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US 5,960,941 AGranted
Circuit breaker bell alarm accessory with both automatic reset and lockout function
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsRoger N. Castonguay, Dean A. Robarge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air circuit breaker bell alarm unit allows selection of both bell alarm accessory lock-out facility along with automatic reset function. A plunger extending from the bottom of the bell alarm accessory interacts with the circuit breaker operating components to automatically reset the bell alarm pop-up target in the early stages of the closing of the circuit breaker contacts or to lock-out the closing of the circuit breaker contacts until the pop-up target is manually reset.
Claims16
A multifunction bell alarm unit comprising:
- a support plate supporting a circuit breaker bell alarm accessory having a pop-up target extending from a top part and a plunger extending from a bottom part thereof;
- a reset driver slide slidably mounted to said support plate, said driver slide having a driver pin extending from one side for interaction with a circuit breaker indicator assembly;
- a reset drive link pivotally attached to said driver slide, said drive link having a cam surface for interacting with a reset actuator arm having a reset pin and a reset tab for interacting with said plunger, whereby said bell alarm pop-up target becomes reset prior to closure of a pair of associated circuit breaker contacts;
- a reset thru-hole within said support plate, said plunger extending through said reset thru-hole when bell alarm self-resetting function is selected;
- a lock-out actuator arm mounted to said support plate, said actuator arm arranged for interacting with a circuit breaker blocking prop at one end thereof and a lockout tab at an opposite end, said lockout tab arranged for interfering with said plunger to prevent reset of said pop-up target;
- and
- a lockout thru-hole within said support plate, said plunger extending through said lock-out thru-hole when bell alarm lockout function is selected.
4 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a pair of contacts arranged at a first end of a contact arm;
- a circuit breaker operating mechanism cross bar for moving said contacts between closed and open positions;
- a circuit breaker cover arranged over an operating mechanism enclosure;
- a bell alarm unit on an apertured support plate intermediate said operating mechanism enclosure and said circuit breaker cover, said bell alarm unit providing indication when said contacts are in said closed and open conditions;
- a circuit breaker bell alarm accessory having a pop-up target extending from a top part through an aperture in said circuit breaker cover and a plunger extending from a bottom part;
- said plunger being arranged through a reset thru-hole in said support plate when automatic reset function is selected, whereby said pop-up target is automatically reset when said contacts are first moved to said closed condition;
- and
- said plunger being arranged through a lock-out thru-hole in said support plate when lockout function is selected, whereby said contacts are prevented from moving to said closed condition until said pop-up target is manually reset.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.