US3179761A

US3179761A - Electrical switch and fuse housing combination having a pivotally mounted adapting mechanism operable independently of its movable cover

Info

Publication number: US3179761A
Application number: US138408A
Authority: US
Inventors: Malota Ladislav; William F Olashaw
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1961-09-15
Filing date: 1961-09-15
Publication date: 1965-04-20
Anticipated expiration: 1982-04-20

Description

Apr1l20, 1965 ELECTRICAL SWITCH AND FUSE HOUSING COMBINATION HAVING A PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ADAPTING MECHANISM OPERABLE INDEPENDENTLY OF ITS MOVABLE COVER Filed Sept. 15, 1961 Mil i L. MALOTA ETAL INVENTORS LADISLAV MALOTA WILLIAM F: OLAsHAw A TTORNE Y 3,179,761 VING April 20, 1965 MALOTA ETAL ELECTRICAL SWITCH AND FUSE HOUSING COMBINATION HA A PIVO'I'ALLY MOUNTED ADAPTING MECHANISM OPERABLE INDEPENDENTLY OF ITS MOVABLE COVER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 15, 1961 INVENTORS LADISLAV MALOTA WILLIAM F. OLASHAW BY ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,179,761 ELECTRICAL SWITUH AND FUSE HOUEiING CUMEINATIGN HAVING A PIVGTALLY MDUNTED ADAITING MECHANHM 0P- ERABLE INDEPENDENTLY 01? HS MOV- ABLE CGVER Ladislav Malota, Southington, and William F. ()lashaw,

New Britain, Conn., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 138,408 3 Claims. (Cl. 200-60) The present invention relates to an electric switch and fuse combinations and more particularly to a fused electric switch assembly suitable for use within a separate outer enclosure, such, for example, as in industrial enclosed switches and in panelboards and switchboards.

In accordance with the prior art, industrial electric switch and fuse combinations are provided utilizing switching mechanisms of the type having a reciprocally operable handle. The switch and accompanying fuses are mounted on a common base within an outer enclosure having a door which overlies the switch operating handle. To permit manual operation of the switch while the door is closed, a handle is usually provided carried by the enclosure door and having means at the inner surface of the door of engaging and operating the switch handle and for interlocking with the door to prevent inadvertant opening of the door while the switch is in the on position. It is ordinarily desired that the manually operable handle be of the rotary or twist type, and therefore translating mechanism, is usually provided be tween the manually operable handle and the reciprocally operable switch handle.

In such constructions, it is necessary for the user to mount the switch Within the enclosure and to separately mount the manually operable handle operating mechanism on the door of the enclosure. This entails considerable work and expense. Moreover, when the manually operable handle is mounted separately on the door of the enclosure, it is always possible for it to become out of register with the inner switch handle, causing an incorrect indication of the condition of the switch, or perhaps causing breakage of the parts when the door is closed because of such misalignment.

In addition, with present devices, it is possible for a user to open the enclosure door, move the switch to on condition, and then inadvertently attempt to remove the associated fuses from their sockets, with the accompanying danger to his safety.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a fused electric switch assembly suitable for use within an enclosure and utilizing a basic switch operating mechanism of the toggle type, which provides a rotary or twist type handle which can be made readily accessible for exterior operation.

It is another object of the invention to provide such an assembly having a basic switching device and a handle motion adapter carried thereby in which the handle adapting mechanism portion prevents access to the fuses until the handle has been moved to the oil position.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a fused electric switch device which shall also provide the desired locking and interlocking functions between the enclosed switch and the door of the enclosure.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a fused electric switch assembly including a basic support. A standard toggle type multi-pole electric switching device is mounted on the support, as are a number of fuse terminals, adapted to support a number of fuses in side-by-side relation aligned with the corresponding poles of the switching device. Mounted above 3,179,761 Patented Apr. 20, 1965 the switching device on a separate supporting plate is a handle operating and interlocking mechanism including a rotary or twist type handle and means at the inner side of the plate for engaging the basic switch handle. In order to provide access to the fuse terminals when desired, and to prevent such access when not desired, the handle adapting and interlocking mechanism is pivotally supported at one end so that the entire mechanism may be swung upwardly away from the switch to provide access to the fuses.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a fused electric switch or panelboard unit;

FIGURE 1A is a top plan view of the switch of FIGURE 1 within an outer enclosure enclosing substantially all of the switch except the operating handle, and providing a front operable enclosed electric switch;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view, partially 'broken away of the unit of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation view similar to FIGURE 2 and showing a portion of the operating mechanism in upwardly tilted position to permit removal of fuses;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the operating mechanism of the switch of FIGURES 1 through 3;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view of the operating handle of the switch of FIGURES 1 through 3;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the operating mechanism utilized in FIGURE 4, and

FIGURE 7 is a view of a portion of the mechanism shown in FIGURE 6, shown in a different operated condition.

