CA1116219A - Compact three-pole circuit breaker - Google Patents

Abstract

COMPACT THREE-POLE CIRCUIT BREAKER

ABSTRACT
A compact three-pole circuit breaker is modularly constructed utilizing two identical operating mechanisms in controllably arti-culating three movable contact arms. The operating mechanisms are ganged together for concerted manual operation by an external handle tie and internal means intercoupling the three movable con-tact arms and the operating mechanisms. Trip units, one in each breaker pole, independently act on an internal common trip bar to simultaneously trip the two operating mechanisms and thereby effect concerted opening movement of the contact arms in quick break fashion under the urgence of mechanism springs and assisting helper springs.

Description

~ AlPR-3236 ,, -COMPACT THREE-POLE CIRCUIT BREAKER
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a three-pole, ~olded case circuit breaker of modular construction and compact physical size.
Heretofore, typical circuit protection for three phase elec- ;
trical distribution circuits utilized in light industrial, commer-cial and institutional applications has been provided by three-pole - molded case circuit breakers of the wire-in, wlr~ou~ variety.
- These circuit breakers would normally be installed in circuit breaker load centers containing banks of single-pole, plug-in circuit breakers forbranch circuit protec~ion. Since the ~ypical three-pole circuit breaker, in addition to being nonplug-in, is wider than the combined width of three single-pole branch breakers, special provisions must be made to physically mount the three-pole bxeaker within the load center. Thus, the load centers must be specially designed to the customer's specifications to accept `` specified numbers of three-pole and single-pole breakers. Typically,,~ ~ the electrical connections between the three-pole breaker and the -;
~r Tch breaker line buses are pxe-wired by the manufacturer. Under ~` th~se circumstances, the load center is relatively inflexible in terms of the applications it can accommodate. That is J if the - customer's el~ectrical requirements should change in the future, thè existing load center may not be conducive to the changed require-. ~
`~ ments. This is particularly true if an additional three-pole breaker is required.
It is accordingly an ob~ect of the present invention tv ` provide a three-pola circuit breaker of compact modular construction.
A further ob~ect is to provide a three-pole circuit breaker of the above character which requires no special mo-~nting provislons for its installation in a standard plug-~n circuit breaker load . ~ ~

