Vacuum switch provided with horseshoe-shaped elements for generating an axial magnetic field

Electrical vacuum switch provided with two contacts of electrically conductive material which can be moved towards and away from each other, mounted on the ends of a fixed or movable contact rod respectively of electrically conductive material, with a laminated horseshoe-shaped ferromagnetic element being fitted around each contact rod, as a result of which because of the position a magnetic circuit is formed around the contact rod, which circuit consists of a section of low magnetic resistance and a section of a high magnetic resistance, the circular base of the U-shaped inner cavity of the horseshoe-shaped elements being adjacent to the associated contact rod and the elements being offset through 180.degree. with respect to each other, so that the internal magnetic fields generated in the horseshoe-shaped elements when current passes through the switch, to the extent that the section with high magnetic resistance is approached, are mainly oriented axially between the two horseshoe-shaped elements, wherein the horseshoe-shaped elements are so designed that their magnetic resistance to the internal magnetic field increases in going from the U-shaped base section to the section with high magnetic resistance.