Circuit breaker condition indicator apparatus
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsRoger N. Castonguay, Charles L. Jencks
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an industrial circuit breaker having a spring-powered movable contact operating mechanism and a spring-powered charging mechanism, each having the facility of storing a charge rendering the circuit breaker capable of being closed, condition indicator apparatus includes a first indicator for indicating whether the breaker movable contacts are open or closed and a second indicator for indicating whether or not a charge is stored in either the operating mechanism or the charging mechanism.
Claims10
Condition indicator apparatus for a circuit breaker having a spring-powered operating mechanism for motivating breaker movable contacts between tripped open and closed positions, and a spring-powered charging mechanism operatively coupled with the operating mechanism, the charging mechanism capable of being charged, storing such charge, and subsequently discharging to charge the operating mechanism, and hook means selectively operable to hold the breaker movable contacts in an intermediate hooked open position against the force of the charged operating mechanism acting to propel the movable contacts to their closed position, said apparatus comprising, in combination:
- A. a first indicator arm mounted for movement between an ON indicating position, assumed in response to the movable contacts being in their closed position, and an OFF indicating position, assumed in response to the movable contacts being in either their tripped open or hooked open positions,
- B. a first display panel carried by said first arm and bearing indicia separately registerable in a window in the circuit breaker cover in accordance with the position of said first arm to locally indicate whether the breaker contacts are open or closed;
- C. a second indicator arm mounted for movement between an uncharged indicating position, assumed in response to the movable contacts being in their tripped open position, and a charged indicating position, assumed in response to either the movable contacts being in their hooked open position or the charging mechanism having a charge stored therein;
- and
- D. a second display panel carried by said second indicator arm and bearing indicia separately registerable in a breaker cover window in accordance with the position of said second arm to locally indicate whether or not the breaker is capable of either closure while the contacts are open or reclosure while the breaker contacts are closed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.