Abstract: A switch has a vacuum interrupter and a switch housing which holds the vacuum interrupter between two supply terminals. The vacuum interrupter contains a tubularly constructed, evacuated housing with a fixed contact member and movable contact member. A movable contact carrier of the movable contact member is guided out of the housing in a vacuum-tight manner by a bellows and is held on the housing axis by a slideway. The slideway has a bushing which is detachably mounted on a flange of the housing. The bushing has an axially aligned guide groove situated on an inner surface. A guide element held on the sliding body of the movable contact carrier is guided in this guide groove. The switch prevents undesired axial, radial and torsional acting forces from damaging the bellows, and therefore, ensures the vacuum-tightness of the vacuum interrupter is maintained during manufacturing assembly and operation.

Abstract: The pressure medium drive is provided for opening and closing the contacts (e.sub.1, e.sub.2) of an electric circuit-breaker. It contains a pressure medium reservoir (r), a drive piston (t) which slides in a drive cylinder (c) and acts on a mechanism (j) for displacing a movable contact (e.sub.1) of the circuit-breaker, and a reversing valve (s) for the selective connection of the pressure medium reservoir (r) to the drive cylinder (c) or of the drive cylinder (c) to an outlet volume for the pressure medium.This pressure medium drive is of simple, inexpensive construction and can open the contacts of the circuit-breaker considerably faster than it can close them.This is due to an interposed valve (v) which is disposed between the pressure medium reservoir (r) and the reversing valve (s) and has a flow cross section determined by the closing time of the contacts (e.sub.1, e.sub.2), and to the much larger flow cross section of the reversing valve (s).

Abstract: To be able to automatically operate an electric vehicle coupling with a contact bush, there is provided a one way drive which both advances the contact bush (for coupling) and retracts it (for uncoupling) via an eccentrically mounted rolling wheel and a slide rail in which the rolling wheel slides. The rolling wheel has an eccentricity of (.DELTA.x+.epsilon.)/2, where .DELTA.x is a desired advance and .epsilon. is a compression advance.

Abstract: Each coupling head of a vehicle coupling comprises a spring accumulator 50 consisting of compression springs 27, 30 which are energized by a pressure bar 20 when a tension bolt 3 of the head is moved inward. The coupling of the tension bolt 3 in a tension bolt receptacle 4 occurs by engagement levers 12, which are locked by a displaceable frame 16 in the coupled state. The unlocking is remotely operable by actuation of a solenoid 45 which actuates a latch 32 through an unlocking bar 41. Because of this unlocking, the frame 16 is displaced by the force of the spring accumulator, so that the locking of the engagement levers 12 is released and the coupling can be decoupled.