The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 23, 1977
Filed:
Aug. 02, 1976
Gregory C Eckart, Southington, CT (US);
General Electric Company, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A conventional residential ground fault circuit interrupting (GFCI) device is utilized to control a traditional circuit interrupter in protecting a large power distribution circuit against ground faults. The GFCI device is connected in an energization circuit for a solenoid operable to open the interrupter contacts. A sensor responds to ground faults on the distribution circuit by impressing the current signal on one side of the energization circuit, thus creating a current imbalance effective to trip the GFCI device. Interruption of the energization circuit causes the solenoid to initiate opening of the interrupter contacts. In an alternative embodiment, the GFCI device is adapted to initiate opening of the interrupter contacts upon degradation of ground circuit continuity.