GB2080047A

GB2080047A - Electrical Connector Devices for Office Furniture and Partitions

Info

Publication number: GB2080047A
Application number: GB8115501A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Forges de Strasbourg SA
Current assignee: Forges de Strasbourg SA
Priority date: 1980-05-22
Filing date: 1981-05-20
Publication date: 1982-01-27
Also published as: IT8121829A0; GB2080047B; IE51808B1; FR2483136B1; CA1160328A; PT73072B; IT1211046B; DE3120395A1; FR2483136A1; BE888880A; ES270747U; ES270747Y; PT73072A; LU83379A1; CH642782A5; DE8115274U1; DK223881A; IE811132L; NL8102512A; GR75637B

Abstract

Electrical connector devices suitable for furniture and partitioning in offices, include connector blocks (1) which can be joined to the mains and act as sockets for the receipt of one or more plugs for feeding current to lighting or other electrical devices. Flexible joint members 8 may interconnect the connector blocks 1 on adjacent mobile partitions 34, 35. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Electrical Connector Devices, particularly for Office Furniture The present invention relates to electrical connection devices which are useful in particular, though not exclusively, in furniture and partitions used in offices.

The actual working conditions in offices nowadays require the use of various electrical apparatus such as keyboards, calculating machines, typewriters, dictating and dictation replaying machines and the like, all of which need to be connected to a source of electric current.

The arrangement of offices can change and it is accordingly desirable to have a flexible system for connecting the apparatus used which allows reconnection to take place in satisfactory conditions.

At the present time, in most offices, the electrical connection to the mains is made starting from points located near the floor or actually in the floor itself, to which points the various apparatus are directly connected. The result of this is that the mains leads rest directly on the floor which is not only unaesthetic, but leaves much to be desired from the point of view of safety.

According to a first feature of the present invention there is provided electrical connector apparatus which comprises at least one connector block and extending therefrom at least one bundle of electrical conductors, the connector block comprising at least one assembly of connector elements adapted to ensure electrical connection to the mains and at least a second assembly of connector elements adapted to enable electrical apparatus to be connected thereto and thereby supplied with current.

Such an electrical connection device can be incorporated into furniture, such as office furniture, and into partitions e.g. those used to separate offices. By means of such incorporation, trailing mains leads running across the floor can be avoided.

The connector block forming part of the connector apparatus of the present invention acts on the one hand as a connector to the electrical mains supply and on the other hand as a socket for the direct receipt of a plug on the office apparatus in question.

According to a particular feature of the invention, the connector block has at least four sets of connector elements adapted to be connected in pairs in different circuits. This reflects the fact that according to current European standards it is necessary in electrical installations of the types used in houses, offices and the like, to provide separate lighting circuits and power circuits, the latter being designed to feed electrical power to apparatus requiring more power to run. These two circuits must be independent for safety reasons.

According to a further feature of the invention, the connector system comprises two panels articulated one relative to the other, each having a connector block installed therein, the connector blocks being electrically connected together by means of a flexible joint member fitted between two connector blocks. In this way it is possible to have two adjacent panels pivoting one relative to the other while maintaining the electrical connection between the connector blocks.

Further details of the way the invention can be put into practice and the advantages to be derived thereby are evident from the following description of a particular embodiment of the invention which is presented merely by way of example and described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In these drawings:: Figure 1 is a perspective diagrammatic view of a connector block, Figure 2 is a perspective view of a cable bearing a plug designed tobe inserted in the connector block of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a flexible joint piece designed for connecting two connector blocks together, Figure 4 is an exploded view of the connector block of Figure 1, Figure 5 is a section along the lines V-V of Figure 1, Figure 6 is a section along the lines VI--VI of Figure 2, Figure 7 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing the mounting of connector blocks in the interior of a piece of furniture, and Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the provision of electrical connection between two adjacent partitions.

In accordance with the invention it is necessary to locate in the interior of office furniture or of partitions adjacent or forming part of the said furniture, points allowing the electrical connection of electrical apparatus to the mains. These points ought to be near one another in order to avoid long connector wires. According to the invention these connection points are formed by connectors 1 such as shown in Figure 1. The connector block 1 comprises six columns each of five connection points 2.Preferably the connection points 2 are specifically dedicated and in the embodiment shown connection points 20 are designated earth connectors, points 21 connected to the neutral line of a first circuit, points 22 to the live line of the same circuit, while points 23 are connected to the neutral of a second electrical circuit and points 24 to the live line of the second electrical circuit. For example, the points 20, 21, 22 may constitute the earth, live and neutral for the lighting circuit while points 20, 23 and 24 constitute the earth, live and neutral connection points for the power circuit.