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center.
Another object ls to provide a ~hree~pole circu~t breaker of the above cha~acter which is comparable ln width to ~he combined ; widths of ~hree, standard single-pole branch circuit breakers.
Yet another object is to provide a three-pole circuit breaker - o~ the above character which is equipped with line terminal s~abs enabling the installation of the breaker in any load center space normally occupied by three side-by-side branch circuit breakers.
A still further object is to provide a three-pole circuit breaker of the above character having improved current carrying and current interrupting capacities.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a three-pole circuit breaker of the above character which is effi-; cient in design, inexpensive to manufacture and reliable in opera-, 15 tion.
Other objects o the invention will in part be obvious and ~n part appear hereinafter.
` ? S~ARY OF THE INV~NTION
In accordance with ~he present invention, there is pro~ided a compact three-pole circuit breaker having a molded case of a width comparable to the combined widths of three single-pole branch ~`. circuit breakers and line terminal s~abs situated to accommodate installation in a plug-in circuit breaker load center at any loca-tion normally occupied by three side-by-side branch breakers. The `. 25 three-pole circuit breaker utilizes two identical operating mechan-isms in controllably articulating a movable contact arm situated in each o~ three pole chambers provided in the breaker case. The two operating mechanisms occupy positions intermPdiate adjacent pole chambers and are ganged together for concerted manual operation by 30 an external handle tie and internal coupling elements operatively .~, ' ' '.
interconnecting the three contact arms and the operating mechanism~.
Trip units, one in each pole chamher, independently act on an inter-nal common trip bar ~o sim~ltaneously trip bo~h operating mechanisms and thus effect concerted opening movement o the three co~tact arms in.quick break fashion under the urgence of mechanism springs, ; supplemented by helper springs .
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construc-: tion and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the con-struction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.
For a better understanding of the nature and objec~s of the -- invention, re~erence should be had to the following detailed des-`~ cription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in ; which:
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a three-pole, molded case ~ circuit breaker constructed in accordance with the present inven- :
`~ tion;
^`` FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the circuit breaker of FIGURE 1 ` with the case cover removed;
.; 20 FIGURE 3 is an exploded, perspective view of a portion o the current path through each pole of the circuit breaker of FIGURE l;
FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the current path through each pole of the circuit breakèr of FIGURE l;
FIGURE S is a ~ragmentary, side elevational view of a por-tion of the breaker pole current path seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, with the contacts engaged;
FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view, partially broken away, o one of the breaker operating mechanisms utillzed ln the circuit breaker of FIGURE l,and depicted in its open circuit condition;
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~ FIGURE 7 is a slde elevational view o~ the breaker operating mechanism seen ln FIGURE 6, but depicted in it~ closed circuit con- 1 dition; and FIGURE 8 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of the ~5 circuit breaker o FIGURE 1, illustratlng the lnternal coupling s between the two breaker operating mechanisms.
~ike reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the ;` several views of the drawings.
` DETAILED DESCRIPTION 1, :. . : i. . .
.`~0 Referrin~ now to the drawings, the multi-pole circuit breaker of the present invention, generally indicated at 10 in FIGURE 1, is housed in a molded insulative case consisting of a base 12 and a . cover 14 secured together by screws, not shown. Top surface of .. . ;:.
cover 14 is provided with a raised escutcheon 14a in which are pro '.
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L5 vided a pair of openings 14b accommodating the protrusion of a pair of manual operating handles 16. A handle tie 18, together with a pin 19, gangs the operating handles together such that they are pivoted in concert durin~ manual operation of the circuit breaker. "
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; A lever 18a, pivotally mounted to handle tie 18, may be swung up-. 20 wardly and grasped by the operator to achieve enhanced mechanical advantage while toggling the operating handles. `;
Turning to FIGURE 2~ it is seen that base 12 of the breaker ~, case is struc~ured to provide three, side-by-side, longitudinally elongated pole chambers 10a, 10b and 10c defined in part by base sidewalls 12a and intermediate, upstanding b~se partiti.ons 12b and 12c. The intermediate partitions 12b, together with the base : sidewalls provide arc chambers 20 at corresponding one ends of the three pole chambers, each arc chamber accommodating an arc chute, generally indicated at 20a. In the longitudinal gaps between par- `
titions 12b and 12c, there is accommodated a pair o~ identical a, ~
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breaker operating mechanisms, eachgenerally indicated at 22. It is seen that one of theqe operating mechanisms is po~ltioned between - left pole chamber lOa and cen~er pole chamber lOb, while the other operating mechanism is positioned between cen~er of pole chamber lOb ,5 and right pole chamber lOc. Operating in each breaker pole chamber .-is a movable contact arm 24 whose upper end (in the orientation seen in FIGURE 2) extends into its associated arc chamber 20. A movable contact 26 is brazed to the upper end o each contact arm for move-ment therewith between open circuit and closed circuit positions ;
` lO with respect to an associated fixed or stationary contact situated in each arc chamber. .
Turning to FIGURE 4, each fixed contact 28 is mounted atopone end of a separate line strap 30 whose other end is connected via a braid 32 to a female stab connector 34 exposed in an opening !.
`15 12d provided in the floor 12e of breaker case 12. These female stab connectors accommodate male stab connectors of a plug-in circuit breaker load cen~er pursuant to both electrically and physically installing circuit breaker lO therein. These stab connectors, one situated in each breaker pole chamber, are positioned on, for ~0 example, one inch centers, thereby enabling circuit breaker 10, whose case is then three inches wide, to plug on~o three consecutive, aligned load center stabs in the manner of three, side-by-side, one ;
inch, single-pole branch circuit breakers.
The ~ixed contact end of each load line strap 30, as seen in FIGURES 3-5, is resiliently supportPd with respect to floor 12e of ~he breaker case via an intervening hairpin spring 35. As seen in FIGURE 5, with contact arms 24 in their closed circuit positions `` bringing the movable contacts 26 into electrical contacting engage-ment with their associated fixed contacts 28, springs 35 are com-pressed ~o supply upwardly directed spring forces efective in , .S ~ ' `