Referring to the drawings, the invention is shown as incorporated in a panelboard unit comprising a generally rectangular, box-like enclosure 10 having an openable cover portion or door 11 hinged at 12, having a generally rectangular opening therein 13. Within the enclosure ltl, there is mounted a formed sheet metal supporting pan 14 having a switch 15 mounted thereon. A fuse terminal supporting block 16 is mounted on the support 14 in spaced relation to the switch 15 and carries a plurality of fuse terminals 17 of the clip type. The switch 15 includes an insulating base 18, which at the one end supports a plurality of line terminal fuse clips 19 corresponding in placement and number to the load terminal fuse clips 17. A plurality of stationary contacts 28 are mounted on the insulating base 18 and correspond in alignment and number to the fuse clips 17 and 19, there being one for each pole of the switch. The switch 15 likewise includes a plurality of movable contacts 21 corresponding in placement and number to the stationary contacts 20. The movable contacts are each connected by a suitable flexible connector 22 to a corresponding one of the line terminal fuse clips 19. An arc extinguishing assembly 23 is provided adjacent each of the stationary contacts 20.

The movable contacts 21 are ganged together by a contact cross-arm 24, and are adapted to be moved thereby between open and closed circuit positions, into and out of engagement with said stationary contacts, by an operating mechanism of the over-center toggle type. The switch operating mechanism may be of any suitable type, having a reciprocally movable operating member 27.

The circuit through the protective device may be traced as follows, from the load terminal fuse clips 17, through the fuses 25, to the line terminal fuse clips 19, to the flexible conductor 22, to the movable contacts 21, to the stationary contacts 20, and thence to the output or line terminals 26.

For the purpose of permitting manual operation of the switching device from outside of the enclosure 19, as Well as for providing certain interlocking functions with relation to the cover 11 of the enclosure it we provide adapting mechanism indicated generally at 28.

The adapting mechanism 2% is shown more particularly in FIGURES 4 through 7, and includes a generally planar supporting pan or plate 29 having a pair of side flanges 29a. The plate 2% is pivotally supported on insulating side plates 30 by means of pivot pins fit) in the flanges 2%.

As shown in FIGURE 6, the plate 23 carries a pair of opposed guide tracks 32 which serve to slidably support an operating plate or slide member 33. An operating handle 31 is rotatably supported on the upper surface of plate 2?. The operating handle 31 has a retainer plate 34 connected thereto at the inner surface of the plate 29. The plate 34 is provided with an extension 35, terminating in a downwardly bent lug 35' which engages in an aperture 3t: in the plate 33. Rotational movement of the handle 31 is therefore translated into reciprocating straight line motion of the operating slide 33. The operating slide 33 is also provided with an aperture 37 adapted to receive the operating member 27 of the contact operating mechanism, whereby to operate the movable contacts upon motion of the outer handle 31.

The operating mechanism 28 is provided with interlocking and padlocking means, as set forth and claimed in co-pending application Serial No. 138,363 filed September 15, 1961 by Ladislav Malota and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention which will be only briefly described here. The interlocking means comprises an interlocking lever 38 carried by a non-circular stud 39 pivotally supported on the plate 29. The lever 38 has a projection 40 adapted to enter a catch or bracket 41 carried by the enclosure cover It], see FIGURE 4, when the cover is closed. The lever 3% is biased toward latching or interlocking position by means of a biasing spring 41.

For the purpose of withdrawing the projection at from the catch 41 to permit opening of the cover when the switch is moved to off position, an extension 42 is provided on the lever 33, which projects into the path of movement of a portion of the slide 33. When the slide 33 moves downwardly as viewed, to the off position, it engages the extension 42 of the lever 38, and rotates lever 38 counterclockwise as viewed, withdrawing the projection 4ft from the catch 41 and permitting opening of the cover.

