Electrical connectors – Connector movable between accessible and inaccessible positions
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-07
2001-08-28
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Connector movable between accessible and inaccessible positions
C200S051060, C200S050280, C439S651000, C439S911000, C392S362000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280211
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical appliance with its own plug receptor for receiving the plug of another electrical appliance. Through the provision of the plug receptor, both appliances draw power through a common electrical outlet.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A typical electrical wall outlet is one which has receptacles for the plugs for two separate electrical appliances. However, there are instances where the plugging in of a single appliance may block both of those receptacles. For instance, if the appliance has an overly large plug such as an adapter type plug, the plug itself will block both receptacles. In other instances, the plug may be mounted directly to the back of an appliance such as a wall mounted heater fan where the body of the fan blocks the other receptacle.
In the above example, it is possible to put a totally separate plug receptacle into the actual body of the first appliance plugged into the wall outlet. A second appliance can then be plugged into the first appliance whereby both appliances draw power from the same wall outlet.
One serious drawback resulting from the arrangement described immediately above, is that when both of the appliances are operating together they may draw more wattage than can be safely provided from the single outlet. Typically, an electrical wall outlet operates at a maximum of 1500 watts and if the two appliances together require more than 1500 watts, this results in an overloading of the circuit. For this reason, the inclusion of a separate plug has not been allowed to date, for an electrical heater fan having a maximum output at 1500 watts.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention provides an electrical appliance specifically designed to overcome the above problem. More particularly, the electrical appliance of the present invention includes a plug receptor to draw power from a single electrical outlet for both the appliance and a second appliance pluggable into the plug receptor of the appliance.
The appliance of the present invention is operable at different wattage settings and has a switch movable to different switch positions to determine the wattage setting of the appliance. In accordance with the present invention, the plug receptor of the appliance is blocked against plug insertion in at least one of those switch positions which would be the position in which the appliance on its own draws high wattage from the electrical outlet. This helps to prevent overloading of the circuit.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3088004 (1963-04-01), Mueller
patent: 3723679 (1973-03-01), Carney
patent: 4091246 (1978-05-01), Donofrio et al.
patent: 4196323 (1980-04-01), Napoli
patent: 4345122 (1982-08-01), Janniello
patent: 4503293 (1985-03-01), Knecht
patent: 4752423 (1988-06-01), Wong
patent: 4873422 (1989-10-01), Streich et al.
patent: 5239610 (1993-08-01), Shao
patent: 5641420 (1997-06-01), Peterson et al.
patent: 5900684 (1999-05-01), Lam
patent: 5949652 (1999-09-01), McAnally et al.
Dinh Phoung K T
Sircus Brian
LandOfFree
Wall mounted heater fan with electrical outlet does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Wall mounted heater fan with electrical outlet, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Wall mounted heater fan with electrical outlet will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2500058