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springs 35 serve to compensate ~or variations in the closed circui~ ,~
positions of the contact arms 24 due to manuacturing tolerances.
Also afixed to the fixed contact end o each line strap 30 is a steel arc runner 36 serving ~o direct an arc struck be~ween the .
- fixed and movable contacts during a circuit interruption out into the assoclated arc chutes 20a for efficien~ arc extinction. It will be no~ed that the upper surface of the arc runner is flush with the upper surface of fixed contact 28 so as to promote smooth run-~10 ning of an arc out onto the arc runner surface. The folded back configuration of the arc runners provid~s double thickness arc run-ner segments to withstand ~he eroding effects of successive circuit interruptions.
Referring jointly to FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the end o each contact arm 24 remote from lts movable contact end is electrically connected via a braid 38 to a heater 40 included in a separate trip unit, generally indicated at 42 and accommodated in each breaker ~, pole chamber. Each heater is constructed as an integrally formed conductor having an upright body 40a from which extends a pair of laterally spaced, curved arms 40b terminating in a common path 40c to which the end of braid 38 is brazed~ Welded to the lower termin-al portion of upright heater body for vertical extension in proxi~
mate, ~hermally cou~led relation ~hereto is a bi metal 44. It will be noted that heater arms 40b straddle bi-metal 44 in accommodating its vertical extent, and together pro,vide sufficient conduetive metal cross-section in thestringent lateral confines of each pol~
chamber. Moreover, welding the braid 38 to the common termination of arms 40b rather than to the lower termination o~ heater body 40a at the location where bi-metal 44 i8 also welded obviates the need - 30 for specialized tri-metal welding ~echniques. The internal breaker .-3b "

circuit for each breaker pole i~ terminated by an L-shaped load strap 46, the vertical portion of which is welded at its upper termination to the upper t~rminal portion of i~8 associated heater -. body 40a, while the horizontal load strap portion is bolted to the ~- 5 breaker case floor in electrical connection with a wire lug 48 seen in FIGURE 2.
Each trip unit further includes a U-shaped magnetic field `i piece 50 mounted in partially embracing relation to heater body 40a.
Flux developed in each ~ield piece in response to current flowing .-10 through its associated heater body 40a acts on an associated arma-ture 5~ e~uipped with opposed laterally extending ear~ 52a received ., in opposed notches S3 formed in the rims of the case sidewalls 12a and intermediate partitions 12c, as the case may be, pursuant to pivotally mounting each armature in their respective pole chambers ,`
(FIGURE 2). A torsion spring 53a provides the requisite armature bias in opposition to the magnetic attraction by its associated , ~ield piece 50, while a depending finger 52b engages an abutment ~not shown) provided in the ase 12 pursuant to establishing an appropriate air gap between the associated armatures and field .
pieces.
To provide internal common tripping o~ t~e two breaker oper-ating mechanisms 22 in response to an overcurrent condition in any one of the breaker poles, as sensed by the associated trip unit 42, :, there is provided a common trip bar 54 positioned to span the three pole chambers in proxima~e relation to each o~ the trip units. As best seen in FIGURE 2 and 8, a ~itting 55 is riveted to each end of the trip bar to provide a laterally extending ear 55a which is received i~ opposed notches 55b formed in the rim of each case slde- .
wall 12a pursuan~ to pivotally mounting ~he common tr~p bar. The common trip bar i~ ~urther provided wi~h a ~paced array o upwardly .
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. . , ~ extending protuberances 54a respectlvely situated above each pole `~ ~hamber in confronting rela~ion with the ~rlp unit 42 thereln. The ~`- common trip bar carries a pair of latch members 56 at location~
intermediate adjacent pole chambers ~or dependence into cavi~ies 57 provided in intermediate base partitions 12c. Each latch element is provided with a lanced latch shoulder 56a servin~ to latchably engage the tip 58a of a trigger ~8 extending into the respective cavities 57 from the two operating mechanisms 22. Depending leaf `~ springs 59 carried by the trip bar 54 act against an end wall in each intermediate partition cavity 57 to bias the trip bar into a pivotal position accommodating latching engagement of the latch ~-` shoulder~ 56a with the respec~ive operating mechanism trigger 58 pursuant to releaseably detaining the two operating mechanisms in ,-their reset or untripped conditions.
In the event o~ current of overload proportions flows through any one of the breaker poles, the bi-metal 44 of the trip unit 42 ~ituated in that particular pole chamber is indirectly heated by the current flowing through the heater body 40a. The bi-metal 44 begins to flex, causing the tip of a calibrating screw 44a threaded through a tapped pole in the upper end thereof, to engage the confronting ~;
one o~ the protuberances 54a, causing trip bar 54 to pivot in a l;
direction leading to the ultimate disengagement o~ the latch e~ement shoulders 56a ~rom ~he two operating mechanism ~riggers 58. As will be described below, upon unl~atching of the operating mechanism triggers, they pivot downwardly away from the common trip bar to defeat internal operating mechanism latches pursuant ~o achievin~
circuit interruption in all three breaker poles in quick break fashion.
To e~fect magnet~c tripping of the breaker in response to the flow of current o$ heAvy overload and short circuit proportions : - 8 -,, ~

