Strange (to me) circuit breaker.

[JohnArnoldBrown]

At my tennis club there is a circuit breaker which has a reset button, whech, apparently, needs to be "pumped" in order to reset it. I've never heard of this before, and I wondered if anybody could shed some light on the subject.
FYI, it is connected to about 6 socket outlets in the kitchen, nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[RF Lighting]

Does it look like this by any chance?

 

[JohnArnoldBrown]

No, not really. The next time I'm there I'll look for a name/model number.
The reason I'm intrigued is that somebody told me that it "brought the contacts together slowly, to prevent arcing" which didn't make much sense to me.

 

[securespark]

Is it an old brown one?

 

[JohnArnoldBrown]

It's pretty new, as far as I know. Of all the circuit breakers there it's the newest. I think it may have been used just because the electrician had a spare one, but I'm still intrigued as to how it works.

I'm an old Brown one, if that helps.

 

[ricicle]

No, not really. The next time I'm there I'll look for a name/model number.
The reason I'm intrigued is that somebody told me that it "brought the contacts together slowly, to prevent arcing" which didn't make much sense to me.

Bringing contacts together slowly would have the opposite effect and bring about arcing if the circuit was heavily loaded

 

[SparkyMarky]

If you need to pump it up before switching it then the idea is probably to close the contacts as quickly as possible to prevent arcing. At work we have some busbar feeder switches which work on the same principle (admittedly they're rated at a minimum of 1600 amps though!). Before closing them you need to crank a handle first to compress a spring, then stand back, think of England, and press a button which releases the spring to close the contacts. They close with a very loud bang (mechanical rather than electrical )which takes years off my life every time I do it.

Not sure why you'd need this type of breaker on a circuit supplying sockets in a tennis club kitchen though. 50 kw tea urn?

 

[JohnArnoldBrown]

Bringing contacts together slowly would have the opposite effect and bring about arcing if the circuit was heavily loaded

I know - that's why I'm trying to find out the real reason!