Yes, I didn't get into the wide variety of circuit breakers types, in part because it would take multiple lengthy posts. However, having mentioned fast-acting versus slow-acting fuses, as well as fusible links, I probably should have at least mentioned the most common types of circuit breakers.
For those interested in a more in-depth discussion, please see
Wikipedia's Circuit Breaker page. (While good, be prepared for a discussion that gets very technical.)
People are most familiar with manual reset circuit breakers, like those found in home breaker panels. And, I'll admit sometimes using these as on-off switches when I really should install an additional, separate, heavy-duty switch.
There are also circuit breakers that automatically reset after a period of time. These are used in a variety of situations, such as inaccessible locations, no convenient place to mount a manual reset circuit breaker, anticipated brief current surges not requiring manual intervention/troubleshooting, and so on.
Internally, common circuit breakers use a thermal trip mechanism. These are most common because they are well suited to most situations, tripping quickly in response to significant overloads. (These are especially well suited to dealing with short circuits.)
(Automatic resetting thermal breakers were also used -- back in the days of vacuum tube radios, televisions, and computers -- to react to the device getting too hot, in addition to current overload protection.)
Other circuit breakers use an electromagnetic trip mechanism which reacts to extended periods of low level current overload that could lead to damage to the circuit components but don't always provide protection for significant overloads. (These are typically used in electronic devices.)
Furthermore, there are thermo-magnetic circuit breakers that react to extended periods of low level overload, as well as tripping quickly in response to significant overloads. These are well suited to both short circuit and loose/corroded/dirty/etc connection situations. (These tend to be much more expensive so I prefer to just use thermal circuit breakers and make sure all circuit connections are clean and tight.)
Most of this is only really a concern to people designing sophisticated, complex electronic circuits. For people seeking to maintain and improve their older motorhomes, the commonly available manual reset thermal circuit breakers are just fine.