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through any one of the breaker poles, each armature 52 is provided with an upwardly extending finger 52c which is situated to engage the confronting one of the trip bar protuberances 5ga as the arma-ture is attracted to its ac-tuated position by the flux generated in its associated field piece 50. This armature engagement induces pivotal movement of the trip bar in a direction to unlatch and trip both operating mechanisms 22. To prevent single phasing of one or two poles of breaker 10, the upper end of each latch element 56 is connected to the associated operating mechanism trigger 58 by a spring 60. Consequently, should one of the operating mechanism triggers unlatch before the other one, its tripping movement is communicated to common trip bar 54 via spring 60, thereby insuring pivotal movement of the common trip bar completely to its unlatching position well displaced from latching engagement with the other operating mechanism trigger. Thus, the possibility of one operating mechanism tripping without the other is precluded.
The two breaker operating mechanism 22 are identical to each other and constructed essentially in the manner disclosed and claimed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. 3,786,382 - Powell dated Jan/15/1974.
As thus seen in FIGURES 6, 7 and 8, each operating mechanism includes a frame consisting of spaced metallic sideplates 61 rigidly inter-connected by a J-shaped connecting member 62 via suitable means, such as staking. Also s-taked to the sides of the operating mechanism frame are insulative panels 63 which serve as interphase barriers for adjacent pole chambers. Along the upper edge of each frame sideplate there is provided a semi-circular projection 61a which serve to mount a transverse pin 64 on which operating handle 16 is pivotally mounted. Handle 16 is provided with a depending portion 16a which serves to carry a transverse pin 66 to which the upper ~:

