Verbesserter Antriebsmechanismus für einen elektrischen Schalter, insbesondere Schutzschalter oder Leistungsschalter

A drive mechanism for a circuit breaker or power switch made up of at least one switching unit (1). The drive mechanism comprises a tensioning mechanism (15) in the form of a transition point or toggle mechanism which can act upon the switching unit (1), with actuating means (19) for tensioning the tensioning mechanism (15), drive means (7, 20) for driving the switching unit (1) under the influence of the energy stored in the tensioning mechanism (15), and means (8) for resetting the switching unit (1) from the driven state. A coupling mechanism (28; 55) in the form of a movement-direction-dependent carrier mechanism is provided. By means of this coupling mechanism (28; 55) the tensioning mechanism (15) is brought in its tensioned state into engagement with the drive means (7, 20), for driving the switching unit (1), and in the driven state of the switching unit (1) the engagement of the tensioning mechanism (15) and the drive means (7, 20) is released, for resetting the switching unit (1) without operation of the actuating means (19), and the tensioning mechanism (15) and the drive means (7, 20) act upon each other only in the direction of movement opposite to the tensioning direction. In order to improve the "hammer" effect during separation of the contacts of the switching unit (1), the drive means (7, 20) are made mechanically more rigid near the action point with the switching unit (1) through a selective mass increase (45).