EP0746058B1 - A shutter device for socket openings - Google Patents

A shutter device for socket openings Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP0746058B1
EP0746058B1 EP96201438A EP96201438A EP0746058B1 EP 0746058 B1 EP0746058 B1 EP 0746058B1 EP 96201438 A EP96201438 A EP 96201438A EP 96201438 A EP96201438 A EP 96201438A EP 0746058 B1 EP0746058 B1 EP 0746058B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
shutter
axis
socket
front plate
shutter element
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP96201438A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0746058A1 (en
Inventor
Ennio Calderara
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
BTicino SpA
Original Assignee
BTicino SpA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by BTicino SpA filed Critical BTicino SpA
Publication of EP0746058A1 publication Critical patent/EP0746058A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0746058B1 publication Critical patent/EP0746058B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
    • H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
    • H01R13/44—Means for preventing access to live contacts
    • H01R13/447—Shutter or cover plate
    • H01R13/453—Shutter or cover plate opened by engagement of counterpart
    • H01R13/4532—Rotating shutter

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a shutter device for the socket openings of an electrical socket as defined in the preamble of claim 1 and as known from DE-A-1 440 822 and DE-B-1 218 035.
  • Electrical sockets having three openings in line, with the earth opening being the intermediate or central one, provided with shutters for the outer or live openings.
  • the openings are formed in a front plate of an insulating body, generally constituted by two connected half shells which form a housing for the metal electrical contacts and for the shutter.
  • the shutter is made of insulating material and is provided to prevent access to the electrical contacts through the socket openings by either a single electrical pin or, more generally, of any improper element, and should allow access to the sockets only if two pins are jointly introduced into the openings of the "live" socket openings.
  • Shutter devices which allow this result consist of an element having two radially opposite resilient arms on either side of a central aperture of the element.
  • the shutter element is housed in the insulating body of the socket behind the front plate in which the holes are formed, and its middle region is provided with helical teeth (or equivalent means) which pass around a helical support which surrounds the central or earth opening, formed in the insulating body behind the front wall.
  • the shutter is biased into a closure position, obstructing the live openings, by a compression spring which urges it axially of the openings towards the front plate from the inside thereof.
  • the shutter In this position the shutter is turned on the helical support to an angular position such that its radial arms are aligned with the live socket openings, obstructing them, and are moreover housed with their ends in two cavities formed on the inside of the front plate which prevent the rotation of the shutter.
  • the shutter arms are rigid and the helical support which surrounds the central socket opening engages with the helical teeth of the shutter only if the shutter is conveniently displaced, with axial sliding motion along the helical support away from the front wall by the effect of a symmetrical thrust exerted through the two socket openings.
  • a helical spring engaged on the support acts as a yieldable mounting which allows the shutter to move to an inclined position in relation to the front wall with the end of one arm which remains engaged in one of the two cavities preventing the rotation of the shutter.
  • a shutter strip is tiltable around a first axis and rotatable around a second axis perpendicular to the first axis in a housing.
  • the shutter strip and the housing are so shaped that a pin inserted through a socket opening causes the shutter strip to tilt and engage with a stop in the housing so that any rotation of the shutter strip is prevented. Only if a bipolar plug is inserted through both the socket openings the shutter strip is allowed to rotate, by the balanced action of the plug pins on inclined planes provided on the shutter strip, and to open a passage for the plug pins to corresponding socket contacts.
  • This known arrangement while being compact in the axial direction of the socket openings, is not reliable as desired because of the limited stiffness of the shutter strip.
  • a preferred embodiment of shutter device comprises a front plate 1 coupled to a rear plate 2 to form a housing for a shutter 3 and a biasing spring 4.
  • front plate 1 is represented as "exploded” and sectioned along a plane parallel to the front surface.
  • the front plate 1 includes a rectangular substantially flat element 1A in which are formed three openings 5, 6, 7 for access to the socket pits one of which, the opening 7 is offset relative to the other two, and a rectangular frame 1B with two opposite sides 8, 9 provided with resilient tongues 10, 11 extending perpendicularly of the plane of the element 1A and terminating in an engagement tooth 12 for snap-engaging irreversibly with an insulating body of the electrical socket, not illustrated and otherwise conventional.
  • Two opposite sides 17, 18 of the frame 1B are provided with internal arcuate portions 19, 20 which together with the flat element 1A define a cylindrical housing for a central body 21 of the shutter 3.
  • the axis of the cylindrical housing is parallel to, coplanar with and equidistant from the axes of the pits underlying the socket openings 5, 6.
  • the central body 21 of the shutter 3 is in the form of a cylindrical segment with a diameter substantially equal to that of the cylindrical housing so that it can be freely fitted into this with suitable clearance, and has two opposite radial arms 22, 23 extending therefrom.
  • the central body 21 is free to rotate within the cylindrical housing about the axis of the housing through a predetermined angle between an obstruction end position and a non-obstruction end position.
  • the obstruction end position is defined by the contact of the arms 22, 23 with respective abutment shoulders 24, 25 projecting from the rear plate 2 in radially opposite positions with respect to the axis of the cylindrical housing.
  • shoulders 24, 25 constitute parts of the turrets 15, 16 and are integrally formed with these for greater robustness.
  • the shutter arm is urged towards its obstruction end position by a leaf spring 4 one end 29 of which fits into an L-shaped channel formed between the turrets 16 and an L-shape shoulder projection 30 extending from the inner plate 2.
  • the free end 31 of the spring 4 acts on one side of the arm 22 and tends to cause the shutter 3 to rotate in an anticlockwise sense as viewed in Figure 1.
  • the spring 4 has a vertical dimension, with reference to Figure 1, less than the height of the housing and the thickness of the central body 21, which latter is conveniently cut away in its lower part.
  • the non-obstructing end position of the shutter 3 is defined by contact of the arms 22 and 23 respectively with the sides 17 and 18 of the frame 1B.
  • the rear plate 2 is provided with a projecting support wedge 36 the vertex of which is disposed diametrically in relation to the cylindrical housing and perpendicular to the plane defined by the axis of the socket openings 5 and 6.
  • the shutter 3 formed by the central body 21 and by the arms 22 and 23 is not only free to rotate through a predetermined angle around the axis of the associated cylindrical housing, but can become inclined, like a rocker, by rotating on the fulcrum defined by the edge of the supporting wedge 36 which defines a second axis of rotation.
  • the amplitude of this oscillation is defined by the difference between the thickness of the central body 21 and that of the arms 22, 23 (conveniently, but not necessarily, the same as one another) and the height of the housing between the front plate 1 and the rear plate 2 less the height of the supporting wedge 36.
  • the plate 2 is formed with two projecting teeth 37, 38 the height of which is equal to or slightly less than that of the wedge 36, which form with the opposite shoulders 24 and 25 two grooves for partially housing the teeth 22 and 23.
  • the shutter arm 3 is disposed parallel to the plane of the rear plate 2, in turn parallel to the front plate 1, the shutter arm is free to turn from the obstruction position to the non-obstruction position.
  • shutter device described can find application in electrical sockets having aligned socket openings it is particularly advantageous in the case of sockets having offset socket openings.
  • the central body 21 is provided eccentrically with an ovoidal aperture 39 which faces the socket opening 7 in any angular position assumed by the body 21.
  • the internal plate is provided with an aperture 40 axially aligned with the socket opening 7 and through which can be introduced into the socket a connection pin or earth connector, and apertures 41, 42 axially aligned with the socket openings 5 and 6.
  • the wedge 36 supporting the shutter arm can have a rounded barrel-like section for greater resistance to wear.
  • the position of the central body 21 of the shutter arm in its housing can be obtained by means of a centring pin 50 which supports it for rotation and is formed on the rear plate 2 and is a clearance fit in a corresponding, preferably conical, aperture 51 in the central body 21.
  • pin 50 can be formed on the front plate 1 rather than on the rear plate 2.
  • the pin 50 Since the pin 50 must have the single function of supporting the shutter for rotation without the screw function for giving the shutter any rotation, and since no compression coil spring is necessary on the pin 50, the pin can have an adequate diameter for its robustness and at the same time be sufficiently small so as not to interfere with the ovoidal access aperture for the offset earth opening of the socket.
  • housing for the spring 4 the shoulders 24, 25, the turrets 15, 16 and the teeth 37, 33 can be equally well formed integrally with the rear plate or the front plate.