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" ends of a pair o~ upper toggle links 68 are pivotally mounted.
. Frame sideplates are provided with arcuate S10~8 61b ~hrough which ,, the ends of pin 66 move during pivotal manipulation of operating ~, handle 16. Handle 16 is provide~ with a een~rally located, longitu~: 5 dinally extending slot (not shown) for accommodating trigger 58 which `' is p~votally mounted by handle pin 64. The ~rigger is provided with an arcuat~ slot (not shown) so as to avoid interference with toggle pin 66.
A,lower toggle link 70, of U-shaped cross-section is pivotally connected to the two upper toggle links 68 by a knee pin 72 (FIGURE
6). The lower end of toggle link 70 carries a ~ransverse rod 74 which extends well beyond both sides of the mechanism frame through ', kidney-shaped slots 63a formed in the insula~ive panels 63. To in-sulatively, mechanically couple the movable contact arms 24 to the operating mechanisms 22, a grommet 76 of insulative material is pro- ,,, vided with opposed, centrally located blind holes 76a into which the ends of rod 74 are inserted pursuant to mounting a separate grommet ~' ' to each end of this rod. Each grommet is provided with a hub 76b which is received in a hole 24a provided in each movable contac~ arm 24, while an integral grommet flange 76c provides the requisi~e ~ , spacing between the operating mechanism frame and the contact arms to each side thereof. As best seen in FIGU~E 8, the grommet mount-ing the c,enter pole contact arm accommodates the insertion from ,' ` opposite sides of the rods 74 rom the two operating mechanisms 22 '~ 25 into its blind central hole~ 76a to achieve effective ganging of the `~ three movable contact arn~s. The grommet located intermediate the , ' two operating mechanisms has an insulative washer 77 fitted on its step-down hub portion 76d so a~ to cooperate wlth ~he grommet flange 76c in centrally locating the cen~er pole con~act arm with respec~
to the two operating mechanisms.

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A8 disclosed in greater detail in the above~noted patent No - ~ 3,786,382/ the opera~ing mechanism ~o~gle is normally maintained in "-an essentially straightened conditlon whereby pivotal movement of . - the operating handle.16 is communicated to the movable contact arms . 5 24.pursuant to articulating them between their open and closed cir ~.
cuit positions. However, when ~he operating mechaniii~ims are tripped by the ac~ion of any one o trip units 42 is releasing triggers 58, i' the ability of the toggle in each operatin~ mechanism to maintain its straightened conditior: is defeated, enabling the movable contact .:
arms to jointly move to their open circuit positions independently of the operating handles. To this end, as seen in FIGURE 6 herein, a latch 78 is pivo~ally mounted adjacent its lower end on rod 74 and .
carries adjacent its upper end laterally extending ears 78a which are adapted to engage latch shoulders 68a formed adjacent the lower ends o~ the two upper toggle links 68. A torsion spring 79 carried on .
knee pin 72 ac~s on latch 78 to normally bias it in a counterclock- .
~ise pivotal direction seen in FIGURE 6, thereby urging the latch .ears 78a into positions of latching engagement with their associated latch shoulders 68a. It is thus seen that, as long aisi this latching " 20 engagement is maintained, relevant pivotal movement of the two toggle ~.
links about their knee pin 72 is restrained, and the toggle is thus .. maintained in its illustrated subs~antially s~raightened condition. -Under these circumstances, with pivotal movement of handles 16 in the counterclockwise direction from their posi~ions in FIGURE 6 to their positions seen in FIGURE 7, the movable contac~ arms 24 ganged to rods 74 are jointly rocked downwardly, generally about pins 24b extending from each side of each contact arm and caught in opposed notches 80 formed in interior-portions of base 12 located in ~ach pole chamber. When, durin~ this downward movement of the contact . 30 arms 24 ~heir movable contact 26 engage their assdiciated stationary ;

