Patent ID: 7196886

Claim:
A circuit interrupting device comprising: a housing; at least one pair of phase and neutral line terminals disposed at least partially within said housing and capable of being electrically connected to a source of electricity; at least one pair of phase and neutral load terminals disposed at least partially within said housing and capable of conducting electrical current to a load when electrically connected to said at least one pair of phase and neutral line terminals; a circuit interrupter disposed within said housing and configured to break said electrical connection between said line and load tenninals in response to the occurrence of a predetermined condition; a reset lock-out responsive to the occurrence of said predefined condition such that said reset lock-out is operable between a lock-out position wherein said reset lock-out inhibits resetting of said electrical connection between said line and load terminals and a reset position wherein said reset lock-out does not inhibit resetting of said electrical connection between said line and load terminals; a reset mechanism operatively associated with said reset lock-out and said circuit interrupter such that activation of said reset mechanism activates said circuit interrupter which facilitates movement of said reset lock-out from said lock-out position to said reset position by said reset mechanism; and a switch and timer circuit coupled to the phase and neutral line terminals so as to allow a sufficient amount of leakage current to flow for a sufficient amount of time to trip said circuit interrupter when said device is reverse wired, wherein said switch of said switch and timer circuit is coupled to connect the neutral line terminal to a ground terminal to cause a leakage current to flow to trip said circuit interrupter if said device is reverse wired.