Landscapes

  • Connector Housings Or Holding Contact Members (AREA)
EP96201438A 1995-05-29 1996-05-23 A shutter device for socket openings Expired - Lifetime EP0746058B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
ITMI951108 1995-05-29
ITMI951108A IT1275269B (it) 1995-05-29 1995-05-29 Dispositivo otturatore di alveoli di presa di corrente

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0746058A1 EP0746058A1 (en) 1996-12-04
EP0746058B1 true EP0746058B1 (en) 2000-02-09

Family

ID=11371696

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP96201438A Expired - Lifetime EP0746058B1 (en) 1995-05-29 1996-05-23 A shutter device for socket openings

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0746058B1 (it)
DE (1) DE69606581T2 (it)
ES (1) ES2143713T3 (it)
IT (1) IT1275269B (it)

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE10148287A1 (de) * 2001-09-29 2003-04-17 Abb Patent Gmbh Berührungsschutzvorrichtung für eine Schutzkontakt-Steckdose
DE10155926B4 (de) * 2001-11-14 2004-07-22 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. Leuchteinheit mit einer Sicherungsvorrichtung gegen Stromschlag sowie Verfahren zur Sicherung vor Stromschlägen bei eingeschalteten Lampen
DE10202341C1 (de) * 2002-01-23 2003-04-24 Abb Patent Gmbh Berührungsschutzvorrichtung für eine Schutzkontakt-Steckdose mit federbelastetem Drehschieber
CN108063332A (zh) * 2017-12-12 2018-05-22 广州雷神电气制造有限公司 电源插座的误插防护装置
CN109004427B (zh) * 2018-06-15 2024-05-07 浙江正泰建筑电器有限公司 安全插座

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1218035B (de) * 1962-11-07 1966-06-02 Josef Schoener Steckdose, insbesondere Schutzkontaktsteckdose, deren Einfuehrungsoeffnungen bei einpoligem Einfuehren eines Gegenstandes beruehrungssicher verriegelt werden
DE1440822A1 (de) * 1963-03-07 1968-11-21 Berker Geb Sicherheitssteckdose
FR2619966A1 (fr) * 1987-08-26 1989-03-03 Garrigou Joel Dispositif de securite pour prise de courant electrique

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
ES2143713T3 (es) 2000-05-16
EP0746058A1 (en) 1996-12-04
ITMI951108A0 (it) 1995-05-29
IT1275269B (it) 1997-08-05
DE69606581D1 (de) 2000-03-16
ITMI951108A1 (it) 1996-11-29
DE69606581T2 (de) 2000-10-19

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