If it is desired to open the cover It while the switch is in the on position, that is, while the slide is in the upward position as shown in FIGURE 7, it is only necessary to rotate the stud 39 counterclockwise such as by means of a screwdriver inserted in the slot in the head of the stud 39, to withdraw the projection at from the catch 31. A suitable opening, not shown, is provided in the cover It to permit such defeating of the cover interlock.

The stud 39 also performs another function, in that it serves to retain the operating handle 31 in ofif position while the cover it is open. For this purpose, the stud 39 is made slidable axially in the lever 38 and is provided with a lateral extension 43, terminating in an upwardlydirected projection 4-4. The stud 39 is biased upwardly by means of a spring, not shown, so that when it is not restrained in a downwardly direction by the presence of the door 1h, it is allowed to move upwardly and the projection 44 enters the aperture 45 in the slide 33. When this occurs, it is impossible to move the handle 31 to the on position because of the inter-engagement of the slide 33 with the stud 39. If it is desired, nevertheless, to move the switch to on position when the door is open, it is only necessary to depress the stud 39 by manual means to permit closing of the switch. Once the switch has been closed and is again opened, the end 44 of the stud 39 may once again re-engage the slide 33 in the opening 45, since the lower edge of the slide 33 is made tapered to permit the end 44 to ride upwardly on it with a cam action to the engaged position.

In accordance with an important aspect of our invention, the adapting mechanism 28 is pivotally supported at one end on the pivots 3G and is releasably held at the other end, such for example as by means of screws 46 which engage in fixed brackets 4-7 carried by the side plates fit The tilting upward of the mechanism 28 affords ready access to removal of the fuses 25. More importantly, when the operating mechanism is in the normal horizontal position and held by the screws as, it will be observed that it is impossible to get at the line end of the fuses 25. This construction efiectively prevents any inadvertent attempt to remove the fuses 25 while the switch is in the on position. In order to gain access to the fuses at the line end to remove them, it is necessary to tilt the operating mechanism 23 upwardly.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, it is not possible to tilt the handle operating mechanism upwardly while the reciprocable operating member 27 is in on position. Thus the plate 29 is provided with an extension 47 which strikes a portion of the operating member 27 if it is attempted to lift the plate 29 while the member 27 is in the on position. Thus, in order to gain access to the fuse terminals 19, to remove the fuses 25, it is necessary to turn the handle 31 to off position.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the interference between the handle 27 and the extension 4'7 of the plate 29 also performs another important function. Thus if it is attempted to close the switch 15 by moving the handle 27 manually, while the adapting mechanism is in the upwardly tilted position, this will be prevented by the extension 47 which then gets in the way of the handle 27 and prevents such movement.

In order to permit locking of the device, as shown in my co-pending application, the handle 31 is provided with a flat sheet metal slide member 48 which is biased inwardly of the handle 31 to the position shown in FIG- URE 5 by means of a compression spring 49. The slide .8 is provided with a finger piece St) by means of which the slide 48 may be moved to a projecting position. The pan or plate 29 is provided with a pair of slots 51 and 52 corresponding to the on and off positions of the handle, into which the projection 53 of the slide 4-8 enters when the slide is moved outwardly as described. When the slide 48 is moved to its projecting position, a lock or locks may be inserted in the

apertures

54 and 55, serving to lock the slide 48 in its outwardly projecting position. It will be observed that a portion of the slide 48 overlies the cover It when in its outwardly projecting position. Locking the slide 48 in such position, therefore not only serves to lock the handle 31 from rotation away from such position, but also serves to lock the cover It) in closed ters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an enclosed electric device comprising a box-like enclosire having an open top wall, a cover carried by said enclosure and movable between open and closed position, said cover when in said closed position closing a first portion of said open top Wall, and an electric switch mounted in said enclosure, said switch including a plurality of stationary and movable contacts and means for operating said movable contacts into and out of engagement with said stationary contacts comprising a reciprocally operable member, said switch also comprising a plurality of terminals electrically connected to at least some of said contacts, that improvement which comprises: an adapting mechanism having a rotary type handle and a reciprocating switch operating member connected to said rotary type handle for operation thereby, means pivotally supporting said adapting mechanism on said switch independently of said cover for tilting movement between first and second positions, said reciprocating switch operating member of said adapting mechanism being connected to said reciprocally operable member of said switch when said adapting mechanism is in said first position and being disconnected from said reciprocally operable member of said switch when said adapting mechanism is in said second position, said adapting mechanism also comprising means preventing access to said terminals of said switch when said adapting mechanism is in said first position and not preventing access to said terminals when said adapting mechanism is in said second position, said adapting mechanism closing a second portion of said open top wall of said enclosure when in said first position, said adapting mechanism being accessible for manual operation when said cover is on said enclosure and said adapting mechanism is in said first position. I

