Electrical switch contact arrangement having quick break arcing contacts
AssigneeAutomatic Switch Company
InventorsDominik M. Wiktor, Siegfried Schlindwein
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical switch contact arrangement having a spring which snaps the movable arcing contact away from the stationary arcing contact at a high rate of speed to open the arcing contacts, but only after the movable main contact has moved through a considerable portion, for example, at least about 50%, of its opening movement away from the stationary main contact. The spring is tensioned as the main contacts open. At an intermediate point during the opening movement of the movable main contact, the moveable main contact positively initiates opening movement of the arcing contacts whereupon the spring snaps the arcing contacts open at a high rate of speed independent of the opening speed of the main contacts.
Claims12
An electrical switch contact arrangement comprising:
- stationary main and arcing contacts,
- movable main and arcing contacts cooperable with the stationary main and arcing contacts, respectively,
- operator means for moving the movable contacts into engagement with the stationary contacts to close the switch and for moving the movable contacts out of engagement with the stationary contacts to open the switch,
- means responsive to movement of the movable main contact away from the stationary main contact for initiating the opening of the arcing contacts without actually separating the movable and stationary arcing contacts, and resilient means cooperable with the movable arcing contact for the purpose of thereafter snapping the movable arcing contact away from the stationary arcing contact at a high rate of speed to rapidly open the arcing contacts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.