Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Insulating body with spaced – electrically interconnected,...
Patent
1986-04-03
1987-12-29
Weidenfeld, Gil
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Insulating body with spaced, electrically interconnected,...
439741, 439715, H01R 1109
Patent
active
047158328
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
A building element for a building set, said element comprising a plurality of contiguous, square module units, at least some of which have a coupling stud protruding co-axially with a central axis of the module unit, so that the mutual centre-to-centre distance of the coupling studs is equal to a multiple of the module measure, said element moreover comprising complementary coupling means for cooperation with coupling studs on an adjacent element for mechanical intercoupling of the elements, and having at least two mutually electrically insulated current paths, a first current path being connected to first contact areas in the element and designed to establish electrical connection with the first current path in an adjacent element, a second current path being connected to second contact areas in the element and designed to establish electrical connection with the second current path in the adjacent element.
For example the Swiss patent specification No. 455 606 discloses a toy building set whose building blocks are provided with conductive areas for conduction of electric current when the building elements are coupled together. This conduction, however, just concerns unipolar current, but it is known in principle from the German Offenlegungsschrift No. 25 52 587 that a building block may contain several current paths, where, of course, short circuiting between these current paths is to be avoided. How the short circuiting is to be avoided in practice, however, is not known.
The object of the invention is to provide a building element of the present type where the contact areas for the current paths are so placed as to provide, on one hand, security against short circuiting and, on the other, additional advantages, as will be explained below.
Security against short circuiting is obtained by the co-axial location of the first and the second contact areas, as stated in the characterizing portion of claim 1, and since at least the first contact areas are positioned within the coupling stud, external access to the associated current path is difficult, partly with respect to direct contact and partly with respect to the risk of external short circuiting to the other current path. When the contact areas of at least one current path are positioned within the radial extent of the coupling studs, an additional advantage is obtained. This advantage is brought about in that the coupling studs extend an axial distance from the building element, and because of this axial length the first contact areas can be so shaped that the building element can be coupled with a corresponding building element without electric current paths. Further, the height of the coupling studs allows the contact areas to be made resilient.
Claim 2 defines a first embodiment of the building element of the invention, where each of the coupling studs of the building element is provided both with said first and said second contact areas. It should be mentioned here that the building element of claim 1 is not conditional upon some specially shaped mechanical coupling means. Thus, there may be building elements of such a structure that the embodiment defined in claim 2 is expedient. In other constructions, the embodiment defined in claim 3 may be expedient, and it is usually less complicated to manufacture since only one type of contact areas is to be provided for one row of coupling studs, while only the second type of contact areas is to be provided for the second row of coupling studs. When two building elements of the last-mentioned type are coupled together mechanically, both current paths will normally be interconnected, and the risk of short circuiting is eliminated.
Claim 4 defines a first embodiment of the first contact areas, while claims 5 and 6 define an embodiment of the second contact areas. It will be noted that the embodiment defined in claim 4 presupposes that the other elements of the building set, which do not contain electric current paths, must also have a central hole in the coupling studs in order for them to be coupled togethe
REFERENCES:
patent: 2762024 (1956-09-01), Heath
patent: 2977562 (1961-03-01), Benson
patent: 3027534 (1962-03-01), Deakin
patent: 3377607 (1968-04-01), Deakin
Interlego A.G.
Pirlot David
Weidenfeld Gil
LandOfFree
Current-carrying element does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Current-carrying element, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Current-carrying element will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-460855