Electrical connectors – With contact preventer or retractable cover part – Movably mounted
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-23
2002-07-30
Bradley, P. Austin (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With contact preventer or retractable cover part
Movably mounted
C439S142000, C439S136000, C439S139000, C439S139000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06425773
ABSTRACT:
PRIORITY CLAIM
This application is based on and claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of German Patent Application 100 14 500.0, filed on Mar. 23, 2000, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an electrical outlet or receptacle with a protective cover that is slidable to selectively cover or uncover the electrical contact socket openings of the electrical outlet, into which the electrical contact pins of a mating electrical plug may be inserted for establishing an electrical connection. This electrical outlet is particularly suitable for use in an aircraft, and is to be arranged close to a passenger seat in an aircraft, for providing electrical power to portable electrical and electronic devices such as laptop computers, compact disk and cassette tape players, and the like.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Due to the ever expanding availability and use of portable electrical and electronic devices, such as laptop computers, compact disk players, cassette tape players, and the like, there has been an increasing demand by passengers to also use such devices during flight in an aircraft. Since the battery or accumulator capacity of such devices is not sufficient for powering the devices during longer flight durations, there is further a demand for electrical outlets arranged in or near passenger seats in an aircraft, in order to provide electrical power for powering such passenger convenience devices. However, in view of the dangers of electromagnetic interference in an aircraft and for various other reasons, it is not possible, i.e. it is not allowed, for passengers to operate any desired electrical or electronic device.
In order to control the types of electronic devices that may be plugged into electrical outlets provided for passenger use in the aircraft, regulations specify the type or functional features of electrical outlets that may be provided in an aircraft. In this context, an electrical outlet is required, into which typical commercially available electrical plugs will not fit without a special adapter. This prevents a passenger from plugging an electrical device into the electrical outlet unless the passenger has been provided with the special adapter. Such an adapter must fulfill the following requirements. The adapter must provide the possibility of connecting to a hypertronic electrical outlet with a 15 volt d.c. outlet voltage. Also, the adapter must be able to deliver or derive the necessary supply voltage required by a laptop computer or the like, from the 15 volt d.c. voltage that is available from the outlet. Also, the adapter must provide the specific configuration of the electrical contact socket openings to mate with the respective electrical plug of the laptop computer or the like.
It is a disadvantage of using such adapters, that it becomes necessary to constantly develop and provide new adapters for aircraft applications, necessitated by the rather rapid changing of models and electrical connection requirements of various electrical and electronic devices such as laptop computers and the like. As a result, it becomes an ongoing burden to provide updated adapters. Moreover, the availability of a suitable adapter is not always ensured, so that a passenger will not necessarily be able to use the intended electrical or electronic device in the aircraft. A further disadvantage is that the necessary adapters are not provided by the manufacturers of the laptop computers or other devices, so that a suitable compatibility between the laptop computer or other device and the aircraft electrical outlets is not always ensured.
It is also generally known in the art to provide an electrical outlet with a protective cover that selectively closes or opens the electrical contact socket openings, so as to selectively allow or prevent the contact pins of an electrical plug to be inserted into the socket openings of the electrical outlet. Generally, such a protective cover is slidable in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the electrical outlet, and includes a sloping surface or the like, so that the contact pins of an electrical plug being inserted into the socket openings will cause the protective cover to be pushed slidingly aside, so as to allow the contact pins to be inserted into the socket openings and thereby establish an electrical connection. Such an electrical outlet may further include a locking or latching mechanism that selectively prevents the protective cover from being pushed slidingly out of its position covering the socket openings. Special measures must be carried out in order to unlatch the latching mechanism.
More particularly, a variety of different electrical outlet configurations or structures have become known in this context. For example, published British Patent Specification GB 612,486 discloses an electrical outlet that includes a protective mechanism for covering the electrical contact socket openings thereof, in the form of two flat insulating plates. These insulating plates are generally urged and held into a rest position by one or two compression springs, particularly by the influence of the springs respectively pressing against a protrusion of each respective insulating plate. In this resting position, the insulating plates are in a pivoted position in which they are blocked from sliding in a direction necessary for uncovering the socket openings. By inserting the ground contact pin of an electrical plug into a corresponding opening of the electrical outlet, this grounding contact pin of the plug causes the insulating plates to pivot into an unlocked or unblocked position. Then, as the electrical plug is inserted further into the electrical outlet, the conductor pins being inserted into the corresponding socket openings cause the insulating plates to slide into a further position in which they open or uncover the corresponding socket contacts of the electrical outlet.
Published European Patent Application EP 0,539,093 discloses an electrical outlet with two contacts for connecting with the pin contacts of an electrical plug. The electrical outlet includes a shutter element which covers two socket openings provided in the front face wall of the electrical outlet, when this shutter element is in a closed position. Also, the shutter element is latched in this closed position, i.e. is prevented from sliding out of the closed position into an open position in which the socket openings are uncovered. The shutter element is unlatched by the insertion of the ground contact pin or a protrusion of the electrical plug. Particularly, the ground contact pin spreads apart two latching legs of the shutter element, so as to disengage these latching legs from a fixed latching element. Then, the insertion of the electrical contact pins of the electrical plug into the corresponding socket openings of the electrical outlet causes the shutter element to slide out of the way, to allow the contact pins to enter into the socket contacts of the electrical outlet in order to establish the electrical connection therebetween.
German Utility Model DE 92 11 368 U1 discloses a safety contact plug connector or electrical outlet including an electrical plug and a housing that is closeable or coverable by a cap. The housing includes a base body made of an electrically insulating material, with shielding contacts as well as two contact sleeves or sockets for respectively receiving the contact pins of a profiled electrical plug. The plug can be inserted into an appropriately formed recess of the cap. The floor of this recess is provided with holes through which the contact pins of the plug are inserted. An essentially T-shaped blocking element is rotatably arranged between the floor of this recess and the free ends of the contact sleeves in the housing. The T-shaped blocking element is biased by a spring to rotate into a blocking position. A flange of the blocking element protrudes into the space between the two holes in the floor of the recess and the free ends of the contact sleeves. An unlatching
Brey Jens
Krick Hans-Juergen
Mosebach Dieter
Bradley P. Austin
Fasse W. F.
Fasse W. G.
KID-Systeme GmbH
Tsukerman Larisa
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