Patent ID: 7135945

Claim:
A circuit breaker comprising: a housing including first and second openings; separable contacts enclosed within said housing; an operating mechanism including an operating handle for opening and closing said separable contacts, said operating handle including a first end and a second end, the first end protruding from the first opening of said housing and moving among OFF, ON and tripped positions corresponding to said separable contacts being open, closed and tripped open, respectively; and a trip indicator comprising: a trip indicating member including a first end and a second end, said first end of said trip indicating member having a trip indicia, said second end of said trip indicating member including a first portion and a second portion, wherein said first portion is engaged by said operating mechanism when said separable contacts are not tripped open, in order to prevent said trip indicia from being viewable at the second opening of said housing, and wherein said first portion is disengaged and released by said operating mechanism when said separable contacts are tripped open, causing said trip indicating member to move in order that said trip indicia is viewable at the second opening of said housing and said second portion of the second end of said trip indicating member engages and locks the second end of said operating handle.