As is evident from Figure 1, the structure of the connector block is nonsymmetrical and in particular its upper part has stop studs 3 for a purpose explained below, while the lower portion of each column is provided in its housing with a slot 4. Studs 3 and slots 4 are, as explained below, designed to ensure at all times proper connection between the supply circuit and the apparatus requiring the supply.

Connection of a connector block 1 to the mains is obtained starting from an assembly of conductors bonded together into a bundle and terminating in a plug such as plug 5, shown on Figure 3. This plug 5 constitutes the male part of an assembly for which the respective female portion is constituted by one of the columns of connector block 1. For this purpose, plug 5 comprises five pins 50 to 54, which ensures electrical connection under the conditions defined above, that is to say, pin 50 is designed to be fed to earth on the connector block, pins 51 and 52 corresponding to live and neutral of a first supply circuit and pins 53 and 54 to live and neutral of a second supply circuit.

When a plug connected to the supply is introduced into the interior of a connector block 1, there then rendered available an assembly of twenty connection points which can be made use of in order to use the connector block for feeding apparatus or for joining it electrically with another connector block. As can be seen from Figure 3, plug 5 is provided at its lower,part with a rib 6 which is designed to penetrate into slot 4 with the object of avoiding misconnection.

On a connector block connected to the supply it is possible to insert several plugs 7, such as that shown on Figure 2 which comprises three pins 70, 71 and 72 for connection to earth, live and neutral of one of the two supply circuits which are available on the connector block.

Figure 3 shows a flexible joint member which is used to effect an electrical connection between two connector blocks 1 which are mounted in different elements and which can pivot one relative to the other. This flexible joint member is constituted by a bundle of five conductors which are not visible in the Figure and which are moulded in the interior of a flexible plastics material. The five conductors are connected at each of their two ends to plugs 5 and 9. They are shaped in their central part to a U-shape 10 which is fixed in a cover 11 which constitutes a reinforcement at corners 12 and 1 3 which can be subjected to flexure.

Figure 4 shows in exploded view a connector block 1 to be constituted by two moulded portions 14 which are identical and which can be obtained using a single mould. The moulded parts 14 have a set of horizontal grooves 1 6 in the interior of which are inserted the connection plates 1 5. The exact position of connection plates 1 5 in the assembled connector block 1 appears in the section shown in Figure 5. The plate, which is destined to be the earth connection and which is destined to be earthed to the panel, has four fixing beads 1 5'. Naturally all of the connector tags formed on each plate 1 5 are at the same potential.The moulded halves 14 of the casing have in addition male hook members 1 7 and cavities 1 8 in the interior of which the hook member 1 7 can engage in order to ensure good assembly of the two portions 14. On each half 14 there is a lateral wall 1 9 which projects from the internal face of each portion in order to cover partly the opposite face of the connector with the object of making it look better and providing good insulation.

The various elements mentioned above can be seen on Figure 5. Extending to both sides of the central part, each plate 1 Sprovides a tongue in the interior of one of the cavities 2. On to these tongues the terminals 25, 26 and 27 of a plug 7 can be engaged, these being shown in section in Figure 6. These terminals grip resiliently around the tongues and thus ensure an elastic resilient satisfactory contact which allows good electrical contact to be obtained. Because of the safety features built into the system, it is impossible to put a plug such as plug 7 in the wrong way round.

Having now described the constituent elements of the invention, Figure 7 shows one possible way in which the connector system according to the invention can be put to use. On a support plate 29 are mounted two connector blocks 1, two columns 30 and 31 of which are connected by a junction cable 32 having five conductors, one earth, two neutral and two live.

