Patent ID: 8304672

Claim:
An assembly for racking a circuit breaker into and out of electrical switchgear, comprising a cradle that houses a racking mechanism for racking a circuit breaker into and out of electrical switchgear, the racking mechanism including a motor fixed inside the cradle and coupled to a drive member that turns a control screw, which drives the racking mechanism causing the circuit breaker to be racked into or out of the switchgear among a plurality of positions, wherein the plurality of positions includes a connected position in which primary connectors of the circuit breaker are electrically connected to corresponding primary connectors inside the cradle, a remove position in which the primary connectors of the circuit breaker are electrically disconnected from the corresponding primary connectors of the cradle for safe removal of the circuit breaker from the switchgear, and a test position that is intermediate the connected and remove positions in which the primary connectors of the circuit breakers are electrically disconnected from the corresponding primary connectors of the cradle and in which a secondary connector of the circuit breaker is electrically connected to a corresponding terminal block in the cradle for electrical connection to an auxiliary circuit for testing electronic features of the circuit breaker, the assembly further comprising: a first switch positioned to be actuated in response to the circuit breaker being racked in the connected position; a second switch positioned to be actuated in response to the circuit breaker being racked in the test position; and a third switch positioned to be actuated in response to the circuit breaker being racked in the remove position, wherein actuation of any of the first, second, or third switches causes the motor to be turned off.