Importance

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Abstract

The present invention is directed to a protective electrical wiring device that includes a housing assembly having a plurality of receptacle terminals comprising hot user-accessible terminal structure and a neutral user-accessible terminal structure accessible via at least one user-accessible receptacle. A circuit interrupting assembly is coupled to a fault detection circuit. The circuit interrupting assembly is configured to establish electrical continuity between the plurality of line terminals, the plurality of load terminals and the plurality of receptacle terminals in a reset state and interrupt the electrical continuity in a tripped state. The circuit interrupting assembly includes at least one first circuit interrupter member and at least one second circuit interrupter member, the at least one first circuit interrupter member being configured to drive the at least one second circuit interrupter member into the reset state in response to a make force. The at least one first circuit interrupter member and the at least one second circuit interrupter member are counter-driven into the tripped state by a break force. At least one stop member is disposed in a substantially fixed position relative to the housing assembly. The at least one stop member is configured to limit the movement of the at least one second circuit interrupter member such that a gap between the at least one first circuit interrupter member and the at least one second circuit interrupter member is substantially equal to a predetermined distance in the tripped state.

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First Claim