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contacts 28, the ulcrums ~or the rocklng mo~ion of the contact arms shift to the point of contact engagement, and the opposite ends of the contact arms move downwardly, ducking pins 24b toward the bottoms of notches 80 at the conclusion of contact closure articulation of S - the operating mechanisms. During downward movement of the c~ntact~
arms leading to circuit breaker closure, a compression spring 82 located in each operating mechanism and acting between J-shaped frame member 62 and rods 74 is loaded preparatory to powering an opening movement of the operating mechanisms and contact arms in quick break fashion. Also serving in this capacity are outboard helper springs 84, seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, having their one ends hooked on portions of base 12 and their other ends hoaked on the left and right pole movable contact arms. To manually open circuit breaker lO1 the handles are toggled in the clockwise direction back to the position o~ FIGURE 6, thereby lifting the straightened toggle and the contact arms are rocked upwardly to open circuit positions ` under the urgence of springs 82, 84.
: To defeat the restraint maintaining the toggle in its straightened condition, latch 78 is provided with an upwardly extending tab 78b which is poised in a position to be struck by a nose 58b carried by trigger 58 when the latter is released from : . ,.
latch shoulder 56a pursuant to`trippingthe operating mechanisms 22. , Tripping movement of triggers 58 is powered by individual springs -86 connected between each trigger and its associated mechanism frame member 62. It is seen rom FIGURE 6 that upon unlatching of the triggers, springs 86 propel their triggers in a counterclockwise direction bringing the trigger nose 58b into striking engagement ` with latch tab 78b, causing latch ears 78a to disengage latch shoulders 68a. The toggle of each operating mechanism is thus freed to buckle under the urgence of springs 82 and 84, and the contact , .
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arms 24 are abruptly rocked upwardly to their open circuit positions, ; all as more clearly disclosed in the above-noted patent With the - operating mechanisms tripped, a handle sprlng (not shown~ biases the two operating handles 16 to an intermediate, trip indicating position.
To reset the operating mechanisms, the operating handles are pivoted . to their clockwisemost positions seen in FIGURE 6, lifting their n triggers 58 upwardly into positions of latching engagement with their ; respective latch shoulders 56a and, at the same time, straightening the toggle to bring the latch ears 78a back into latching engagement with latch shoulders 68a. With the toggle now held in its straight-ened condition, the breaker can be reclosed.
It will be noted that each operating mechanism 22 is opera-- tively positioned independently of cover 14 by various grooves 87 (FIGURE 2) and ridges 88 (FIGURE 8) ~ormed in portions of base 12, and secured by a screw 89 extending through a hole 12f in base floor 12e and threaded into a tapped bore 6~a provided in swagged-up por-tion of frame member 62. This swa~ged-up portion serves to position-ally locate the lower end of mechanism spring 82. By virtue of this construction, together with the pivotal mounting of the armatures 52 and common trip bar 54 in the base 12, it is seen that circuit breaker 10 is operational with cover 14 removed to facilitate trouble shooting.
As an additional feature o~ the present invention, the ends of the contact arms 24 extend into their respective arc chambers 20 through vertically elongated slots provided in a pair of barriers 90 and 92, seen in FIGURES 2 and 3. Barriers 92, closest to the arc chambers are formed of bone fiber which ablate water vapor in the presence of arcing; this water vapor assisting in moving the arcs out into the arc chutes 20a. The other barriers 90 are formed of a rigid, high temperature melamine and are engaged along their .

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` `~ upper edges by the cover to press down on the load straps 30 situa-j: ~ ted therebeneath to preset the open circuit positions of the station-5-~ ary contacts 28 and the lnitial loading o springs ~5 (FIGURES 4 and .' S)' S . It will thus be seen that the objec~s set ~orth above, among those made apparent in the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above con-struction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown .... .
` 10 in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
~aving described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