Conductors 32 are formed into a bundle with plugs 5. Thus, if the left-hand connector block is connected to the mains supply, the right-hand connector block is automatically connected to the main supply. According to the invention, even if one column is used for connecting the left-hand connector to the supply, there nevertheless remain eight positions available for branch plugs such as those shown in Figure 2, connection with the latter elements being ensured by means of conductors 32. The support 29 can be mounted by means of nuts and bolts passing through apertures 33 in the interior of a piece of furniture 28, the support member 29 being finally covered by means of a suitable cover. If after installation of the furniture there is a need to take some current from the mains, it is very easy to remove the cover and to insert a plug in one of connector blocks 1.

Figure 8 shows schematically the electrical connection between two members 34 and 35 which can be constituted, for example, by mobile partitions which can turn one relative to the other in order thus to provide a new arrangement of the spaces defined by the said partitions. According to the invention a flexible joint member 8 is used suchas has already been described with respect to Figure 3, which, while remaining flexible, permits continuous electrical connection to be maintained. In order to do this, a plug 5 is inserted into one connector block 1 while plug 9 is inserted into the other connector block 1 instailed in the second element. These connectors are themselves connected to the supply as has already been described above. Once the mobile junction member has been inserted, the current passes from member 34 to member 35 without discontinuity and it is possible as needed to take off from either connector block 1 using one or more plugs.

As has been described above, one of the columns of connection points can be used either to receive a plug of a supply joint member such as 5 and in this case the correctness of the insertion is ensured by cooperation between rib 6 and groove 4, or it can be used for receipt of a plug such as 7 shown in Figure 2 which is connected to an electricity-using apparatus.

In this latter case, the plug can be inserted either in the first lighting circuit (the top of the connector block) or into the second circuit or power circuit, only one plug being able to be inserted per column. In all cases it means that the earth of the apparatus is connected to the earth of the circuit. In order to avoid any misconnection, the connector member 20 (Figure 1) has a cruciform cross-section into the interior of a vertical branch of which a rib 74 provided on pin 70 penetrates with the object of ensuring earth safety.

Thus, whatever the circuit under consideration the apparatus earth is always connected to the common earth without any risk of putting things in the wrong way round.

In addition, studs 3 prevent only two pins of a plug such as plug 7 being inserted i.e. pins 71 and 72 of Figure 2 cannot be inserted into connection points 22 and 21 respectively of the connector block shown in Figure 1.

Claims

1. Electrical connector apparatus comprising at least one connector block and extending therefrom at least one bundle of electrical conductors, the connector block comprising at least one assembly of connector elements adapted to ensure electrical connection to the mains and at least a second assembly of connector elements adapted to enable electrical apparatus to be connected thereto and thereby supplied with current.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the connector block has at least four assemblies of connection elements corresponding to two different circuits each circuit being associated with two such assemblies.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 and including two connector blocks and a flexible joint member electrically connecting the blocks together and enabling them to be moved one relative to the other without disconnection.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the flexible joint member comprises a number of conductors equal to the number of assemblies of connection points in the connector, and moulded in a flexible casing, the central portion of which casing has the shape of a U.

5. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and including two connector blocks mounted on a common base member and electrically connected together by a bundle of five conductors having on each end a plug which is inserted into one of the connector blocks.

6. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each connector block comprises a housing and a plurality of connector plates, the housing being constituted by two identical half-shells obtained by moulding from a plastics material, each half-shell being provided with catch means for holding the two half-shells together and having grooves on its interior in which the connector plates are located.

7. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the connector block has columns of connection points, each point at the same level being held to the same potential.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the connector block has a plurality of connector points adapted for connection to earth, each point comprising a cruciform internal section housing.

9. Apparatus according to claim 7 or 8 wherein the connector block has a housing with a groove provided in the lower part of each column, the said groove being adapted to cooperate with a rib disposed on the lower part of a plug bearing a number of pins equal to the number of connection points.

1 0. Apparatus according to claim 6 and including a plug having three superimposed conductors terminated by terminals in three superimposed pins, the terminals being adapted to engage tags formed on the connector plates, the plug having on the side of the pin corresponding to the earth connection a projection which can penetrate into the interior of a vertical branch of the cruciform internal section housing.

11. Electrical connector apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 2. A plug for electrical apparatus adapted to be inserted into a connector block forming part of electrical connector apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims.

1 3. A plug substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

14. An article of furniture incorporating electrical connector apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

1 5. A partition incorporating electrical connector apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11.