Electricity: conductors and insulators – Covers or face plates
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-13
2001-04-17
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Covers or face plates
C174S067000, C220S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06218616
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to safety covers for electrical switches and more particularly to an electric switch plate cover for use with a representative switch plate; the electrical switch plate cover including a base plate having a central, rectangular shaped, on/off toggle switch opening; a pair of switch plate cover securing screw apertures positioned so as to be positioned in registration with securing screw apertures of the representative switch plate; a flexible wire rope loop extending upward from the base plate from a location adjacent to the on/off toggle switch opening; a hinged cover structure pivotally attached to the top surface of the base plate and sized and shaped to pivot down over and cover the toggle switch opening and the pair of switch plate cover securing screw apertures of the base plate and having a rope loop passage slot positioned to be in registration with the wire rope loop when the hinged cover structure is in the down position and sized such that the top end of the flexible wire rope loop must deform to slip therethrough; the top end of the flexible wire rope loop defining a lock shank opening through which the shank of a padlock of the like can be positioned to lock the hinged cover structure in the down position when the flexible wire rope loop is deformably squeezed through the rope loop passage slot; the base plate having an underside surface defined by a downwardly extending perimeter base plate edge; the underside surface having a pair of switch plate cover securing screw aperture tubes extending downward from the underside surface of the base plate such that the terminal tube ends thereof lie in the same plane as the downwardly extending perimeter base plate edge; the base plate further including a rigid metal attachment plate attached to the underside surface and having two wire rope end apertures formed therethrough through which two terminal ends of the flexible wire rope loop are positioned; the two terminal ends of the flexible wire rope loop each have a clip secured thereto to prevent the wire rope end from pulling through a respective wire rope end aperture.
BACKGROUND ART
It is often desirable to place an electric toggle switch in either an “on” or an “off” position and then to secure the toggle switch in that position to prevent accidents and the like. It would be a benefit, therefore, to have an electric switch plate cover that could be easily installed over an existing electrical switch plate that provided a hinged cover structure that could be locked in a position blocking access to the electric toggle switch.
GENERAL SUMMARY DISCUSSION OF INVENTION
It is thus an object of the invention to provide an electric switch plate cover that is easily installed over an existing electrical switch plate that includes a hinged cover structure that can be locked in a position blocking access to the electric toggle switch of the existing electrical switch plate.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an electric switch plate cover that includes a base plate having a central, rectangular shaped, on/off toggle switch opening; a pair of switch plate cover securing screw apertures positioned so as to be positioned in registration with securing screw apertures of the representative switch plate; a flexible wire rope loop extending upward from the base plate from a location adjacent to the on/off toggle switch opening; a hinged cover structure pivotally attached to the top surface of the base plate and sized and shaped to pivot down over and cover the toggle switch opening and the pair of switch plate cover securing screw apertures of the base plate and having a rope loop passage slot positioned to be in registration with the wire rope loop when the hinged cover structure is in the down position and sized such that the top end of the flexible wire rope loop must deform to slip therethrough; the top end of the flexible wire rope loop defining a lock shank opening through which the shank of a padlock of the like can be positioned to lock the hinged cover structure in the down position when the flexible wire rope loop is deformably squeezed through the rope loop passage slot; the base plate having an underside surface defined by a downwardly extending perimeter base plate edge; the underside surface having a pair of switch plate cover securing screw aperture tubes extending downward from the underside surface of the base plate such that the terminal tube ends thereof lie in the same plane as the downwardly extending perimeter base plate edge; the base plate further including a rigid metal attachment plate attached to the underside surface and having two wire rope end apertures formed therethrough through which two terminal ends of the flexible wire rope loop are positioned; the two terminal ends of the flexible wire rope loop each have a clip secured thereto to prevent the wire rope end from pulling through a respective wire rope end aperture.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an electric switch plate cover that includes
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an electric switch plate cover that includes
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an electric switch plate cover that accomplishes all or some of the above objects in combination.
Accordingly, an electric switch plate cover is provided. The electric switch plate cover includes
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Bates Christopher D.
Bates Patti L.
Breaux Joseph N.
Patel Dhiru R.
Reichard Dean A.
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