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Claims (12)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclu-sive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. An electric circuit breaker comprising, in combination:
A. an insulative base consisting of a base and a cover, 1) said base including opposed sidewalls and two intermediate partitions serving to define longitudinally elongated, side-by-side right, center and left pole chambers;
B. a movable contact arm situated in each said pole chamber, each said arm mounting a movable contact at one end;
C. a pair of operating mechanisms respectively positionally mounted in laterally aligned interruptions provided in said intermediate partitions to locate one of said operating mechanisms between said right and center pole chambers and the other between said left and center pole chambers, each said operating mechanism including 1) a frame, 2) a manual operating handle pivotally mounted by said frame and protruding through an opening in said cover, 3) a toggle consisting of upper and lower links pivotally interconnected by a knee pin, said upper link pivotally connected to said handle, 4) a rod carried by said lower toggle link for transverse extension into the pole chambers to each side of said operating mechanism, 5) a spring acting between said rod and Claim 1 Cont'd said frame in a direction to collapse said toggle, and 6) a trigger normally, releaseably retained in a reset position and, upon release, moves to a tripped position effecting collapse of said toggle under the urgence of said spring;
D. a separate trip unit situated in each said pole chamber for monitoring the current flowing therethrough, E. a common trip bar extending transversely through said pole chambers in actuatable relation with each said trip unit, said trip bar carrying a pair of latch members for individually, releaseably retaining said trigger of each said operating mechanism in its reset condition, whereby the response of any one of said trip units to an overcurrent condition actuates said common trip bar to commonly release said triggers for individual movement to their tripped positions;
F. separate right, center and left pole in-sulative grommets having central bores for acceptance therein of the ends of said operating mechanism rods extending into said right and left pole chambers, and a hub for receipt in a hole formed in said movable contact arms situated in said left and right pole chambers, said center pole grommet having oppositely directed, blind central bores aligned for acceptance of the ends of the rods of the two operating mechanisms extending from opposite directions
1. Claim 1 Cont'd into said center pole chamber and a hub for receipt in a hole formed in said contact arm therein, thereby commonly inter-connecting the two operating mechanisms and said contact arms; and G. an external handle tie interconnecting the operating handles of said operating mechanisms.
2. 2. The circuit breaker defined in claim 1, wherein said right and left pole grommets each include an annular flange for spacing said contact arms in said right and left pole chambers from said operating mechanisms, and said center pole grommet includes a pair of annular flanges straddling said contact arm in said center pole chamber for spacing said center pole chamber contact arm from both said operating mechanisms.
3. 3. The circuit breaker defined in claim 1, wherein said operating mechanism frames are bolted to said base.
4. 4. The circuit breaker defined in claim 1, which further includes helper springs acting on said contact arms in said left and right pole chambers in assistance to said operating mechanism springs.
5. 5. The circuit breaker defined in claim 1, which further includes tension springs interconnecting said triggers with said trip bar, whereby the movement of one of said triggers toward its tripped position acts on said trip bar via its associated tension spring to insure release of the other one of said triggers.
   6. The circuit breaker defined in claim 1, which further includes a line stab connector situated in each
6. Claim 6 Cont'd said pole chamber intermediate its longitudinal ends, a line strap situated in each said pole chamber, each said line strap electrically connected at one end to said line stab connector in its pole chamber and carrying a stationary contact adjacent its other end, and a separate compression spring situated between a bottom surface of each said pole chamber and the stationary contact end of the line strap therein.
7. 7. The circuit breaker defined in claim 6, which further includes an arc chute situated in one longitudinal end of each said pole chamber, and an arc runner affixed to the stationary contact end of each said line strap for extension into proximity with an associated one of said arc chutes, each said arc runner consisting of a metallic strip bent back on itself to provide a double thickness portion extending between its associated station-ary contact and arc chute, the upper surface of said double thickness portion being flush with the upper surface of its associated stationary contact.
8. 8. The circuit breaker defined in claim 7, which further includes a pair of side-by-side barriers trans-versely situated in each said pole chamber, each said barrier pair having vertically elongated slots through which the associated movable contact arm extends to present its movable contact for engagement with the associated one of said stationary contacts, the one barrier of each pair nearest the associated one of said arch chutes composed of bone fiber and the other barrier composed of a rigid, high temperature melamine, said other barrier engaging said associated line strap along its lower edge and engaged along its upper edge by said cover to provide a predeter-mined preloading of the associated one of said compression spring.
9. 9. The circuit breaker defined in claim 8, wherein said right and left pole grommets each include an annular flange for spacing said contact arms in said right and left pole chambers from said operating mechanisms and said center pole grommet includes a pair of annular flanges straddling said contact arm in said center pole chamber for spacing said center pole chamber contact arm from both said operating mechanisms.
10. 10. The circuit breaker defined in claim 9, wherein said operating mechanism frames are bolted to said base.
11. 11. The circuit breaker defined in claim 10, which further includes helper springs acting on said contact arms in said left and right pole chambers in assistance to said operating mechanism springs.
12. 12. The circuit breaker defined in claim 11, which further includes tension springs interconnecting said triggers with said trip bar, whereby the movement of one of said triggers toward its tripped position acts on said trip bar via its associated tension spring to insure release of the other one of said triggers.