GB2578291A

GB2578291A - An electrical plug device

Info

Publication number: GB2578291A
Application number: GB1816872.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Holman Andrew
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-10-17
Filing date: 2018-10-17
Publication date: 2020-05-06
Also published as: GB2578345A; GB201816872D0; GB201908871D0

Abstract

An electrical plug device including: a body 12 with a plurality of conductive pins 2 extending from the body; and a displaceable paddle 8 connected to at least one finger 11; wherein the paddle extends above the plug and pivots to displace the fingers between a first position where they are retracted into the body (figure 1a) and a second position where they extend from the body towards the pins (figure 1b). Moving the fingers to the second position helps to disconnect the plug. The paddle may be connected to two levers passing through the body. The fingers may include semi-circular ends. There may be a spring (71, figure 5b) biased to return the lever to the first position.

Description

AN ELECTRICAL PLUG DEVICE

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical plug device, in particular a device for a standard electrical plug; more particularly but not exclusively a device for helping a user unplug the plug.

Background

Increasing lifespans in many societies leads to mobility problems in an increasing segment of those societies.

Many users depend on electrical appliances in whichever segment and as a result the elderly or infirm may struggle with maintaining an independent life.

In particular such users may have difficulty connecting or disconnecting electrical 20 appliances, more particularly plugs in or into wall sockets or the like.

In particular mobility in fingers may be an issue for some users, whereby their fingers may not be able to grip or bend.

Prior Art

US 7 052 309 (CHEN) discloses an electric plug includes two locating blocks aligned at two sides of the housing thereof to pivotally hold a substantially C-shaped pull ring.

The pull ring has two pivot holes aligned at the ends thereof and respectively pivotally connected to the locating blocks by a respective pivot bolt that has a head stopped outside the respective pivot hole. The heads of the pivot bolts each have a diameter greater than that of the pivot holes so as to prevent disconnection of the pull ring from the housing.

US 2003 0 186 593 (YU) discloses an electrical plug comprising: a plug body having a prong side, a generally flat side and a side surface, said prong side and the generally flat side being in parallel to each other whereas said side surface being disposed for connecting the two sides; said side surface further having two channels recessed in a direction generally perpendicular to the two sides; and a pull ring having two T-shaped tongues each having a head, and a connecting piece joining the two T-shaped tongues, said connecting piece making angles equal to or greater than 90 degrees with the two T-shaped tongues, said two T-shaped tongues being further configured to slide freely inside the two channels on said side surface between a storage position where the head of the each T-shaped tongue being stopped in its sliding motion toward the generally flat side by a stop near the generally flat side and an operating position where the slide motion toward the prong side being stopped by the pull ring and where the head of each T-shaped tongue extruding outside of the two channels near the prong side.

US 2003 0 008 539 (BERTKE) provides a device and method for separating electrical connector assemblies which comprise a male plug, and a female connector, or a receptacle. The separation of an electrical connector assembly is accomplished by at least one lever disposed in the body of at least one of the connectors. The lever is attached to the body of the connector such that when the lever is "up" the lower portion of the lever is flush with the mating surface so as not to not interfere with the coupling of the connector. Actuation of the lever, i.e., moving the lever to its down position, causes a displacement of at least one the connectors comprising the electrical connector assembly. This may be adapted to a range of electrical connectors including, but not limited to: standard household plug and sockets, parallel connectors, serial connectors, and inline connectors.

The present invention arose in order to overcome problems suffered by existing devices.

Summary of the Invention

According to the present invention there is provided an electrical plug device formed 35 by a body with a plurality of conductive pins extending from the body, with a displaceable paddle and one or more fingers; wherein the paddle extends above the plug and the fingers are retracted into the body in a first position, the one or more fingers are extending from the body towards the pins in a second position; and wherein the paddle is arranged to pivot and connected to the finger or fingers.

It may be envisaged that the paddle extends across the width of the body.

In this way a user may advantageously easily push the paddle upwards as the plug is pushed into a socket with a flat palm or similar.

The paddle may extend upwards from the body in the first position. It may be envisaged that the angle variation of the lever may be an acute angle, and/or relatively small.

In this way the user may advantageously easily slip their hand and fingers between 15 the wall and paddle so as to easily disconnect the plug.

In some embodiments the device comprises a cover for the body, whereby the device comprises a cover for a standard plug. The device of the present invention may therefore be formed in use.

In some embodiments the paddle and fingers comprise a single part, for example a lever, wherein the lever pivots around a pivot between positions.

In some embodiments such a pivot may comprise two pivots to either side of the 25 body or cover where appropriate.

In this way the device may be easily operated to displace the plug from a wall or socket, by simply pulling the paddle down and towards a user at the front of the device, thereby pivoting the fingers out from the rear of the device.

The paddle may comprise a scooped rear face, so as to enable the user to easier able fingers to be placed behind the paddle, and the paddle pulled about the pivot.

The cover in cover-embodiments may be arranged with an inner surface arranged 35 with a mechanism for gripping the plug body. In some embodiments this may be an adhesive mechanism so as to securely provide the device in use, semi-permanently for existing plugs.

In other the mechanism may comprise a temporary mechanism, for example an interference, tolerance or resiliently deformable fit mechanism. For example in some embodiments it may be envisaged that the cover device is slid over the plug in use, so as to allow displacement in an orthogonal direction without dislodging the cover from the plug. Such mechanism may advantageously enable the user to temporarily operate the device on any plug in a socket.

