Patent ID: 7115828

Claim:
An internally switched electric power interrupter, comprising: an insulator having an internal chamber; a contactor having a movable contact and a stationary contact operable for opening an electric power circuit located within the internal chamber; a main spring operable for linearly accelerating the movable contact sufficiently to extinguish an arc occurring across a gap between the movable contact and the stationary contact at a designed operational voltage of the electric power circuit; a latch mechanism that may be maneuvered into a cocked position in which the main spring is maintained in a charged condition, the latch mechanism releasable from the cocked position in response to a trip action to release the movable contact to accelerate under the force of the main spring for opening the electrical circuit; and wherein the latch mechanism includes a toggle mechanism comprising: a linkage arm pivotally connected to a drive shaft that is in physical communication with the movable contact; a push link pivotally connected to the drive shaft proximate to a first end of the push link and comprising a first guide element proximate to a second end of the push link; a trip link pivotably connected to the linkage arm proximate to a first end of the trip link and comprising a trip element proximate to a second end of the trip link; a main link pivotally connected to the trio link comprising a second guide element at a first end of the main link, and further comprising a trip lever proximate to a second end of the main link; and a stop configured to maintain the toggle mechanism in the cocked position.