2. An enclosed electric switch as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rotary handle of said adapting mechanism is movable between on and ofl positions corresponding to on and oif positions respectively of said movable contacts, and interfering means carried by said adapting mechanism and engaging a portion of said switch when said adapting mechanism is in said first position and said rotary handle is in said on position and preventing movement of said adapting mechanism from said first to said second position while said rotary handle is in said on position.

3. An enclosed electric switch as set forth in claim 1 wherein said reciprocally operable member of said switch is reciprocally movable between on and olf positions respectively of said movable contacts, and interfering means carried by said adapting mechanism and engaging a portion of said switch to prevent movement of said reciprocally operable member of said switch from said off to said on position while said adapting mechanism is in said second position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,399,495 12/21 Krantz 20050.1 1,857,711 5/32 Dante 200--50.1 2,313,170 3/43 Pierce 20050.1 2,404,183 7/46 Landmeier 200-50.1 2,894,084 7/59 Rexroad 20050.1 2,907,840 10/59 Cole ZOO-50.1 2,937,254 5/60 Ericson 200--114 BERNARD A. GILHEANY, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Examiner.

Claims

1. IN AN ENCLOSED ELECTRIC DEVICE COMPRISING A BOX-LIKE ENCLOSURE HAVING AN OPEN TOP WALL, A COVER CARRIED BY SAID ENCLOSURE AND MOVABLE BETWEEN OPEN AND CLOSED POSITION, SAID COVER WHEN IN SAID CLOSED POSITION CLOSING A FIRST PORTION OF SAID OPEN TOP WALL, AND AN ELECTRIC SWITCH MOUNTED IN SAID ENCLOSURE, SAID SWITCH INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF STATIONARY AND MOVABLE CONTACTS AND MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID MOVABLE CONTACTS INTO AND OUT OF ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID STATIONARY CONTACTS COMPRISING A RECIPROCALLY OPERABLE MEMBER, SAID SWITCH ALSO COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF TERMINALS ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED TO AT LEAST SOME OF SAID CONTACTS, THAT IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES: AN ADAPTING MECHANISM HAVING A ROTARY TYPE HANDLE AND A RECIPROCATING SWITCH OPERATING MEMBER CONNECTED TO SAID ROTARY TYPE HANDLE FOR OPERATION THEREBY, MEANS PIVOTALLY SUPPORTION SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM ON SAID SWITCH INDEPENDENTLY OF SAID COVER FOR TILTING MOVEMENT BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND POSITIONS, SAID RECIPROCATING SWITCH OPERATING MEMBER OF SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM BEING CONNECTED TO SAID RECIPROCALLY OPERABLE MEMBER OF SAID SWITCH WHEN SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM IS IN SAID FIRST POSITION AND BEING DISCONNECTED FROM SAID RECIPROCALLY OPERABLE MEMBER OF SAID SWITCH WHEN SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM IS IN SAID SECOND POSITION, SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM ALSO COMPRISING MEANS PREVENTING ACCESS TO SAID TERMINALS OF SAID SWITCH WHEN SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM IS IN SAID FIRST PORTION AND NOT PREVENTING ACCESS TO SAID TERMINALS WHEN SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM IS IN SAID SECOND POSITION, SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM CLOSING A SECOND PORTION OF SAID OPEN TOP WALL OF SAID ENCLOSURE WHEN IN SAID FIRST POSITION, SAID ADAPTED MECHANISM BEING ACCESSIBLE FOR MANUAL OPERATION WHEN SAID COVER IS ON SAID ENCLOSURE AND SAID ADAPTING MECHANISM IS IN SAID FIRST POSITION.