[Al Skierkiewicz]

Remember that the deformation takes place in the latch cam. The latch is actually ties directly to the flag. It turns as the flag is moved in or out. What change may take place is on the contact area of the two parts. When a high current through an inductive load is interrupted, arcing usually occurs. While the contact is designed to survive multiple interruptions without damage, some pitting will occur with each arc. This effect is worse when the space between the contacts is very small. So the design of this device makes the opening of the contact large and quick when either tripped or opened manually.