Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Coupling part with relatively pivotable concentric...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-29
2001-05-08
Nguyen, Khiem (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...
Coupling part with relatively pivotable concentric...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227892
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to marine shore electrical power cord set. More particularly, it relates to securement collars for the plug ends of marine shore electrical power cord sets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Marine shore electrical power cord sets are well known. An example is the MARINECO electrical power connector manufactured by Marine Industries Company. Such cord sets typically have two or more plug ends which are intended to mate with cooperating marine electrical power inlet or receptacle on a boat or a shore power supply in order to supply electrical power to the boat. As such, they include high capacity electrical wiring, together with the necessary insulation.
Due to the stringent requirements for operation under difficult marine conditions, it is necessary to assure that the electrical connections are water tight and will not become inadvertently loosened, e.g., owing to movement of the boat. For this purpose, it has been known to provide securement collars which are typically in the form of a threaded ring but may also be rings having lugs for a bayonet connection, in order to secure the plug ends of the cord set to the mating connectors. For simplicity of description, the remainder of the description and the claims will refer to a threaded securement collar, which is to be interpreted as also including securement collars having lugs for bayonet type connections. Similarly, any further reference to screw threads is to be interpreted as including lugs for bayonet type connections.
For example, referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, which respectively show two plug ends of a conventional MARINECO power cord set, the power cord set and its plug ends
2
are covered by a heavy rubber waterproof insulation and have distal ends
4
of a circular section, which are sized and configured to fit into the inlet or receptacle connections of a boat or a shore power source. An elastic external rubber retention ring
6
is formed integrally with the insulation, and is spaced by an appropriate distance from the distal end
4
of the plug end
2
.
The securement collar
8
is formed of a rigid material, e.g., a hard plastic, and has internal threads
10
designed to mate with external threads of the shore/boat connection, as well as a radially inwardly extending tapered shoulder
12
. The inner diameter of the collar
8
is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the elastic retention ring
6
, whereas the diameter of the inner lip
14
of the shoulder
12
is smaller than the outer diameter of the retention ring
6
, so that the shoulder
12
and the retention ring
6
can cooperate to retain the collar
8
on the plug end
2
. Accordingly, when the plug end
2
of the power connector is plugged into the cooperating inlet or receptacle of the boat or shore power supply, and the screw threads
10
are threaded with the cooperating screw threads of the boat or shore power supply inlet or receptacle, the radial shoulder
12
and retention ring
6
cooperate to assure a secure and waterproof connection.
On the other hand, there is no universal standard design for shore or boat power connections, and so the conventional securement collar
8
will not necessarily work with all shore or boat plug connections. The power cord set is therefore normally sold with the securement collar
8
dismounted from the plug end
2
thereof, and the securement collar
8
must be mounted to the plug end
2
when appropriate. This involves lubricating the plug end
2
and forcefully prying the tapered radial shoulder
12
over the retention ring
6
, an operation which may be difficult to perform. Similarly, if the securement collar
8
is already mounted to the plug end
2
, it must be pried off of the retention ring
6
when the power cord set is to be secured to a boat or shore power connector which is not compatible with the securement collar. Again, this requires forceful prying and is not easily done.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a securement collar for a marine shore electrical power cord set which is more easily applied to or removed from either plug end of the power cord set.
It is another object of the invention to provide a marine shore electrical power cord set having a securement collar which is more easily applied to or removed from either plug end of the power cord set.
According to an aspect of the invention, the above and other objects are achieved by a securement collar for a marine shore electrical power cord set having a plug end with an external elastic retention ring, comprising a first arcuate collar portion having screw thread segments and a radial shoulder segment; a second arcuate collar portion having screw thread segments and a radial shoulder segment; and means for attaching the first and second arcuate collar portions to one another such that the collar portions form an annular collar capable of being retained on the power cord set by the elastic retention ring engaging an annular shoulder formed by said shoulder segments.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2552707 (1951-05-01), Bird et al.
patent: 5082454 (1992-01-01), Tonkiss et al.
Breiner & Breiner
Nguyen Khiem
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