Electrical connectors – With circuit conductors and safety grounding provision – Direct grounding of coupling part member passing into aperture
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-21
2002-04-30
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With circuit conductors and safety grounding provision
Direct grounding of coupling part member passing into aperture
C439S650000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06379164
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
That application related to residential and commercial electrical wiring systems and receptacles; and, more particularly, to an improved electrical junction box for electrically connecting an electrical receptacle to an electrical wiring system. The present invention relates to residential and commercial electrical wiring systems; and, more particularly, to an improved electricrification system and method for electrically wiring a building or similar structure.
2. Description of Related Art
State and federal building codes require that when a building is wired to provide electrical power therein, the wiring must be installed between the exterior and interior wall surfaces, beneath the floors, above the ceilings, between the surfaces of interior walls, or within some other rigid enclosure. The electrical wiring is installed after the framing of the building is completed but before the walls are erected on either side of the frame. Where ever electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, wall switches, or the like are desired within the building, an electrical junction box, usually made of plastic or similar non-conductive material, is mounted on a frame member and then connected to the wiring. When wall surfaces, such as drywall or plaster, are later installed, access to the junction boxes is achieved through appropriate openings cut into the wall surface.
Thus, standard residential and commercial electrical systems comprise a plurality of electrical junction boxes, each of which provides electrical conduit for connecting the wires of electrical receptacles, such as an electrical outlets, switches, or fixtures, to the electrical wiring of the building. While conventional electrical systems and junction boxes function adequately and relatively safely, they admit a variety of interrelated limitations. Conventional electrical wiring requires a junction box to connect a building's electrical wires to a particular electrical receptacle by terminating the stripped wires at the receptacle itself. Therefore, in order to complete the proper, flush-mounted wall installation of any electrical receptacle, all of the many wires and connectors associated with connecting the particular receptacle to the electrical system must first be connected electrically to the receptacle and then the receptacle with the attached wires is inserted back into the box. If the power is not shut off while the electrical receptacle is being connected to the electrical system, the installer may receive an electrical shock during the installation, since the junction box contains a plurality of open wires and wire connections that are easily accessible and therefore readily mis-connected by the novice installer, such as the homeowner attempting to install a simple light fixture or ceiling fan without the aid of a skilled electrician. Moreover, because the wires are usually crammed into the junction box very tightly, the wires are capable of short-circuiting and causing dangerous electrical fires.
Standard electrical practices create additional limitations associated with the fact that current electrical systems only permit switch control of fixtures and/or outlets when the particular fixtures and/or outlets are directly wired to the same junction box as the switch. In an effort to circumvent this disadvantage, multiple gang junction boxes have been developed for terminating several switches in a single location and thereby permitting comparatively convenient control of multiple fixtures or groups of fixtures. Further, since a building's electrical circuits cannot be tested fully until after the walls of a building are erected, electrical connectivity errors or problems related to proper switch control of particular outlets and fixtures are frequent, especially in the case of multi-way switches, where more than one switch controls a single fixture or group of fixtures. These errors are costly and time-consuming to correct, as they require that the relevant portion of the interior wall surface be removed and reconstructed after the electrical error has been found and repaired. Moreover, current electrical practices provide no standard system or method to permit monitoring, controlling, reconfiguring, or otherwise changing the functionality of a particular receptacle without either directly modifying the particular receptacle or otherwise acting upon a control (i.e., a switch or other control device implemented as a receptacle) that is dedicated to controlling or monitoring the particular receptacle(s) and that is directly wired thereto. There is no known method to monitor, control, or change the functionality of either a single electrical receptacle or a plurality of electrical receptacles connected to the electrical system of a building structure wherein the location and/or functionality of each monitored, controlled, monitoring, or controlling receptacle may be freely changed.
It therefore would be advantageous to have an electrical service port comprising an electrical junction box and an electrical receptacle that permits convenient and simplified installation and removal of electrical receptacles within the box. It also would be advantageous to have an electrical junction box wherein electrical wires from a building's electrical system terminate at a set of terminal strips and lugs in a secure area of the box rather than directly on an electrical receptacle connected to the junction box. It further would be advantageous to have a junction box that provides a pair of plug-and-play terminals into which electrical receptacles are readily and conveniently plugged for connection to a building's electrical system.
It would further be advantageous to have a means of communicating between the electrical receptacles within the electrical system, which means would not be affected by the opening or closing of a switch. It also would be beneficial to have an electrical system that provides the means to monitor, control or reconfigure individual electrical receptacles, within an electrical service port, connected to the system without regard to the location of the receptacles within the system. It also would be advantageous to have a wiring system that would enable changes to the location of a particular receptacle without affecting the receptacle's function or its ability to monitor, be monitored, control, or be controlled. It also would be advantageous to be able to change the function of a particular receptacle from another point in the system without physically operating directly upon or replacing the particular receptacle.
It also would be advantageous to have a junction box that provides a low voltage connector block adapted to provide for circuitry for an electrical communication path for controlling and or monitoring receptacle functionality. It also would be advantageous to have a electrical circuitry system wherein electrical receptacles having a built-in, internal logic system can be connected in any location within the system, and subsequently be moved, or reprogrammed, to any other location within the system, without affecting their ability to be controlled by any suitably configured switch or switch control in the building. It also would be advantageous to have a circuit system and wiring method that permits a single gang electrical junction box to accommodate a switch that is capable of controlling multiple electrical receptacles or groups of such receptacles. It further would be advantageous to have a circuit system that provides improved electrical junction boxes having a single connection or contact that permits communication, and thereby, control, monitoring, and/or reconfiguring of electrical receptacles connected to the system from any point within the system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An electrical wiring system and method now have been discovered that overcome the above-described deficiencies of the prior art. According to the invention, a wiring system for providing electrical service to a structure allows all electrical service po
Hyeon Hae Moon
Meyer Lee G.
Rader & Fishman & Grauer, PLLC
Sircus Brian
LandOfFree
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