Electrical connectors – With contact preventer or retractable cover part – Movably mounted
Reexamination Certificate
2003-05-08
2004-09-21
Vu, Hien (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With contact preventer or retractable cover part
Movably mounted
C439S131000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06793509
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a connector having plural foldable plugs.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The conventional connector mainly has an insulation casing, a plug, an output terminal and an inner circuit. The plug is used to connect to an external power source for providing the power to the inner circuit. The connector can be an adapter, a power supply or a charger, and accordingly, the inner circuit can rectify or convert the power for the direct use of the electric equipment or for the charger to charge the battery. The plug of the conventional connector is usually fixed and protruding on one end of the insulation casing, and includes plural metal pieces. When the connector is not used, it causes a danger of touch since the tips of the plural metal pieces are protruding outside the insulation casing. Therefore, a connector having a foldable plug is developed to prevent the danger of touch.
However, there are many kinds of the plugs of the connectors to be used in different countries. For example, the plug may have two or three metal pieces, and the arrangement and the forms of the metal pieces are also different in different countries. Therefore, a connector having two foldable plugs is developed so that the plugs of the connector can be received in the slots of the insulation casing, and can be applied to different plug standards in different countries.
Please refer to
FIG. 1
showing a connector having two foldable plugs according to the prior art. The connector includes a main body
10
which has a first slot
101
and a second slot
102
. The first slot
101
and the second slot
102
are used to receive a first foldable plug
103
and a second foldable plug
104
, respectively. When the connector is not used, the first foldable plug
103
and the second foldable plug
104
can be received in the first slot
101
and the second slot
102
, respectively, to avoid the metal pieces protruding outside the main body
10
. When the connector is used, the first foldable plug
103
or the second foldable plug
104
can be rotated upwardly to a conducting position for electrically connecting with a power input region in the connector.
Please refer to
FIG. 2
showing a side cross-sectional view of the connector in FIG.
1
. The main body
10
has a power input region
105
therein, and a metal conducting piece
1051
is set on the power input region
105
. When the connector is going to be used by a user, one of the first foldable plug
103
and the second foldable plug
104
must be rotated upwardly. For example, when the first foldable plug
103
is used, the metal pieces
1031
of the first foldable plug
103
must be rotated upwardly, and accordingly, the metal extending pieces
1033
can be rotated downwardly via a shaft
1032
by a rotation mechanism simultaneously. Therefore, the metal extending pieces
1033
can contact the metal conducting piece
1051
on the power input region
105
, so that the first foldable plug
103
is electrically connected with the power input region
105
.
The connector having two foldable plugs described above can be applied to different plug standards in different countries, and the foldable plugs can be received in the slots when they are not used to prevent the danger of touch. However, the connector described above may have danger of electric shock. For example, when the first foldable plug
103
and the second foldable plug
104
are both at the conducting positions, somebody, especially a child, may incautiously touch the unused plug and get an electric shock. Therefore, the present invention provides a connector which can overcome the disadvantages of the conventional connector as described above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector having plural foldable plugs which can be applied to different plug standards in different countries.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector having plural foldable plugs, each of which is capable of being received in respective slot when the connector is not used.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a connector having plural foldable plugs which can prevent the danger of electric shock.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the connector having plural foldable plugs includes a main body having a first slot and a second slot, a first foldable plug received in the first slot, a second foldable plug received in the second slot, and a cover sliding between the first slot and the second slot, thereby the cover protects the first foldable plug from being used when the cover slides on the first slot, and protects the second foldable plug from being used when the cover slides on the second slot.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
REFERENCES:
patent: 4279457 (1981-07-01), Nickence
patent: 4702709 (1987-10-01), Santilli
patent: 5165042 (1992-11-01), Klinger
patent: 5934919 (1999-08-01), Cross et al.
patent: 6398566 (2002-06-01), Chen
Bacon & Thomas
Delta Electronics , Inc.
Vu Hien
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