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:
Mar. 30, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 02, 2003
Kevin Anthony Simms, Houston, PA (US);
Jeffrey Wayne Lockhart, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Michael Joseph Erb, Fombell, PA (US);
Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH (US);
Abstract
A circuit breaker includes a housing having an elongated pivot opening, a movable arm, a fixed contact and a movable contact mounted on the arm. The contacts and the arm cooperate to provide closed, pivot and open states. The pivot opening mounts a pivot end of the arm for pivotal and longitudinal movement. A solenoid includes a plunger coupled to the arm. The plunger moves between deactuating and actuating positions to provide the open and closed states, respectively. The plunger has a pivot position between the deactuating and actuating positions. The pivot end moves to a first longitudinal position in the pivot and open states, and moves to a second longitudinal position in the closed state. When the contacts are welded closed, the solenoid provides insufficient force to move the plunger to the deactuating position until after the pivot end moves at least substantially toward the first longitudinal position.