An electric switch with a set of stationary contact means and a set of movable contact means situated on a contact bridge (30) movable between an IN-position and an OUT-position comprises furthermore a forcibly guiding mechanism (32) for manual handling of the contact bridge (30) as well as an ejector mechanism (56) and a trip device (74) co-operating with said ejector mechanism, whereby the contact bridge (30) is automatically displaced from its IN-position to its OUT-position when an overloading, a fault or a signal current is present. The forcibly guiding mechanism (32) and the contact bridge (30) are interconnected by means of a releasable blocking device in such a manner that the ejector mechanism (56) in the releasing situation need only overcome frictional forces between the stationary and the movable contact means as said blocking device is released by means of the trip device (74). Furthermore the forcibly guiding mechanism (32) and the ejector mechanism (56) co-operate in such a manner that the latter containing an energy reservoir such as for instance a spring (64) is automatically reset before the contact bridge (30) can be forced to the IN-position. The forcibly guiding mechanism (32) - in the form of an elbow joint - moves between two extreme positions and during said movement it passes a dead centre. Furthermore it comprises a tilting spring (40) the content of potential energy of which after the passage of the dead centre is utilized for charging the energy reservoir (64) of the ejector mechanism (56).