A grounding switch apparatus comprising:
- a first electrical terminal adapted for connection to a mains line of a utility;
- a second electrical terminal adapted for connection to a lateral line;
- a first vacuum bottle having a pair of contactors therein, one of the pair of contactors of said first vacuum bottle being electrically connected or interconnected to said first electrical terminal, another of said pair of contactors of said first vacuum bottle electrically connected or interconnected to said second electrical terminal;
- a second vacuum bottle having a pair of contactors therein, one of the pair of contactors of said second vacuum bottle being electrically connected or interconnected to said first electrical terminal or to said second electrical terminal, another of the pair of contactors of said second vacuum bottle being electrically connected or interconnected to ground or neutral;
- a mechanical linkage cooperative with one of the pair of contactors of said first vacuum bottle and one of the pair of contactors of said second vacuum bottle so as to cause the pair of contactors of said first vacuum bottle to close while generally simultaneously causing the pair of contactors of said second vacuum bottle to open and so as to cause the pair of contactors of said first vacuum bottle to open and generally simultaneously cause the pair of contactors of said second vacuum bottle to close;
- an actuator cooperative with said mechanical linkage, said actuator selectively acting on said mechanical linkage so as to cause the pair of contactors of said first vacuum bottle to close while the pair of contactors of said second vacuum bottle open or to cause the pair of contactors of said first vacuum bottle to open while the pair of contactors of the second vacuum bottle close;
- a first current transformer connected between said first electrical terminal and said first and second vacuum bottles, said first current transformer adapted to detect a variation of a current flowing through said first current transformer, said first current transformer being cooperative with said actuator such that said actuator causes a movement of a contactor of each of said pair of contactors in said first and second vacuum bottles upon detection of a current condition in said first current transformer;
- and
- a second current transformer connected to at least one of the pair of contactors of said second vacuum bottle, said second current transformer adapted to determine if a flow of current exists after said mechanical linkage causes the pair of contactors of said second vacuum bottle to close in order to ground or neutralize the current.