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US 10,475,599 B2Granted
Circuit breakers with handle bearing pins
AssigneeEaton Intelligent Power Limited
InventorsJames Gerard Maloney, Daniel Quentin Gates
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Circuit breakers with handles having at least one handle bearing pin that contacts an upper end portion of a moving arm and allows the arm to rotate to “OFF”, “ON” and “TRIP” positions, typically about 90 degrees of rotation.
Claims18
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a pivotable handle held by the housing, wherein the handle comprises first and second laterally spaced apart pin channels facing each other across a contact arm receiving channel, the first pin channel extending on one side of the contact arm receiving channel and the second pin channel extending on an opposing side of the contact arm receiving channel;
- a pin held by the handle such that a longitudinal axis of the pin is parallel to and offset from a pivot axis of the pivotable handle, wherein the pin has a length with longitudinally opposing first and second end portions, wherein the first and second end portions are enlarged relative to a medial segment of the pin, and wherein, in position, the pin extends from the first pin channel, across the contact arm receiving channel, into the second pin channel;
- and
- a moveable contact arm comprising a first end portion in the contact arm receiving channel of the handle that directly contacts the medial segment of the pin across a width of the first end portion of the moveable contact arm,
- wherein the medial segment of the pin is exposed across the contact arm receiving channel and directly contacts and cooperates with the first end portion of the moveable contact arm to define a bearing surface interface between the handle and the contact arm,
- wherein the pin is metallic, wherein the medial segment of the pin has a length that is greater than either of the first and second end portions, and wherein the length corresponds to the width of the first end portion of the contact arm.
4 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a pivotable handle held by the housing, wherein the handle comprises first and second laterally spaced apart pin channels facing each other across a contact arm receiving channel, the first pin channel extending on one side of the contact arm receiving channel and the second pin channel extending on an opposing side of the contact arm receiving channel;
- a pin held by the handle such that a longitudinal axis of the pin is parallel to and offset from a pivot axis of the pivotable handle, wherein the pin has a length with longitudinally opposing first and second end portions, wherein the first and second end portions are enlarged relative to a medial segment of the pin, and wherein, in position, the pin extends from the first pin channel, across the contact arm receiving channel, into the second pin channel;
- and
- a moveable contact arm comprising a first end portion in the contact arm receiving channel of the handle that contacts the medial segment of the pin across a width of the first end portion of the moveable contact arm, wherein the medial segment of the pin defines a handle/contact arm bearing interface,
- wherein the handle comprises first and second laterally spaced apart shoulders that reside on opposing sides of the contact arm receiving channel and contain or are adjacent the first and second pin channels, and wherein the first shoulder has a greater inwardly extending length than the second shoulder.
3 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a pivotable handle held by the housing, wherein the handle comprises first and second laterally spaced apart pin channels facing each other across a contact arm receiving channel, the first pin channel extending on one side of the contact arm receiving channel and the second pin channel extending on an opposing side of the contact arm receiving channel;
- a pin held by the handle such that a longitudinal axis of the pin is parallel to and offset from a pivot axis of the pivotable handle, wherein the pin has a length with longitudinally opposing first and second end portions, wherein the first and second end portions are enlarged relative to a medial segment of the pin, and wherein, in position, the pin extends from the first pin channel, across the contact arm receiving channel, into the second pin channel;
- and
- a moveable contact arm comprising a first end portion in the contact arm receiving channel of the handle that directly contacts the medial segment of the pin across a width of the first end portion of the moveable contact arm,
- wherein the medial segment of the pin is exposed across the contact arm receiving channel and directly contacts and cooperates with the first end portion of the moveable contact arm to define a bearing surface interface between the handle and the contact arm,
- wherein the length of the pin is greater than the width of the first portion of the moveable contact arm, wherein the medial segment of the pin has a length that is greater than either of the first and second end portions, and wherein, with the circuit breaker oriented with the handle extending upward, the first end portion of the moveable contact arm can move back and forth under the pin while in continuous abutting contact with the pin.
4 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a pivotable handle held by the housing, wherein the handle comprises first and second laterally spaced apart pin channels facing each other across a contact arm receiving channel, the first pin channel extending on one side of the contact arm receiving channel and the second pin channel extending on an opposing side of the contact arm receiving channel;
- a pin held by the handle such that a longitudinal axis of the pin is parallel to and offset from a pivot axis of the pivotable handle, wherein the pin has a length with longitudinally opposing first and second end portions, wherein the first and second end portions are enlarged relative to a medial segment of the pin, and wherein, in position, the pin extends from the first pin channel, across the contact arm receiving channel, into the second pin channel;
- and
- a moveable contact arm comprising a first end portion in the contact arm receiving channel of the handle that directly contacts the medial segment of the pin across a width of the first end portion of the moveable contact arm,
- wherein the medial segment of the pin is exposed across the contact arm receiving channel and directly contacts and cooperates with the first end portion of the moveable contact arm to define a bearing surface interface between the handle and the contact arm,
- wherein the medial segment has a length that is greater than either of the first and second end portions, wherein the pin is metallic, wherein the handle is polymeric, wherein the longitudinal axis of the pin is perpendicular to a long side of the housing and resides longitudinally and laterally offset from the pivot axis of the handle, wherein the length of the pin is between about 0.115 inches and about 0.328 inches, and wherein the medial segment of the pin has a radius that is between about 0.034 inches and about 0.045 inches.
4 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a pivotable handle held by the housing, wherein the handle comprises first and second laterally spaced apart pin channels facing each other across a contact arm receiving channel, the first pin channel extending on one side of the contact arm receiving channel and the second pin channel extending on an opposing side of the contact arm receiving channel;
- a pin held by the handle such that a longitudinal axis of the pin is parallel to and offset from a pivot axis of the pivotable handle, wherein the pin has a length with longitudinally opposing first and second end portions, wherein the first and second end portions are enlarged relative to a medial segment of the pin, and wherein, in position, the pin extends from the first pin channel, across the contact arm receiving channel, into the second pin channel;
- and
- a moveable contact arm comprising a first end portion in the contact arm receiving channel of the handle that contacts the medial segment of the pin across a width of the first end portion of the moveable contact arm, wherein the medial segment of the pin defines a handle/contact arm bearing interface,
- wherein the handle has laterally spaced apart inwardly extending sidewalls, one on each side of the contact arm receiving channel, and wherein one of the sidewalls has a segment with a length that is 1.5 to 5 times longer than the other of the sidewalls.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.