GB2237459A

GB2237459A - Electric connector with handle

Info

Publication number: GB2237459A
Application number: GB9024551A
Authority: GB
Inventors: George Seymour Curtis; Charmaine Gaye Curtis
Original assignee: CURTIS CHARMAINE G
Current assignee: CURTIS CHARMAINE G
Priority date: 1986-12-16
Filing date: 1986-12-16
Publication date: 1991-05-01
Anticipated expiration: 2006-12-16
Also published as: GB2237694B; GB9024553D0; GB9024552D0; GB9024551D0; GB8629951D0; GB2237695B; GB2237459B; GB2202096B; GB2202096A; GB2237695A; GB2237694A

Abstract

An electrical connector has a lid A on which is pivotally mounted a graspable, stowable T-shaped handle C. Bearings D on the lid locate round parts of a handle spindle. In bearings F on the lid, the spindle is formed with flats (fig. 1) which bias the handle into a stowed position as shown, or an elevated position in which the handle has been rotated away from the lid A. The spindle clips into the bearings D, F. <IMAGE>

Description

13amp. 250v. Electrical Connector The present invention relates to the field of electrical connectors, and in particular to 13amp.

250v. connectors according to BS 1363A though without prejudice to other devices.

There exist in this world a large number of relatively handicapped people - for example, many of our increasingly elderly population. All these people, in general value their independence and this to a large extent revolves around their ability to look after themselves.

In everyday life this means being able to perform such mundane tasks as connecting, inserting and withdrawing the standard 13amp three pin 250v electric plug, to connect their kettles, vacuum cleaners, radios and televisions, and so on, to the power supply. The configuration of such plugs is, in this country, largely governed by British Standard 1363A: this, though is admirable in intention, tends largely to preserve the status quo, and like most other standards tends to define past states of the art to which it applies. In the case of BS1363A, it upholds desirable criteria in terms of insulation and physical requirements, but simultaneously insists upon the retention of antediluvian means of connecting the electric cable into the said plug, by insisting upon the retention of screws.Such screws are not necessarily essential to the functioning of such a plug, and put the connecting of the same beyond the means of many otherwise quite capable of doing such a job, due to impaired mobility of their hands, these persons also frequently have great trouble in removing or replacing such a plug from the electrical supply socket. Previous efforts to eliminate such uncalled for irritations in connecting and using an electrical plug have included the following different approaches, for example: preconnecting the said electrical cable to a connecting means, usually supplied with a rapid connecting system, and in turn pressing the said means into the body of the said plug.

Whilst this marginaily simplifies the operation of connecting the cable it adds greatlv to the expense and complication of the whole assembly, .... the provision of a screwless terminal such that the said electric wires are connected by being entrapped beneath a hinged lid formed upon the connecting means. The said lids are small, and require force to press shut, but nevertheless an advance upon screws, needing less manual dexterity.

..... the provision of insulation piercing conductors eliminating the need for stripping the insulation sleeve from the said wire. Such systems tend to be better suited to factory production lines if reliable results are to be obtained.

..... cable clamping means of varying types. Those best suited to cater for a wide range of cable sizes employ screws to apply pressure, either directly or indirectly. The simplest, if able to grip small cables usually require either modification, or strength, on the part of the user; if they are to fit large cables ..... inserting plugs into, and removing the same from sockets takes a certain amount of force.

The fingers of many people are unable to exert such a force, nd in an effort to assist the same some plugs are fitted with a lid means whereon a ring is formed as an extension thereof, normal to the lower face of the said plug, and lying upon the centreline, as drawn through the earth pin centre and the cable entry point. Such a device is an improvement but requires U strong index finger, since only one finger can be employed for the task, and thus, though an advance upon the present state of the art, one of limited usefulness.

Objects of the present invention are the overcoming of such complexities and disadvantages, in the interests of both those users with impaired mobility and the healthy.

