Patent ID: 7358838

Claim:
A trip indicator for an electrical switching apparatus including a housing having first and second openings, separable contacts enclosed by said housing, and an operating mechanism having an operating handle with a first end and a second end, the first end of the operating handle protruding from the first opening of said housing, said operating mechanism being operable among OFF, ON, and tripped positions in which said separable contacts are open, closed, and tripped open, respectively, and being structured to trip open said separable contacts in response to a trip condition, said trip indicator comprising: a flag member including a trip indicia, said flag member being structured to be actuated by said operating mechanism of said electrical switching apparatus in response to said trip condition in order to move said trip indicia in order that it is viewable at or about the second opening of said housing; a first resilient leg disposed distal from said trip indicia and being structured to bias said trip indicia away from the second opening of said housing when said separable contacts are not tripped open; and a second resilient leg disposed proximate said first leg and being structured to bias said operating handle of said operating mechanism toward the OFF position in order to assist said operating handle to move from the ON position in response to said trip condition, wherein, in response to said trip condition, said first resilient leg is structured to engage a portion of said housing of said electrical switching apparatus in order to maintain a visual trip indication by said flag member, regardless of the position of said operating mechanism of said electrical switching apparatus, and wherein said first resilient leg is structured to bias said trip indicia and said second resilient leg is structured to bias said operating handle, without a number of separate springs.