The Circuit breaker reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Circuit breaker

A circuit breaker is a piece of equipment which is designed to protect an electrical apparatus from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Unlike a fuse which operates once and then has to be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume normal operation.

Circuit breakers are usually implemented with an electromagnet whose strength increases as the current increases and eventually trips the circuit breaker.

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