In some embodiments the lever may pivot around the sides of the plug body or cover so as to rotate the finger or fingers outwards at the front of the plug. The fingers may be arranged to engage progressively with the socket. For example the fingers may be curved or arcuate at the end so that the lever end engages progressively and pushes the plug away as the lever pivots.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the Figures in which:

Brief Description of Figures

Figure la shows an isometric view of an embodiment of the device according to the present invention in the first position; Figure lb shows a reverse isometric view of the embodiment shown in Figure la, in a second position; Figure 2 shows an isometric view of the embodiment shown in Figure la in the 30 second position; Figure 3 shows an exploded isometric view of the embodiment shown in Figures 1; Figure 4 shows a reverse exploded isometric view of the embodiment shown in Figure 1; and Figures 5 show further embodiments of the device according to the present invention.

Detailed Description of Figures

With reference generally to the embodiment shown in the Figures there is shown an embodiment of the device 99 generally comprising an electrical plug device formed by a body 12 with three pins 2 extending from the body, with a displaceable paddle 8 and two fingers 10; wherein the paddle extends above the plug and the fingers 10 are retracted into the body in a first position, the fingers are extending from the body towards the pins in a second position; and wherein the paddle is arranged to pivot and connected to the finger or fingers.

In particular reference to the pictured embodiment the embodiment comprise a bipartite body comprising a plate body section 3 for providing the pins 2 which provide electrical connection to the cable end 21 with a socket (not shown), and a cover body section 12 for providing the paddle 8. The two sections are screwed together with a screw, so as to allow unscrewing to change the fuse 22.

In other embodiments the body may comprise a covering body which is arranged to cover the body of a plug which plug comprise three pins extending outwards; and a paddle arranged to pivot within the body.

The paddle 8 comprises an upward extending portion with a flat rear face which is arranged to travel across all of the body rear face along the top edge of the body; and a scooped front face, which scoops down to base 6 which extends along the top of the body.

The paddle 8 further comprises or extends into a lever 10 which comprises two levers configured to pass into the body through elongate slots 9 adjacent the sides of the body which extend just below a halfway point of the body.

The lever pivots on internal pivots 7 to either side of the body. The lever ends then provide extending fingers 11 when the paddle is pulled down the rear face of the body. The fingers 11 extend through the slots 9 that run approximately the length of the rear face of the body.

The pivot or pivots 7 are located halfway down the body sides. In this way the lever 5 pivots centrally so as to mean an even small rotatory movement causes the fingers 11 to extend progressively.

The finger ends comprise curved ends, with rounded arcuate ends that push the plug away from the socket progressively.

The body may comprise a clip over cover over the body of a standard known plug, wherein the cover and plug may be permanently adhered together.

In the pictured embodiment the body of the device is in two sections comprises a 15 displaceable pin carrier section 3, which section is displaceable from the paddle section 12 so as to enable the user to change the plug fuse or otherwise access wiring.

The paddle section 12 comprises a collar 5 extending along the cable exiting the pin 20 carrier section, which collar is partial and limits tipping of the top of the paddle section from the carrier section in use as well as strain on the cable 1 during tipping of the body.

The device, apart from internal wiring parts and the pins is formed wholly from rigid 25 thermoplastics such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or similar.

With reference to Figures 5 another embodiment of the device is shown with a light duty spring 71 either side of the body 12, that has a barely noticeable effect when the user uses the natural weight of their hand to draw down the lever into the second position.

The lever is then envisaged to be held in place by a resilient catch (not shown) until gentle force releases the lever from the catch, and the spring acts to return the lever to the first position. In the pictured embodiment the first position may have a catch 72 also, to maintain the lever in the first position. This may advantageously enable easier usage for the infirm.

The invention has been described by way of examples only and it will be appreciated that variation may be made to the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the scope of invention as defined by the claims, in particular but not solely 5 combination of features of described embodiments.

Claims

Claims 1. An electrical plug device formed by a body with a plurality of conductive pins extending from the body; and a displaceable paddle is connected to at least one finger, wherein the paddle extends above the plug and the at least one finger is adapted to retract into the body in a first position and extend from the body towards the pins in a second position; and the paddle pivots so as to displace the at least finger.
2. An electrical plug device according to claim 1 comprising a cover body for an independently available plug.
3. An electrical plug device according to claim 2 comprising a pin carrier section and a cover body section, wherein the two sections are screwed together with a screw.
4. An electrical plug device according to any preceding claim wherein the paddle extends above the body.
5. An electrical plug device according to any preceding claim wherein the paddle extends across the width of the body.
6. An electrical plug device according to any preceding claim wherein the paddle is scooped upwards and angled away from the body.
7. An electrical plug device according to any preceding claim wherein an angle defined between an extended and retracted paddle is an acute angle.
8. An electrical plug device according to any preceding claim wherein the paddle is connected to a lever which passes through the body.
9. An electrical plug device according to claim 8 wherein the lever comprises two levers extending through the body.
10. An electrical plug device according to any preceding claim where the paddle pivots on the body central to the body sides.
11. An electrical plug device according to any preceding claim wherein the fingers comprise semi-circular finger ends.
12. An electrical plug device according to any preceding claim comprising a spring bias to a position.