Electrical connectors – With contact preventer or retractable cover part – Movably mounted
Reexamination Certificate
2003-09-15
2004-11-09
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With contact preventer or retractable cover part
Movably mounted
C439S145000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06814594
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a composite elastic member of socket safety protective cover, and more particularly, to a composite elastic member disposed at a socket safety protective cover, being capable of simultaneously providing the safety protective cover with vertical and horizontal restoring elasticity, and forming fulcrums during swinging movements of the protective cover.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A common wall socket or an extension wire socket is generally provided with at least one set of receptacles, wherein each set of receptacles has two or three receptacles. However, several drawbacks are found after studying the aforesaid prior socket. First of all, the “open” socket lacks protective measures, and accidental electric shocks are repeated occurrences among children caused by curiosity. Secondly, the prior socket is an open structure as described, with conductive straps at an interior thereof mostly being conductive materials such as copper. These conductive materials are often formed with aerugo resulted from humidity for being exposed in air over long periods of time, or accumulated with dust, and hence conductive efficiencies thereof may become affected. To overcome the aforesaid shortcomings, a structure disclosed by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,088 is provided. Referring to
FIG. 7
, the structure comprises a socket housing D having a protective cover D
1
capable of elastic horizontal movements; and two stopping members D
2
each having an inclined plane and located at a top portion of the protective cover D
1
, with the two stopping members D
2
blocking below receptacles D
3
. When pins B
1
of a plug B are inserted into the receptacles D
3
, the inclined planes of the two stopping members D
2
are simultaneously displaced to further horizontally move the entire protective cover D
1
, so as to conduct the plug B with conductive straps D
4
by completely inserting the plug B into the receptacles D
3
. When an alien object C is inserted into one of the receptacles D
3
as shown in
FIG. 8
, the alien object C imposes a downward force at one end of the protective cover D
1
. Leverage is formed from force received at one end of the protective cover D
1
, and the stopping member D
2
at the other end of the protective cover D
1
is lifted to block in the receptacle D
3
. As result, the protective cover D
1
fails to displace horizontally with the protective cover D
1
remaining blocked in the receptacles
3
, thereby preventing potential hazards by forbidding the alien object C from coming into contact and conducting with the conductive straps D
4
.
However, according to the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,088, for that the protective cover D
1
is incapable of vertical movements in a downward direction, the two stopping members D
2
at the protective cover D
1
cannot be extended into the receptacles D
3
under normal circumstances. The reason behind is that, if the stopping members D
2
are extended into the receptacles D
3
, the protective cover D
1
would fail to displace horizontally under any circumstances. Yet, suppose the stopping members D
2
are located below the receptacles D
3
instead of being extended into the receptacles D
3
under normal circumstances, it is rather unapparent that the stopping members D
2
are capable of preventing horizontal displacements of the protective cover D
1
when one observes an appearance of the structure from exterior. Hence, when such products are displayed and sold, a targeted appeal as protective functions provided by the protective cover D
1
is hardly made distinguishing.
To resolve the aforesaid drawbacks, it is crucial that the protective cover D
1
be capable of downward displacements, horizontal sliding movements and leverage swinging movements in order to allow the protective cover D
1
with the following effects:
1. Under normal circumstances, the protective cover D
1
has the stopping members D
2
extended into the receptacles D
3
.
2. When the pins B
1
of the plug B are inserted into the receptacles D
3
, the protective cover D
1
first displaces downward and followed by horizontal movements to further open up.
3. When the alien object C is inserted into any of the receptacles D
3
, the protective cover D
1
has the other stopping member D
2
not being pushed remain in the receptacle D
3
using leverage swinging movements, thereby preventing horizontal sliding movements of the protective cover.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a composite elastic member of socket safety protective cover fulfilling the aforesaid requirements. The composite elastic member is provided with both vertical and horizontal restoring elasticity, and has leverage fulcrums, so as to simplify a structure and speed up assembly processes thereof.
The invention comprises vertical elastic plates, a horizontal elastic plate and a fixing section. A highest point of each vertical elastic plate forms a support point. The horizontal elastic plate is located at a side of the vertical plates, and has action directions perpendicular to those of the vertical elastic plates. The fixing section is located out of action ranges of the vertical elastic plates and the horizontal elastic plate, and is for fixing the entire structure to an external object.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4722693 (1988-02-01), Rose
patent: 6217353 (2001-04-01), Yu-Tse
patent: 6238224 (2001-05-01), Shao
patent: 6422880 (2002-07-01), Chiu
patent: 6537088 (2003-03-01), Huang
patent: 6537089 (2003-03-01), Montague
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