GB2237694A - Electrical connector with lockable slidable lid - Google Patents

Abstract

An electrical plug has a base B on which slides a lid A. The lid A is releasably locked by a lever K mounted on a pivot M of the based. One end Q of the lever latchingly engages an extension R of the lid A. The other end is formed with a lateral extension P (fig. 7) which engages the base B to prevent pivotting of the lever until the extension end of the lever is freed by forcing it laterally with a tool. <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 soon, 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 marginally simplifies the operation of connecting the cable it adds greatly 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, a2nd 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 a 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 right hand side of the plug, in which the connecting pins are seen, E being the earth, L being 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 hand 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 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.

In figure 3 is a plan upon the underside of the said plug. At L, E, and N may be seen the connector pins. At H may be seen an aperture in the said plug base, communicating with the interior thereof, and isolated from contact, through which the fuse may be seen, and the rating thereof visually checked. Fuse colours and ratings may be displayed in writing upon the underside of the said base. At J is a further aperture, and lying, visible therein, is a locking lever K, seen in the locked position, which may be seen in elevation in figure 4, which is an elevation upon the left hand side of the plug, in section, upon the plane of r - r in figure 3.

The locking lever K is pivotably engaged in an extension of the said plug base. at M. At the left hand end of the said locking lever K a lateral extension P projects outwardly to lock in a corresponding recess in the said plug base B to lock the said plug closed. At the opposite end a hook, whose jaws may be springable, engages upon an extension of the said plug lid A at R. The said plug lid A may be disengaged from the said hooking means Q by moving the said lever laterally by inserting a small lever, for example a screwdriver, into the aperture S and bending the said lever K outwardly, so disengaging the said lateral extension P from it's co-operative point of engagement in the said base B, and moving the said lever K radially about M to disengage the said hooking means Q from the said extension of the lid A, which may now be slidden away from the cable entry point in the plane of the underside of the said plug, base, and lifted off, leaving an assembly as seen in figure 5, in plan, in which may be seen, depicted by dotted lines, upon either side thereof, at 1 & 1, 2 & 2, 3 & 3, the receptors in the said plug base which accept the same therein, upon the lid being fitted, the co-operative corresponding projections shown in figure 6 at 1, 2, and 3.

Claims (1)

1. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

   1. The employment, in a 250v 3 pin 13amp plug, or other such device, as above defined in the accompanying description, of a construction means wherein a first part, for example a base, has a slidably engaged second part, for example a lid means, dis-engagably slidden thereonto through co-ooperative engaging means, to stops preventing further movement in the same plane when properly engaged, and which is subsequently locked in situ by a radially movable lever pivotably engaged upon an extension of the said base means, having at one end a hook means, which may be possessed of sprung jaws, and at the opposite end a lateral extension, and which said hook means, when the said lid is slidden into the said closed position, may be engaged upon an extension thereof, and locked thereat, by the radial movement of the said lever, whose further end is deflected laterally in the process of closing, through the said lateral extension slidably engaging the said base means, to spring back laterally into it's normal undeflected shape upon the said lateral extension springing into and engaging an indent in the said base means, so shaped as to secure the said lever in the locked position, substantially as described herein with reference to figures 3,4 and 7 of the accompanying drawings.