US Patent 7772513 Switchgear and switchgear operating mechanism

A switchgear operating mechanism for reciprocatively driving a movable contact of a switchgear so as to shift the switchgear between an open state and a closed state. In the closed state, a roller pushes a leading end of a latch in the direction substantially toward the rotation center of the latch. In a state where the switchgear operating state is shifted from the closed state to the open state, a lock lever is pulled so as to allow the latch to be rotated in the opposite direction to the biasing direction of a latch return spring to release an engagement between the roller and the leading end of the latch, which causes the opening spring to discharge its energy to rotate the sub-shaft.