter. The collar member comprises a locating protrusion in the bottom thereof which aligns with a hole in the load or line conductors. Side entrapment members which entrap the line or load conductor therebetween and between the bottom of the collar member are also provided.

Circuit interrupter with covered accessory case, adjustable under voltage relay, self-retaining collar and one-piece rail attachment

A molded case circuit breaker is taught with a housing base and a primary cover disposed on the housing base. The primary cover has a recess therein for an auxiliary module which is disposed in the recess. A secondary cover is disposed on the primary cover for covering the recess when the auxiliary module is disposed therein. A combination manual trip and secondary cover interlock is provided which is accessible from outside of the secondary cover for manually opening separable main contacts or for automatically opening separable main contacts when the secondary cover is removed. There is also provided on the back plane of the housing a single piece DIN rail attachment for securing the back plane to a DIN rail. There is provided an under voltage release mechanism for actuating the circuit breaker to trip on the occurrence of an under voltage condition of pre-determined magnitude across the lines served by the circuit interrupter. The under voltage release mechanism has an adjustment spring which is controlled by a nut or thumb screw on a shaft to vary the spring force for calibrating the under voltage release mechanism. There is also provided a self-retaining collar member for the load and line terminals of the circuit interrupter. The collar member comprises a locating protrusion in the bottom thereof which aligns with a hole in the load or line conductors. Side entrapment members which entrap the line or load conductor therebetween and between the bottom of the collar member are also provided.

Circuit interrupter with covered accessory case, adjustable under

Molded case electric power switches such as circuit breakers, disconnects and transfer switches have an energy storage spring which rotates a cam assembly to close and initiate opening of the switch contacts. The cam assembly includes a drive cam with a cam lobe which engages a drive cam follower on the moving contact assembly. Due to space limitations, the cam assembly is positioned so that the drive cam follower initially moves toward the cam assembly during closing. To accommodate for this, the cam lobe has a generally radial leading edge to prevent binding of the drive cam follower. A single latch mechanism latches the cam assembly in a spring charged position and in a closed position. A Y-shaped latch member has one leg which is engaged by a latch, a second leg which engages stops on the drive cam at the charged position and the closed position, and a third leg which sequentially engages the stops to reset the latch mechanism. The cam assembly, a charging mechanism including a rachet wheel and handle, the latch mechanism and the energy storage spring are all mounted between and supported by a pair of side plates. In a multi-pole switch, the drive cam engages the moving contact assembly of one pole which is coupled to the moving contact assemblies of the other poles by a cross-bar.

Molded case electric power switches with cam driven, spring powered open

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Germantown, WI, United States of America

William C Farrow