The present invention is outlined in the accompanying figures, in which for clarity's sake the same references refer to the same parts throughout. In figure 1 is seen an elevation upon the righthandsideof the plug, inwhichtheconnectingpinsareseen, E being theearth, Lbeing the live, the Neutral pin being obscured behind the same. At B is the base assembly, the lid thereof at A, and the T shaped handle C lying thereon in the stowed position, the said handle being pivottably mounted thereon. In figure 2 is a plan upon the said plug, showing the said handle in the stowed position. At D may be seen the pivot bearing housing assemblies upon which it rotates, and at F outside the said bearing means D, further bearing and locating means F.The said handle is preferably a one piece moulding, in which the shaft thereof has, at base and head, lateral extensions upon either side, those at the head forming a T shaped bar that may the more easily be gripped, either stowed or in the operative position, and those at the base, lying in the same plane as those at the head, forming the pivoting and locating means upon which the said handle rotates and is held by assemblies D and F.That portion of the said lower lateral extension located in D is of circular cross section, that portion of the said same extension located in F is of circular cross section save that the said circular profile is cut by two chords of the said circle intercepting eachother at such an angle that when one such said flat produced thereby is engaged in a corresponding co-operative flat formed in the said housing F the said handle means is held thereby in the stowed position, and when rooted to bring the same into the operative position the second flat upon the said shaft engages with the aforesaid flat upon the said housing means F to hold the said handle C in the said operative position, the said housing F springing sufficiently to enanble the said rotation to occur.In figure 1 it will be seen that the said housing F is possessed of open jaws, the said bearing means D being similarly profiled; the said handle C is fitted thereinto by pressing the same into the said jaws, and causing the same to spring sufficiently to accept the said jaws, which being entered thereinto, are subsequently securely held in normal use.

The T bar at the head of the said handle enables an impaired user to lift the said handle from the stowed to the operative position with less difficulty than other shapes, and the configuration of the handle employed permits the said plug to retain a relatively innocuous profile in the stowed position, making the same safer in use, whilst economising on the use of space in packing and transporting the same in the making and marketing operations.

The spring form requires relatively minor force to shift the handle from one position to the other, and is designed to hold the said handle in position whilst the said user removes the hand employed to bring the same from the stowed position to then operative position, to replace the same to better advantage to insert or remove the said plug into or from a socket.

Claims

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. The employment, in a three pin 13 amp 250v connector, of a lid means posessed of a graspable, stowable, radially movable handle, ',T"shaped at it's upper end, having further lateral extensions at the opposite and lower end thereof, which lie in the same plane as the first mentioned forming the said T, locating and bearing the said handle within co-operative mounting, bearing and locating and bearing means, howsoever performed, situated at the approximate centre of the triangle enclosed by a line drawn through the centres of the neutral.

earth and live pins and pivotably mounted thereat upon an axis approximately parallel to the underside of the said plug and to a line drawn through the centres of the upper ends of the live and neutral pins, the said mounting means permitting the radial movement of the said handle between the stowed and operative positions, and the said mounting and bearing means securing the same in either position.

2. The employment of a T shaped handle means according to claim 1 above wherein the said handle is mounted in springable mounting nd bearing means located upon either side of the said plug lid centreline, and entered thereinto by springing the said mounting means about the lower lateral extensions thereof, substantially as disclosed and shown in figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

3.The employment of a T shaped handle means according to the above claims wherein the said handle is located in the stowed and operative positions by further springable mounting and bearing means engaging upon axial further extensions of the said lateral extensionsof the said handle, which said further extensions are of circular cross section, save where cut by two chords, the said chords intersecting at such an angle that when one of the said flats formed thereby is engaged with a co-operative flat formed in the said springable housing bearing and locating means the said handle is located therebv in the stowed position, and when another such flat is engaged the said handle is located in the operative position, substantially as disclosed and shown in figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

4. A plug means according to the preceding claims wherein the said handle is of a contrasting colour to the said lid means to which the same is attached in a rotatable manner.